The Russian Revolution of October 1917 opened up a new historical epoch, and was greeted with ent... more The Russian Revolution of October 1917 opened up a new historical epoch, and was greeted with enthusiasm by workers around the world. Never before had workers come close to winning power, although many participated in political life in the Social Democratic parties of Western Europe. Now, suddenly, in Russia, revolution was an actuality, not simply a hope or a threat, as a huge country broke from international capitalism. The Russian Revolution caught the imagination of revolutionaries everywhere and became a beacon of hope for the world’s working classes, acting like a giant magnet attracting those who could to flock to Russia, ‘leaving the void and entering the kingdom of will’, where humans could become the masters of their own destiny. It is almost impossible to imagine the intoxicating power of that moment: Victor Serge described it as one where ‘life is beginning anew, where conscious will, intelligence, and an inexorable love of mankind are in action’. The unique element that lay at the heart of the Russian revolutionary process was its revolutionary working class—and the democratic form of self-organization that it created in struggle that made the idea and reality of power possible. Urban workers led and dominated the opposition to the old order and ultimately brought into being—for the first time in world history, a workers’ state, albeit in embryonic form. The movement toward revolution by the working class was facilitated, perhaps paradoxically, by the underdeveloped nature of Russian society compared with the West. There was little of the highly evolved civil society in Tsarist Russia that had developed over many centuries in Western Europe. The autocracy did not allow freely contested elections to a Parliament with the ability to legislate, nor legal political parties, nor minimal formal liberties of speech, assembly and press. Nor did it possess the legal mass reformist parties with their parliamentary delegations, trade union leaderships and radical newspapers, not to mention sports clubs, popular theaters and the like, that played such a central role in the West’s polities. The virtual non-existence in Russia of these networks was, to an important degree, due to Russia lacking a mature capitalist class—the sort of bourgeoisie that had, over time, thrown up the institutions of civil society that allowed, by its high level of productiveness, the economic surpluses that made reformism possible. Consequently the working class in Tsarist Russia could carry the revolution forward with stunning speed Critique, 2017 Vol. 45, No. 4, 467–482, https://doi.org/10.1080/03017605.2017.1377926
Cet appel urgent a ete redige en collaboration avec des militants et des intellectuels vivant en ... more Cet appel urgent a ete redige en collaboration avec des militants et des intellectuels vivant en Russie.
El 6 de noviembre comenzo la campana para las elecciones generales en el Reino Unido, lo que sign... more El 6 de noviembre comenzo la campana para las elecciones generales en el Reino Unido, lo que significa que la ciudadania britanica emitira su voto el 12 de diciembre: un calensario politico afortunadamente concentrado, aunque intenso, especialmente si lo comparamos con las campanas aparentemente interminables de EE UU. El Partido Conservador, el sector favorable al brexit y los Liberal Democratas tratan de centrar la campana en la salida del Reino Unido de la Union Europea, mientras que el Partido Laborista de Jeremy Corbyn ha dedicado su campana a hablar de revertir la larga noche de la austeridad. Boris Johnson lanzo su campana en el diario conservador Daily Telegraph, equiparando a Corbyn con Stalin: "La tragedia del Partido Laborista actual, bajo la direccion de Jeremy Corbyn, es que detesta tan visceralmente el motor de la ganancia..., senala con el dedo a individuos con un deleite y un rencor que no se han visto desde que Stalin persiguio a los kulaks". Mientras, Cor...
... That describes Mark Zborowski, who did not fit the killer type—he seemed utterly benign ... V... more ... That describes Mark Zborowski, who did not fit the killer type—he seemed utterly benign ... View all notes. Andre Liebich calls the affection Lolla (as she was known by her family)37 37David Dallin's granddaughter via Gail Lapidus (correspondence, 9 and 11 June 2006): the family ...
The Russian Revolution of October 1917 opened up a new historical epoch, and was greeted with ent... more The Russian Revolution of October 1917 opened up a new historical epoch, and was greeted with enthusiasm by workers around the world. Never before had workers come close to winning power, although many participated in political life in the Social Democratic parties of Western Europe. Now, suddenly, in Russia, revolution was an actuality, not simply a hope or a threat, as a huge country broke from international capitalism. The Russian Revolution caught the imagination of revolutionaries everywhere and became a beacon of hope for the world’s working classes, acting like a giant magnet attracting those who could to flock to Russia, ‘leaving the void and entering the kingdom of will’, where humans could become the masters of their own destiny. It is almost impossible to imagine the intoxicating power of that moment: Victor Serge described it as one where ‘life is beginning anew, where conscious will, intelligence, and an inexorable love of mankind are in action’. The unique element that lay at the heart of the Russian revolutionary process was its revolutionary working class—and the democratic form of self-organization that it created in struggle that made the idea and reality of power possible. Urban workers led and dominated the opposition to the old order and ultimately brought into being—for the first time in world history, a workers’ state, albeit in embryonic form. The movement toward revolution by the working class was facilitated, perhaps paradoxically, by the underdeveloped nature of Russian society compared with the West. There was little of the highly evolved civil society in Tsarist Russia that had developed over many centuries in Western Europe. The autocracy did not allow freely contested elections to a Parliament with the ability to legislate, nor legal political parties, nor minimal formal liberties of speech, assembly and press. Nor did it possess the legal mass reformist parties with their parliamentary delegations, trade union leaderships and radical newspapers, not to mention sports clubs, popular theaters and the like, that played such a central role in the West’s polities. The virtual non-existence in Russia of these networks was, to an important degree, due to Russia lacking a mature capitalist class—the sort of bourgeoisie that had, over time, thrown up the institutions of civil society that allowed, by its high level of productiveness, the economic surpluses that made reformism possible. Consequently the working class in Tsarist Russia could carry the revolution forward with stunning speed Critique, 2017 Vol. 45, No. 4, 467–482, https://doi.org/10.1080/03017605.2017.1377926
Cet appel urgent a ete redige en collaboration avec des militants et des intellectuels vivant en ... more Cet appel urgent a ete redige en collaboration avec des militants et des intellectuels vivant en Russie.
El 6 de noviembre comenzo la campana para las elecciones generales en el Reino Unido, lo que sign... more El 6 de noviembre comenzo la campana para las elecciones generales en el Reino Unido, lo que significa que la ciudadania britanica emitira su voto el 12 de diciembre: un calensario politico afortunadamente concentrado, aunque intenso, especialmente si lo comparamos con las campanas aparentemente interminables de EE UU. El Partido Conservador, el sector favorable al brexit y los Liberal Democratas tratan de centrar la campana en la salida del Reino Unido de la Union Europea, mientras que el Partido Laborista de Jeremy Corbyn ha dedicado su campana a hablar de revertir la larga noche de la austeridad. Boris Johnson lanzo su campana en el diario conservador Daily Telegraph, equiparando a Corbyn con Stalin: "La tragedia del Partido Laborista actual, bajo la direccion de Jeremy Corbyn, es que detesta tan visceralmente el motor de la ganancia..., senala con el dedo a individuos con un deleite y un rencor que no se han visto desde que Stalin persiguio a los kulaks". Mientras, Cor...
... That describes Mark Zborowski, who did not fit the killer type—he seemed utterly benign ... V... more ... That describes Mark Zborowski, who did not fit the killer type—he seemed utterly benign ... View all notes. Andre Liebich calls the affection Lolla (as she was known by her family)37 37David Dallin's granddaughter via Gail Lapidus (correspondence, 9 and 11 June 2006): the family ...
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