Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution, 1917-1921

libcom's Russian Revolution archive includes everything from full-length books on the revolution and it's aftermath, to short biographies on individual participants.

The Russian Revolution - 90 years on.

Zadov, Lev Nikolaevich aka Zinkovsky aka Leva aka Levka the Bandit 1893-1938

Short biography of Lev Zadov, anarchist communist, metalworker and (in)famous organiser of the Makhnovist intelligence corps.

Lev Zadov was born on April 11th 1893 in the small Jewish farming settlement of Veselaya in southern Ukraine. Around 1898-1900 his family fell on hard times and moved to Yuzovka, in the Donetsk region, where his father worked as a coachman.

Belash, Viktor Fedorovich aka Bilash 1893-1938

A short biography of Viktor Belash. Ukrainian anarchist communist, railway worker, and brilliant strategist of the Makhnovist movement.

Viktor Belash was born in 1893 in the village of Novospasovka (Ukrainian form is Novospasivka) in southern Ukraine. Novospasovka was also the home of other anarchists who later participated in the Makhnovist movement like Vassili Kurilenko and Vdovichenko. He received an elementary education and worked as a railway engineer. He was already an anarchist communist in 1908 at the age of fifteen.

Trotsky, the Left Opposition and the Rise of Stalinism: Theory and Practice - John Eric Marot

Through a critical examination of the limits of SWP guru Tony Cliff's analysis, Marot demolishes the popular myth that Trotsky and his Left Opposition within the Bolshevik Party in Russia were, during the 1920s, a heroic attempt to defend working class interests against a Stalinist 'socialist construction' and repression that they disagreed with. An effective factual antidote to leftist and ICC-type left-communist apologetics for Trotsky and Trotskyism's anti-working class character in Soviet Russia.

Gorelik, Grigorii aka Anatolii, 1889-1956

A short biography of Grigorii Gorelik, Ukrainian anarchist participant in the Russian Revolution.

Grigorii Gorelik, usually known as Anatolii Gorelik was born into a Jewish family in 1889. He became an anarchist in 1904, at the age of fourteen. He was active in the Ukraine, and was arrested several times by the Tsarist police.

Yarchuk, Efim, 1882 or 1886-1937

A short biography of Efim Yarchuk, who played an important role in the rebellious town of Kronstadt.

Yarchuk, Efim Zakharovich aka Khaim Zakharev - Also rendered as Yarchook, Yartchuk, Iarchuk etc.

“a man who enjoyed exceptional influence among the sailors and workers and whose idealism and devotion are matters of historic record” - My Disillusionment in Russia. Emma Goldman

From the Bourgeois to the Proletarian Revolution - Otto Ruhle

Written in 1924, this pamphlet charts the development of the Russian and German revolutions, and attempts to point forward from the failure of these two major events, analysing the role of the parties and the trade unions in their respective failures.

This online version taken from http://www.marxists.org

From the Bourgeois to the Proletarian Revolution

1 The Bourgeois Revolutions

1919-1922: The Workers’ Opposition

Leading Workers' Opposition activist, Alexandra Kollontai

A short history of a group within the Russian Communist Party that struggled against the increasing party bureaucracy and for trade union control over industry which, by 1922, had been forcibly disbanded by the party.

The Workers Opposition began to form in 1919, as a result of the policies of War Communism, which set a precedence for the domination of the Communist Party over local party branches and trade unions. During the civil war, the Workers Opposition began agitating against the lack of democracy in the Communist Party as a result of the centralising actions of the party’s bureaucracy.

Counter-revolution and the Soviet Union - Gregori Maximov

Short essay by famous Russian anarchist, Gregori Maximov, on the defeat of the 1917 revolution by counter-revolution from within.

Taken from the Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, No. 14 (March 1998), can also be found on the KSL website here.

Medvedev, Sergei Pavlovich, 1885-1937

Story of the life of Bolshevik metal worker and member of the Workers' Opposition group, Sergei Medvedev, who, like many others who criticised his party's bureaucracy, was executed by the party he spent the majority of his life serving.

Sergei Pavlovich Medvedev was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, metalworker, and trade union organizer. Born into a peasant estate, he grew up in the countryside near Moscow and in St. Petersburg. After receiving a primary school education, he began factory work at age thirteen. He first worked at the Obukhov factory in St. Petersburg and participated in the 1901 Obukhov strike.