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History

Marxists must study the history of the class struggle, so that we can apply the lessons in the struggle for communism today. Here, you can find our most recent historical articles. For theoretical articles, click here.

You can also visit our education hub to find a selection of articles, books, talks and reading guides.

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Alan Woods on the Russian Revolution “Trotsky defended the genuine traditions of Leninism”



Alan
Woods was recently interviewed by the Argentine magazine Sudesta on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. He deals with
the gradual political degeneration of the Revolution and its usurpation by the
Stalinist bureaucracy, discussing the political issues raised in the course of
the struggle. Unease at the rise of bureaucratic rule was signalled by Lenin in
his last years and by Trotsky. As Alan says, “In 1923 Trotsky launched the
Platform of the Opposition, based on a defence of the Leninist principles of
workers’ democracy and proletarian internationalism. He began a struggle
against bureaucratic tendencies in the state and Party. This was the beginning
of the Left Opposition in the Soviet Union and internationally. The struggle
between the Left Opposition and the Stalin faction was at bottom a class
struggle, which reflected the contradictory interests between the working class
and the rising bureaucracy.”

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German Revolution ends horror of war

On the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918,
the armistice took effect on the Western front. One year after the
victory of the Russian Revolution, the German proletariat had entered
the scene of world history and brought an end to "the Great War".
Austria-Hungary soon followed suit and the "old regime" had collapsed.

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Winston Churchill: A Modern Myth – part 4

When Germany
invaded Holland and Belgium on 10th May 1939 and put an end to the
‘Phoney War’ the French and British had more men on the ground and more (and
better quality) tanks. But this did not deter the Germans: they were more
militarily competent, efficient, and co-ordinated in their execution of modern
warfare and they proceeded to wipe the floor with the Allies.

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Winston Churchill: A Modern Myth – part 3



In 1922 Churchill
lost his seat in Dundee, probably because of his attitude to Russia. Then in
1924, with the Liberal Party sinking, he jumped ship once more and rejoined the
Conservatives: self interest and high office always took precedence over
political principles. Baldwin made him chancellor, a position he held until the
1929 General Election.

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Winston Churchill: A modern myth – Part 2

‘Oh this
delicious war!’ joyously exclaimed Winston Churchill, though historians will
argue that he was not a war lover. Let them try to explain the following:

           
‘Everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse. I am interested, geared
up and happy. Is it not horrible to be made like this?’  Thus did the
so called ‘great man’ condemn himself with his own words in a letter to his
wife on the approach of WWI. He was also recorded as saying: ‘I think a
curse should rest on me, because I love this war. I know it’s smashing and
shattering the lives of thousands every moment – and yet I can’t help it – I
enjoy every second of it.’  

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Winston Churchill: A Modern Myth – part 1

Winston Churchill is one of the most famous figures in
British history and the official approach is that it would be unpatriotic not
to admire him. The purpose of this article is to draw aside the veils of myth
and legend which establishment historians and fawning admirers have spun around
him and look at the real Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. The facts reveal a
different man altogether.

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Chile: the threatening catastrophe

Thirty
five years ago on 11th September 1973 a coup eliminated the
democratic Popular Unity government in Chile and killed the elected President
Salvador Allende in the presidential palace. In the days, weeks and months that
followed tens of thousands of activists were murdered and dumped in unmarked
graves by the military. Tens of thousands more were imprisoned and tortured –
many in Santiago football stadium. This was a catastrophe for the Chilean and
international working class.

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The birth of the Trades Union Congress

The Labour
Movement must learn from the lessons provided by its own history. The trade
unions were created out of class struggle. To establish themselves they had to
fight the hostility of Parliament, the courts, the employers and the media.  Here we trace how the TUC arose from the need
to secure a legal basis for the developing union movement in the 1860s.

 

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The Colonial Revolution and the Sino-Soviet Dispute

The initial
trigger for the writing of this document was the Sino-Soviet split, its
importance for the world Communist movement at the time, and its significance
for the forces of genuine Marxism, the Trotskyists. In the first place Ted
declares that the split confirms Trotsky’s brilliant prediction, “That the
theory of ‘socialism in one country’ would lead inevitably to the degeneration
on nationalist lines of the parties of the Communist International.”

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A short history of the People’s Republic of Benin (1974 – 1990)

On the 26th of Ocotber 1972, the then President of the Republic of
Dahomey was deposed in a coup d’etat led by Major Mathieu Kérékou. He deposed a
system in which three members of a presidential council would rotate power.  He overthrew the President Justin Ahomadegbé,
who was placed in house arrest until 1981 alongside the other members of the presidential
governing council who were Hubert Maga and Sourou-Migan Apithy.

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The Invergordon Mutiny 1931

In September 1931,
the sailors of the Atlantic Fleet of the British Royal Navy organised an
insurrection against the government in response to pay cuts and conditions of
employment. Known as the Invergordon Mutiny, it is one of the historical
examples of the power of class-based action in response to attacks on living
standards.

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Jack London: What Life Means to Me

Jack London
is best known as the writer of what he called his ‘dog books,’ such as ‘Call of
the Wild’ and White Fang’. As this biographical sketch shows, he was a
convinced socialist till his death in 1916. Reader will find that he learned
his socialism from a very convincing school – the school of hard knocks. Here
he sums up the lessons of his life.

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