by Roger Silverman. In Russia, literature and revolution are inextricably intertwined. There is a proud and unbroken Russian tradition of defiance of successive autocratic regimes by artists and writers. It happened under the Tsars; it happened under the tyranny of Stalin and his successors; and it happens still today under the Putin dictatorship. There is no country with a richer … [Read more...]

by Roger Silverman. We revolutionaries are often misrepresented as enemies of democracy. Didn’t the Bolsheviks ban opposition parties, shut down the Constituent Assembly, impose war communism, create a one-party police state…? On the contrary. For instance, far from imposing a one-party state, the first Soviet government was not even a one-party government: it was a coalition with the left … [Read more...]

by Roger Silverman. Socialists today still find themselves under the dark shadow that Stalinism has cast over the history of the twentieth century. It is more than ten years since the collapse of the Stalinist regimes of Russia and Eastern Europe – overthrown in many cases by workers’ uprisings. These were hideous, corrupt, vicious regimes, and workers rightly celebrated their downfall as … [Read more...]

by Roger Silverman - 7th November 2017. We revolutionaries are often misrepresented as enemies of democracy. Didn’t the Bolsheviks ban opposition parties, shut down the Constituent Assembly, impose war communism, create a one-party police state…? On the contrary. For instance, far from imposing a one-party state, the first Soviet government was not even a one-party government: it was a … [Read more...]