History
This week in history: January 15-21
15 January 2018
25 years ago: Bill Clinton sworn in as 42nd US president
Diego Rivera in the Soviet Union: An exhibition in Mexico City
By Alex González, 12 January 2018
The current show in Mexico City focuses on Rivera’s two visits to the USSR in 1927-28 and in 1955-56. It contains many remarkable items.
Final reflections on the centennial year of the October Revolution
By David North, 30 December 2017
The commemoration of the centenary of the October Revolution reflected the political interests and outlooks of different class forces.
How former Nazi official Reinhard Gehlen erected a state within a state in post-war Germany
By Wolfgang Weber, 27 December 2017
Over 100,000 pages of documents relating to the post-World War II head of the German Federal Intelligence Service and ex-Nazi official Reinhard Gehlen have been leaked to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
This week in the Russian Revolution
December 18-24: Peace negotiations begin at Brest-Litovsk
18 December 2017
Trotsky later writes, “The circumstances of history willed that the delegates of the most revolutionary regime ever known to humanity should sit at the same diplomatic table with the representatives of the most reactionary caste among all the ruling classes.”
Ron Chernow’s Grant: An able and compelling new biography
By Andre Damon, 15 December 2017
Chernow capably weaves together an account of the life of the Civil War general, president and memoirist.
Cancellation of exhibition about Jewish art collector in Germany raises issue of Nazi-confiscated art
By Sibylle Fuchs, 13 December 2017
Düsseldorf art gallery owner Max Stern’s art collection was auctioned under pressure from the Hitler regime in the 1930s and has remained largely unseen ever since.
This week in the Russian Revolution
December 11-17: White forces capture Rostov
11 December 2017
As forces commanded by the counterrevolutionary General Kaledin occupy Rostov, a major industrial center in southern Russia, conflict continues to rage in the Bolshevik leadership over the question of the Constituent Assembly.
Russian federal investigators review anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about murder of the Tsarist family
By Clara Weiss, 7 December 2017
An investigation, opened in 2015, into the killing of the Tsarist family at the behest of Soviet government in 1918, is considering a fascistic and anti-Semitic conspiracy theory which presents the execution as a “ritual killing.”
This week in the Russian Revolution
December 4-10: Guns fall silent on the Eastern Front
4 December 2017
Soviet Russia and the Central Powers agree to a 10-day truce, subsequently extended to 28 days. “We have started a resolute struggle against the war brought on by the clash of robbers over their spoils,” Lenin declares in a speech December 5.
This week in the Russian Revolution
November 27-December 3: Soviet government steps up call for end to war
27 November 2017
While the world war drags on and most warring governments stubbornly ignore the Bolsheviks’ call for peace, the new government of Soviet Russia issues an appeal to “the peoples of the belligerent governments” to put an end to the imperialist slaughter.
Russian television’s Trotsky serial: A degraded spectacle of historical falsification and anti-Semitism
By Fred Williams and David North, 25 November 2017
The eight-part serial is an exhibition of the political, intellectual and cultural depravity of all those involved in its production.
Leaders of the Russian Revolution
Nikolai Muralov (1877-1937)
Part Two
By Clara Weiss, 22 November 2017
As part of the celebration of the centenary of the October Revolution in 1917, the World Socialist Web Site is publishing a series of profiles of leaders of the Russian Revolution.
Leaders of the Russian Revolution
Nikolai Muralov (1877-1937)
Part One: Early years through the Civil War
By Clara Weiss, 21 November 2017
As part of the celebration of the centenary of the October Revolution in 1917, the World Socialist Web Site is publishing a series of profiles of leaders of the Russian Revolution.
Large turnout for Ann Arbor, Michigan meeting on centenary of the Russian Revolution
By our reporters, 11 November 2017
Speaking exactly 100 years and one day after the working class seized power in Russia, David North reviewed the global impact of the October Revolution, its origins and its political significance.
Sri Lankan SEP and IYSSE commemorate Russian Revolution at Peradeniya University
By our correspondents, 11 November 2017
SEP/IYSSE members campaigned extensively at the university and in neighbouring areas prior to the meeting provoking animated discussions on the political lessons of the October Revolution.
Documents of the Russian Revolution
Proclamation on the Assumption of Soviet Power
By the Second-All Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, 8 November 2017
One hundred years ago today, the Proclamation on the Assumption of Soviet Power announced the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the establishment of a new government.
Documents of the Russian Revolution
Decree on Land
By the Second-All Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, 8 November 2017
The Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies abolished landed proprietorship without compensation.
