Weekly suffragette and later left-wing communist newspaper founded by Sylvia Pankhurst, first appearing as the Woman's Dreadnought in March 1914 and then as the Workers' Dreadnought in July 1917. Among other major historical events, the Dreadnought captured the outbreak of revolution in Russia and briefly supported the Bolsheviks/Russian Communist Party before the anti-working-class nature of the latter became more apparent to Pankhurst. Over time, the paper then took a more critical stance towards Lenin and the so-called "workers' state" in Russia, as evidenced by Pankhurst's open letter to Lenin published in November 1922.
The Workers' Dreadnought
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 18 - 28 July 1917)
The 28 July 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 18).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 19 - 4 August 1917)
The 4 August 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 19).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 20 - 11 August 1917)
The 11 August 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 20).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 21 - 18 August 1917)
The 18 August 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 21).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 22 - 25 August 1917)
The 25 August 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 22).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 23 - 1 September 1917)
The 1 September 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 23).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 24 - 8 September 1917)
The 8 September 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 24).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 25 - 15 September 1917)
The 15 September 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 25).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 26 - 22 September 1917)
The 22 September 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 26).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 27 - 29 September 1917)
The 29 September 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 27).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 29 - 13 October 1917)
The 13 October 1917 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 29).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 30 - 20 October 1917)
Including: WW1, soldiers ask what they are fighting for, cost of living increases, federation notes, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 31 - 27 October 1917)
Including: Sylvia Pankhurst on the Labour Party, Parliament as we see it, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 32 - 3 November 1917)
Including: Dreadnought police raid discussed in Parliament, Sylvia Pankhurst on WWI soldiers, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 33 - 10 November 1917)
Including: food price increases and food control, women in Dublin, peace talks in parliament, Ceylon, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 34 - 17 November 1917)
Including: a military prisoner writes, Dreadnought raided again, Sylvia Pankhurst on the Bolshevik revolution, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 35 - 24 November 1917)
Including: IWW member jailed in Australia, women win the vote in New York state, Sylvia Pankhurst on WW1 weariness, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 36 - 1 December 1917)
Including: conditions in Wormwood Scrubs prison, Labour Party conference, Sylvia Pankhurst on poverty and food, advert for Workers Suffrage Federation "Old Cockney Fair", etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 37 - 8 December 1917)
Including: political vs industrial action, Russia and WW1 by Sylvia Pankhurst, a miner's wife writes, "franchise bill" seeks removal of votes for conscientious objectors and impoverished women, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 39 - 22 December 1917)
Including: Replies to George Bernard Shaw's article on referendums, the franchise bill, the labour movement seeks continuation of war, old cockney fair review, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 40 - 29 December 1917)
Including: P.J. Dollan on life in prison, on not being a conscientious objector, Sylvia Pankhurst on imperialism, suggestions for 1918, Dr. Montessori and her educational principles, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 4 No. 48 - 23 February 1918)
Including: socialists and the war, National Labour Press raided, the schooling of the future by Sylvia Pankhurst, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 1 - 30 March 1918)
Including: Irish labour movement, workplace struggle notes, John Reed's account of the Russian revolution, deaths of conscientious objectors in prison, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 2 - 6 April 1918)
Including: engineers threaten to strike over conscription, Sinn Fein, Irish democracy, news, commentary etc.
Attachments
Comments
A short biography of May O'Callaghan, author of the Sinn Fein article enclosed within this Number:
Callaghan was born in Wexford. She studied Modern Languages at the University of Vienna and between 1901 and 1914 taught English and gave lectures on the Irish Literary Revival.
In 1916 she was writing letters on behalf of East London Federation of Suffragettes. This was a Socialist suffragette organisation that broke away from Women's Social and Political Union.
Along with Nellie Cohen (sister of Rose Cohen), between 1919 and 1921 she ran the office of the People's Russian Information Bureau (established by Sylvia Pankhurst). She was also working as the sub-editor of the Workers' Dreadnought at this time. In 1919 the Communist Party (British Section of the Third International) was founded in the flat that she shared with Nellie Cohen and Daisy Lansbury.
