Russia: 1917-1921, The October Revolution to the End of the Civil War

Revolutions Study Group
The “October Revolution” through the End of the Civil War, 1917-1921
Mondays, 7:30-9:30 p.m.,
begins January 25 and ends April 25
Contact: https://www.facebook.com/RevolutionsStudyGroup/
This is a 12-week session
One has the option to pay $10 per session (no one is turned away for inability to pay)

Over this year, the MEP Revolutions Study Group is studying the Russian Revolution of 1917, debating its successes and its failures in terms of the ideals and purposes of its participants and its relevance in the 21st century. This term will cover the new Soviet state through the long civil war to the consolidation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Previously, we have reviewed the establishment in November 1917 of a government in Russia based on soviets (workers councils) and led by the Bolshevik Party.

Those who participate in the Revolutions Study Group come to these studies with differing left political perspectives. Our goal is not to confirm a “correct” point of view, but to refine all our understandings of this history to inform our political praxis. All viewpoints are welcome. There is not a prerequisite this upcoming study.

The Revolutions Study Group (originally at the Brecht Forum) has been meeting since 2009. While individual participants may come and go, the group has held together, studying in depth a range of history including the French Revolution, the Mau-Mau Revolt, the Haitian Revolution, the European Revolutions of 1848, the May 1968 movement in France, a survey of the Italian left after WWII, the Spanish Civil War, the Mexican Revolution, the Socialist (2nd) International with an emphasis on German Social Democracy, and the 1905 Russian revolution and Russian Social Democracy prior to World War I.

Texts and readings for this term are:
• Rabinowitch, Alexander, The Bolsheviks in Power (the primary text for the study)
• Chamberlin, William Henry, The Russian Revolution, 2 volumes (selections; both semesters; scans will be available in Drop Box )
• Avrich, Paul, Kronstadt, 1921 (scan will be available in Drop Box)
• Serge, Victor, Year One of the Russian Revolution
• Supplemental articles and primary documents (most available at Marxist Internet Archive, at www.marxists.org or will be posted in Drop Box)