Tag Archive for Neil Faulkner

Autumn 1917: John Reed and Albert Rhys Williams Report on The October Revolution in Russia

Russia, Autumn 1917. Excerpted from The Dilemmas of Lenin, by Tariq Ali, Verso 2017. Two American journalists, John Reed and Albert Rhys Williams, were observing the events in Russia close-up and summarising the day to each other before sending their reports back to the United States. Reed had arrived in the country later than Williams…

Russia in October 1917 – No Mere Coup, This Was Revolution from Below

Right-wing historians often describe October as a Bolshevik ‘coup’ made possible by the ‘anarchy’ into which Russia had fallen by autumn 1917. The misunderstanding is profound. Their basic error is to view history from above, not below. What looks to them like ‘anarchy’ was, in fact, the leaching away of state authority and the rise…