Eastern Europe

A Lesson of the Revolution: The Working Class vs The Totalitarian Myth

The Hungarian Revolution, temporarily defeated by Russian military force, has nonetheless already accomplished outstanding wonders and recorded magnificent victories, and that by virtue of its occurrence alone. It has dealt shattering blows to Stalinist barbarism as a world system, erecting a mighty barrier to Russian and international Stalinist aspirations to global domination. It has produced important ideological repercussions, indeed a veritable revolution in the realm of ideas, which has begun to reflect itself materially among all social classes and forces, and which in the future will...

Reform or Revolution In East Europe?

A totalitarian or despotic society is one in the midst of a deep-seated social crisis. Totalitarianism is needed when it is impossible to rule with the consent of the people. While such a regime presents a picture of monolithic unity, beneath the surface are the severest conflicts and suppressed class struggles. Or else why the need for repression? But to rule in-this manner is extremely expensive in the social sense. It necessitates a tremendous bureaucratic apparatus which is at best a drain upon the economy; it is an expensive way to run the affairs of the society and in the case of...

'Prudence' or Cold Counter-Revolution? The 'Gomulka Way' in the Polish Revolution

In Hungary the fight was clearly, in the eyes of the world, a struggle between the united Hungarian people in revolution versus the Stalinist totalitarian power resting on Russian tanks. But in Poland the nature of the contending forces and the question of who is on which side have been far more obscured in the common view. In and right after October the popular acceptance was that the Polish, revolution was headed by Wladislaw Gomulka whose democratic bona-fides were naturally guaranteed by the fact that he had suffered in jail from Stalin's hangmen for his "Titoist" deviations. Unlike the...

The Greatest Blow for Peace: The Revolutions Impact on The West and the War Danger

The Hungarian and Polish revolutions of 1956 mark a new period not only in the straggle for socialist freedom against Stalinism, but also in the fight against war and the danger of war. Its impact is not only on the underpinnings of the Russian empire but also on the bases of the Western capitalist war alliance. Yesterday, supporters of the Western camp and its structure of military alliances with some of the most reactionary forces in the world, like Franco and Chiang Kai-shek could scoff at the socialist alternative: the "visionary" idea of a democratic foreign policy which was aimed at...

The Unexpected Vanguard - The Role of Youth Behind the Iron Curtain

In a message to a Paris rally last November, Albert Camus said: "I admit that I was tempted in recent years to despair of the fate of freedom ... I feared that it was really dead, and that was why it sometimes seemed to me that all things were being covered over by the dishonor of our time. But the young people of Hungary, of Spain, of France, of all countries, proved to us that this is not so and that nothing has destroyed or ever will destroy that pure and violent force that impels men and nations to demand the honor of living with integrity." In saying this, Camus was acknowledging a...

Kosovo, NATO, Milošević and the SWP at the Easter 1999 NUT Conference

Friday, April 2 Arrive at the NUT Conference in Brighton expecting a lively and constructive weekend. Teachers are deeply angry about the Green Paper proposals for performance related pay. Yet it is hard to think about anything but the unfolding crisis in Kosova. The previous week I had been to an involved discussion on the issue. This conflict is not reducible to the well-worn slogans - 'the main enemy is at home', 'stop the war', etc. Politics starts immediately with a Socialist Teachers Alliance (STA) meeting. The main issue is, rightly, the Green Paper, but I am approached by some comrades...

Revolution and counter-revolution in Hungary (1956)

This pamphlet was published in November 1956 by the the British "Orthodox" Trotskyists. STALIN IS DEAD BUT STALINISM LIVES. That is the message spelt out in letters of blood by the Hungarian people. The labour movement of the world is rightly shocked at the brutality and ruthlessness of the Soviet armed forces. But this fact must not permit us to be taken off guard for one moment by world imperialism and its agents. Stalinist rule has always been associated with persecution and murder, both inside and outside the Soviet Union. Eden and Eisenhower have never protested when revolutionary...

Don't blame migrants

Within a year”, says a typical scaremongering Ukip leaflet, “29 million Romanians and Bulgarians will gain the right to live, work and draw benefits here”. Ukip try to paint a picture of Britain being flooded. But the entire population of France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy have the right to live, work and draw benefits here, as they have had for decades. The entire population of Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle have those rights in London. Is London “flooded” with people? Would Britain be better if the government controlled where you could live and seek work? Since Bulgaria...

Migrants scare is a distraction

On Sunday 25 March David Cameron wrote a piece for the Sun railing about so-called health and benefit tourism by migrants! He carefully calibrated his language so as to appear reasonable — the sane alternative to UKIP was the image he was going for. He made a nod to “Polish wartime heros” and “hard working” West Indian migrants who helped us “rebuild” Britain after the war. But the underlying message was clear enough: “Hey you, East European good for nothing, if you think you're going to get more than £8 an hour and a bed on a park bench, bugger off”! His claims were spurious. He said migrants...

Lessons from Bulgaria

In Greece, a place all too familiar with poverty and the results of “austerity”, Bulgaria is reknowned for starvation wages (although the cost of living is far cheaper), the host country for Greek companies looking for cheap labour and as the site of dangerous nuclear power plants. “You do not want to become like Bulgaria” has been the cry of the Greek’s mainstream politicians and media acolytes - although recently the most “adventurous” of the Greek politicians and capitalists have been flirting with the idea of the Greek minimum wage and workers’ rights sinking to Bulgarian standards. Then...

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