Proclamation of Polish socialist workers in Petrograd
“1917: The View from the Streets” – leaflets of the Russian revolution – #8
Maria Koszutska (1876 – 1939), theorist and leader of the PPS-Left
One hundred years ago today, on March 17 (4) 1917, the following appeal calling on Polish workers to support the Russian Revolution and fight for Polish independence was adopted at a rally of Polish socialist workers in Petrograd.
After the outbreak of World War One, the bulk of Poland (which had previously been ruled by the Tsarist government) came under German occupation. By 1917, roughly three million Poles – many of whom had been evacuated from Poland on the eve of the German invasion – found themselves under Tsarist rule. In response, Polish socialist parties began organizing the large groups of displaced Polish workers in industrial cities like Petrograd and Moscow.
Little is known about the initiators of the following appeal. Given its simultaneous stress on class struggle, internationalism, and Polish independence, the authors were likely members of the revolutionary Marxist Polish Socialist Party-Left and/or the far left wing of the Polish Socialist Party (Revolutionary Fraction).[1] Whereas most Polish nationalists and the moderate leaders of the Polish Socialist Party (Revolutionary Fraction) had throughout the war sought to promote Polish independence through a pact with German or Austrian imperialism, the following appeal makes the case for why national liberation could only be won through the struggle and solidarity of the international working class.
Selection, translation, and annotation by Eric Blanc. Read more…
‘Your representatives and worker deputies should become the people’s Provisional Revolutionary Government.’
“1917: The View from the Streets” – leaflets of the Russian revolution – #7
100 years ago today, on March 14 (1), 1917, the Social Democratic Interdistrict Committee (Mezhrayonka), supported by the Petersburg Committee of Socialist-Revolutionaries, issued the following appeal to soldiers.
At that time, the Duma Committee and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies were striving to bring order into the revolutionary events on the streets and to prevent the tsarist autocracy from restoring its control over the city. Dominated by moderate socialists, the Soviet pursued a policy of cooperation with liberals in the Duma.
Soldiers demonstration 1917
Culmination of the Russian February Revolution
“1917: The View from the Streets”: Leaflets of the Russian revolution – #6.
100 years ago today, on March 12 (February 27) 1917, Socialists in Petrograd distributed the following appeal for an insurrectional general strike to bring down tsarism. That day, the culmination of the Russian February revolution, witnessed the crumbling of tsarist power.
The day after the demonstration by women workers on March 8 (February 23), more than 200,000 striking workers marched into the center of Petrograd. Large numbers of students and middle-class professionals joined the demonstrations on March 10 (February 25 ). Soldiers at first hesitated to forcefully remove demonstrators, but on March 11 (February 26), some soldiers followed orders to shoot at demonstrators, killing hundreds.
Soldiers rally to the revolution
“1917: The View from the Streets” – leaflets of the Russian revolution – #5
A leaflet issued by Russian socialists 100 years ago to honor Working Women’s Day anticipated the revolution that began that day.
For a French translation, see Europe Solidaire.
One hundred years ago, on or about March 6 (February 21, according to the Julian calendar in use in Russia at the time), the Petrograd Mezhrayonka (or Interdistrict Committee) distributed a leaflet regarding International Women’s Day (IWD), coming up in two days’ time on March 8. That day in 1917 became the first day of the Russian Revolution, begun by a strike of women textile workers.
Although the origins of IWD were in the United States, German Social Democrat Clara Zetkin proposed in 1910 the annual celebration of the holiday on March 8 (February 23 in Russia). The holiday was first celebrated on this date in 1911 in Germany and several other European countries. Russia followed with a small demonstration in 1913, but IWD was overshadowed in Russia by May Day and the anniversary of Bloody Sunday (January 9, 1905).
Women demonstrate in Petrograd, 1917
By Eric Blanc. Eric Blanc is an independent researcher in Oakland, California. He is the author of the forthcoming monograph, Anti-Colonial Marxism: Oppression & Revolution in the Tsarist Borderlands (Brill Publishers, Historical Materialism Book Series). Reposted from Historical Materialism Blog. For links to other articles by Eric Blanc, see below.