In 1924 she travelled to Moscow where she stayed until 1928 and worked in the Translation Section of the Comintern Press Department.
In other words, she stood firmly in the authoritarian camp.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 3 - 13 April 1918)
Including: Montessori education principles, shop steward movement in France, Sylvia Pankhurst on socialists and the war, oppositon to anti- sex worker legislation, Ireland, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 4 - 20 April 1918)
Including: "the longer the war drags on the greater is the danger that it may end with a capitalist peace", the betrayal of Ireland, National Workers' Committee Conference, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 5 - 27 April 1918)
Including: Serbian socialists and WW1, Sylvia Pankhurst on trade unions vs guild socialism, police seize issues of Dreadnought, news, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 6 - 4 May 1918)
Marx centenary issue, including: Marx in Fleet Street by Silvio Corio, abolition of the House of Lords by Sylvia Pankhurst, intellectual unionism, French working women, the Society of Nations by Charles Rappoport, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 7 - 11 May 1918)
Including: Marx in Fleet Street continued, Sylvia Pankhurst on Ireland & WW1, popular kitchens in Milan, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 8 - 18 May 1918)
Including: Thomas Mooney sentenced to death in San Francisco, Sylvia Pankhurst on evil and war, workshop notes, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 9 - 25 May 1918)
Including: dockers vs admiralty, Sylvia Pankhurst on Ireland and Russia, Stefan Zweig on the tower of Babel, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 10 - 1 June 1918)
Including: The Balkan states and the great powers, UK banking reform, Sylvia Pankhurst on empire and nationality (Ireland and Russia), Industrial Reconstruction Council, resolutions of WSF conference, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 11 - 8 June 1918)
Including: Russia, Sylvia Pankhurst on women and WW1, critique of Industrial Reconstruction Committee, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 12 - 15 June 1918)
Including: proletarian motherhood, Karl Marx and Daniel De Leon, Sylvia Pankhurst on WW1 and Russia, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 13 - 22 June 1918)
Including: Women's Co-Operative Guild congress in Bradford, international news, Sylvia Pankhurst and John Reed on revolutionary armies in Russia, workplace deathrates, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 14 - 29 June 1918)
Including: starvation in Finland, Bolshevik Russia, Japan and China, Sylvia Pankhurst on post-war industrial reconstruction, "And shall Tom Mooney Die?" song, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 15 - 6 July 1918)
Including: Labour Party conference (including a motion from Sylvia Pankhurst for Labour members to withdraw from government), rip off pricing for food in the East End, Tom Mooney sentenced to death, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 16 - 6 July 1918)
Including: report on aeroplane workers strike, telegrams from Russia, Sylvia Pankhurst on parliament and the elderly in the East End, international news, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 17 - 20 July 1918)
Including: Central European socialists correspond on WW1, Finnish socialists massacred, parliamentary updates, aeroplane workers strike ends, shop stewards vs the Industrial League, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 18 - 27 July 1918)
Including: Lenin speech, ill-treatment of conscientious objectors in Wakefield, Lansdowne Labour Committee critique by Sylvia Pankhurst, socialist education, international and UK news, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 19 - 3 August 1918)
Including: war munition workers strikes, Sylvia Pankhurst on socialism in Russia, socialist education and Montessori schooling, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 20 - 10 August 1918)
Including: Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, international news, Sylvia Pankhurst on land owners and the war, socialist education and The New School, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 21 - 17 August 1918)
Including: awful conditions in Belfast prison, Sylvia Pankhurst on the Brest Litovsk Treaty, women munition workers, socialist education: The New School continued from previous issue, etc.
Attachments
Comments
Ms Pankhurst's words on the betrayal of revolution by the Social Democrats of Russia are so blurred as to be unreadable.
The PDF is readable I think? For some reason the screenshots I take of the first pages are a bit blurry. Not sure what to do about that.
Opened it in a different Reader and it is clear now.
The words that resonate most today are those of Lloyd George:
The people who made the war for the purpose for which they made it are still there prosecuting the same sinister purpose.
No words to be read here from Comrade Pankhurst on the role of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in betraying proletarian revolution worldwide.
Maybe this AI thing is useful after all:
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is often seen as a betrayal of the proletarian revolution worldwide because it forced the fledgling Soviet government to cede vast territories to Germany, essentially abandoning revolutionary movements in those regions and undermining the idea of international solidarity among working classes, ultimately fuelling scepticism about the Bolsheviks' commitment to global revolution.
The Thumbnail looks better, Fozzie.
OK good to know, thanks. It’s unnerving posting some of these with all the optimism about Russia…
For her saving grace, Sylvia at least saw the errors of her ways.
To Lenin, as representing the Russian Communist Party and the Russian Soviet Government.
We address you as representative of the Russian Soviet Government and the Russian Communist Party. With deep regret we have observed you hauling down the flag of Communism and abandoning the cause of the emancipation of the workers. With profound sorrow we have watched the development of your policy of making peace with Capitalism and reaction.
It’s unnerving posting some of these with all the optimism about Russia…
I had noticed that as well; the Dreadnought's position on Russia/Lenin certainly evolved over time. To be fair though, a lot of anarchists (e.g. Berkman and Goldman) were also initially optimistic about the Bolsheviks' coming to power. The Dreadnought captured events as they unfolded and contains a lot of useful primary sources that haven't been published elsewhere (e.g. the manifesto of the Unemployed Workers' Organisation), which is why the paper is worth a read.
Yes exactly adri, the discomfort is a salutory reminder that life and history is a messy business...
why the paper is worth a read.
As a contrast between the Marxist position and what Marx would have made of the takeover of bourgeois state power by the former Social Democratic Labour Party (excuse if that is not the correct title of the "Bolsheviks"), the paper is useful.
But the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes.
The centralised state power, with its ubiquitous organs of standing army, police, bureaucracy, clergy, and judicature—organs wrought after the plan of a systematic and hierarchic division of labour... serving nascent middle class society...
Thinking about the already bourgeois nature of Imperial Russia, the country was state capitalist a long time before the Marxists coined the phrase:
'The [pre-Revolutionary] Russian government also participated directly in the economy, buying almost two-thirds of the country's metallurgical production in 1899. The government also owned vast tracts of land, numerous mines and oil fields, and extensive forests.'
Thank you, adri, for directing us to the Unemployed Workers' Organisation's Manifesto. We should note, and contrast, the economistic plea of these Marxists, i.e. social-democrats, for "Abolition of the Wage System" as a means of addressing the Unemployment Problem, with the invariant position of the communist party, dictatorship by the proletariat for the abolition of wage labour itself.
Fozzie wrote: history is a messy business
In what sense is history messy? To the extent that history is written by the victor? That is why someone has to shine the light of truth, to be the mess of history solved. Presumably that is the role of libcom.org. Or is it just here to record the victors of history, thus far?
In short, to publish this Number with no critical disclaimer is tantamount to playing into the hands of our enemy.
Perhaps this is wrong? Perhaps this site is just a library for academics? If so, may we be so bold as to call it out as a degenerated workers' state? :-)
I remember looking at the original copies in the British Museum newspaper archives in Hendon in the late 1980s. Already 70+ yrs old by then and printed on cheap paper, they were fragile and some were disintegrating. I wonder if they managed to digitise them all.
I think adding a disclaimer to each issue is probably too much aggro personally, but others are welcome to assist with that - or we could add a general disclaimer to the main Dreadnoight index page?
I would personally just rework the main intro page to better express the evolution of the paper so that people know. I think it sort of goes without saying that hosting/archiving something doesn't at all mean that one agrees with all its contents.
Often, in the past, libcom have attached introductions citing disagreement with the content of the articles published on the site. The Brest-Litovsk Treaty is such a pivotal moment between proletarian revolution and the bourgeois reaction to it that this Number deserves particular note as demonstrating the failure to call out the capitulation on the part of the Bolshevik regime. Hopefully our comments have served this purpose.
I went ahead and modified the index-page intro, if that's ok with everyone.
