A review of an interesting book on the reaction to the Russian Revolution within the British left at the time. It shows how many on the left went from supporting the revolution due to its increase in democracy to defeating the Bolshevik dictatorship in a few years. It appeared in Anarcho-Syndicalist Review No. 73 (Spring 2018)
(more…)Category: Marxism
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Review: The Bolsheviks in Power
Review of a 2007 book on the first year of Bolshevik power. Documents the Bolshevik assault on soviet democracy and the opposition. It appeared in Black Flag
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In Defence of the Truth
A critique of a lengthy defence of the Bolsheviks by a (then) leading member of the British SWP in International Socialism (Autumn 1991). It shows how references on the Makhnovists and the Kronstadt revolt are misused and distorted to defend the Bolshevik regime. In short, a classic example of the Trotskyist school of falsification.
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Fight Fibs! Fight Inventions!
Two letters sent to the RCG’s paper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! in response to a disgraceful review of an anarchist pamphlet and their lies on the Makhnovist movement. Neither was published, unsurprisingly.
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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
A review of Imagine by Tommy Sheridan and Alan McCombes, the (then) leaders of the Scottish Socialist Party. An attempt by Trotskyists (formerly of Militant) to become libertarian sounding are not very convincing. At the height of its electoral success in 2003, the party had six Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) but it then imploded, in thanks to the activities of its leader, Sheridan, and the cult of personality the party had created around him. It appeared in Black Flag no. 224 (2004).
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