Revolution, defeat and theoretical underdevelopment - Loren Goldner (2016)

Essays written over 2010–14, collected here, deal with the legacy bequeathed to the contemporary revolutionary left by four key historical experiences: the Russian Revolution, the Comintern’s first experiment in ‘anti-imperialism’ in the early years of the Turkish Communist Party (1917–25), the failings of anarchism in the Spanish Revolution/Civil War (1936–9) and the failure of the Trotskyist Fourth International…

Flowers for the rebels who failed: Rebellion in Patagonia by Osvaldo Bayer [Book Review]

In Rebellion in Patagonia Osvaldo Bayer rescued this tragedy from historical oblivion. ‘The 1921 massacre of the rural workers of Patagonia is no longer a taboo subject, mentioned as if it were but a legend.’ (p467) Patagonia, in the far south of Argentina, dominated by the livestock runs of large landowners, is a long way from Buenos Aires. It may be a long way from where you are, but this is a story that resonates…