The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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Publisher Description
One hundred years after the outbreak of World War I and the Russian Revolution, none of the problems of the twentieth century—devastating wars, economic crises, social inequality, and the threat of dictatorship---have been solved. In fact, they are posed even more sharply today. David North argues against contemporary historians who maintain that the dissolution of the USSR signaled the “end of history” (Fukuyama), or the “short twentieth century”(Hobsbawm). Disputing postmodernism’s view that all history is merely subjective “narrative,” North insists that a thorough materialist knowledge of history is vital for humanity’s survival in the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews
Best analysis of the times we live in
This volume provides a remarkable analysis of the times we live in. David North calls the twentieth century “unfinished” as opposed to Francis Fukuyama, who declared that with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 that we had arrived at the “end of history,” as well as historiam Eric Hobsbawm who proclaimed we had passed through the “short twentieth century.”
North argues that the events of the twentieth century—wars and revolution—are still very present in the twenty-first century. He presents a compelling argument that the Russian Revolution was THE pivotal event of the twentieth century. He examines its betrayal by Stalinism, the position of Trotsky and the Left Opposition, and counterposes (particularly to Hobsbawm who he calls “ultra-deterministic”) that there was, indeed, an alternative to Stalinism—the program of the Fourth International.
North is clearly partisan (he is the international editor of the World Socialist Web Site and chairmain of the US Socialist Equality Party), but his grasp of the objective driving forces of history are presented with detailed scholarship. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for answers to social inequality, war and the nature of imperialism.
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