THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Teacher: Tom Wetzel
Day: Wed
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 PM
Class Begins Nov. 2nd
next classes Nov. 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, Dec. 7th
Location: Downtown Campus- 88 4th St., San Francisco ( across from the
Metreon )
Room #: 725
Course Outline:
1. & 2. Background, the revolution of 1905, formation of big city soviets
of 1917, the "dual power" between soviets & provisional government,
emergence of the factory committee movement, the "division of labor" between
economy & polity in the minds of many workers, the Bolshevik taking of
power,
the new structure of Soviet government, Lenin's decree on "worker control",
Marxist argument for central planning, First Trade Union Congress of
January 1918

3. anarchist stance towards the soviets & "power" and governance,
anarcho-syndicalist response to Marxists on central planning,
differences between anarcho-communists & anarcho-syndicalists

4. War Communism & the consequences of the civil war, program
of the Workers Opposition in 1921, Kronstadt rebellion, "proletarianization"
of the managerial regime & forced collectivization under Stalin.

5. The Makhnovist movement in Ukraine, critique of anarchist
disorganization by Makhno &
Arshinov

6. What is the nature of the Soviet system?
State capitalist? Bureaucratic collectivist? Coordinatorist?

Recommended reading:

Sheila Jackson, The Russian Revolution (a short, easy to read history of the
revolution)
Peter Rachleff, Soviets and Factory Committees in the Russian Revolution
[handout]
(available online)
Maurice Brinton, Bolsheviks & Workers Control (in the anthology For Workers
Power,
also available online)
Alexandre Skirda, Nestor Makhno: Anarchy's Cossack
Michael Albert & Robin Hahnel, "The Soviet Experience" in Socialism Today
and Tomorrow
[handout]
Ida Mett, The Kronstadt Uprising, 1921
Paul Avrich, Kronstadt 1921