Today, 7 November, marks the 108th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. It is also known as the ‘October revolution’ because the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd on October 25, 1917, according to the Julian calendar used under Czarism, while the rest of the world used the Gregorian calendar, which recorded the date as November 7, 1917.
This world-historic event led to a huge transformation of the former repressive Czarist Empire – politically, economically, culturally, and also concerning questions of gender and sexual equality, and in many other aspects of working-class life.
Marxists defend the ‘October revolution’ against the class hostility, distortions and outright lies perpetrated by the ruling class, the capitalist media, right-wing politicians and parts of academia.
Trotskyists also examine why the revolution degenerated in the 1920s and 1930s, the disastrous effect this had on the international communist movement and working class, and the heroic resistance of Trotsky and the Left Opposition to the tyranny of Stalinism.
In particular, socialistworld.net aims to help introduce the crucial lessons of October to the new generations moving into struggle and who are looking at left and socialist ideas.
Below is a link to a video interview with Peter Taaffe, who sadly died earlier this year, made during the centenary year of the revolution, defending the revolution against media attacks and bias.
We also reprint an article from 2007 by Peter Taaffe which analyses how the leadership of the Bolshevik party, particularly Lenin and Trotsky, was decisive in ensuring the victory of the revolution in October.