[PEN-L:403] Re: Re: Books on Bolshevik revolution, Leninism, S

["Ricardo Duchesne" <RDUCHESN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Date:          Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:45:39 -0400
To:            pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From:          Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject:       [PEN-L:400] Re: Books on Bolshevik revolution, Leninism,
               Stalinism
Reply-to:      pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At 11:30 AM 7/31/98 -0500, Bill Lear wrote:
>I'm a bit naive on these topics and I'd like to read some critical
>assessments of them.  Chomsky contends (if I remember correctly) that
>the Bolshevik revolution really destroyed the nascent socialism that
>existed in the soviets, and I'm curious to know more about this
>episode.  Any suggestions would be welcome...

The very best thing is unfortunately out of print and that is Isaac
Deutscher's biography of Trotsky. Also recommended is the E.H. Carr series
on the Soviet Union. The latest work, which I am a big fan of, is Moshe
Lewin's "Russia--USSR--Russia." Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed" is also
very good. Also anything by Victor Serge, a Trotskyist who became an
anarchist. You will find some themes in his work that echo Chomsky.
Finally, I recommend CLR James's book on the Third International.


RD:

Lear, the above list will simply disconfirm Chomsky's claim, that the
*Bolshevik* revolution was responsible for ending soviet democracy.
You are better-off looking for some old-fashion liberal critique, a
Menshevik account, or an anarchist one.

ricardo
Louis Proyect
(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)