The fight for workers' power: Revolution and counter-revolution in the 20th century

by Tom Bramble, Mick Armstrong

The horrors of 20th century capitalism threw up numerous challenges by workers and peasants, who rose up in their millions to fight the system. Inspired by the successful 1917 Russian Revolution, they repeatedly created their own institutions of collective power and in doing so demonstrated not just how to organise their struggles in the present but also how to build a world free of capitalists, landlords and generals. But these revolutionary movements quickly confronted counter-revolutionary forces, both in the repressive machinery of the state and in the workers' movement itself - trade union and political leaders with no interest in seeing workers take power. Defeating such forces required that at least the leading militants be organised in revolutionary parties dedicated to seeing the struggle through. The victorious Russian revolution brought hundreds of thousands of working class militants together in new Communist parties dedicated to working class emancipation, but tragically the revolution's defeat at the hands of the dictator Joseph Stalin turned these parties into vehicles for betrayal. From Britain to China, from Hungary to Australia, this book tells the story of these inspiring working class struggles and uprisings and recounts the fights within the workers movement over strategies and tactics to take the struggles forward.

Genres: History, Theory, Nonfiction

460 pages, Paperback

Published May 31, 2021

Reviews

[Adrian De Dona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely one of the best resources for anti-capitalists trying to grapple with the history of Revolutions in the early to mid 20th centuries. It situates the Russian Revolution in the context of the wave of revolt that spread across Europe while uncovering why these other revolutions failed. Then it clarifies the effect this isolation has on the Russian situation giving rise to Stalinism. The remainder goes over all the significant events and revolts that is then ended or crushed by Stalin and his heirs. Those looking to understand the historical impact of Stalinism and its counter-revolutionary politics need to read this book!

[Hein Htet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book discussed the revolutionary histories of many different countries, such as Germany, Russia, China, Britain, France, Spain, Australia, Italy, Greece, and the USA.