Marx's Theory of Revolutions: September 2019

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Democratic Conference of Compromisers

One hundred years ago today, plus two, the right-socialists, that is, socialist parties to the right of the Bolsheviks (a.k.a. Compromisers), convened a Democratic Conference to discuss what they ought to do about the Coalition Government. The Bolsheviks read their recommendations into the record too.

Read about it here. Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

Monday, September 9, 2019

Kornilov’s Insurrection

One hundred years ago today, plus two, Kerensky’s choice for overall command in the war against Germany and her allies, General Kornilov, turned his forces instead in the direction of Petrograd. His manifesto, also issued that day, made it sound as if, not the Bolsheviks, but the Provisional Government itself was the target of the move.

Of course, Kerensky, head of that government, did not think particularly well of Kornilov’s plans. Read about it here.

Or read the whole story from the beginning by following this link.

100 Years Ago Today, in Russia

The most recent entry is at the top, so the entries appear in reverse chronological order. Follow this link to the first post, February 27 – February 14, 1917: Last State Duma. Then click Newer Post at the bottom of the page to find the entries in chronological order.

Now (November 29) the entries from the beginning of the February Revolution to the end of the October Revolution have been compiled into chapters. The chapters are in chronological order and run five pages or more in length.

I have now (October 24) published a number of supplementary posts for items in the narrative that were omitted from the original chronology. The posts contain navigation permitting readers to follow them in chronological order. A link at the bottom of the previous post leads to the supplementary post next in the chronology, and a link at the bottom of the supplementary post leads forward in time from there.

Dates are given new style first, followed by old style (then in use in Russia). By 1917, the old style (Julian) dates were 13 days behind the new style (Gregorian) dates. The new style dates are in fact “100 years ago today” dates, but the old style dates gave rise to the terms “February Revolution” and “October Revolution” that describe the two most important stages of the 1917 Russian Revolution.

The principal sources are Leon Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution, first published in 1930 after Trotsky had been exiled from Stalin’s Russia, and, for the October Revolution, the American journalist John Reed’s Ten Days that Shook the World, published in 1919.

About this Blog

The Theory of Revolutions is now the chronology of one particular revolution, the Russian Revolution that took place a hundred years ago.

Earlier entries, ending in 2013, apply the theory of revolutions to an analysis of the Arab Spring.

These are the cornerstones of the theory.

It’s Speculative Philosophy. It’s neither punditry nor social science, but really and only philosophy.

It uses Dialectical Logic. In a revolution, revolutionaries as subjective entities seek the negation of the objective conditions (some or all) formerly in existence. The movement generated by these subjective and objective moments in a revolution is termed “dialectical.”

Finally, it is Class Analysis. In other words, when people as economic beings find themselves in certain conditions, sometimes they vote, and sometimes they revolt.

Follow this link for a more nuanced explanation About This Blog. And visit Marx’s Political Economy for posts about domestic and local politics.