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"The Russian Revolution in Retreat 1920-1924"
Date: Sunday, 21 July 2013 - 3:00pm
Venue: The Socialist Party's premises, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN
Directions: About 4 minutes walk south-east from Clapham North station on the Northern line of the London Underground system and 3 minutes walk from Clapham High Street station on the Circular Overground line
A talk by guest speaker Simon Pirani
Simon Pirani studied Russian at the University of London and wrote a doctoral dissertation at the University of Essex. He writes about the economy and politics of the former Soviet Union as a journalist. He is currently a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and is working on book projects on the post-Soviet period.
The Russian revolution of 1917 was a defining event of the twentieth century, and its achievements and failures remain controversial in the twenty-first. Simon Pirani's book focuses on the retreat from the revolution’s aims in 1920–24, after the civil war and at the start of the New Economic Policy – and specifically, on the turbulent relationship between the working class and the Communist Party in those years. It is based on extensive original research of the actions and reactions of the party leadership and ranks, of dissidents and members of other parties, and of trade union activists and ordinary factory workers. It discusses working-class collective action before, during and after the crisis of 1921, when the Bolsheviks were confronted by the revolt at the Kronstadt naval base and other protest movements.
Pirani's book argues that the working class was politically expropriated by the Bolshevik party, as democratic bodies such as soviets and factory committees were deprived of decision-making power; it examines how the new Soviet ruling class began to take shape. It shows how some worker activists concluded that the principles of 1917 had been betrayed, while others accepted a social contract, under which workers were assured of improvements in living standards in exchange for increased labour discipline and productivity, and a surrender of political power to the party.
Audience participation
Free entry and refreshments
http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/e...0-1924-clapham
A reminder about this event which takes place this coming Sunday, 21st July at 3.00pm.
This recent talk by guest speaker Simon Pirani is now uploaded to our website
http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/a...etreat-1920-24
