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Revolutionary Rehearsals
Five times in the last 40 years, the working class has posed a radical alternative to the status quo.
France 1968: A general strike and factory occupations by millions of workers shake the country.
Chile 1972: Workers defending the Popular Unity government set up workers’ councils—the cordones—and demand control over production.
Portugal 1974: Army officers overthrow the dictator Caetano and release an upsurge of "popular power" whichs last 18 months.
Iran 1979: The viciously repressive Shah is toppled and workers set up independent councils, the shoras.
Poland 1980: Demanding radical change, workers build the independent trade union Solidarity to fight for their own interests, exposing the false socialism of the Eastern Bloc.
In each of these cases, the actions of workers themselves were the driving force of struggles with revolutionary potential. They demonstrate that workers can and will fight back on a mass scale.
Each episode offers an inspiring glimpse of the way in which workers rise to the challenge of fighting for a better world—and pose their own alternative to the system.
Although none of these struggles ultimately achieved their goals, they were "revolutionary rehearsals" that hold important lessons about the struggle for socialism under modern conditions.
France 1968: A general strike and factory occupations by millions of workers shake the country.
Chile 1972: Workers defending the Popular Unity government set up workers’ councils—the cordones—and demand control over production.
Portugal 1974: Army officers overthrow the dictator Caetano and release an upsurge of "popular power" whichs last 18 months.
Iran 1979: The viciously repressive Shah is toppled and workers set up independent councils, the shoras.
Poland 1980: Demanding radical change, workers build the independent trade union Solidarity to fight for their own interests, exposing the false socialism of the Eastern Bloc.
In each of these cases, the actions of workers themselves were the driving force of struggles with revolutionary potential. They demonstrate that workers can and will fight back on a mass scale.
Each episode offers an inspiring glimpse of the way in which workers rise to the challenge of fighting for a better world—and pose their own alternative to the system.
Although none of these struggles ultimately achieved their goals, they were "revolutionary rehearsals" that hold important lessons about the struggle for socialism under modern conditions.
266 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
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About the author
Colin Barker
13 books4 followersColin Barker was a British sociologist as well as a Marxist historian and writer.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 22, 2022
Genel olarak Paris, Şili, İran, Portekiz ve Polonya devrimleri hakkında yüzeysel olmayan ama derin de olmayan bilgiler veriyor kitap. Tarihçi olduğum için bana çok etkileyici gelmedi ama normal bir okuyucu için ufuk açıcı olabilir.
February 11, 2014
This collection of essays, compiled and extended by Colin Barker, has one clear, guiding theme that continually and painfully reminds us of the absolute necessity of a revolutionary -- not Social-Democratic -- party, and that the lack of such a party has catastrophic consequences.
Apart from the well-known favourites such as France and Chile, Iran stood out as a brilliant example of how it is not religion but bourgeois politics which oppresses people, and Poland stood out as a bitter example of why no level of unionisation and union militancy is able to overcome capitalism.
A crucial read, but also an inspiring and exciting one. Particularly in flat political climates we can feel pessimistic and disheartened by the seemingly impossible-to-reach classless society, but this collection of essays injects hope not into blind fatalism but into the organisations who do actively work towards building the revolutionary party that the working class so needs.
Apart from the well-known favourites such as France and Chile, Iran stood out as a brilliant example of how it is not religion but bourgeois politics which oppresses people, and Poland stood out as a bitter example of why no level of unionisation and union militancy is able to overcome capitalism.
A crucial read, but also an inspiring and exciting one. Particularly in flat political climates we can feel pessimistic and disheartened by the seemingly impossible-to-reach classless society, but this collection of essays injects hope not into blind fatalism but into the organisations who do actively work towards building the revolutionary party that the working class so needs.
February 1, 2023
Beyond the analysis offered, Colin Barker’s book is full of wonderful stories where everyday reality was transgressed and people touched the liminal between reality and possibility.
To take just one example, from the Carnation Revolution in Portugal after the authoritarian semi-fascist regime had been overthrown by left-wing military officers:
“The days between 25 April [1974] and May Day became a continuous ‘festival of the oppressed.’ Even the prostitutes of Lisbon organised: they campaigned to sack the pimps, and offered their services half-price to all ranks below lieutenant.’
To take just one example, from the Carnation Revolution in Portugal after the authoritarian semi-fascist regime had been overthrown by left-wing military officers:
“The days between 25 April [1974] and May Day became a continuous ‘festival of the oppressed.’ Even the prostitutes of Lisbon organised: they campaigned to sack the pimps, and offered their services half-price to all ranks below lieutenant.’
September 28, 2014
First off, the last section "Perspectives" is fantastic. That section made the whole book worth it. However, some of the individual chapters were almost unreadable. In particular, the chapter on Portugal was almost incomprehensible to me. I mean, the grammar and whatnot is fine, it's just that the events/organizations/people were all mishmashed together and I got almost no sense of temporal continuity. Like, I read the whole thing closely and if someone asked me to give a summary of the uprising in Portugal, along the lines of "first this happened, then this happened in response, then this group did this", I would have no way of creating it. The chapter on Iran 1979 is quite good though, as an exception. Anyways, if you have an hour or two you should read the Iran chapter and the "Perspectives" section, but I'd skip the rest.
July 17, 2022
An excellent overview of some of the most impressive workers movements in the last century starting with France may '68. Each chapter is an essay by a different author and sometimes their writing was not as easy to follow. Portugal was the hardest chapter to follow in my opinion and didn't give solid political explanations for why things happened or why the workers supported certain events or groups. Otherwise it was a good overview of these events and just makes me realize how much more I need to read about things like the Iranian revolution and polish workers uprising.
February 18, 2022
Really great book demonstrating the need to build a revolutionary party to move the class struggle forward by looking at some of the most recent cases of failed revolutions. Detailed and thorough, while also being clear, concise and approachable.
December 12, 2023
To be honest I felt this is quite a jam packed book of revolutionary history that requires a fair amount of background knowledge in order to fully understand what is happening. Alas its still important to read about the different radical stories from across the world that must learn from.
August 30, 2022
Best chapters: May 68, Iranian Revolution
August 24, 2023
Some fantastic primary source research but, in parts, also a terrible victim of its source material
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews