[Marxism] Simon Pirani's Forthcoming Book on the Soviet Union

[Paul Flewers]

List members may be interested in this new book by Simon Pirani. List
members in London and the South-East of England should note that he is
addressing a meeting organised by the Campaign for a Marxist Party on the
Russian Revolution and its Aftermath on Sunday 10 February at 17.00 at the
Diorama Arts Centre, 3 Euston Centre, London NW1. 

Paul F

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Simon Pirani, The Russian Revolution in Retreat, 1920-24: Soviet Workers and
the New Communist Elite

The Russian revolution of 1917 was a defining event of the twentieth
century, and its achievements and failures remain controversial in the
twenty-first. This 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 Kronshtadt naval
base and other protest movements. 

This 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.

This book is being published by Routledge in the spring of 2008. It's a
pricey hardback edition. In the likely event that you can't afford it,
please ask your library to order it!

Related articles by Simon that you can download can be found at <
http://www.revolutioninretreat.com/article906.pdf >. <
http://www.revolutioninretreat.com/paper106.pdf >, and <
http://www.revolutioninretreat.com/paper1104.pdf >.