Devrim Provaları - Paris 1968, Şili 1972, Portekiz 1974, İran 1979, Polonya 1981

by Colin Barker, Umut Haskan (Translator), İrem Yılmaz (Translator)

Bu kitapta, işçi sınıfının son yarım yüzyılda ortaya koyduğu büyük mücadelelerden en önemlileri ele alınıyor.

Fransa 1968: Milyonlarca işçiyi kucaklayan genel grev ve fabrika işgalleri… Şili 1972: Halk Cephesi hükümetini savunan işçiler işçi konseyleri kurdular ve üretim üzerinde denetim talep ettiler… Portekiz 1974-75: Karacı subaylar, diktatör Caetano'yu devirdi ve 18 aydır süren halk kabarışının önünü açtı. İran 1979: Baskıcı Şah rejimi devrildi ve işçiler bağımsız konseyler (şûralar) kurdular... 1980–1981 arasında Polonya'daki Dayanışma hareketi işçi sınıfı yaratıcılığını ve demokrasisini ortaya koydu. Bu mücadeleler nihai hedeflerine ulaşamadı, ama her biri, sosyalizm mücadelesi için önemli dersler sağlayan "devrim provaları" olarak toplumsal değişimin motor gücünün işçi sınıfı olduğunu pratik olarak ortaya koydu. Yeni mücadeleler için zengin dersler içeren bu mücadeleler, esin ve cesaret kaynağı olmaya devam ediyor.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Theory

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Colin Barker was a British sociologist as well as a Marxist historian and writer.

Reviews

[Suhan Merve Aydın · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.’

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Sheb · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Brenmlaws · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[lucie ★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting review of revolutionary rehearsals, and their potential, yet downfall with the tendency of reformism, the authors highlight a true need for "the development of an international revolutionary current" following marxist ideology

[Robin Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best chapters: May 68, Iranian Revolution

[Mltch Tlea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fantastic primary source research but, in parts, also a terrible victim of its source material