Very good. Just made one minor alteration:
Capitalised Communist, in "left-wing Communist".
Communism as a peculiar, social-democratic, period of capitalism is capitalised in writing.
This other—"Communism as the positive transcendence of private property as human self-estrangement, and therefore as the real appropriation of the human essence by and for man; communism therefore as the complete return of man to himself as a social (i.e., human) being – a return accomplished consciously and embracing the entire wealth of previous development. This communism, as fully developed naturalism, equals humanism, and as fully developed humanism equals naturalism; it is the genuine resolution of the conflict between man and nature and between man and man – the true resolution of the strife between existence and essence, between objectification and self-confirmation, between freedom and necessity, between the individual and the species. Communism is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be this solution"—is neither left, nor right.
In this sense communism is always correctly written in the lower case. Whether this latter sense can be descried as libertarian communism is debatable. It is not unbounded freedom of the individual as individual freedom is relative to the necessity of the community of struggle to survive.
No idea what you're on about, as usual, so I reverted back to my revision and would appreciate it if you would not touch anything.
Who coined the phrase Left-Wing Communism?
“...The question arises: who is to exercise this dictatorship: the Communist Party or the proletarian class? ... Fundamentally, should we strive for a dictatorship of the Communist Party, or for a dictatorship by the proletarian class?...”
Excerpt from Vladimir Lenin’s, “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 22 - 24 August 1918)
Including: London bus girls strike, Australia anti-war movement, news from Russia, independent working class education, discharged soldiers demand land, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 23 - 31 August 1918)
Including: agitation against the embargo preventing employment of munitions workers without government approval, poison gas, international news, votes for women, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 24 - 7 September 1918)
Including: London police strike, international news, the co-operative movement by Sylvia Pankhurst, India supplement, socialist education in Austria, patriots attack socialist rally Woolwich, tube strike, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 25 - 14 September 1918)
Including: Extensive report by Sylvia Pankhurst on Trade Union Congress meeting in Derby, socialist education, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 26 - 21 September 1918)
Including: agricultural labour for discharged soldiers, shop stewards conference in Birmingham, Sylvia Pankhurst on prospects for peace, changes to legal system in Russia,
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 27 - 28 September 1918)
Including: report on inter-allied Labour and Socialist Conference in London, workshop notes, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 29 - 12 October 1918)
Including: news from Russia, Sylvia Pankhurst on WW1 peace negotiations, Walton Newbold on the German revolution, UK parliament and workplace news, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 5 No. 30 - 19 October 1918)
Including: John Reed on Eugene Debs, "the lust of victory is postponing peace" by Sylvia Pankhurst, marxist industrial unionism, IWW in court in Chicago, women and industry after the war, etc.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 37 - 26 November 1921)
The 26 November 1921 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 37).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 38 - 3 December 1921)
The 3 December 1921 issue of the Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 38).
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 39 - 10 December 1921)
Contains part three of the first version of Pankhurst's "Communism and its Tactics", extracts from bourgeois economist Fredrick Bastiat's "Economic Sophisms" on the conflicting interests between producers and consumers (serving here as an indictment of capitalist production), part four of a text by Charles Brower on the historic background of the Communist Manifesto, and other content.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 41 - 24 December 1921)
Contains part four of version one of Pankhurst's "Communism and its Tactics", the sixth part of a text by Charles Brower on the background of the Communist Manifesto, part four of an older text by Kropotkin on revolution, and more.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 46 - 28 January 1921)
Contains part five of Pankhurst's "Communism and its Tactics," a critique of British-capitalist imperialism against then PM Lloyd George's calls for peace, and other content.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 47 - 4 February 1922)
Contains part six of Pankhurst's "Communism and its Tactics", a short story by socialist writer Anatole France, part eight of an older text by Kropotkin on revolution, and other content.
The Workers' Dreadnought (Vol. 8 No. 52 - 11 March 1922)
Contains the seventh and final part of the first version of Pankhurst's "Communism and its Tactics," part three of Kropotkin's "The Wage System," and other content.