100 years since the Balfour Declaration
Part two
By Jean Shaoul, 8 November 2017
This is the conclusion of a two-part article on the Balfour Declaration that was to lead to the establishment of the state of Israel in Palestine.
On the Centenary of the October Revolution
By David North, 7 November 2017
The October Revolution ranks among the greatest and most progressive events in world history.
Documents of the Russian Revolution
To the Citizens of Russia!
By the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, 7 November 2017
On the hundredth anniversary of the October Revolution we are publishing the proclamation issued on November 7 (October 25, O.S.), 1917 by the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.
100 years since the Balfour Declaration
Part one
By Jean Shaoul, 7 November 2017
This is the first of a two-part article on the Balfour Declaration that was to lead to the establishment of the state of Israel in Palestine.
This week in the Russian Revolution
November 6-12: Bolsheviks come to power in Petrograd
6 November 2017
The Congress of Soviets opens with the Bolsheviks firmly in control of Petrograd. The new government formed by the Bolsheviks swiftly passes sweeping decrees on peace, land, education, and the eight-hour day.
Lessons of October: The political crisis within the Bolshevik Party on the eve of the seizure of power
By Chris Marsden, 3 November 2017
We are publishing here the text of a lecture delivered on Saturday, October 28 by Chris Marsden, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (UK). The audio for the lecture is embedded in the text.
Documents of the Russian Revolution
The Art of Insurrection
By Leon Trotsky, 1 November 2017
We are publishing here “The Art of Insurrection,” the sixth chapter in the third volume of Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution in the translation by Max Eastman.
Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test at the Art Institute of Chicago—an introductory comment
Russian Revolutionary art exhibition opened October 29
By Jeff Lusanne and David Walsh, 31 October 2017
Soviet Art Put to the Test offers notable presentation and recreations of creative work in the 1920s-1930s, yet fails to explain the context that is essential to understanding the work.
On the eve of revolution: The Bolshevik Party, factory committees, and the mass movement of the working class
By Tom Carter, 27 October 2017
We are publishing here the text of a lecture delivered Saturday, October 21, by Tom Carter, a member of the National Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US).
Documents show US participation in 1965-66 massacres in Indonesia
By Mike Head, 25 October 2017
Up to one million workers, peasants and supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party were murdered, in one of the greatest imperialist crimes of the 20th century.
Tsar to Lenin screens to sold out audiences in London and Manchester
By our reporters, 25 October 2017
The documentary was shown on October 14 at HOME, Manchester’s centre for international contemporary art, theatre and film, and at the Barbican Centre in London on October 22.
Thomas Mackaman’s New Immigrants and the Radicalization of American Labor, 1914-1924
Immigration and socialist strategy in America, past and present
By Eric London, 24 October 2017
Thomas Mackaman’s New Immigrants and the Radicalization of American Labor, 1914-1924 is an essential contribution not only to labor history, but also toward the development of a strategy of social revolution today.
Australian Senate formally denounces commemorations of the Russian Revolution
By Nick Beams, 23 October 2017
A resolution introduced by right-wing Senator Cory Bernardi underscores the fear in ruling circles of the shift to the left among wide layers of the world’s population, especially young people.
David North delivers address on Russian Revolution at University of St Andrews, Scotland
By our reporter, 21 October 2017
The audience listened attentively to a wide-ranging presentation lasting more than 80 minutes, which was welcomed with warm applause.
The Canadian split from the UAW—Lessons for today
By Carl Bronski, 20 October 2017
The defeat of the CAMI strike attests to the failure of the nationalist strategy that Unifor and its predecessor, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union, have pursued since splitting from the United Auto Workers in 1985.
Exhibition at American Jewish Historical Society in New York
“1917—How One Year Changed the World”
By Fred Mazelis, 20 October 2017
The displays consider the Russian Revolution, US entry into World War I and the Balfour Declaration’s support for a Zionist homeland in Palestine.
Thirty years since Wall Street’s “Black Monday”
By Nick Beams, 19 October 2017
Thirty years ago today, on October 19, 1987, the New York Stock Exchange experienced what remains its largest one-day fall in history.
From the July Days to the Kornilov coup: Lenin’s The State and Revolution
By Barry Grey, 17 October 2017
We are publishing here the text of a lecture delivered Saturday, October 14, by Barry Grey, the US national editor of the World Socialist Web Site. Watch the lecture online.