Introduction
Petrograd, February 1917. Slogans: “Women’s demonstration,” “Glory to women, fighters for freedom.” (HM Blog)
Assessing Bolshevik policy before Lenin’s return to Russia in April 1917 has long been one of the most heated historiographic controversies in the socialist movement. As Frederick Corney’s recent documentary collection has illustrated, debates over this issue were a central component of the political struggle waged in the early 1920s by Leon Trotsky and his supporters against the degeneration of the Soviet regime under the leadership of Joseph Stalin.[1] Read more…
We continue here our series of republished reviews of the newly published proceedings of the Third Comintern Congress. The following review by Chris Bambery first appeared in Counterfire.org, 2 February 2017. For a list of other reviews, see bottom of page.–JR
To the Masses: Proceedings of the Third Congress of the Communist International, 1921, ed. and trans. John Riddell (Haymarket Books 2015), x, 1299 pp., $55.
Clara Zetkin: ‘Her speeches strike home time after time.’
By Chris Bambery. Imagine a hot, hot day. You’re trekking in the heat when suddenly an azure bay comes into view. Hurriedly you peel off and dive in to the fresh water. You feel refreshed, alert to the world around you. After plunging into To the Masses, I feel something the same. Collected here are the speeches, resolutions and more from the Third Congress of the Communist International (Comintern), held in Moscow in 1921, bringing together the young revolutionary Communist Parties from across the globe.
It brings to a conclusion the crucial work of John Riddell in editing a series which started with the collapse of the Second International after social democratic parties across Europe rallied to their respective states with the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. It continued to the Comintern’s Fourth Congress, in 1922, the last prior to Lenin’s death and prior to its degeneration into an appendage of Soviet diplomacy. John has done us all an immense service. Read more…
We continue here our series of reviews of the newly published proceedings of the Third Comintern Congress. The following review by John Rose first appeared in International Socialism #153 (3 January 2017). For a list of other reviews, see bottom of page.–John Riddell
To the Masses: Proceedings of the Third Congress of the Communist International, 1921, ed. and trans. John Riddell (Haymarket Books 2015), x, 1299 pp., US$55.
Lenin takes notes at Third Congress
By John Rose. To the Masses is the last volume of a hugely ambitious project to make the proceedings of the (four) congresses of the Communist International held during Lenin’s time available in English. It’s an extraordinary achievement for John Riddell, a Canadian revolutionary socialist historian and activist. With good reason the publisher can boast of “this newly translated treasure of 1,000 pages of source material…supplemented by an analytic introduction, detailed footnotes, a glossary with 430 biographical entries, a chronology, a comprehensive index”. The volume also includes 32 appendices which portray behind the scenes exchanges between delegates at the congress.
A brief review cannot begin to do justice to a resource like this. It will justifiably demand the attention of generations of professional and amateur historians, socialist activists and curious general readers who want to deepen their understanding of the desperate struggle to internationalise the world’s first socialist revolution in Russia in October 1917. Read more…
By Lars T. Lih
In place of an introduction
The following essay was written in 2011 for circulation among colleagues. I have decided to publish it unchanged in 2017 for two main reasons. First and foremost, the essay explains and documents the views of Lenin, the Russian Bolshevik Alexander Bogdanov, and Karl Kautsky on a crucial issue: the proper relations between workers and intellectuals within Social Democracy. It therefore serves as an extension of my earlier attack on the “textbook interpretation” of Lenin’s views.
V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin)
In this essay, I focus on a variation of the textbook interpretation that is put forward by many writers on the Left: Yes, Lenin was “worried about workers” in 1902, when he wrote What is To be Done?, but he renounced this outlook in 1905 because he was so impressed with the revolutionary prowess of the workers, something that was supposedly a complete surprise to him. In contrast to this thesis, Lenin actually stressed that the revolution in 1905 had confirmed his earlier views, making Bolshevism the guardian of the Russian Social Democratic tradition. Read more…
“1917: The View from the Streets” – leaflets of the Russian revolution – #4.
