Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 08:48:33 +0000 From: MA&NG Jones <majones-AT-netcomuk.co.uk> Subject: Re: M-I: 1917 Pt III the world turned upside down! Adolfo: The whole piece is available as a ZIP file from the website below. hariette spierings wrote: > > >1917 > >YEAR OF TWO REVOLUTIONS > > > >[Part Three of Four] > > > > An extract of this excellent piece by Mark left me thinking about two things: > > First, how a revolutionary situation, as it matures and approaches its > climax, "seems to turn the logic of everyday life upside down", something > which reminds me once again of Gerald Winstanley's observation: "The > revolution is the man that would turn the world upside down". > > And secondly, that the "calm before the storm" has then its own dialectical > logic pregnant with the expectation and instinct of coming power - and > therefore enormous self-sacrifice as well - for the collective mind of the > working classes. > > I would very dearly like to read Mark's other chapters of this article. > > Adolfo > > >- the workmen, common soldiers and poor peasants. > >Winter approached. Petrograd's workers were in a race > >against time; while the second revolution swept the > >country, the factory-owners sought to grind them down by > >unemployment, hunger and forced evacuations. But as > >October neared the factories grew quiet. There were few > >demands for wage rises, and almost no demonstrations. An > >eerie calm settled on Petrograd, in stark contrast to the > >vast upheaval in the rest of Russia. Many have commented > >on this strange prelude to the second revolution. Trams > >ran to schedule, factory shifts were normal, the crowds so > >characteristic of February were by-and-large absent. But > >this did not mean that the revolutionary wave had receded, > >or that a Bolshevik rising would be a putsch organised by > >a minority. As Russia capsized,so did the logic of everyday > >life also seem inverted. In the midst of the first proletarian > >revolution, the working class clung for dear life to the > >routines of normal living and working. It was the > >employers who sabotaged; the workers meant to inherit a > >going concern. > > --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- -- Regards, Mark Jones majones-AT-netcomuk.co.uk http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~majones/index.htm --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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