Marx's Theory of Revolutions

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

General Strike

One hundred years ago today, plus three, the strike in Petrograd that the women had started becomes general. Hungry and frustrated with the war, a quarter of a million proletarians walk off the job.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the February Revolution here.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

International Women’s Day: 1917

One hundred years ago today, plus three, female textile workers in Petrograd celebrated International Women’s Day by going on strike. Their action set off a chain of events that led to the formation of a provisional government and the abdication of the tsar – in other words, to the February Revolution.

Read about it here. Or read the whole chapter on the February Revolution here.

Thursday, February 27, 2020

The Last State Duma

One hundred years ago today, plus three, the State Duma was convoked in Petrograd. Apparently some people thought this institution, created by the tsar in the aftermath of the 1905 Revolution, could do something about the tumult they dimly saw coming. It was not to be the case.

Read about it here. The whole chapter on the February Revolution can be found here.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Coming Up

The one hundred years ago, plus three, anniversary of the Russian Revolution is coming up. I’ll be posting highlights, hopefully at least weekly, this coming year, starting next month.

It’s good to recall that Russia was still on the old style calendar in 1917. The old style calendar was then 13 days behind the new style calendar. So the principal events of what is called the February Revolution occurred 103 years ago this March, just as the October Revolution occurred 103 years ago this coming November.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Decrees of the Congress of Soviets

One hundred years ago today, plus two, the October Revolution, assembled as a body in the Congress of Soviets, formed a government and issued decrees on peace and land. Read about it all in the blog by following the links that begin here.

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

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Red October

One hundred years ago today, plus two, Red October began. Lots of people know about the “Hunt for” Red October, fewer know Red October for what it really means, though many claim to know the event it refers to, only by another name. Fewer still, perhaps, know why it is “October” rather than November, even though it was 102 years ago today.

The physical events leading up to the result began the day before with a struggle for the bridges over the River Neva in Petrograd. Read about it here.

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

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Bolsheviks Vote for Insurrection

One hundred years ago today, plus two, a quorum of the Bolshevik Central Committee met and took a vote for armed insurrection. Find out who voted for, and who against, and what disguise Lenin wore in order to attend 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.