Putin has attacked Lenin for creating the Ukraine while idolising Stalin and greater Russian nationalism
History
Stalinism – how the USSR became a bureaucratic nightmare
How and why the 1917 Russian revolution degenerated into the totalitarian and bureaucratic nightmare of Stalinism
Communism and Islam – the Bolsheviks attempt an alliance
Communism and Islam moved closer together in the former Russian empire in the period after 1917 but the alliance didn’t last
The woman who killed Trotsky (yes, really!)
Ramon Mercader assassinated the Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky but the key role of Ramon’s mother Caridad is often overlooked
The Falkands War: the Left’s messy response
The Falklands War presented a dilemma for the political Left in the UK in 1982 including those on the Marxist left
Fascism in Chile in 1973 – could it happen again?
In 1973, 46 years of democracy ended in Chile with a coup d’etat and a military dictatorship installed under General Pinochet
Why did Portugal have a revolution in 1974?
The 1974 Portuguese Revolution saw 80% of the economy nationalised but the role of the Community Party ensured the reversal of that policy
Shocking betrayal of Polish Solidarity in 1982
In 1980 at the Lenin shipyard in the Polish city of Gdansk – workers formed a new independent trade union movement they called Solidarity – Solidarność in Polish. But not everybody on the British Left welcomed this development with open arms.
1979 Iran revolution – a Marxist perspective
The Iran revolution in 1979 was taken over by Ayatollah Khomeini and the mullahs which most on the Left saw as a reactionary development
The Iranian revolution – a Marxist perspective
1979 saw the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and the coming to power of Ayatollah Khomeini – an event that split the Left inside the country
Marxism Explained 