Tag: Russian Revolution
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What the Russian Revolution achieved and why it degenerated
108 years ago this week, the Bolsheviks led the Russian workers and peasants to power in Russia. The October Revolution of 1917 stands out as the greatest event in human history – the moment when capitalism was overthrown across one-sixth of the Earth’s surface, and millions of ordinary people took up the task of transforming…
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Shostakovich, the musical conscience of the Russian Revolution
We republish below an article written by Alan Woods about Dimitri Shostakovich, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, a giant who gave voice to the sufferings and triumphs of the Soviet people in one of the most turbulent and revolutionary periods in history. In this article Alan Woods attempts to show Shostakovich…
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The Russian Revolution: the meaning of October
On 7 November 1917 (25 October in the Julian calendar) the Russian working class took power in their own hands and forever altered the course of human history. For Marxists, the October Revolution is the greatest event in human history. Below we republish an article by Alan Woods (written in 1992) that gives an excellent…
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In memory of Leon Trotsky
On 21 August 1940 – 85 years ago today – Leon Trotsky died following an attack by a GPU assassin, on the orders of Stalin, the day before. This article by Alan Woods, commemorating Trotsky, was originally published in the year 2000. We share it today in memory of a revolutionary titan whose work and…
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Lenin and the importance of the workers’ press
“Out of this spark will come a flame.” Such was the strapline of Lenin’s newspaper Iskra (‘Spark’), which he founded in 1900 with a small group of comrades. How true those words were! Only 17 years later, Lenin and the Bolsheviks led the working class of Russia to power in the world’s first successful socialist…
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Where to Begin?
We republish below Where to begin?, Lenin’s famous call to arms. Here Lenin makes the case for a disciplined revolutionary party, organised around an “All-Russian” political newspaper. Through the aid of a newspaper, Lenin explains, “a permanent organisation will naturally take shape that will engage, not only in local activities, but in regular general work,…