Right-wing Zionist campaign against new director of Center for Jewish History in New York City
By Fred Mazelis, 16 October 2017
The cancellation of two programs by the American Jewish Historical Society is in response to a broader effort to derail the appointment of David Myers to head the CJH.
Leaders of the Russian Revolution
Leon Trotsky on Yakov Sverdlov (March 1925)
By Leon Trotsky, 5 October 2017
As part of the commemoration of the centenary of the October Revolution in 1917, we are publishing here a portrait written by Leon Trotsky of Yakov Sverdlov, the chief organizer of the Bolshevik Party in 1917 and first president of the Soviet Republic.
The contradictions of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s The Vietnam War
By Patrick Martin, 2 October 2017
The 18-hour documentary series on PBS combines gripping images of the US war, an exposure of the lies and crimes of the Johnson and Nixon administrations, and a narrative that seems intended to block any serious understanding of American imperialism.
This week in the Russian Revolution
October 2 - 8: Trotsky elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet
2 October 2017
The election of Leon Trotsky to the most important post in revolutionary Russia epitomizes the surging strength of the Bolsheviks. However, the immense popular shift in favor of the Bolsheviks coincides with a sharp crisis in the party leadership.
David North delivers address on Russian Revolution to large audience at Northern Virginia Community College
By our reporters, 29 September 2017
Over 40 students and young workers attended the event despite the fact that the military-intelligence apparatus exerts a strong influence on the campus.
This week in the Russian Revolution
September 25 – October 1: Lenin urges Bolshevik leaders to prepare for the seizure of power
25 September 2017
Now that the Bolsheviks have obtained majorities in the Moscow and Petrograd soviets, Lenin launches a campaign to orient the party for a planned insurrection.
The 150th anniversary of the publication of Capital
By Nick Beams, 18 September 2017
September 14 was the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Capital by Karl Marx. It marked a turning point in mankind’s intellectual and historical development.
This week in the Russian Revolution
September 18 – 24: Bolsheviks obtain majorities in Moscow and Petrograd soviets
18 September 2017
Following the Kornilov affair, support for the Bolsheviks surges, and they win control of the Moscow and Petrograd soviets, followed one by one by provincial soviets. The war rages on, and mass hunger and deprivation fuel working-class rebellions around the world.
This week in the Russian Revolution
September 11-17: After the Kornilov Affair—Kerensky attempts to form dictatorial regime, Trotsky released from prison
11 September 2017
Following the defeat of the Kornilov coup, Kerensky attempts to form a new government, declaring himself the commander-in-chief of the army and announcing the formation of a dictatorial regime consisting of a five-member “Directory.”
This week in the Russian Revolution
September 4 – 10: The Kornilov affair
4 September 2017
Confronted with the danger of a full-blooded counterrevolutionary dictatorship and mass repression from General Kornilov, the Soviets are compelled to appeal to the working class to defend the city.
Leaders of the Russian Revolution: Ivar Tenisovich Smilga (1892-1937)
Part two
By Clara Weiss, 1 September 2017
The is the second part of a two-part article on Ivar Tenisovich Smilga, a leading figure in the October Revolution and the Red Army who worked closely with Lenin and then with Trotsky as a member of the anti-Stalinist Left Opposition. The first part was posted on August 31.
Leaders of the Russian Revolution: Ivar Tenisovich Smilga (1892-1937)
Part one
By Clara Weiss, 31 August 2017
The is the first part of a two-part article on Ivar Tenisovich Smilga, a leading figure in the October Revolution and the Red Army who worked closely with Lenin and then with Trotsky as a member of the anti-Stalinist Left Opposition.
This week in the Russian Revolution
August 28 – September 3: Surge in support for the Bolsheviks
28 August 2017
As mass support for the Bolsheviks grows, the ruling classes are deserting Kerensky, throwing their support instead behind the tsarist general Kornilov, who is plotting to establish a counterrevolutionary dictatorship by means of a military coup.
Australian history curator Laila Ellmoos discusses 1917: The Great Strike with the WSWS
By Richard Phillips and Cheryl Crisp, 25 August 2017
“It was a complex strike, but the volume and power of these numbers was extraordinary.”
This week in the Russian Revolution
August 21-August 27: Kerensky attempts to marshal the counterrevolution
21 August 2017
With the installation of General Kornilov at the head of the army, Kerensky has turned sharply to the right. Supported by the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, he convenes the Moscow State Conference to unite all of the counterrevolutionary forces in Russia.
