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Home / Tag Archives: Towards A History Of Socialism

Tag Archives: Towards A History Of Socialism

Orwell Remembers Revolution

Pablo Picasso's Guernica This post has long quotations, as is typical of a commonplace book. Where did socialism work? In Barcelona, Spain, and, more generally Aragon and Catalonia, from August 1936 to April 1937. This was the anarchist version, and was resisted by all governments, including the Soviet Union. The right staged their coup against the Republic in July 1936. Orwell went to Spain in December, and he wanted to kill fascists. He describes it as almost happenstance that he...

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Bertrand Russell On Bolshevism In 1920

Many to the left of liberals, that is, socialists, communists, and anarchists of various stripes, were opposed to the Soviet Union since its founding. Another example is Bertrand Russell. This is from the preface to his The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism, first printed in November 1920: "The Russian Revolution is one of the great heroic events of the world's history. It is natural to compare it to the French Revolution, but it is in fact something of even more importance. It does more...

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Milovan Djilas On The Soviet Union As State Capitalism

What to make of the Soviet Union? Apparently, the description of it as state capitalism goes back to Lenin. Djilas description of it as such is central to his best-known book: "Abstract logic would iпdicate tћat tће Communist reyolution, when it achieves, under different conditions and Ьу state compulsioп, the same things achieved Ьу industrial revolutions and capitalism in the West, is nothing but а form of state-capitalist revolution. The relationships which are created Ьу its victory...

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Aims And Tasks Of Democratic Socialism

Socialist and coomunist parties have formed various internationals over the course of centuries. I consider a declaration of the Socialist International, adopted at its First Congress held in Frankfort-on-Main on 30 June-3 July 1951 an authoritative statement of "The Aims and Tasks of Democratic Socialism". This declaration was re-affirmed in 1962. The declaration starts as follows: 1. From the nineteenth century onwards, capitalism has developed immense productive forces. It has done so...

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Anti-Communist Literature

We live, dead to the land beneath us, Ten steps away no one hears our speeches. But where there’s so much as half a conversation The Kremlin's mountaineer will get his mention. His fingers are fat as grubs, And the words, final as lead weights, fall from his mouth. His cockroache whiskers leer And his boot tops gleam. Around him a rabble of ring-necked leaders - Fawning half men for him to play with. They whinny, purr or whine. As he prates and points a finger. One by one...

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Correspondence Among Marxists

I have been (re?-)transcribing various letters in which various points of Marxism are elaborated. This post is an index of what I have so far. I do not know that I will go on much. Marx to Engels, 2 August 1862, sets out the transformation problem and Marx's solution. Marx to Engels, 18 June 1867, on the order of presentation in Capital. Marx to Engels, 24 August 1867, on the two best points in volume 1 of Capital. Marx to Engels, 8 January 1868, on three original points in volume 1...

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Selected Biographies Of Karl Marx

Selected Biographies AuthorYearTitleGustav Gross1885Karl Marx: Eine StudieWilliam Liebknecht1896Karl Marx, Biographical MemoirsPaul Lafargue1905My Recollections of Karl MarxVarious1908Karl Marx: In memoriamJonathan Spargo1910Karl Marx: his life and workClara Zetkin1913Karl Marx und Sein LebenswerkFranz Mehring1918Karl Marx: The story of his lifeOtto Ruhle1926Karl Marx: Leben und WerkDavid Riazanov1927Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: an introduction to their lives and worksInstitute of...

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What Is Leninism?

Table 1: Selected Events 1853 - 1856Crimean war.1861Emanicpation of the serfs under Alexander II.1877 - 1878Russo-Turkisk war.1881Alexander II assassinated by a Narodnik conspiracy.1883Plekhanov founds Emancipation of Labor Group, struggles against Narodniks.1898Russian Social Democratic Labor Party founded, first congress.1900 - 1901First publications of Iskra, an all-Russian underground newspaper for the RSDLP.1902Lenin publishes What is to be done?1903Second party congress of RSDLP,...

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Profiles Of Socialists From Jacobin

Jacobin is a recent, popular socialist magazine in the United States. I think the editor is Bhaskar Sunkara. Doubtless, some of you will have objections to some of the politics of some of their writers or interpretations of various things. One nice aspect of their magazine is that they provide profiles and write ups of lesser known historical figures and events in the past. Some of these are academics writing on their speciality. Some are book reviews. I have gathered together some...

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Antonio Labriola On The Philosophy Of Praxis

I think of Gramsci or Lukacs as the authors to read for understanding why Marxism might be called a "philosophy of praxis". Apparently, that phrase was first used by Antonio Labriola. His collection of letters to Georges Sorel was published as Socialism and Philosophy. In the following letter, "praxis" is translated as "practice" in the last two paragraphs. Rome, May 14, 1897 To return to my first argument, it seems to me that the following question is uppermost in your...

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