USSR
The Mystery of ABC of Communism (of Bukharin and Preobrazensky)
An academic article challenging the anti-bolshevik thesis that the bolshevik policies implemented in war communism period was an indication of their "innate" stalinism. Presenting his case on a reading of ABC of Communism, Lih questions the validity of bias against the Bolsheviks based on the idea that, they were already trying to establish state capitalism with War Communism and they were confusing state capitalism with socialism.
Stalin: Why and How - Boris Souvarine
Souvarine describes Stalin's path of ascent to power as master of Party and State.
As Party Secretary, Stalin assumed control over the Orgraspred and Uchraspred, organs which allocated Party posts throughout the USSR and which dictated the composition of conferences and congresses (including those where his Party rivals, such as Trotsky, were defeated);
Lamanov, Anatoli Nikolaevich 1889-1921
A short biography of Anatoli Lamanov, the voice and ideologist of the Kronstadt Revolt
Anatoli Lamanov was born on July 3rd 1889. His father was Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai P.
The Fomin mutiny on the Don, 1920-1922
The red Cossack who led a revolt against the Bolsheviks in the Don region
Iakov Efimovich Fomin was born in 1885 in the Cossack hamlet of Rubezhnoe in Elenskaia stanitsa in the Upper Don district (stanitsas were the village units of the Cossacks, primary units in political and economic administration). He served in an elite Don Cossack unit from 1906. He is described as being six feet tall with a red beard.
1921: The Maslakov mutiny and the Makhnovists on the Don
An account of the Maslakov mutiny in the Red Army which threw the Bolsheviks into consternation.
“ Beside me on the big bay horse raced Brigade Commander Gregory Maslakov. This was a man of great physical strength and desperate courage. There were in his behaviour major shortcomings, but courage in battle, the ability to win over the soldiers by personal example to achieve victory atoned for them.” Budyenny’s Memoirs
The class nature of sanctions - Wildcat
Wildcat UK show how international sanctions imposed on former-Yugoslavian countries during the Yugoslav wars acted as attacks on the living conditions of the working class.
International trade sanctions imposed against various states in recent years can be roughly divided into two categories:
- Token sanctions like those imposed on South Africa in the 1980s. The function of these is more diplomatic than economic.
Ten years since the establishment of the State of Kazakhstan
A look at how capitalist restructuring has effected class struggle in Kazakhstan, following the collapse of the USSR.
“My children, soon I will have to join Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. When I’m with them you’ll have to carry on my struggle.” (Ho Chi Minh to young partisans on death)
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.
A requiem for nationalisation
The current world crisis of capitalism is provoking a wave of proletarian protests, and will inevitably provoke them in the future. In the CIS (ex-USSR), the first serious sign of things to come was the workers’ revolt at the Kherson machine-building factory this February. By now it is clear that the reactionary Party of Regions has subdued the workers’ struggle, and it is time to analyse the reasons behind this defeat. We have to learn from mistakes, and in order to save the approaching future struggles in the CIS and the world from a similar fate, we must pick out the key factors in the defeat.
A Requiem for Nationalisation
1970-71: Uprising in Poland
A short history of the 1970-71 uprising by workers in Poland which saw strikes and occupations at workplaces across the country. Although suffering savage repression, the uprising forced the government to back down over plans to increase prices of basic consumer goods.
On the morning of December 14 1970, thousands of workers from the Gdansk shipyards downed tools and began marching into the city. Their objective was the local regional office of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), the party that had ruled the People's Republic of Poland since 1952. The protestors were met by police units and fighting between the two sides lasted into the evening.
