revolutions
Articles about political and social revolutions.
Theses on the Paris Commune - Situationist International
"...it is time we examine the Commune not just as an outmoded example of revolutionary primitivism, all of whose mistakes can easily be overcome, but as a positive experiment whose whole truth has yet to be rediscovered and fulfilled."
The Commune: Paris 1871 - Solidarity
P. Guillaume and M. Grainger
Solidarity Pamphlet 35
I. THE COMMUNE... FROM MARX TO TROTSKY.
'Each time we study the history of the Commune we see something new in it, thanks to the experiences gained, in later revolutionary struggles...' Thus wrote Trotsky in 1921, in his preface to a book by Tales[1] which was to become basic reading for a whole generation of French revolutionaries.
Industrial Collectivisation during the Spanish Revolution - Deirdre Hogan
Although it was in the countryside where the most far-reaching
anarchist socialisation took place, the revolution took place in the
cities and the towns too. At that time in Spain almost 2 million out
of a total population of 24 million worked in industry, 70% of which
was concentrated in one area - Catalonia. There, within hours of the
A soldier returns - letter from an American fighter in the Durruti Column
A letter from an American trade unionist and member of the revolutionary union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) about his experiences as a fighter in the Spanish Civil War and Revolution of 1936-9 in the International section of the anarchist Durruti Column.
The following letter was published in the paper of the American IWW's paper, One Big Union Monthly in 1937.
Original introduction
A Day Mournful and Overcast... An account of the Iron Column
A personal account of a liberated prisoner's experience as a fighter during the Spanish Civil War and Revolution of 1936-9 in the anarchist militia unit called the Iron Column prior to its incorporation into the Communist-run Republican army.
Introduction
"An alliance concluded between two different parties turns to the advantage of the more reactionary of the two; this alliance necessarily enfeebles the more progressive party by diminishing and distorting its programme." - Michael Bakunin.
Anarchists in the Russian Revolution - Paul Avrich
The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution, Paul Avrich. We present this in PDF format (270kb) but hope to convert it to text in the near future.
Why past revolutionary movements have failed
Anton Pannekoek, from "Living Marxism" Vol. 5, # 2 - Fall 1940.
Thirty years ago every socialist was convinced that the approaching war of the great capitalist powers would mean the final catastrophe of capitalism and would be succeeded by the proletarian revolution. Even when the war did break out and the socialist and labor movement collapsed as a revolutionary factor, the hopes of the revolutionary workers ran high.
When Insurrections Die - Gilles Dauvé
Gilles Dauvé's pamphlet on the on the failures of the Russian, Spanish and German Revolutions, and the rise of fascism in Europe.
Brest-Litovsk, 1917 and 1939
"If the Russian Revolution becomes the signal for a proletarian revolution in the West, so that both complement each other, the present Russian common ownership of land may serve as the starting point for a communist development."
The Civil War in France - Karl Marx
Karl Marx's contemporary account of the Paris Commune, placing it in context fo the wider events in France at the time. The Paris Commune significantly changed Marx's ideas about the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat", and his support for it's organisation structures suggests a different trajectory of revolutionary organisation to the "Marxist" revolutions in the 20th Century.
The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State - Mikhail Bakunin
The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State
by Mikhail Bakunin 1814-1876
First Published in 1871 Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY
