Maurice Brinton

Articles by and about Maurice Brinton, the pseudonym of Chris Pallis, British libertarian socialist, prominent neurologist and member of Solidarity.

Review - For Workers Power by Maurice Brinton - Red and Black Notes

Red and Black Notes review of For Workers' Power - The Selected Writings of Maurice Brinton.

Edited by David Goodway

Oakland: AK Press, 2004.

Maurice Brinton - 1922-2005 - Red and Black Notes obituary

Red and Black Notes Obituary of British libertarian socialist Maurice Brinton.

I never met nor had any direct contact with Maurice Brinton; however, it's fair to say that without him and the Solidarity group, there might not be a Red & Black Notes. If that sounds overly dramatic, let me justify it.

Belgian general strike diary, 1960 - Maurice Brinton

One of the mines on strike in 1960-61

Maurice Brinton's vivid and captivating first hand account of the massive general strike in Belgium in 1960-61 against a new law "loi unique" to reduce workers' purchasing power.

THE BELGIAN GENERAL STRIKE: DIARY DECEMBER 28-31, 1960

THE BACKGROUND

The malaise on the left - Maurice Brinton

Among thinking socialists there is a deep malaise. The purpose of this article is to explore the roots of this malaise, and to show that they lie in the transformations of class society itself. Over the last few decades - and in many different areas - established society has itself brought about the number of the things that the revolutionaries of yesterday were demanding. This has happened in relation to economic attitudes, in relation to certain forms of social organisation, and in relation to various aspects of the personal and sexual revolutions. When this adaptation in fact benefits established society, it is legitimate to refer to it as "recuperation". This article seeks to start a discussion on the limits of recuperation.

Capitalism and socialism - Maurice Brinton

Labour Party poster, 1945.

Maurice Brinton of Solidarity outlines his view of traditional socialists, and libertarian socialists.

Capitalism and socialism
by Maurice Brinton
from Solidarity, V, 6 (December 1968)

Introduction

Maurice Brinton's introduction to Phil Mailer's "Portugal - The Impossible Revolution?"

[b]Introduction[/b]

Suicide for Socialism? - Brinton on the Jonestown massacre, 1978

Mass death "for socialism": Jonestown

Maurice Brinton's analysis of the bizarre mass suicide of a socialist cult led by American Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana, which discusses the dynamics of political sects in general.

'We're gonna die for the revolution. We're gonna die to expose this racist and fascist society.

Paris: May 1968 - Maurice Brinton's diary

Paris '68

A vivid and exciting eyewitness diary by Maurice Brinton (the writing pseudonym of Chris Pallis) of Solidarity on the events in Paris in May 1968.

Despite the optimism of the time, however, Brinton does not get too swept up in the events, and unlike some accounts of the time, manages to keep his views firmly rooted in reality.

Paris:May 1968
First edition published by Solidarity, June 1968 This edition published jointly by Dark Star Press and Rebel Press, 1986

Introduction

The Irrational in Politics - Maurice Brinton

Wilhelm Reich.

The Irrational in Politics

Maurice Brinton, 1970

Propaganda and policemen, prisons and schools, traditional values and traditional morality all serve to reinforce the power of the few and to convince or coerce the many into acceptance of a brutal, degrading and irrational system.

(AS WE SEE IT - Solidarity)

N.B. There are some patriarchal and offensive comments in this essay.

The Bolsheviks and workers' control: the state and counter-revolution - Maurice Brinton

Leading Bolsheviks Lenin and Trotsky

A remarkable pamphlet by Maurice Brinton exposing the struggle that took place over the running of workplaces between workers and the new state in the Russian Revolution.

In doing so not only does it demolish the romantic Leninist 'history' of the relationship between the working class and their party during these years (1917 - 21) but it also provides a backbone to understanding why the Russian revolution failed in the way it did.

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