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By Alan Woods
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Friday, 14 November 2008 |
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.”
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By Alan Woods
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Wednesday, 20 August 2008 |
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.
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By Alan Woods
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Friday, 18 July 2008 |
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."
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By Alan Woods
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Tuesday, 24 June 2008 |
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.
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By Alan Woods
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Wednesday, 11 June 2008 |
To mark the 40th
anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia,
we are here reprinting an article by Alan Woods, first written on September 4,
1968, and published in the Winter edition of the Spark, in which he clearly
relates the momentous events that shook the Stalinist regimes and explains
their significance.
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By Socialist Appeal
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Friday, 28 September 2007 |
The Third International was created by Lenin and Trotsky as an
instrument of world revolution. However, as Ted Grant wrote in 1943,
the Comintern under Stalin quickly degenerated "into a kept whore of
the Stalinist bureaucracy, applying its policy according to the
changing moods of Kremlin policy. In reality the creation of the
International was not a question of sentiment or convenience, but arose
directly from the objective tasks posed in front of the international
working class."
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By Ted Grant in 1941
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Monday, 24 September 2007 |
Against the background of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Ted
Grant wrote in 1941 that, "In spite of the ravages of the bureaucracy,
the basic conquests of the October Revolution still remain: the
capitalist class has never regained its possessions and private
ownership in the means of production has never been restored. It is this
that the masses, despite their aversion for the bureaucracy, have
rallied to defend, just as the British workers would rally to the
defence of their Trade Unions against capitalist attack, in spite of
their aversion for the Bevins and Citrines."
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