Russia & the former Soviet Union
“Literacy is a clean window onto the world ...”
100 years since formation of Soviet Extraordinary Commission for the Liquidation of Illiteracy
By Patrick O’Connor, 8 July 2020
The Soviet literacy campaign remains the largest and most successful in world history.
Russia ends federal COVID-19 shutdown measures as it surges to second place in infections worldwide
By Andrea Peters, 15 May 2020
There are now more coronavirus infections in Russia than anywhere else in the world, with the exception of the United States and Spain.
Russian court keeps historian of Stalinist massacres jailed amid COVID-19 outbreak
By Clara Weiss, 12 May 2020
The vendetta against Dmitriev is part of the campaign by Russia’s state and ruling oligarchy to suppress all efforts to uncover the truth about the crimes of Stalinism.
Brendan McGeever’s Antisemitism and the Russian Revolution: Distorting history in the service of identity politics
Part two
By Clara Weiss, 13 April 2020
This is the second part of a two-part review.
Brendan McGeever’s Antisemitism and the Russian Revolution: Distorting history in the service of identity politics
Part one
By Clara Weiss, 11 April 2020
This is the first part of a two-part review. The second part will be posted on Monday, April 13.
As oil prices plunge and coronavirus spreads, Russian oligarchy seeks to keep Putin in power indefinitely
By Clara Weiss, 12 March 2020
The Russian ruling class is trying to prepare for massive social and political unrest.
Coronavirus hits Russia as further news emerges of healthcare system in crisis
By Andrea Peters, 3 March 2020
A man returning from Italy tested positive for the coronavirus in Moscow on the same day that a federal audit revealed that thousands of the country’s healthcare facilities for children lack running water, heat, and sewage systems.
Auschwitz liberation commemorated in Poland amid state-led campaign for historical revisionism and war
By Clara Weiss, 28 January 2020
Duda’s and Steinmeier’s condemnations of fascism and anti-Semitism stands in stark contrast to the political record of their own governments.
Russian Duma approves new prime minister
By Clara Weiss, 20 January 2020
Putin and sections of the Russian oligarchy regard Mishustin as better equipped than former Prime Minister Medvedev to carry out major attacks on the working class and to facilitate a closing of ranks in the ruling class.
German government condemns US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 pipeline
By Johannes Stern, 23 December 2019
The temporary halt to construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has dramatically intensified tensions between the United States and the European powers.
Vadim Rogovin’s Bolsheviks against Stalinism 1928–1933: Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition
A magnificent account of Stalin’s opponents in the USSR
By Andrea Peters, 21 December 2019
Stalin’s rise was neither foreordained nor a natural outgrowth of the October Revolution. The Great Russian chauvinist and bureaucrat secured power in ferocious conflict with the proletariat, peasantry and cadre of the revolutionary socialist movement.
Mehring Books Holiday Sale feature
Bolsheviks Against Stalinism 1928-1933: Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition—Translator’s Foreword
6 December 2019
During its Holiday Sale, Mehring Books is offering this volume at a sharply reduced price of $15 for the black and white version or $20 for the color version.
On the death of Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky (1942–2019)
By Clara Weiss, 19 November 2019
An understanding of Bukovsky’s life and role in politics over the past half century must be placed within the broader context of the development of the October Revolution of 1917 and the Stalinist reaction against it.
Tens of thousands in Russia face medicine shortages as a result of Western sanctions
By David Levine, 12 November 2019
Between April and August 2019, two women from Moscow and one from Yekaterinburg were temporarily arrested and charged for illegally obtaining unregistered medicine.
Socialist Equality Party (Germany) holds meeting on anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
By our correspondents, 12 November 2019
On the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei held a meeting in Berlin-Schöneberg City Hall attended by dozens of workers and young people.
Alexei Navalny, with backing of Russian Pabloites, shifts toward support for Stalinist KPRF
By Clara Weiss, 9 September 2019
Navalny, a right-wing stooge of US imperialism, is turning toward an alliance with those most experienced in politically disorienting the working class: the Stalinists and the Pabloites.
Vadim Rogovin, author of Bolsheviks Against Stalinism 1928-1933: Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition
In memory of Vadim Z. Rogovin
By David North, 23 August 2019
In this 1998 tribute to Vadim Z. Rogovin, David North explains what made this Soviet historian a remarkable “prophet of historical truth.”
