Party & Programme > Bolshevism
Fur flies over Lenin
22 Mar 2012
What has the debate over 1912 got to do with current communist practice? James Turley answers the philistines
The ironic triumph of 'old Bolshevism'
25 Nov 2010
Using new archival research, Canadian scholar Lars T Lih spoke to a London Communist Forum meeting about the 'April debates' and their impact on Bolshevik strategy through to October 1917
In defence of left communism
04 Nov 2010
James Tansey takes issue with Jack Conrad
Scotching the myths
21 Oct 2010
Historian Lars T Lih dissects one of Lenin's most famous but most misunderstood pamphlets, 'What is to be done?'
'April theses': myth and reality
07 Oct 2010
Many on the left see Lenin as undergoing a conversion to Trotskyism in 1917. Lars T Lih takes on this myth and reveals a Lenin, who while converging with Trotsky in certain respects, still has a different strategy. There is also the possible influence Kautsky exerted on Lenin
Light and air of political freedom
16 Sep 2010
North American scholar Lars T Lih explores the varying attitude of Marxists towards universal suffrage, freedom of the press and freedom of association
SUPPLEMENT: Prospects of the Russian Revolution
14 Jan 2010
By Karl Kautsky. translated into English for the first time by Ben Lewis
SUPPLEMENT: Kautsky, Lenin and the 'April theses'
14 Jan 2010
Could Karl Kautsky - the 'pope' turned 'renegade' of orthodox Marxism - have influenced Vladimir Ilych's 'April theses'? Here we print a Karl Kautsky article from April 1917, translated into English for the first time by Ben Lewis. It is introduced by Lars T Lih, a historian based in Canada, who has been at the forefront of re-examining the complex relationship between these two widely misunderstood figures of the 20th century workers' movement
The four wagers of Lenin in 1917
17 Sep 2009
The Bolshevik decision to make revolution was based on four key predictions, or wagers, says Lars T Lih: international revolution, soviet democracy, peasant followership and progress towards socialism. This is an edited version of the third speech he gave to the CPGBs Communist University
Lenin, Kautsky, and 1914
10 Sep 2009
In the second of his talks to the CPGBs Communist University, Lars T Lih takes a closer look at Lenins reaction to the betrayal of German social democracy at the outbreak of World War I
VI Lenin and the influence of Kautsky
03 Sep 2009
In the first of three talks given at the CPGBs Communist University, historian Lars T Lih discussed the relationship between two great Marxists. This is an edited version of his speech dealing with the period 1894-1914
Rediscovering Lenin
18 Dec 2008
Lars T Lih is an acclaimed scholar living in Canada. Ben Lewis spoke to him about his book, Lenin rediscovered: 'What is to be done?' in context (2006) and some of the questions it raises for the left in understanding its own history and tradition
Hegel reloaded?
13 Dec 2007
James Turley reviews: Sebastian Budgen Stathis Kouvelakis, Slavoj Zizek (eds) Lenin reloaded: toward a politics of truth Durham, 2007, pp334, £12.99
Kautsky, Lenin and Trotsky
14 Dec 2006
What were the differences, strengths and similarities? Jack Conrad investigates
Lessons of October
26 Oct 2006
Chris Knight of the Radical Anthropology Group looks at how the Bolsheviks combined illegality and legality
Russia 1917 and the global revolution
26 Oct 2006
What were the conditions that made Russia ripe for revolution? What were the factors that led to its failure? Boris Kagarlitsky , one of Russia's leading Marxists, argues for a dialectical approach in analysing the Soviet Union and resuming the tasks of October