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philosophy and revolution
intro by Chris Kane One of the most common forms of sectarian socialism today is the myriad of Trotskyist organisations based on the model of undemocratic centralism. They claim the origin of their...
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le rétif: the secret life of victor serge
by Ernie Haberkern In the early 1960s when I joined the socialist movement I was attracted to the “Third Camp” anti-Stalinist tendency in the American movement. One of the first books I read was...
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problems of the cult of lenin
Clifford Biddulph begins a series on forms of communist organisation with this piece on the origins of Bolshevism For Lenin, as for Marx, organisational forms are part of a living process which changes...
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saturday’s russian revolution day school in london
12-5pm, Saturday 29th August, at the Artillery Arms, 102 Bunhill Row, near Old Street, London In 1917 the Councils of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, soviets, took power proclaiming a workers’ and...
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two rare texts on the national question
by Chris Kane At The Commune’s successful day-school on the Russian Revolution some debate arose on the national question during the discussion on Ukraine and Hungary. A key point of reference on the...
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reading for 16th november london trade union discussion group
The next of The Commune’s London reading groups takes place from 7pm on Monday 16th November at the Artillery Arms, 102 Bunhill Row, near Old Street. The meeting is on the question of trade union...
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thou shalt vote labour: an eleventh commandment?
As many on the far left plan to call for a Labour vote in the general election, Clifford Biddulph looks at the historic roots of this slogan and the dogmas on which it is based. An eleventh commandment...
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the unknown revolution: ukraine 1917-21
Much has been written on the revolution in Ukrainian, on the nationalists, the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks. Yet there were others with a massive following whose role has faded from history. One such...
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another look at the organisation question – communist bulletin group
The following text was published in 1982, over the name “Cormack”. It is an attempt to draw lessons from the Bolshevik experience, not only for the abstract “theory of the party”, but also for the...
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a revolution in retreat
Adam Ford reviews The Russian Revolution in Retreat, 1920-24. Soviet workers and the new communist elite, by Simon Pirani, Routledge, 2008. “I cannot be that sort of idealist communist who believes in...
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the red jacobins: no substitute for workers’ freedom
by Barry Biddulph Mark Hoskisson departs from the conventional, Trotskyist interpretation of the Russian Revolution, in his analysis of Thermidor and the Russian Revolution. (Permanent Revolution issue...
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the party as a faction: the origins of bolshevism
by Barry Biddulph In a recent debate between, Lars T Lih, Paul Le Blanc, and Pham Binh(1) there is confirmation of existing knowledge, that the Bolshevik party was not formally proclaimed, in Prague,...
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lars t lih misinterprets lenin
by Barry Biddulph Lars T Lih argues that “Lenin’s rejection of the actual parties of the Second International does not mean he is rejecting its party ideal“.(1) But in attempting to distil social...
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the forgotten criticism of bolshevism
Barry Biddulph contributes to the debate in the ACI on the Forgotten Legacies of Bolshevism by Simon Hardy In “Left Wing” Communism an Infantile Disorder, Lenin could not have made his core...
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