Explosions at Russian military facilities leave eight dead
By Andrea Peters, 13 August 2019
Bound up with the accelerating global arms race, blasts at a nuclear weapons testing facility in Russia’s far north and an ammunitions depot in Siberia have injured dozens.
Russian authorities continue crackdown on opposition protests
By Clara Weiss, 5 August 2019
The violent crackdown on protests by the “liberal” opposition is aimed at intimidating all government opposition and preparing for the suppression of widespread resistance by the working class.
Russian Ford workers betrayed by union, left with meager compensation and without jobs
By Clara Weiss, 22 July 2019
The MPRA has played a critical role in making sure that workers at the Vsevolozhsk plant were forced to sign “voluntary” severance agreements” dictated by Ford.
Part 1: Counter-revolution and anti-Semitism
Paul Hanebrink’s A Specter Haunting Europe: The Myth of Judeo-Bolshevism
By Clara Weiss, 8 July 2019
Hanebrink’s book focuses on examining the relationship between the fear of the “specter of communism” haunting Europe—to which Marx and Engels famously alluded in their Communist Manifesto of 1847—and of anti-Semitism.
Destroyed 1923 pamphlet on Red Army, commissioned by Trotsky, reprinted in Russia
By Clara Weiss, 27 June 2019
The reprint makes available, after almost 100 years, an important historical document, the fate of which reflects the violent repression by Stalinism of genuine Marxist thought and politics, represented within the Soviet Union by Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition.
Destroyed 1923 pamphlet on Red Army, commissioned by Trotsky, reprinted in Russia
By Clara Weiss, 26 June 2019
The reprint makes available, after almost 100 years, an important historical document whose fate reflects the violent repression by Stalinism of genuine Marxist thought and politics, represented within the Soviet Union by Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition.
Miniseries about the 1986 nuclear disaster
HBO’s Chernobyl: The Soviet working class pays for the crimes of Stalinism
By Andrea Peters, 15 June 2019
Director Johan Renck and scriptwriter Craig Mazin capture the reality of the explosion that tore open the facility’s nuclear reactor core and spewed radioactive material over large swathes of the western USSR and Europe.
Putin signs Russian internet censorship bills into law
By Clara Weiss, 22 March 2019
The two laws are part of an international campaign by the ruling class to crack down on the internet.
Prazdnik (Holiday): Film about social inequality in Russia attracts mass audience
By Clara Weiss, 18 February 2019
The film is a poignant indictment of social inequality and has been subject to a campaign of Russian government censorship.
Vadim Rogovin and the sociology of Stalinism
By Andrea Peters, 25 September 2018
Rogovin insisted that without understanding the Terror—its origins and its consequences—it was impossible to make sense of either the nature of Soviet society or the ultimate dissolution of the USSR at the hands of the Communist Party during the final decade of the 20th century. For him, 1936–1938 and 1989–1991 were indissolubly connected periods of Soviet history. The restoration of capitalism demanded new falsifications of Soviet history.
New documents on Yeltsin-Clinton conversations further expose US “meddling” in Russian politics
By Clara Weiss, 22 September 2018
The Clinton Foundation has released hundreds of pages of documents about conversations between US president Bill Clinton and Russian president Boris Yeltsin.
Preface to the Russian edition of In Defense of Leon Trotsky
By Vladimir Volkov, 2 August 2018
Understanding the role Leon Trotsky played in the twentieth century is fundamental to the revival of the heritage of Marxism in the countries of the former Soviet Union, and to the fight to build the International Committee of the Fourth International.
Russian Stalinists, pseudo-left close ranks against opposition to pension cuts
By Clara Weiss, 28 July 2018
Putin has promised since 2005 not to cut pensions and is plummeting in the polls, amid growing social anger in the working class.
The Case of Sobchak: A film by, about and for the Russian oligarchy
By Clara Weiss, 6 July 2018
The documentary amounts to an appeal to the Kremlin, Washington and the liberal intelligentsia, to make peace and negotiate an orderly transition from the Putin presidency.
