Schopenhauer on the stupidity of socialism

And yet, just as our body would burst asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere were removed from it, so would the arrogance of men expand, if not to the point of bursting then to that of the most unbridled folly, indeed madness, if the pressure of want, toil, calamity and frustration were removed from … Read more

The Lost World of British Communism by Raphael Samuel

Raphael Samuel (1934-1996) was part of that extraordinary crop of British Marxist social historians that emerged out of the crumbling world of the Stalinist British Communist Party – among them, E.P. Thompson, Raymond Williams and Eric Hobsbawm. He wrote a series of essays on the ‘lost world’ of British Communism during the 1980s, which were … Read more

RCI/IMT split in Brazil – split or bureaucratic coup?

In recent days, the Revolutionary Communist International, formerly known as the International Marxist Tendency, has announced a split in the Brazilian section. We are told that the leadership of the organisation deserted the ranks following a long-running dispute over whether China is an imperialist power. As a member more than half a decade ago, I … Read more

The Founding of the Reactionary Crusaders International (RCI)

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to announce the founding of the Reactionary Crusaders International. Our organisation alone maintains the ‘unbroken thread’ from the original Crusaders – Pope Urban, Raymond of Saint-Gilles, Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemond of Otranto, and Robert of Flanders. Our mission is to create a cadre organisation of elite Crusaders who will lead the forces of … Read more

The balance sheet of October – a bloody, costly disaster!

Apologists for the bloody disaster that was the October Revolution of 1917 feel the need to remind us regularly of the ‘gains’ of October. That is to say, the October Revolution made possible all the progress that Russia enjoyed in the twentieth century, and that without it, Russia would be a medieval backwater much like … Read more

How democratic were the soviets? A study of the Russian Revolution

The standard Trotskyist account points to the soviets (workers’ and soldiers’ councils) as the ultimate proof of the democratic legitimacy of the Russian Revolution of 1917. In his History of the Russian Revolution, Trotsky tells us that the Second Congress of Soviets was ‘the most democratic of all parliaments in the world’s history’. The system … Read more