Revolution

Is an Arab revolution on the agenda?

19 August 2006
"The Arab people now consider Hizbollah to be heroes because they are confronting the enemy Israel and protecting their land... Even if Hizbollah were destroyed, another Hizbollah would emerge within a year or two somewhere else - maybe in Jordan, in Syria, in Egypt or in Iraq."

Democracy and revolution in the Arab world

12 August 2006
"How long before there’s a revolution?" This question was asked by the journalist Robert Fisk in the Independent last week as he considered the implications for the Arab world of the turmoil in Lebanon.

An agricultural ‘revolution’ begins in Bolivia - but many obstacles lie ahead

12 August 2006
On 2 August, Bolivia’s radical president Evo Morales and his cabinet travelled to the small town of Ucureña, where, in front of 50,000 agricultural labourers, they pledged to radicalise the process dubbed Bolivia’s "agrarian revolution".

Ted Grant 1913-2006

29 July 2006
Ted Grant, who died last week, was one of the last survivors of the generation of Trotskyists who inherited the movement after the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky’s murder in 1940.

The Spanish Revolution 1936 to 1939

22 July 2006
Our commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Revolution starts with Fighting the fascists, creating a new world by Andy Durgan, historical advisor on Ken Loach's Land and Freedom, examining the politics of the cilvil war.

Timeline of the Spanish Revolution

22 July 2006
September 1923King Alfonso XIII scraps parliamentary monarchy, installs a military dictatorship under General Miguel Primo de Rivera.January 1930Faced with rising opposition, Primo de Rivera is replaced.April 1931The left wins local elections. The king flees Spain. Crowds enthusiastically proclaim the new Republic.October 1934Right wing government takes office. Armed miners rise and create the Asturian Commune.

Russia and socialism

15 July 2006
Many people today are interested in a revolutionary alternative to capitalism. But they often worry that socialism is associated with the brutality of Stalinism, a system which dominated Russia and Eastern Europe for much of the 20th century and that was no better than Western capitalism.

Reviews round-up

08 July 2006
Kandinsky: The Path To AbstractionTate Modern, central London until 1 October<a href="http://www.tate.org.uk" target = "_blank">www.tate.org.uk</a> A new exhibition follows the journey of Russian revolutionary artist Wassily Kandinsky from a figurative landscape painter to one of the founders of modern art. Kandinsky’s artistic revolution was heavily influenced by the Russian revolutionary movement and the revolution that occurred in Russia in 1917. This is an inspirational exhibition, with paintings conveying political turmoil and the birth of a new hope.

Karol Modzelewski: ‘The rebellion had all the features of a classic revolutionary uprising’

01 July 2006
Karol Modzelewski was a student and political activist in 1956. He went on to co-write the Open Letter to the Party, which challenged Stalinism from the left and was key to setting up the Solidarity union. Karol answered questions from Socialist Worker

Irish independence didn’t bring radical change

01 July 2006
James Connolly, the Irish revolutionary socialist executed for his part in the 1916 rising, said that partition of Ireland would produce a "carnival of reaction North and South".

French left debate need for alternative

01 July 2006
The Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire (LCR) held its national conference last weekend. The main item discussed was the policy of the organisation towards the 2007 presidential election.

Rebels and Martyrs: how Romanticism and revolution changed art

01 July 2006
It is a powerful and romantic idea about past artists that they were visionaries starving in garrets, in some ways outside society. This image – deliberately created in part by artists themselves – can, if unpicked, tell us a great deal about how individuals responded to a rapidly changing world during the 19th century, and something about that world itself.

Poland 1956: The Poznan uprising

01 July 2006
The Poznan uprising of June 1956 sparked a mass movement in Poland and set in train the events leading towards the revolution in Hungary later in the year.

Che Guevara: an image that keeps the spirit of revolution alive

17 June 2006
The handsome face with the far away gaze stares down from posters on streets and bedroom walls all over the world, more recognisable perhaps than fellow beardie Jesus Christ.

Enemies: capturing the spirit of the 1905 Russian Revolution

23 May 2006
Whatever your feelings about Maxim Gorky, Enemies is a play that seems to capture the possibilities when society is on the edge of change.

Revolution in consciousness

23 May 2006
Workplaces of all kinds have been occupied – from textiles, printing and metallurgy, to ceramics and industrial bakeries. Schools, hotels and supermarkets have also been occupied.

Lebanon: anger on the streets as the Cedar Revolution wilts

20 May 2006
A quarter of a million workers, students and professionals marched through the streets of Beirut on Wednesday of last week in one of the biggest workers’ demonstrations in Lebanon’s history. Schools, shops and businesses closed for a day in solidarity with the demonstrators.

Latin left’s spirit of revolt hits Europe

20 May 2006
Venezuela’s radical president Hugo Chavez received a rapturous reception at a packed meeting in London last Sunday. "We are participating in a revolution," Chavez told his audience.

James Connolly struck a blow against British imperialism

29 April 2006
A few days from now is an anniversary no Socialist Worker reader should let pass unremembered. On 12 May 1916, the British Army executed the Irish revolutionary James Connolly.

Biofuels: cure or a new threat?

29 April 2006
With oil prices above $70 a barrel, could biofuels help to solve our energy crisis and reduce climate change at the same time? From George Bush to the European Union (EU), governments around the world seem to think so – and are beginning to subsidise the new biofuel revolution.