Capitalist restoration in Russia: A balance sheet
Part 4: The Kuzbass today
By Clara Weiss, 4 May 2018
This series reviews the lessons of the Soviet miners’ strike of 1989 and capitalist restoration in Russia.
Capitalist restoration in Russia: A balance sheet
Part 3
By Clara Weiss, 3 May 2018
This series reviews the lessons of the Soviet miners’ strike of 1989 and capitalist restoration in Russia.
Capitalist restoration in Russia: A balance sheet
Part 2: What happened to the miners’ strike
By Clara Weiss, 2 May 2018
This series reviews the lessons of the Soviet miners’ strike of 1989 and capitalist restoration in Russia.
Capitalist restoration in Russia: A balance sheet
By Clara Weiss, 1 May 2018
This article reviews the lessons of the Soviet miners’ strike of 1989 and capitalist restoration in Russia.
Britain piles on lies to shore up Skripal poisoning accusations against Russia
By Robert Stevens, 9 April 2018
Faced with a devastating exposure of the May government’s concoctions, within the space of a month, the British media is in damage limitation mode.
Yulia Skripal “improving rapidly”: The unravelling of the Russian Novichok narrative
By Chris Marsden, 31 March 2018
The recovery of Yulia Skripal after having been supposedly poisoned by a “military-grade” nerve agent is just one of the innumerable inconsistencies and contradictions in London’s case against Russia.
The poisoning of Skripal and the campaign against Russia
By Bill Van Auken, 28 March 2018
From the Zinoviev Letter of 1924 to the alleged poisoning of a double agent in the UK, both US and British intelligence have a long record of employing lies to justify war and reaction.
Russia: Protests against officials erupt in wake of Kemerovo fire
By Clara Weiss, 28 March 2018
The horrific fire at the Kemerovo “Winter Cherry” shopping mall and entertainment center on March 25 has brought social and political tensions in Russia to a boiling point.
Russian economy stagnates as presidential election approaches
By Andrea Peters, 10 March 2018
Russians will head to the polls on March 18, as the Kremlin touts an economic recovery that leaves millions behind.
Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin: A fatally ill-conceived “black comedy”
By David Walsh, 9 March 2018
Ianucci’s new film about the demise of the gravedigger of the Russian Revolution is not so much maliciously anticommunist as it is, above all, historically clueless.
Putin’s state of the nation speech highlights crisis of Russian oligarchy
By Clara Weiss, 6 March 2018
Menaced by US imperialism and gripped by economic crisis, the Russian state headed by Putin offers no solution to the historic impasse facing the country.
Nothing learned from Auschwitz
By Johannes Stern, 6 February 2018
Just a cursory glance at the politicians assembled in the German parliament to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz makes clear the same ruling class that made Hitler chancellor 85 years ago is returning to its infamous traditions.
Russia’s presidential election campaign unfolds amid rising social discontent
By Clara Weiss, 23 January 2018
A recent commentary in the Gazeta.Ru warned that the kind of working class unrest that shook Iran might also easily occur in Russia.
What does Russian “opposition leader” Alexei Navalny represent?
By Clara Weiss, 9 January 2018
There is a stark disjuncture between the overwhelming support that Navalny receives from the Western media and his near total lack of popularity in Russia itself.
Russia: Siberian shoe factory fire kills 10 workers
By Clara Weiss, 5 January 2018
The tragedy is only the latest in a series of workplace accidents and fires which take the lives of at least 15,000 workers in Russia every year.
Remarkable collection of early Soviet films on DVD: The New Man—Awakening and Everyday Life in Revolutionary Russia
By Bernd Reinhardt, 29 December 2017
A notable collection of early Soviet films has been released on DVD in Germany to coincide with the centenary of the October Revolution.
Trump authorizes $41.5 million sale of lethal US weaponry to Ukraine
By Niles Niemuth, 23 December 2017
The decision to allow Kiev to purchase “lethal defensive weapons” portends an escalation in the nearly four-year-old war against pro-Russian separatists entrenched in the country’s eastern provinces.
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.
Kremlin greets centenary of the October Revolution with fear and hostility
By Clara Weiss, 13 November 2017
Frightened of the emergence of a revolutionary movement of the working class, the Russian ruling elite has responded to the 100th anniversary of 1917 by falsifying the struggle for socialism and attacking the revolution from the far-right.