Seventy years since the communal Partition of South Asia
By Keith Jones, 16 August 2017
The Partition was one of the great crimes of the 20th century—a crime that has shaped, or more precisely deformed, the entire subsequent history of South Asia.
German professor promotes World War I military figures as models
By Sven Heymanns, 9 August 2017
In a guest contribution for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Professor Ralph Rotte declares that Germany’s armed forces should look to World War I for their role models.
This week in the Russian Revolution
July 31—August 6: The nightmare in Flanders
31 July 2017
Perhaps more than any other battle in world history, the Third Battle of Ypres will endure for generations as a symbol of pointless and fratricidal barbarism. While popular moods continue to turn against the war, counterrevolution is in full swing in Russia.
From the archives of the Russian Revolution
Letter to the Provisional Government
By Leon Trotsky, 31 July 2017
This is a new translation of an open letter Trotsky addressed to the Provisional Government on the arrest of Bolshevik leaders, which took place during the crackdown that followed the July Days.
This week in the Russian Revolution
July 24—July 30: Counterrevolution rears its head
24 July 2017
Following the suppression of the July Insurrection, a “government of national safety” with unlimited repressive powers is announced in Petrograd, with the support of the bourgeois parties and the opportunist parties in the Petrograd Soviet.
From the archives of the Russian Revolution
Trying Days
By Leon Trotsky, 24 July 2017
This is a new translation of an article by Leon Trotsky, published in Vperiod (Forward), Number 6, on July 22 (9 O.S.), 1917. Trotsky wrote this article after the July Days and before his arrest by the Provisional Government.
Fifty years since the Detroit rebellion
Part three: Liberal promises and capitalist reality in “New Detroit”
By Barry Grey, 24 July 2017
The WSWS is posting a three-part series originally published in July of 1987 under the title “Twenty years since the Detroit rebellion.” This is the third and final part. Part one was published on July 21, part two on July 22.
Fifty years since the Detroit rebellion
Part two: The explosion
By Barry Grey, 22 July 2017
The WSWS is posting a three-part series originally published in July of 1987 under the title “Twenty years since the Detroit rebellion.” This is the second part. Part one was published on July 21.
Fifty years since the Detroit rebellion
Part one: An uprising of the oppressed
By Barry Grey, 21 July 2017
The WSWS is posting a three-part series originally published in July of 1987 under the title “Twenty years since the Detroit rebellion.”
Albert Einstein’s life, or parts of it, in the first season of National Geographic’s Genius
By Bryan Dyne, 20 July 2017
The 10-episode season depicts the life of one of the most renowned scientists in world history without paying much attention to the science he developed.
German military historian Sönke Neitzel evokes the traditions of Hitler’s Wehrmacht
By Christoph Vandreier, 19 July 2017
In an interview with Der Spiegel, Neitzel insists that Germany’s Armed Forces must stand in the tradition of Hitler’s Wehrmacht because they must be an “instrument of battle.”
This week in the Russian Revolution
July 17–23: The “July Days,” Insurrection and counterrevolution in Petrograd
17 July 2017
The insurrection in Petrograd known as the “July Days” reaches high tide and then recedes before the combined efforts of the Provisional Government and the parties that currently lead the Soviet.
This week in the Russian Revolution
July 10–July 16: The beginning of the “July Days” in Petrograd
10 July 2017
Despite the warnings by Bolshevik leaders that a premature insurrection would be isolated and defeated, hundreds of thousands of workers decide to take matters into their own hands. This is the beginning of the “July Days.”
This week in the Russian Revolution
July 3-9: Lenin warns against premature insurrection
3 July 2017
Kerensky’s military offensive is developing into a terrible massacre of Russian soldiers. In the old tsarist capital, workers and soldiers are angry. In the Bolshevik Party’s middle and lower ranks, including in the Bolshevik Military Organization, many are demanding an immediate insurrection.
150 years of Canadian Confederation: Myth and reality
By Keith Jones, 1 July 2017
The representation of Canada as a progressive antipode to the rapacious dollar republic to the south has long been an important part of the ideological arsenal of the ruling class.
Professor Sean McMeekin revives discredited anti-Lenin slanders (Part I)
By David North, 30 June 2017
The century-old lie that the leader of the October Revolution was acting on behalf of German imperialism is revived in an Op-Ed piece published by the New York Times.
This week in the Russian Revolution
June 26–July 2: Bolshevik slogans dominate at massive Petrograd demonstration
26 June 2017
As Russia’s Provisional Government launches a major new military offensive, the efforts of the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary leaders of the Petrograd Soviet to block the Bolsheviks from advancing their demands fail spectacularly.
From the archives of the Revolution
Declaration of the Bolshevik Faction at a session of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets on the Question of the Offensive
By Leon Trotsky, 23 June 2017
This declaration, written by Trotsky but delivered by P. Pozern, warns the working class of the implications of the military offensive being prepared by the Provisional Government.
From the archives of the Revolution
Speech on a personal note at an evening session of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets
By Leon Trotsky, 22 June 2017
This is a contemporary account of a speech delivered by Trotsky in which he addresses the slanders being spread by Miliukov and others that he and Lenin were agents of the German government.
From the archives of the Revolution
Speech on the question of war
By Leon Trotsky, 21 June 2017
This is a contemporary account of a speech delivered by Trotsky before a United Session of Social-Democratic Members of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets held in Petrograd in June 1917.
Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin: When the White House fixed a Russian election
By Alan Gilman, 14 June 2017
One fairly recent election stands out for the brazen and open manner in which the United States government, directed from the White House, intervened to put its candidate in office in a foreign land. The targeted country was none other than Russia.
From the archives of the Revolution
From the Kronstadt Sailors, Soldiers, and Workers—To the Revolutionary People of Petrograd and All Russia
By Leon Trotsky, 13 June 2017
This declaration by the Kronstadt Soviet was written by Trotsky after he met with the Kronstadt sailors in June to discuss how to respond to the many attacks by the Provisional Government and the bourgeois press against the naval base.
Fifty years since the Six Day Arab-Israeli War
By Jean Shaoul, 9 June 2017
The Israeli military victory over Egypt, Jordan and Syria, far from bringing a new period of peace and prosperity, brought oppression, further wars and social misery to working people in both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Political lessons of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China
By James Cogan, 5 June 2017
Each year, the Stalinist regime mobilises its police state apparatus to prevent any commemoration of the massacre, which was aimed at suppressing a potentially revolutionary movement of the Chinese working class.
From the archives of the Revolution
Speech at a Session of the Petrograd Soviet on reports by the socialist ministers
By Leon Trotsky, 27 May 2017
This is a new translation of a speech delivered by Trotsky before the Petrograd Soviet on May 26, 1917 (May 13 O.S.).
From the archives of the Russian Revolution
Seventh All-Russian Bolshevik Conference: Resolution on the war
15 May 2017
This resolution on the war, drafted by Lenin, was passed at the Seventh All-Russian Bolshevik Conference, which took place in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) from May 7 to 12 (April 24-29, O.S.).
Lecture on the centenary of the Russian Revolution
Lenin’s Return to Russia and the April Theses
By James Cogan, 8 May 2017
We are publishing here the text of a lecture delivered on Saturday, May 6, by James Cogan, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia). The audio for the lecture is embedded in the text.
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 4
Dziga Vertov’s The Man with a Movie Camera: One of the films you must see!
By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 6 May 2017
A highlight of the recent San Francisco film festival was the screening of Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov’s masterpiece, The Man with a Movie Camera (1929), at the historic Castro Theatre.
Series on the centenary of the Russian Revolution
Online lecture Saturday: Lenin’s Return to Russia and the April Theses
By James Cogan, 5 May 2017
James Cogan, National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Australia, will be delivering the lecture on Saturday, May 6 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Register for the series at wsws.org/1917.
Australia: Anzac Day and the official silence about anti-war opposition in WWI
By Richard Phillips, 4 May 2017
Contrary to government claims, Australia in 1917 was sharply divided along class lines and its involvement in World War I deeply unpopular.
This week in the Russian Revolution
May 1-7: April Crisis breaks out in Petrograd
1 May 2017
Newspapers in Petrograd publish a telegram by the Provisional Government’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, promising to abide by the tsar’s secret treaties and “fight the world war out to a decisive victory.” Workers and soldiers in Petrograd respond with massive anti-government demonstrations.
Lecture on the centenary of the Russian Revolution
Spontaneity and Consciousness in The February Revolution
By Joseph Kishore, 26 April 2017
This is an edited version of a lecture delivered live on April 22, 2017 by Joseph Kishore, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (US). The audio and slides for the lecture are embedded in the text. To register for the lecture series, visit wsws.org/1917.
This week in the Russian Revolution
April 24-30: Trotsky released from British prison camp in Canada
24 April 2017
As Trotsky is released from the camp in Canada, the Bolshevik Party in Petrograd is embroiled in turmoil following the publication of Lenin’s April Theses. The party holds a city conference, in which Lenin’s positions win substantial support.
