Russian Revolution
Articles about the Russian Revolution of 1917 to 1921, and participants thereof.
You are called to the war - Sylvia Pankhurst
Article in Workers' Dreadnought opposing the involvement of the Allied nations in the Russian Civil War.
Wake up! Wake up! Oh, sleepy British people! The new war is in full blast, and you are called to fight in it; you cannot escape; you must take part!
The Lenin revolution: what it means to democracy - Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst announces the Russian Revolution and discusses its relevance to the situation in Britain.
'Anarchy in Russia', say the newsagents' placards. The capitalist newspapers denounce the latest Russian Revolution in unmeasured terms, and even the working men and women in the street too often echo their angry denunciations.
Capitalism or communism for Russia? - Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst discusses how the implementation of the New Economic Policy had merely intensified, rather than abolished, capitalism in early 1920s Russia.
The appeal which we publish on our front page from the Workers' Group of Russia, reveals the struggle still continuing there between the opposing ideals of capitalism and communism. Capitalism is still in the ascendant. In Russia, the cue of its protagonists is no longer to sing the praises of private enterprise and the right of every man to do as he likes with his own.
Borisov, Sergei Makarovich, aka Sasha Ciorniyi, Makar Sliahovsky, Piotr, Seeii, 1884-1910
A short biography of Sergei Borisov, organiser of anarchist combat groups in south Russia and the Ukraine
Sergei Makarovich Borisov was born in Kharkov on 4th of October 1884 into a family of workers. At the age of 16 he started working as a turner and then as a fitter in a Kharkov factory. In 1901 he joined a social-democratic circle. In summer 1904 he left the Social Democrats to join the Odessa Group of Anarchist Communists and soon became a leading member.
The Role of the Soviets in Russia's Bourgeois Revolution - The Point of View of Julius Martov
Questions the assumption that the form of working class organisation to overthrow capitalism and establish socialism has been found in the workers' "soviets" or councils such as those that appeared during the Russian revolution. Looks at Martov's work "The State and the Socialist Revolution".
This article originally appeared in the French political journal, <i>Economies et societes, cahiers de l'ISMEA</i>, (Paris, serie S, Number 18, April-May 1976)
The basic principle defended by Marx throughout his forty years of socialist activity can be summed up in the clause of the General Rules of the First International that "the emancipation of the working class must be conquered by the working classes themselves".
Taratuta, Olga Ilyinichna 1876 (?)-1938 (real name Elka Golda Elievna Ruvinskaia, aka Babushka ,Valia, Tania, D.Basist
A short biography of Olga Taratuta the “grandmother” of the Russian anarchist movement and a founder of the Anarchist Black Cross
“The Kharkov comrades, with the heroic personality of Olga Taratuta at their head, had all served the Revolution, fought on its fronts, endured punishment from the Whites, persecution and imprisonment by the Bolsheviki. Nothing had daunted their revolutionary ardour and anarchist faith.” Living My Life, Emma Goldman
Zhuk, Iustin Petrovich 1887-1919
A short biography of Iustin Zhuk, an heroic figure of Russian anarchism
“giant Zhuk, a man with the physique of a bogatyr”. Zinoviev in article on Pravda front page. (Bogatyr- a hero from Russian folk epics)
" Deeds, not words" Zhuk
Russian Revolution 1917 - further reading guide
Libcom's guide to further reading around the subject of the Russian revolution and counter-revolution of 1917 to 1921.
The Russian Revolution and Civil War, 1917-21 (WARNING: No work takes a more ideological and manufactured quality than histories of the Russian Revolution.
Zadov, Lev Nikolaevich aka Zinkovsky aka Leva aka Levka the Bandit 1893-1938
Short biography of Lev Zadov, anarchist communist, metalworker and (in)famous organiser of the Makhnovist intelligence corps.
Lev Zadov was born on April 11th 1893 in the small Jewish farming settlement of Veselaya in southern Ukraine. Around 1898-1900 his family fell on hard times and moved to Yuzovka, in the Donetsk region, where his father worked as a coachman.
Belash, Viktor Fedorovich aka Bilash 1893-1938
A short biography of Viktor Belash. Ukrainian anarchist communist, railway worker, and brilliant strategist of the Makhnovist movement.
Viktor Belash was born in 1893 in the village of Novospasovka (Ukrainian form is Novospasivka) in southern Ukraine. Novospasovka was also the home of other anarchists who later participated in the Makhnovist movement like Vassili Kurilenko and Vdovichenko. He received an elementary education and worked as a railway engineer. He was already an anarchist communist in 1908 at the age of fifteen.