This week in the Russian Revolution
November 13-19: Soviet power spreads through Russia
13 November 2017
In the aftermath of the October insurrection in Petrograd, Soviet power spreads through Russia. Meanwhile, matters come to a head with the “moderate” wing of the Bolshevik leadership, which adheres to a national perspective oriented towards building a coalition government.
NATO summit escalates preparation for war with Russia
By Alex Lantier, 10 November 2017
NATO is planning for a major land war in Europe against Russia, which fields the world’s second-largest nuclear arsenal after the United States.
NATO intensifies its preparations for war with Russia
By Philipp Frisch, 7 November 2017
Against the backdrop of US aggression against North Korea, NATO is intensifying its preparations for war with Russia, the world’s second largest nuclear power.
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.
WSWS Arts Editor David Walsh in Chicago on October 24
Public meeting: What the Russian Revolution meant for modern art and culture
19 October 2017
The Russian Revolution, the most significant event of the 20th century, had the most profound implications for art and culture, not only in Russia but worldwide.
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.
When Will the Wretched Slaughter End?
By Leon Trotsky, 25 September 2017
This pamphlet was printed as separate articles in the newspaper Rabochii (Worker), numbers 10-12 (September 1-2 and 14-15).
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)
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.
Massive fire in Rostov, Russia destroys 123 houses
By Clara Weiss, 29 August 2017
Residents said they believe the fire was allowed to burn out of control with the aim of driving out impoverished residents in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
New from Mehring Books
Why Study the Russian Revolution?
Volume I: The February Revolution and the Development of Bolshevik Strategy
28 August 2017
One hundred years after the Russian Revolution, the events of 1917, their consequences and their lessons retain a burning contemporary relevance.
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.
Putin confirms expulsion of US diplomats from Russia
By Nick Beams, 31 July 2017
Speaking Sunday on state television, Putin indicated that the sanctions and Trump’s decision not to block the legislation represented a tipping point in relations with the US.
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.
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.
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.
Professor Sean McMeekin and the construction of a historical lie (Part II)
By David North, 10 July 2017
Professor Sean McMeekin’s claim that Lenin was an agent of German imperialism is based on the Bard College academic’s deliberate misrepresentation of historical research debunking the notorious myth of “German Gold.”
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.”
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
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.
From the archives of the Revolution
Speech at an Emergency Session of the Petrograd Soviet on the Question of Kronstadt
By Leon Trotsky, 10 June 2017
This speech was delivered by Trotsky at an emergency session of the Petrograd Soviet dealing with attacks by the Provisional Government against the increasingly restive sailors at the Kronstadt naval base.
This week in the Russian Revolution
June 5-11: Horror on the Western Front
5 June 2017
The Great War, which brought forth the Russian Revolution, continues to rage. In one moment on the Western Front, some 10,000 men and boys are killed or buried alive when the British detonate explosives under German trenches at Messines.
This week in the Russian Revolution
May 29 – June 4: Lenin and Trotsky move toward unity as calls for Soviet power spread
29 May 2017
Lenin and Trotsky have been brought together politically by the imperialist world war and the course of the Russian Revolution. Both insist on the transfer of power to the Soviets and for a final break with the nationalist and opportunist socialist tendencies.
This week in the Russian Revolution
May 22-28: Global class struggle intensifies
22 May 2017
The revolution in Russia gives the signal to workers everywhere, but the gathering revolt is met with repression by the capitalist state and treachery by parties and unions claiming to represent workers.
From the archives of the Russian Revolution
Speech at a session of the Petrograd Soviet
By Leon Trotsky, 19 May 2017
This is a new translation of an abridged version of Trotsky’s speech before the Petrograd Soviet on May 18, 1917, in which Trotsky opposed the new coalition government formed with the support of the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries.
One hundred years after the Russian Revolution
Report documents record levels of social inequality in Russia
By Clara Weiss, 15 May 2017
With the exception of a small and stunningly wealthy layer of oligarchs and a narrow upper-middle class, the restoration of capitalism has produced a disaster for the Russian population.
