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.
(more…)Articles and Reviews
-
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.
(more…) -
“How Revolutions must not be made” — and the alternative
A review of Goldman’s account of her experiences in Russia, plus a review of a classic collection of Kropotkin’s essays. Both contain much wisdom for modern revolutionaries.
(more…) -
Review: Carlo Tresca
A review of an excellent biography by Nunzio Pernicone of leading American-Italian anarchist Carlo Tresca.
(more…) -
Mutualism, yes and no
This was written in 2010 after a request from Shift Magazine for a communist-anarchist critique of mutualism. It focuses on Proudhon’s mutualism rather than the American version associated with Tucker (this is better termed Individualist Anarchism, I think). This was the immediate forerunner of revolutionary anarchism, specifically collectivist anarchism which later developed into communist anarchism, and shares much with it. Its title deliberately echoes Daniel Guérin’s Proudhon oui et non.
(more…)