The Russian Counterrevolution

by CrimethInc.

When the Bolsheviks usurped the Russian Revolution, it was a disaster for anti-capitalist movements everywhere.

This book traces a timeline of the Bolshevik crackdown on revolutionary currents in Russia and elsewhere around the world, starting before the October Revolution and running up to the treaty between Stalin and Hitler. It includes a treasury of quotations from some of the anarchists who helped make the revolution only to perish under the heel of authoritarians.

Genres: History, Politics

168 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

From the official website:
Crimethought is not any ideology or value system or lifestyle, but rather a way of challenging all ideologies and value systems and lifestyles—and, for the advanced agent, a way of making all ideologies, value systems, and lifestyles challenging.

Reviews

[xDEAD ENDx · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terribly boring and poorly put together. Seems to intentionally misunderstand Marx and/or conflate him with Lenin/Trotsky while putting forth some sort of anarchist orthodoxy.

[Collin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid book that reaffirms the importance in not building a front with those that will turn their back on revolution when they gain power.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew that, just as in the First International, there was a strong anarchist current during the Russian Revolution alongside the Marxists. What I didn't know before this book was the full extent of that current. Far beyond the Kronstadt movement and those with Makhno in Ukraine, anarchists were pivotal in the revolution, yet quickly repressed by the Marxists/Bolsheviks as soon as the latter were able to consolidate power.

This short book contains a detailed timeline of events, followed by a series of short biographies of people (well-known and obscure) from the time, making this a quick and interesting read.

The quotes are especially potent: "Yet it seems to me that just because of the present mad clamor for dictatorship, we of all people should not give up. Some day, some time, long after we are gone, Liberty may again raise its proud head. It is up to us to blaze its way--Dim as our torch may seem today, it is still the one flame." --Emma Goldman

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book that includes a piece from the anarchists of Catalonia that details the betrayal of communism and the left in general by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Concludes with short bios of anarchists/leftists killed by same traitors to the cause.

[Matthew Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compelling, if at times minimal, recounting of the events of the 1917-1921 Russian Revolution from an anarchist perspective. The book is replete with anarchist polemics and critiques of left-wing authoritarianism à la Bolshevism, but the condensed nature of the arguments sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, especially when the distinction between historical fact and editorializing is so fluid. I would have appreciated more thorough, line-by-line citations to the sources in the bibliography. At its best, the book provides several often-neglected examples of counter-revolutionary actions taken by Bolshevik/Soviet leadership as well as incorporates a wide range of anarchist and libertarian socialist perspectives of those who observed some of the relevant events firsthand.

[Lucien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good summary and introduction to the true story of the russian "revolution" and the real nature of the Bolcheviks, but not sufficient all in itself. Fortunatelly, it proposes a bibliography at the end the dive deeper into the subject.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: The Left betray the anarchists. Communists did this violently. But this book is boring as fuck.

[Rui Coelho · Rating 2 out of 5]

The chronology of Bolshevik counter-revolutionary activity is good enough, but the rest of the book not so much. I feel such an important topic deserves a more serious research.

[Casey Applegate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Citation needed.

[Lewis Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent effort in a small format that serves as a great introduction to the experiences of the anarchists who were involved in the Russian Revolution.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and every other Bolshevik authoritarian asshole.

[Lucas Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

an important counterargument to any leftist looking to enforce the revolution at gunpoint. But at times succumbs to orthodoxy in one section lambasting someone for not "remaining faithful" to anarchism.