A review of Osip Mandelstam: A Biography by Ralph Dutli, translated by Ben Fowkes (Verso, 2023), £25 In November 1933, in the midst of the Stalinist counter-revolution, the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938) began to recite a poem in the… Continue Reading
The continuing military assault on Ukraine by Russia, and the transformation of the war into a proxy conflict with NATO, has offered insights into contemporary imperialism. We have seen how the relative decline of US and Western European power in… Continue Reading
Some 30 years ago, the red flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time as the Soviet Union collapsed on 25 December 1991.1 Yet, although that Stalinist regime is dead, Stalinism continues to cast a long shadow on… Continue Reading
This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Third International—the Communist International (or Comintern), the organisation of revolutionary socialist parties around the world. The Comintern represented the hope of millions that the example of the Bolshevik Revolution… Continue Reading
The recent centenary of the Russian Revolution produced a renewed flurry of interest in the events of 1917 and reminded us of their huge impact. The focus of those discussions for revolutionary socialists was quite rightly the significance of the… Continue Reading
The failure of the October Revolution to spread throughout Europe, and beyond, in the years after 1917 is one of the great tragedies of the 20th century. Indeed, many of the catastrophes that subsequently beset humanity including both Stalinism and… Continue Reading
In the first ten years of independence in Africa, even leaders of states that were not explicitly Marxist expressed an allegiance to socialism and an admiration for the Soviet Union. This included many famous leaders of independent Africa: Gamal Abdel… Continue Reading
A review of China Miéville, October: The Story of the Russian Revolution (Verso, 2017), £18.99. There is a long-held narrative among liberal and not-so-liberal commentators that contrasts a justified libertarian revolution in Russia in February 1917 with an authoritarian Bolshevik… Continue Reading
A review of Dave Sherry, Russia 1917: Workers’ Revolution and the Festival of the Oppressed (Bookmarks, 2017), £12.99. At a time when it looks as if capitalism can’t—and shouldn’t—survive through the 21st century, it’s timely to remind a new generation… Continue Reading
The previous issue of International Socialism included a positive review of Tariq Ali’s book The Dilemmas of Lenin.1 The review is right that in general the book offers an accurate telling of the Russian Revolution. But in one aspect Ali… Continue Reading