Soviet Union

The Moscow Trials: A lesson from history

Details: Tuesday, 16 October 2012; Written by Jim Brookshaw

The Moscow Trials, which lasted from 1936 to 1938 will go down as the greatest frame-up in history. Their aim was to liquidate the entire remaining Bolshevik old guard and act as the means by which Stalin could consolidate his power as head of the bureaucratic caste that ruled the Soviet Union. Seventy-five years on, Jim Brookshaw - a former member of the British Communist Party - looks back at what happened and asks: why?

The Fall of the Berlin Wall: 20 years on

Details: Monday, 09 November 2009; Written by Alan Woods

Today we mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall by publishing an article from the current edition of Socialist Appeal which analyses why the events of 1989 have not had the outcome which the West expected. You can also download an audio file on the subject by clicking here .

The Rise and Fall of the Communist International

Details: Friday, 06 February 2009; Written by Ted Grant in 1949

The Third International has been officially buried. In the most undignified and contemptible fashion it would be possible to conceive, it has passed off the stage of history. Hurriedly and without consultation with all the adhering parties, not to speak of the rank and file throughout the world, without any democratic discussion and decision, as the result of the pressure of American imperialism, Stalin has perfidiously abandoned the Comintern.

Alan Woods on the Russian Revolution "Trotsky defended the genuine traditions of Leninism"

Details: Friday, 14 November 2008; Written by Alan Woods

Alan Woods was recently interviewed by the Argentine magazine Sudesta on the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. He deals with the gradual political degeneration of the Revolution and its usurpation by the Stalinist bureaucracy, discussing the political issues raised in the course of the struggle. Unease at the rise of bureaucratic rule was signalled by Lenin in his last years and by Trotsky. As Alan says, “In 1923 Trotsky launched the Platform of the Opposition, based on a defence of the Leninist principles of workers' democracy and proletarian internationalism. He began a struggle against bureaucratic tendencies in the state and Party. This was the beginning of the Left Opposition in the Soviet Union and internationally. The struggle between the Left Opposition and the Stalin faction was at bottom a class struggle, which reflected the contradictory interests between the working class and the rising bureaucracy.”

Czechoslovakia

Details: Wednesday, 20 August 2008; Written by Alan Woods

This is an edited version of an article by Alan Woods originally published in 1968. Forty years ago, on the night of August 20th-21st Russian and other Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia, thus putting an end to the ‘Prague Spring.’ “Lenin wake up, Brezhnev has gone mad.” This was one of the slogans chanted on the street of Prague 40 years ago. The upheavals in Czechoslovakia had begun with a stormy session of the Writers Union which passed a resolution supporting Soviet author Solzhenitsyn's protest against censorship.

Czechoslovakia (1968): Stalinism rocked by crisis - Part Three

Details: Friday, 18 July 2008; Written by Alan Woods

The intervention of Russian tanks temporarily halted the movement in Czechoslovakia. But, as Alan Woods pointed out at the time, "The rule of the bureaucracy now represents an absolute fetter on the development of the planned economies of Russia and Eastern Europe. The needs of the people can no longer be met by a system whose every pore is choked by bureaucracy, mismanagement and waste."

Czechoslovakia (1968): Stalinism rocked by crisis - Part Two

Details: Tuesday, 24 June 2008; Written by Alan Woods

In Part One Alan Woods analysed the meaning of Dubcek and the reform movement within the Czech bureaucracy. Part Two explains why the Russian bureaucracy intervened and how the Czech workers were left leaderless in the face of military intervention.