Books

Experienced trade unionist John McInally introduces Wellred Books’ latest publication: a fascinating biography examining Lenin’s life and ideas by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods. With support for communism on the rise today, we say: Lenin lives!

For those who want to understand the person of Lenin it is imperative to read him for themselves. However, with 45 volumes of Collected Works (in English), this is a significant challenge and really the work of a lifetime. Therefore, Wellred Books’ upcoming biography of Lenin, In Defence of Lenin, is as close to an accessible work you are going to get which presents his ideas and their relevance for today in a relatively concise and concentrated form.

2024 will mark 100 years since the death of Lenin, one of history’s outstanding revolutionaries, who led the Bolshevik Party that took power for the Russian working class and peasantry in 1917. Next year, the International Marxist Tendency will celebrate Lenin’s life, legacy and works with a series of events and publications, foremost amongst them a brand new biography, In Defence of Lenin, now available to pre-order from Wellred Books!

Wellred Books is pleased to announce a new edition of Leon Trotsky’s Writings on Britain. Out of print since the 1970s, this republication will be a much-needed weapon in the arsenal of revolutionaries around the world. This new edition brings together all of Trotsky’s works related to Britain from 1906 to 1940, originally released in three volumes, into one single book. It also features a new introduction by Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist Appeal and author of the books Chartist Revolution and In the Cause of Labour: A History of British Trade Unionism. Click here to order your copy!

As we celebrate International Working Women’s Day, Wellred Books is publishing a new book, ‘Women, Family and the Russian Revolution’ by John Peter Roberts and Fred Weston. Why publish a Marxist book on women and the Russian Revolution in the year 2023? The answer is that, more than 100 years after the Russian Revolution, we are still very far from achieving genuine equality between men and women. The women’s question has been transformed into one of identity, to be solved within the confines of capitalist society. We maintain that it remains a question closely linked to the class issues we face under capitalism.

70 years ago today, on 5 March 1953, Joseph Stalin died. In his wake, he left behind a legacy of brutality and betrayal that could not be further from the traditions of genuine Marxism upon which the Soviet Union was founded. To mark the anniversary of the death of the bureaucratic usurper of the Russian Revolution, we wish to draw readers’ attention to Leon Trotsky’s unfinished biography of Stalin: his last great work before his assassination. The IMT has produced the definitive version of this text, which holds vital insights into the life and mind of the man who would become synonymous with the USSR’s degeneration.

We are proud to announce the publication of the French translation of Alan Woods’ History of Philosophy: A Marxist Perspective. The English language edition received a phenomenal reception upon its release in 2021, demonstrating the thirst that exists for serious works of Marxist theory. The appearance of this latest translation is an important advance for Marxist ideas in the Francophone world, and we congratulate the French-speaking comrades of the IMT on this achievement.

In the course of his life, Lenin made several visits to London. The first and longest took place in 1902, and lasted for over a year. He made other visits to attend the congresses of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1903, 1905 and 1907, and he returned again in 1908 and 1911 to undertake studies at the British Museum. As of late, there has been a growing interest in retracing Lenin’s footsteps across the city. A fascinating ‘cottage industry’ has grown up around this subject, even encompassing Lenin Walks in the British capital.

Join Wellred Books at our international launch event for our latest release, ‘Ireland: Republicanism and Revolution’ by Alan Woods. Register here for free to participate in the launch on 26 November at 18:00 GMT. Wherever you are in the world, you can join the launch event, which will be streamed online through zoom. Or, if you are in London, come and join the launch live at London Irish Centre, NW1 9XB.

The editorial board of the IMT’s Arabic website, marxy.com, is very proud to announce the publication of the Arabic translation of Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution, by Alan Woods, editor of marxist.com. The book is a masterful account of the history of the Bolshevik Party, rich with lessons about how, over years of patient work, it came to lead the Russian masses to power in 1917. Read on for information about an Arabic-language launch event this Sunday, and the author’s preface (in English), which discusses the legacy of the 2011 Arab Revolution.

We are excited to announce the publication of a new book on Chartism – a titanic struggle by British workers in the 1800s that involved arming, general strikes and insurrection, a fact buried by official “histories” – by Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist Appeal, British publication of the International Marxist Tendency. In this review, Socialist Appeal writer and activist Josh Holroyd explains the importance of this new book, which reclaims the revolutionary history of the British labour movement. Until the end of October, Chartist Revolution is available for pre-order

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The economics of the transitional period

The most significant thing about all those who sought to revise Trotsky's position on the Russian question is that they always deal with the problem in the abstract and never concretely explain the laws of the transitional society between capitalism and socialism and how such a society would operate. This is not accidental. A concrete consideration would impel them to the conclusion that the fundamental economy in Russia was the same as it was under Lenin and that it could not be otherwise. The germ of the capitalist mode of production, which began under feudalism through the development of commodity production, lies in the function of

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The last couple of months have seen a ramping-up of attempts by the US to launch a coup in Venezuela. Under orders from the White House, Juan Guaidó declared himself “president in charge” at a street tally. Immediately, the rogue’s gallery of Trump, Bolsonaro, Macri and others recognised Guaidó, then called on the Venezuelan army to declare itself loyal to this new ‘president’.

Today is the 140th birthday of Ioseb Jughashvili, also known as Koba, but best known as Joseph Stalin: figurehead of the Soviet bureaucracy that seized control of Russia following the degeneration of the Bolshevik regime. We publish here a review (first released on John Riddell's blog) of the new, updated edition of Trotsky's biography of Stalin, originally published in 2016. In his review, John explains how the expanded and revised edition of this biography (edited by Alan Woods) "provides a more satisfactory picture of Stalin’s character" than any previous version. Although we do not agree with all of the ideas presented in the

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