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Are there any Communists in the group? I'd love to hear what a true Bolshevik thinks of this account of the October Revolution.
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Ten Days that Shook the World,
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Darcy Robinson
This is a a true bolshevik thought of this account (end of debate):
With the greatest interest and with never slackening attention I read John Reed’s book, Ten Days that Shook the World. Unreservedly do I recommend it to the workers of the world. Here is a book which I should like to see published in millions of copies and translated into all languages. It gives a truthful and most vivid exposition of the events so significant to the comprehension of what really is the Proletarian Revolution and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. These problems are widely discussed, but before one can accept or reject these ideas, he must understand the full significance of his decision. John Reed’s book will undoubtedly help to clear this question, which is the fundamental problem of the international labor movement.
N. LENIN.
End of 1919.
With the greatest interest and with never slackening attention I read John Reed’s book, Ten Days that Shook the World. Unreservedly do I recommend it to the workers of the world. Here is a book which I should like to see published in millions of copies and translated into all languages. It gives a truthful and most vivid exposition of the events so significant to the comprehension of what really is the Proletarian Revolution and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. These problems are widely discussed, but before one can accept or reject these ideas, he must understand the full significance of his decision. John Reed’s book will undoubtedly help to clear this question, which is the fundamental problem of the international labor movement.
N. LENIN.
End of 1919.
Perdo Feely
Reed as author was there in Petrograd offering to the Bolsheviks (worker's organizations) that if the Russian workers lead, workers in other countries, particularly in Germany and the US, would follow. This led to hope that a world worker's communist revolution could end the capitalist-imperialist World War I. It is a cause that took root in the Dockyards of Hamburg, the steel and coal workers unions in the US and more. However in Russia, Trotsky would lose to the Stalinist group (read Nationalist Socialism, rather than internationalist), causing Trotsky to flee to Mexico). Question remains: were there any fundamental differences beyond nationalism of Fascist and Stalinist camps?
Good movie on this book: Reds (1981)
Good movie on this book: Reds (1981)
Xan Mead
Yes, Lenin and Trotsky are featured prominently in this book. Lenin wrote the (brief) introduction, in which he says "Unreservedly do I recommend it to the workers of the world."
In this book, Stalin is rarely mentioned, much to the chagrin of Stalin, who banned the book along with Trotsky. I've talked to Trotskyites who consider that proof of the book's merit.
In this book, Stalin is rarely mentioned, much to the chagrin of Stalin, who banned the book along with Trotsky. I've talked to Trotskyites who consider that proof of the book's merit.
Benjamin Eskola
My edition has an endorsement from Lenin in the foreword, so that might count for something.
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