Sri Lankan government sponsors a sham celebration of the Russian Revolution
By Vijith Samarasinghe, 15 April 2017
The event was a congregation of right-wing politicians, pseudo-lefts and anti-Marxist representatives of academia who are deeply hostile to the heritage of the Russian Revolution.
This week in the Russian Revolution
April 10-16: Lenin arrives at Finland Station
10 April 2017
Lenin’s arrival at Finland Station in Petrograd in April 1917, 100 years ago this week, is one of the most dramatic moments in world history. Against the backdrop of hitherto unprecedented carnage and suffering, Lenin arrives in Petrograd with an unshakeable determination to orient the Bolshevik party to the perspective of international socialist revolution.
War and Revolution: 1914–1917
By Nick Beams, 10 April 2017
We are publishing here the text of a lecture delivered Saturday, April 8 by Nick Beams, a member of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site. This is the third in a series of five international online lectures being presented by the International Committee of the Fourth International to mark the centenary of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Writings of Trotsky from 1917
Who Are the Traitors?
By Leon Trotsky, 25 March 2017
In this article, translated for the first time into English, Trotsky responds to claims that his denunciations of the war plans of the bourgeois provisional government make him a “Germanophile and traitor.”
ANZAC Heroes: Promoting war to children
By Sam Price and Tom Peters, 24 March 2017
A New Zealand government-funded children’s book glorifies Australian and New Zealand involvement in World War I and II.
Germany: Great interest in upcoming screening of Tsar to Lenin at Leipzig Book Fair
By our correspondents, 22 March 2017
The IYSSE and Mehring Verlag will be screening the documentary on the Russian Revolution at the upcoming Leipzig Book Fair.
Trump turns to American history
The strange political afterlife of Andrew Jackson
By Tom Mackaman, 21 March 2017
The political art of Jackson, which so inspires the Trump administration, consisted of his ability to obscure powerful contradictions behind a veil of nationalism and populist demagogy.
Revisiting John Steinbeck’s A Russian Journal from 1948
By Clara Weiss, 21 March 2017
American novelist John Steinbeck, together with famed Hungarian-born war photographer Robert Capa, visited the Soviet Union in 1947 on the very eve of the Cold War.
Writings of Trotsky from 1917
War or Peace? (Internal Forces of the Revolution)
By Leon Trotsky, 20 March 2017
In this article, Trotsky writes, “The international struggle against world-wide slaughter and imperialism is now our task more than ever before.”
Writings of Trotsky from 1917
Under the Banner of the Commune
By Leon Trotsky, 17 March 2017
In this article, Trotsky writes, “In the trenches overflowing with blood and mud, in the starving cities and villages, millions of hearts are filled with indignation, despair and rage. And these feelings, when combined with socialist thought, are turning into revolutionary enthusiasm.”
The Revolution in Russia
By Leon Trotsky, 16 March 2017
In this article, translated for the first time, Trotsky writes, “Our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will speak of these days as the beginning of a new epoch in the history of mankind.”
Unease in Europe
By Leon Trotsky, 15 March 2017
In this article, translated for the first time, Trotsky writes, “Every decisive action taken by the Russian proletariat against the most worthless of the worthless European governments will serve as a mighty stimulus for the workers in all other countries.”
Why Study the Russian Revolution? New pamphlet now available
15 March 2017
In his lecture on March 11, David North answers the question with 10 reasons, followed by a summary of the main events from the February revolution to the October seizure of power by the Bolshevik Party. North’s presentation was the first of five lectures in the ICFI series commemorating the centenary of the Russian Revolution.
Raoul Peck’s The Young Karl Marx
By Peter Schwarz, 15 March 2017
The Haitian-born director Raoul Peck has set himself the task of presenting the formative years of Marxism in a film, covering the period from the prohibition of the Rheinische Zeitung in March 1843, to the writing of the Communist Manifesto at the end of 1847.
Large global turnout for online lecture, “Why Study the Russian Revolution?”
13 March 2017
A large audience from more than 60 countries listened live to the lecture delivered by WSWS chairman David North, the first in a series marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution.
From the archives of the Revolution
The Petrograd Soviet’s “Order No. 1”
By the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, 13 March 2017
At the demand of soldiers, the Petrograd Soviet on March 14 (March 1, O.S.) issued “Order No. 1,” which Trotsky described as “the single worthy document of the February revolution.”
Follow the WSWS