Comments
Quit scabbing Fozzie; I'm on…
Quit scabbing Fozzie; I'm on strike until Steve retracts what he said about me being a "colonialist chauvinist" (i.e. for opposing Native American nationalism—which shouldn't be a controversial position among anarchists and other socialists) who is also supposedly spreading "Russian propaganda" by opposing Ukraine's ambitions to recapture Russophilic regions like Crimea (just like I oppose the military endeavors of Russia and all other capitalist states).
Hello Adri. Maybe explain in…
Hello Adri. Maybe explain in clear terms what I have done that you think is bad?
Hello Adri. Maybe explain in…
Lessening the effectiveness of our strike by scabbing! Once we win the retraction, and maybe also an actual wage of sorts (along with arrears), then we will go back to adding stuff to the archive. Until then, show some solidarity!
Once we win the retraction …
As a gesture of good faith, I've restored all of my submissions back to their original revisions. I will also refrain from posting a satirical list of demands from the fictional Libcom Workers' Union (a rank-and-file union of libcom contributors), in addition to a photo of the libcom penguin sitting on top of King Charles II's throne ordering libcom's volunteer-peasants to return to work. I do this in a spirit of reconciliation and out of a desire to end this strike amicably.
I can also resist anything…
I can also resist anything but temptation...
Thanks for the week-long…
Thanks for the week-long show of solidarity at least, but it seems that Steve is ignoring the LWU's legitimate grievances—not because he's clever or has read any Pope,[1] but because the libcomonarch is a bit of an ignorant snob. If you're wondering why I hadn't finished this already, it's partly because there are around 308 issues of the Workers' Dreadnought, not including the Woman's Dreadnought, and I wasn't sure if the site could handle all of that. When I was originally working on this, there also weren't any downloadable issues from the LSE like there are now; they only had images of each issue that one had to individually download and compile into a pdf.
1. 'Tis best sometimes your censure to restrain, / And charitably let the dull be vain: / Your silence there is better than your spite, / For who can rail so long as they can write?
westartfromhere wrote: Very…
Just so everyone knows, the…
Just so everyone knows, the LWU's strike against Steve is more or less over, so an admin can remove all the above comments if they want; they don't really have much to do with the Dreadnought.
Can we put that to a vote?…
Should not the introduction to these journals above distinguish between proletarian revolution (strikes, demonstrations, desertion, mutiny, sabotage, free association...) and the seizure of political power under the guise of social-democracy? To ignore this distinction is akin to conflating the spontaneous uprisings of the working class with the bourgeois Peace Treaties that conclude these battles between the classes. Is it fair to apply Lenin's derogatory term, "Left-Wing" Communist, at all? The newspaper proclaimed itself for "International Socialism". Let's take it at its words.
We suggest the following:
Weekly suffragette and later newspaper of "International Socialism" founded by Sylvia Pankhurst, first appearing as the Woman's Dreadnought in March 1914 and then as the Workers' Dreadnought in July 1917. Amongst other major historical events covered, the Dreadnought captured and supported the seizure of state power by the majority ("bolshevik") faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (renamed by itself as the All-Russian Communist Party after the seizure of power) before the anti-working-class nature of the regime became apparent to some observers. Over time, the paper then took a limited critical stance towards Lenin and the so-called "workers' state" in Russia, as evidenced by the open letters of Herman Gorter and Sylvia Pankhurst to Lenin published in 1921 and 1922, respectively.
Stop editing the page…
Stop editing the page westartfromhere... Nobody knows what you're talking about. I mean really, can we not get some admin attention here??
What's not to understand?…
What's not to understand?
Weekly suffragette and later newspaper of "International Socialism" founded by Sylvia Pankhurst, first appearing as the Woman's Dreadnought in March 1914 and then as the Workers' Dreadnought in July 1917. Amongst other major historical events covered, the Dreadnought captured and supported the seizure of state power by the majority ("bolshevik") faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (renamed by itself as the All-Russian Communist Party after the seizure of power) before the anti-working-class nature of the regime became apparent to some observers. Over time, the paper then took a limited critical stance towards Lenin and the so-called "workers' state" in Russia, as evidenced by the open letters of Herman Gorter and Sylvia Pankhurst to Lenin published in 1921 and 1922, respectively.
