"Inaction is not an option," declares George W. Bush, seeking to extend
the "war on terror" to Iraq. But the recent heavy fighting between US
and Afghan forces and the Taliban in Afghanistan gives the lie to those
who say the war is over. It is dawning on the military strategists that
victory cannot be won by air power alone, and combat troops will be
required on the ground for some time to come. However, using Afghan
forces has proved complicated, as the warlords - newly armed by the
Americans - seek to reassert their influence.
With splits surfacing even within the Blair cabinet over war with Iraq,
opposition to this military adventure is swiftly growing within the
British Labour movement. Many unions are determined to raise the matter
at the TUC and Labour Party conferences, which is now threatening to
dominate the political agenda. From the Editorial Board of the British
Marxist Journal Socialist Appeal.
The sound of war drums from Washington becomes louder and more
insistent by the day. The recent declarations of Bush, Cheney and
Rumsfeld leave no doubt as to the intentions of the ruling clique in
the USA. They are impatient to launch a military operation against
Iraq. When this perspective becomes reality there will be enormous
potential for a massive anti-war movement around the world. The best
activists in the workers' and students' movements will want to show
their anger and to oppose the war, and we must be prepared.
Strikes and protests erupt on women's day in Petrograd and develop into a mass movement involving hundreds of thousands of workers; within 5 days the workers win over the army and bring down the hated and seemingly omnipotent Tsarist Monarchy.
Following the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the reformist leaders called a demonstration to show the strength of "democracy". 400,000 people attended, the vast majority carried banners with Bolshevik slogans.
Spontaneous, armed demonstrations against the Provisional Government erupt in Petrograd. The workers and soldiers are suppressed by force, introducing a period of reaction and making the peaceful development of the revolution impossible.
Following the July days, the Bolsheviks were driven underground and the forces of reaction were emboldened. This process culminated in the reactionary forces coalescing around General Kornilov, who attempt to march on Petrograd and crush the revolutionary movement in its entirety.
The Provisional Government is overthrown. State power passes to the Soviets on the morningm of 26th October, after the Bolsheviks’ Military Revolutionary Committee seize the city and the cabinet surrenders.
The February Revolution saw a mass strike develop from below at a furious pace which posed the question of state power within a week of its inception. Workers in Petrograd took to the streets against intolerable bread shortages, the slaughter…
This reading guide contains some of Lenin’s most important writings and speeches made in the April period, accompanied by works which provide further details of events at that stage of the Revolution.
This reading guide informs the May-June period of the Revolution with analysis, accounts of those who were involved and important speeches and writings of the time.
This selection of texts covers the background, events and consequences of the July Days. Next, we will turn our attention to one of those consequences – the Kornilov putsch in late August.
Kornilov’s failed coup brought the direct action of the masses into play again, and proved to them once and for all that they were the only force in society capable of transforming their own living conditions. For the first time,…
The following series of articles provides in-depth analyses and first-hand accounts of the events immediately preceding, during and after the greatest event in human history: the October Revolution, in addition to reflections on its aftermath.