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SUBJECT:   Publications: Centenary of the Russian Revolution

Over the course of the past 100 years, the Socialist Party of Great Britain has argued against the view that the October 1917 Revolution in Russia was a positive chapter in the struggle to replace capitalism with socialism. On the contrary, it saw it as a disaster for the cause of socialism, which distorted its aims and retarded its development. The Party has marked the occasion with two publications, intended “to help our fellow workers see this episode in history from the socialist perspective.”

The book Centenary of the Russian Revolution traces the response of the Party, from its first reactions to the Revolution to the demise of the Soviet Union and its empire over seventy years later, in the form of a series of articles which originally appeared its journal, the Socialist Standard, between 1905 and 1990 (paperback 231 pages, price £8 including P&P).

Why the Russian Revolution Wasn't a Socialist Revolution is a reprint of Russian Menshevik Julius Martov’s pamphlet 'The State and the Socialist Revolution', which presents the authors' critical views on the nature of the 1917 revolution and the politics of Leninism from a Marxist perspective. It also contains an introduction by the Socialist Party, a review from the Socialist Standard in 1940 and additional original material (97 pages, price £3.50 including P&P).

Both are available from the Socialist Party, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN (cheques payable to ‘The Socialist Party of Great Britain’) or online athttp://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/catalog.