Well first you've littered…
Well first you've littered this site with your strange and offensive posts (e.g. calling the people who did the redesign for this site bourgeois essentially) and are now going around editing other people's articles without conferring with them. And second your reason for editing the above intro, after I've repeatedly told you not to, makes absolutely no sense. The term "left-wing communist" is an entirely appropriate choice of words to describe Pankhurst, seeing as how she favored worker councils (similar to other left-wing/council communists of the time) and opposed the party rule of the so-called "workers' state" in Russia.
The question posed was, What…
The question posed was, What is not understandable about the draft of the introduction below?
Weekly suffragette and later newspaper of "International Socialism" founded by Sylvia Pankhurst, first appearing as the Woman's Dreadnought in March 1914 and then as the Workers' Dreadnought in July 1917. Amongst other major historical events covered, the Dreadnought captured and supported the seizure of state power by the majority ("bolshevik") faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (renamed by itself as the All-Russian Communist Party after the seizure of power) before the anti-working-class nature of the regime became apparent to some observers. Over time, the paper then took a limited critical stance towards Lenin and the so-called "workers' state" in Russia, as evidenced by the open letters of Herman Gorter and Sylvia Pankhurst to Lenin published in 1921 and 1922, respectively.
Why would I change "left…
Why would I change "left-wing communist" to "newspaper of International Socialism"? You make absolutely no sense.
adri wrote: Why would I…
You wouldn't. Others may, however, prefer to use the journal's own self-description, rather than its detractor's — Lenin's — description of ' "Left-wing" Communism'.
Perhaps you would like to answer why you wish to omit a reference to Herman Gorter's open letter to Lenin that predated Pankhurst's? Again, why you wish to omit mention of the seizure of state power by 'the majority ("bolshevik") faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party'?
And, once again, what in the following paragraph makes absolutely no sense to you?
Weekly suffragette and later newspaper of "International Socialism" founded by Sylvia Pankhurst, first appearing as the Woman's Dreadnought in March 1914 and then as the Workers' Dreadnought in July 1917. Amongst other major historical events covered, the Dreadnought captured and supported the seizure of state power by the majority ("bolshevik") faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (renamed by itself as the All-Russian Communist Party after the seizure of power) before the anti-working-class nature of the regime became apparent to some observers. Over time, the paper then took a limited critical stance towards Lenin and the so-called "workers' state" in Russia, as evidenced by the open letters of Herman Gorter and Sylvia Pankhurst to Lenin published in 1921 and 1922, respectively.
westartfromhere wrote: You…
There's nothing inherently disparaging about the term "left-wing/left" communist. In fact Pankhurst approvingly used the term herself and reprinted tons of writings by various groups and people who employed the label (e.g. Herman Gorter, the Group of Revolutionary Left-Wing Communists of Russia, German left-communists, and others):
westartfromhere wrote:…
I'm not "omitting" anything; there's just no point in mentioning Gorter's open letter when Pankhurst's open letter sufficiently illustrates the point I was making. Why on earth would I also write the more verbose "the majority ('bolshevik') faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (renamed by itself as the All-Russian Communist Party after the seizure of power)" instead of just the "Bolsheviks/Russian Communist Party"??
I am also in the faction…
I am also in the faction which feels it's better if introductions can be brief and to the point.
Yes agreed with Fozzie. The…
Yes agreed with Fozzie. The introduction is fine. Lots of people use the term left communist or left wing communist to refer to themselves. Adding obscure nitpicking to introductions just makes them unintelligible even to people who might use this site regularly, let alone people just trying to learn about Pankhurst without a lot of backgroun.
If all here are happy to…
If all here are happy to exclude mention of "the seizure of state power by the majority ("bolshevik") faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party"—and Dreadnought's reaction—in the intro, leave it so.
There were so many different political parties in the period subsequent to that seizure of power but by the time that reaction had finished its bloody work there remained only one, the All-Russian Communist Party.