The Workers' Dreadnought

Hello Adri. Maybe explain in clear terms what I have done that you think is bad?

westartfromhere wrote: Very good. Just made one minor alteration [to the introduction]:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 omit to mention "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.