Click on title to link to one of YouTube's film clips on the Russian Revolution. Some of the material on the revolution is good, some indifference and some are absurd so be selective.
COMMENTARY
LEFTIST YOUTH- LEARN THE LESSONS OF THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL WORKING CLASS REVOLUTION IN HISTORY-FORWARD
FORGET ELEPHANTS, DONKEYS AND GREENS-BUILD A WORKERS PARTY!
On November 7th- Election Day 2006- all the hoopla and media attention in the United States will be focused on the results of an essentially insipid vicious electoral campaign process. As far as history goes it will represent just another capitalist parliamentary changing of the guard, if that. However, November 7th is also the occasion of a historically more important if now seemingly remote event- the 89th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The demise of the Soviet Union itself in 1991-92 is beginning to fade into the historic mist. Nevertheless the lessons learned about the revolutionary transformations that created that state –and the causes of its failures- bear careful attention by thoughtful leftists.
There is an old maxim in the Marxist movement that can be paraphrased this way - it is not enough to study about history, one must change it. However, in order to change history we must have at least rudimentary information about the events and people who went before us as they went about the revolutionary struggles of their times. Even from failures, such as the Paris Commune of 1871, much can be gleaned. As mentioned above, the Russian Revolution having been ultimately defeated has receded in the minds of many. Today’s youth know little of that struggle. While we cannot resurrect the past or change past history we can certainly work to insure that today’s leftist youth know that history-our history.
The place to start understanding the lessons of the Russian Revolution for leftist youth is from the prospective of a Russian revolutionary centrally involved in the struggle for working class power- Leon Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution in three volumes. (Check Amazon.com for availability of this work, both new and used, if you cannot find it in your local library or bookstore.) Check the April 2006 archives of this blog titled- the ABC’s of the Russian Revolution for an extended review of this major work of Trotsky’s written in exile in the 1930-32 period. I also suggest for a good summary of the highlights presented in Trotsky’s History the recently completed four-part series presented in the Young Spartacus pages of Workers Vanguard, the newspaper of the Spartacist League/US. Google the International Communist League to find that website. FORWARD TO MORE OCTOBERS.
COMMENTARY
LEFTIST YOUTH- LEARN THE LESSONS OF THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL WORKING CLASS REVOLUTION IN HISTORY-FORWARD
FORGET ELEPHANTS, DONKEYS AND GREENS-BUILD A WORKERS PARTY!
On November 7th- Election Day 2006- all the hoopla and media attention in the United States will be focused on the results of an essentially insipid vicious electoral campaign process. As far as history goes it will represent just another capitalist parliamentary changing of the guard, if that. However, November 7th is also the occasion of a historically more important if now seemingly remote event- the 89th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The demise of the Soviet Union itself in 1991-92 is beginning to fade into the historic mist. Nevertheless the lessons learned about the revolutionary transformations that created that state –and the causes of its failures- bear careful attention by thoughtful leftists.
There is an old maxim in the Marxist movement that can be paraphrased this way - it is not enough to study about history, one must change it. However, in order to change history we must have at least rudimentary information about the events and people who went before us as they went about the revolutionary struggles of their times. Even from failures, such as the Paris Commune of 1871, much can be gleaned. As mentioned above, the Russian Revolution having been ultimately defeated has receded in the minds of many. Today’s youth know little of that struggle. While we cannot resurrect the past or change past history we can certainly work to insure that today’s leftist youth know that history-our history.
The place to start understanding the lessons of the Russian Revolution for leftist youth is from the prospective of a Russian revolutionary centrally involved in the struggle for working class power- Leon Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution in three volumes. (Check Amazon.com for availability of this work, both new and used, if you cannot find it in your local library or bookstore.) Check the April 2006 archives of this blog titled- the ABC’s of the Russian Revolution for an extended review of this major work of Trotsky’s written in exile in the 1930-32 period. I also suggest for a good summary of the highlights presented in Trotsky’s History the recently completed four-part series presented in the Young Spartacus pages of Workers Vanguard, the newspaper of the Spartacist League/US. Google the International Communist League to find that website. FORWARD TO MORE OCTOBERS.
