1917: Revolution in Russia and its Aftermath

Description

Upon their scandalous deportation from the United States in 1919, famous anarchist writers and activists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were greeted like heroes by the new Bolshevik government in Russia. Berkman described it as “the most sublime day of my life.” And yet he would flee the country after only two years. Belarus-born Ida Mett, who went through a similar experience at the time, also wrote a harrowing account of the Red Army’s brutal massacre at the Kronstadt Uprising before she too went into exile. How did each of these figures become so deeply disillusioned with Russia so quickly? And why, within a few years, did they all leave the country forever?   1917 offers a unique alternative perspective on the early years of the Russian Revolution through the narrative perspective of these three eyewitnesses. Featuring an introduction by Murray Bookchin, this book emphasizes the rarely discussed anarchist hopes for a democratic October revolution, while also critiquing the increasingly authoritarian responses of Bolshevik leaders at the time. Published for the centennial of the Russian revolutions, 1917 contains four essays by Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Ida Mett, and Bookchin, as well as a poem by Dan Georgakas, that analyze, assess, celebrate, and bemoan both the wild successes and the bitter failures of the revolution.    Table of Contents MY DISILLUSIONMENT IN RUSSIA Preface To First Volume of American Edition Preface To Second Volume of American Edition I - Deportation to Russia II - Petrograd III - Disturbing Thoughts IV - Moscow: First Impressions V - Meeting People VI - Preparing For American Deportees VII - Rest Homes for Workers VIII - The First of May in Petrograd IX - Industrial Militarization X - The British Labour Mission XI - A Visit from the Ukraina XII - Beneath the Surface XIII - Joining the Museum of the Revolution XIV - Petropavlovsk and Schlüsselburg XV - The Trade Unions XVI - Maria Spiridonova XVII - Another Visit to Peter Kropotkin XVIII - En Route XIX - In Kharkov XX - Poltava XXI - Kiev XXII - Odessa XXIII - Returning to Moscow XXIV - Back in Petrograd XXV - Archangel and Return XXVI - Death and Funeral of Peter Kropotkin XXVII - Kronstadt XXVIII - Persecution of Anarchists XXIX - Travelling Salesmen of the Revolution XXX - Education and Culture XXXI - Exploiting the Famine XXXII - The Socialist Republic Resorts to Deportation XXXIII - Afterword THE RUSSIAN TRAGEDY INTRODUCTION FOREWORD THE RUSSIAN TRAGEDY THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE COMMUNIST PARTY THE KRONSTADT REBELLION THE KRONSTADT UPRISING INTRODUCTION BY MURRAY BOOKCHIN PREFACE TO SOLIDARITY EDITION INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH EDITION THE KRONSTADT EVENTS WHAT THEY SAID AT THE TIME KRONSTADT: LAST UPSURGE OF THE SOVIETS BIBLIOGRAPHY WHEN THE ICE MELTS by Dan Georgakas POSTSCRIPT 1, 1917 ON THE BRAIN by Thomas Jeffrey Miley BIBLIOGRAPHY POSTSCRIPT 2, 1917 AND AFTER by Dimitrios Roussopoulos EMMA GOLDMAN, Biographical Sketch ALEXANDER BERKMAN, Biographical Sketch IDA METT, Biographical Sketch