Tag: Russia

The Maisky Diaries review – Britain’s high and mighty in conversation with Stalin’s man

Jonathan Steele For a man who once told his friend Beatrice Webb that he “disliked the profession of diplomacy”, Ivan Maisky was an unusually brilliant practitioner of the art of being an ambassador. Spending 11 years as Stalin’s representative in London, between 1932 and 1943, Maisky not only had his hands full in trying to… Read More The Maisky Diaries review – Britain’s high and mighty in conversation with Stalin’s man

Dilip

The Mask is Off. After Ukraine, imperialism is now the norm

NB: Whereas I agree with Professor Mehta’s arguments about the sinister significance of Trump’s treatment of President Zelenskyy; the following is where I disagree. He says the Russian invasion of Ukraine was only the second time since World War II that one country had claimed an entire other country… It was a war to erase… Read More The Mask is Off. After Ukraine, imperialism is now the norm

Dilip

The Bolsheviks & workers’ control: State & counter-revolution, by Maurice Brinton

The Russian Revolution in is entirety from 1905 to 1917 continues to be one of the great periods of history for the struggle for freedom by the working class against the capitalist class.  Maurice Brinton: The Bolsheviks and Workers’ Control A remarkable pamphlet by Maurice Brinton exposing the struggle that took place over the running… Read More The Bolsheviks & workers’ control: State & counter-revolution, by Maurice Brinton

Dilip

Reading Vasily Grossman’s ‘Stalingrad’ and ‘Life and Fate’

War heightens the kaleidoscope of temporality. That you might say is the premise of Grossman’s entire book. It is an effect of combat and of the proximity of death. There would be other such moments in World War II – Bagration, Normandy, and the Battle for Berlin come to mind. But perhaps never again, indeed… Read More Reading Vasily Grossman’s ‘Stalingrad’ and ‘Life and Fate’

Dilip

Manifestations of the Devil: The writings of Maximilian Rudwin (1885-1946)

From the 1910s through the 1930s, Maximilian J. Rudwin produced some excellent pioneering scholarship on the European traditions of the fantastic in literature, especially as related to various manifestations of the devil.  Rudwin was an unusually peripatetic scholar, and virtually nothing has been written about him or his oeuvre. His trail has not been easy to… Read More Manifestations of the Devil: The writings of Maximilian Rudwin (1885-1946)

Dilip