The Revolution Betrayed – a reading guide
In ‘The Revolution Betrayed’ Leon Trotsky uncovers the main processes that led to the degeneration of the Russian Revolution, and the transformation of the Soviet Union into a Stalinist bureaucratic regime.
Soviet Union
Women, the family, and the Russian Revolution
A new release from Wellred Books looks at the gains made by-and-for women thanks to the Bolshevik Revolution. Natasha Sorrell provides a valuable summary of this process, discussing how communists can fight for the emancipation of women today.
Women, the family, and the Russian Revolution
In this talk, Natasha Sorrell discusses how the Bolsheviks approached the women’s question, the gains that were won in the Revolution, and the conditions that led to their reversal.
The death of Stalin – and the disaster of Stalinism
Yesterday marked 70 years since the death of Stalin. In recognition of this anniversary, Keelan Kellegher discusses why the Russian Revolution degenerated, the role of the Stalinist bureaucracy, and the reactionary legacy it left behind.
Was the USSR communist?
Keelan Kellegher discusses the Stalinist degeneration of the USSR that led to its demise.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of Putin
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the USSR. The most powerful deformed workers’ state was collapsing into chaos as supposed communists were looting the state and its assets. The workers of the Soviet Union had to pay the price.
Hitler’s war on the Soviet Union – and how Stalin prepared the way for it
Today is the 80th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War Two. This bloody catastrophe, which claimed the lives of almost 5m Soviet troops and saw the Nazis plunge deep into Soviet territory, was facilitated by the wrecking behaviour of Stalin and the bureaucracy.
Russia: from revolution to counter-revolution
We publish here extracts from Alan Woods’ introduction to the new Wellred Books’ edition of Ted Grant’s Russia: from Revolution to Counter-revolution, republished this year to celebrate the centenary of the 1917 Russian Revolution. In this intro, Alan discusses the enormous gains of the revolution – and how they were destroyed by Stalinist degeneration.
The Revolution Betrayed: a Marxist masterpiece
Continuing our commemoration marking the 75th anniversary of the death of Leon Trotsky, we publish here an introduction by Alan Woods to Trotsky’s masterpiece: the Revolution Betrayed.
What is Stalinism?
The events of the Russian Revolution1917 are the greatest in all of human history. For the first time in history, the exploited masses fought back and won. And yet within 10 years, the Soviet Union had degenerated into a bureaucratic and totalitarian regime, with Stalin at its head. How did this process occur? And what is Stalinism?
Against the theory of state capitalism
In 1949, Ted Grant, founder of the Militant Tendency and Socialist Appeal, wrote a polemical response to Tony Cliff on the class nature of the Soviet Union, arguing against Cliff’s theory of “State Capitalism”. Ted’s response provides an in-depth Marxist analysis on a range of questions, from the transition from capitalism to socialism, to the key issues of the state and the nature of Stalinism.
The Rise and Fall of the Communist International
To celebrate this year’s centenary of Ted Grant, founder of the Militant Tendency and Socialist Appeal, we are re-publishing a series of Ted’s key writings. We begin with Ted’s pamphlet “The Rise and Fall of the Communist International”, which analyses the founding of the Third International and its decline under Stalin.