World Revolution 1917-1936: The Rise and Fall of the Communist International

The C. L. R. James Archives

by C.L.R. James

Originally published in 1937, C. L. R. James's World Revolution is a pioneering Marxist analysis of the history of revolutions during the interwar period and of the fundamental conflict between Trotsky and Stalin. James, who was a leading Trotskyist activist in Britain, outlines Russia's transition from Communist revolution to a Stalinist totalitarian state bureaucracy. He also provides an account of the ideological contestations within the Communist International while examining its influence on the development of the Soviet Union and its changing role in revolutions in Spain, China, Germany, and Central Europe. Published to commemorate the centenary of the Russian Revolution, this definitive edition of World Revolution features a new introduction by Christian Høgsbjerg and includes rare archival material, selected contemporary reviews, and extracts from James's 1939 interview with Trotsky.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Soviet Union, Political Science

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

C. L. R. James (1901–1989), a Trinidadian historian, political activist, and writer, is the author of The Black Jacobins, an influential study of the Haitian Revolution and the classic book on sport and culture, Beyond a Boundary. His play Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History was recently discovered in the archives and published Duke University Press.

Reviews

[David B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Stalin sounds like a right scoundrel, I hope it turned out well for Trotsky and the World Revolution after 1936.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent cheat-read for anyone wanting a Trotskyist analysis of world revolutionary developments during the 1920s and 1930s without having to read the whole of Trotsky's works on Britain, France, China, Spain, and the USSR. It's rightly regarded as James's least original work, but in this case its not altogether a bad thing. Those moments where he attempts originality (especially his comments on democratic centralism) are the least convincing parts. In general, though, this is a very good book and deserves to be more widely read.

[Ke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book presents thorough research of the communist movements, while focusing mainly in Europe and Russia.

It is clear that James supports Trotsky and despises Stalin. But I wonder if this position is too emotive. By making Stalin a mere straw man, James takes away the complexity of the minds of those Soviets who follow him.

[Jon Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for an easy to read Marxist analysis of the Communist Third International then look no further than the brilliant C.L.R. James’s World Revolution. First published in 1937, I found it to be an exhilarating, oftentimes frustrating read that focuses densely on the differences in the Third International under Lenin and Stalin. James delivers a scathing critique of the Stalinist totalitarian state bureaucracy while exploring the fundamental conflict between Stalin and Trotsky with much praise for the latter’s theory of Permanent Revolution.

It’s interesting to see what James gets entirely correct especially about the coming Second World War and I feel like I’ve gained a valuable piece of historical development that had been previously lacking from my Western education.

“Leninism is the only solution to the problems of the modern world. It might have saved us another world-war on the scale of the one which approaches. But there was too much need of Lenin in both the planning and the execution of Leninism.” - C.L.R. James

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly dense read, full of the kind of elements that turn many people off history: too many names, places, and factoids, not enough deep analysis and theory. Or maybe that's just me? I dislike the insistence on simplicities that would narrow history to such things as an individual person or place. Not to take anything away from Lenin or Trotsky or Stalin, obviously, but for all their notoriety and skill the Soviet Union ultimately failed on a massive scale. James doesn't do much to make this book interesting or insightful, there is a lack of depth and dearth of explanation that made the reading dull. Even so, Trotsky's adage still hold true today: Permanent revolution or permanent slaughter, nothing in between. Seems rather obvious where the world sits now, sadly.

[Michael Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

James is a genius historian and he's epic and I think this should be read by all revolutionary socialists. His prose is beautiful and his critique and analysis are deeply compelling. That said. I think he does attribute more import to the individual than is perhaps compatible with his historical materialism. Like, he credits Lenin as having personally done more good for the revolution than I think can reasonably be claimed. He credits Stalin as having personally done more bad for the revolution than I think can reasonably be claimed. But James does put forth a great deal of valid and important criticisms of Stalin that I think should be considered with good faith anyway.

[Carmilla Voiez · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it is titled "World Revolution", this book is Russian-centric, and the revolutions are discussed in relation to Russia's (Stalin's) role in their failures (and very occasionally, successes). It is written from the perspective of an overtly acknowledged bias. With these caveats outlined, it remains an interesting and informative read, especially with regards to the failure of communism in a single country (Russia) as we have witnessed historically since the book was written. The tensions between Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin are writ large and form the focus of the book.

[Chris Gilligan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important book in the history of Trotskyism, complete with a new, extensively researched, introduction. For fuller review see: https://bit.ly/3EwnxlI

[sube · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a quite interesting book, because it's the most Trotskyist work of CLR James, who later abandoned Trotskyism for Marxist-Humanism. It provides a lot of interesting tidbits and ancedotes, the introduction by Christian Høgsbjerg in the new reprint of it is superb. However, the information it provides, while useful, is generally presented better and less openly biased in other books, but there are worse books to read and it does show the overall problematics of the German and Chinese Revolution, the betrayal of the British General Strike of 1926, etc. and the degeneration of the Soviet Union in a quite impressive way for its time.