Alexander Shlyapnikov, sketch by Yuri Artsybushev about December 1917
100 years ago this week, in February 1917, the Bolshevik Petersburg Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party issued the following proclamation as a response to Menshevik appeals to workers to come out in support of the Duma (parliament) on the day of its convocation (see Document #3).
The Bolshevik committee warned workers not to trust attempts to ally them with Duma liberals, calling instead for a one-day strike on February 23 (10) to commemorate the second anniversary of the trial of the Bolshevik deputies to the State Duma. The Petersburg Committee had forgotten, however, that many factories would be closed on that date, because it fell during a Russian religious holiday. Read more…
‘1917: The View from the Streets’ – leaflets of the Russian revolution – #3
Menshevik leader Fyodor Dan (1871-1947)
100 years ago today, on February 6 (January 24), 1917, a Menshevik-influenced workers’ group within the Central War Industry Committee issued the following appeal for a demonstration calling for a provisional government.
The War Industry Committees were set up by Russian businessmen in 1915 to assist the Russian imperial government with military supplies. Managers and engineers filled the committees, which were supplemented by groups of workers elected from factories. Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries were generally opposed to such collaboration by workers with owners and managers of industry, but some Mensheviks participated in the worker groups.
“Farewell, Fidel! With all our love from your Canadian compañeros
of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.” Holding the banner: Katheryne
Schulz (left), Kathy Le, and Janet Teibo (right).
By Katheryne Schulz. We must have been feeling a bit crazy on Tuesday [November 29] when we decided to fly from British Columbia to Cuba two days later to attend Fidel Castro’s funeral. My mother, Pat Schulz, was active in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in the 1960s that sent delegations of working class Canadians down to Cuba after the revolution. These folks came back and met with Canadians in cities and towns across the country to explain how the Cuban dictator Batista had turned Cuba into a brothel and casino for rich Americans and mafiosos, and how the Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel and Che Guevara had overthrown Batista and were working to implement a socialist revolution. Read more…
‘1917: The view from the streets’ – leaflets of the Russian revolution #1
Shlyapnikov, Soviet Commissar of Labour, 1917.
One hundred years ago this month, in December 1916, an organizing committee of Bolshevik-influenced students issued this underground proclamation calling on students in Russia who were opposed to the war to come together with workers and peasants to put a provisional revolutionary government in power. The organizing committee linked revolutionary student circles at higher educational institutions in Petrograd, Russia. Its proclamation reflects the impact of the Zimmerwald movement upon leading student revolutionary activists in Russia. Translation and annotation by Barbara Allen. Originally published by Alexander Shlyapnikov in 1923.
This is the first in a series of new translations of revolutionary leaflets and statements being published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution by U.S. historian Barbara Allen and John Riddell. They are available for reposting uncut and with a linked acknowledgment to http://johnriddell.wordpress.com.
Colleen Levis 1946-2016. Photo by Cyril McInnis 1973.
Introduction by John Riddell. Colleen Levis, a leader of the socialist movement in Canada and Quebec, died on October 14, 2016, at the age of 70. In her memory , I am republishing here an article she wrote in 1974, “Labor Alternative Needed in Montreal Civic Election.”
Born in Calgary in 1946, Colleen Sharon Levis attended the University of Toronto in the mid-1960s and became active in movements for women’s liberation, against the war in Vietnam, and for defense of the Cuban revolution. She joined the Young Socialists and later the League for Socialist Action/Ligue Socialiste Ouvrière (LSA/LSO) and soon became a prominent figure in the socialist movement. Read more…
¡Compañero Fidel, presente!
Climate & Capitalism joins millions of people around the world in mourning the death and honoring the life of Fidel Castro Ruz.
He lives in our memory as a champion of, and an active participant in, the global fight against poverty, ignorance and oppression, and for a sustainable world.
In this short talk at the 1992 Earth Summit, Fidel described the Earth System crisis and identified its causes more powerfully than any other delegate.—Ian Angus
– reprinted from Climate and Capitalism
Tomorrow will be too late
Mr. President of Brazil Fernando Collor de Melo;
Mr. UN Secretary General Butrus Butrus-Ghali; Your Excellencies; Read more…