This week in the Russian Revolution
May 15-21: Trotsky arrives in Petrograd
15 May 2017
Trotsky’s arrival is electrifying, providing a tremendous boost to the struggle being waged by Lenin and the Bolsheviks against the collaborationist, defensist, and opportunist forces that are currently in the Soviet’s majority.
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: The February Revolution
20 April 2017
Joseph Kishore, National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States, will be delivering the lecture on Saturday, April 22 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Register for the series at wsws.org/1917.
Russian truckers’ strike enters third week amid police crackdown
By Clara Weiss, 10 April 2017
Finding support among broad layers of Russia’s impoverished population, the strike reflects the social tensions building up under conditions of deepening economic and political crisis.
David North introduces Tsar to Lenin film screening in Detroit
By Zac Corrigan, 7 April 2017
The documentary film of the Russian Revolution was screened by the IYSSE at Wayne State University.
Lecture on the centenary of the Russian Revolution
The Legacy of 1905 and the Strategy of the Russian Revolution
By Fred Williams, 7 April 2017
This is an edited version of a lecture delivered live March 25 on the origins and significance of the Russian Revolution of 1905. To register for the lecture series, visit wsws.org/1917.
Series on the centenary of the Russian Revolution
Online lecture TODAY: “World War and Revolution: 1914-1917”
3 April 2017
Nick Beams, leading authority on the Marxist theory of imperialism, will be delivering the lecture on Saturday, April 8 at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Register for the series at wsws.org/1917.
Online lecture today: “The Legacy of 1905 and the Strategy of the Russian Revolution”
Register for the series today at wsws.org/1917
25 March 2017
Fred Williams, translator of many Russian-language works of history and literature, will speak on the Russian revolution of 1905, the first great revolutionary upheaval of the 20th century.
Writings of Trotsky from 1917
Lessons of the Great Year: 9 January 1905–9 January 1917
By Leon Trotsky, 24 March 2017
The WSWS is publishing new translations of Trotsky’s writings from 1917. In many cases, these articles are now in English for the first time. In this article from January 1917, Trotsky writes about the lessons of the Revolution of 1905.
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.
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.”
The Legacy of 1905 and the Strategy of the Russian Revolution
Second online lecture on centenary of the Russian Revolution to be held this Saturday
18 March 2017
Fred Williams, translator of many Russian-language works of history and literature, will speak on the Russian revolution of 1905, the first great revolutionary upheaval of the twentieth century.
Writings of Trotsky from 1917
Two Faces (Internal Forces of the Russian Revolution)
By Leon Trotsky, 18 March 2017
In this article, Trotsky writes, “The masses have rebelled with demands for bread and peace. The appearance in power of a few liberals has neither fed the starving nor healed anyone’s wounds.”
Writings of Trotsky from 1917
The Growing Conflict
By Leon Trotsky, 18 March 2017
In this article, Trotsky writes, “An open conflict between the forces of the revolution, headed by the urban proletariat, and the anti-revolutionary liberal bourgeoisie, temporarily in power, is absolutely inevitable.”
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.”
Revolution: New Art for a New World—A careless, unserious treatment of Russian Revolutionary art
By Joanne Laurier and David Walsh, 17 March 2017
British filmmaker Margy Kinmonth is out of her depth in her documentary about Russian avant-garde art.
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.
Why Study the Russian Revolution?
By David North, 13 March 2017
We are publishing here the text of a lecture delivered Saturday, March 11 by David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site. This is the first 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.
Registrations from throughout the world for Russian Revolution centenary online lectures
Workers and students in India express strong support
By Sasi Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 10 March 2017
People from more than 55 countries have signed up to participate in the ICFI’s online lecture series, which begins on March 11 with a lecture by David North, “Why Study the Russian Revolution?”
“We are still fighting the same things they fought out 100 years ago”
Registrations from throughout the world as interest in Russian Revolution centenary lectures grows
7 March 2017
Individuals from more than 50 countries have registered to participate in the International Committee of the Fourth International’s online lecture series that begins on March 11.
Russian revolutionary art exhibition in London excises Trotsky—and, more generally, historical truth
Revolution: Russian Art 1917–1932
By Paul Mitchell, 25 February 2017
Curator Natalia Murray’s aim in the Royal Academy exhibition is to pour scorn on and discredit the 1917 October Revolution and to combat the contemporary impact of the works it inspired.
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