Outside of a few events including the Long March and the Shanghai commune the development of the Chinese revolution is relatively unknown on the western left in comparison with the revolutions in Russia in 1917, Spain in 1936 or even the Paris spring of 1968. Those sections of that left influenced by or proclaiming themselves to be Maoist haven't helped that situation much. Their histories have tended towards simple tales focusing on the role of one man and collapsed a 100-year history of revolution into the events important to him.

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Howard Zinn is an American historian best known for his book ‘A Peoples History Of The United States’, however he was written much more on the subject of American working class history. He is also a World War II veteran, a playwright and, to this day, remains a political activist. ... read full story

A 60 minute recording of a talk and discussion on the Chinese revolution and the Chinese anarchist movement. It's available here as google video, mp4 and mp3 formats, the first two are preferred as the viewer will then be able to see the images referenced during the talk. ... read full story

The Kibbutz (plural Kibbutzim meaning clustering) movement is a social movement with a long history and one that has numerous connections with Anarchism. It is comprised of many different ideologies and philosophies many with contradictory intentions, sometimes present in the same Kibbutz. ... read full story

With women’s control over their own fertility still denied in Ireland North and South, Ciaran Murray drags up a story from the not so distant past, where direct action, literally got the goods.

There is no doubt that with the waning of the power of the church in the South of Ireland there came a decrease in support for its influence on legislation and thus an increase in basic civil liberties as the population of the country boomed and Ireland moved into a new era. But, as Ireland began to find its feet in a changing world, some of the most basic human rights were still being denied to its citizens. Despite the fact that there is a long record of women's involvement in the turbulent history of this country, the ability of women to make decisions regarding their own bodies was still out of their control.
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On this page you'll find links to texts of talks given to WSM meetings dealing primarily with revolutionary periods in France, Russia, Spain and Ireland, but also more general histories, as well as accounts of some important anarchist figures of the past.

Please bear in mind that all opinions are those of the respective authors. ... read full story

The book is about the circulation of revolutionary ideas around the Atlantic. The authors don't set out to prove their thesis of circulation and improvement of revolutionary ideas systematically with tables of figures and statistics. Instead the book is a series of case studies, interesting in themselves, but each showing common features.

This is a talk given to a WSM meeting and represents the opinion of the author alone. ... read full story

La huelga que iba a precipitar la formación del Soviet de Limerick fue convocada por la muerte de Robert Byrne un republicano y Trade Unionista.

This article in English http://www.wsm.ie/news_viewer/3144 ... read full story

The first problem facing the strikers was how to feed Limericks 38,000 inhabitants. The committee sat in session all of Monday organising food distrubution. The committee was divided into two sections, one to recieve food and one to deliver it. Hundreds of special permits were issued allowing shops to open.

Rough notes for a talk given to a WSM meeting in 1994. This talk in Spanish: http://www.wsm.ie/story/3145 ... read full story

The extent of the democracy in Spain during the revolution was far more thorough going than anything ever achieved anywhere else in the world at any time in know history. This might seem like a grand claim but I challenge anyone to disprove it. ... read full story

This talk is based around the Solidarity pamphlet 'The Greek Tragedy', subtitled 'the failure of the left' published in 1968 as a response to the coup in Greece the previous year. It states the left put up little resistance to the coup and places the reason for this in the lack of a tradition of self-activity in the working class. In particular the response of the Spanish workers to Franco's coup of 1936 is contrasted with what happened in Greece.

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In 1869 feudalism was abolished and the clans surrendered their fiefs to the government. All classes were declared equal before the law and barriers on local movement and internal trade removed. Individuals were allowed acquire land and all the professions and trades were thrown open. ... read full story

For nearly sixty years, Malatesta was active in the anarchist movement as an agitator and as a propagandist. He was one of the movements most respected members as well as remaining to the end one of its most controversial. He was active in many parts of the world, as well as the editor of a number of Italian anarchist journals including the daily Umanita Nova (1920-22) ... read full story

The Orange Parades on and around the twelfth of July have long been a bone of serious contention and indeed a source of sectarian conflict in the Six Counties. Members of the Orange Order demand their unalienable right to march the Queen's highway, in commemoration of the victory of King William of Orange at the battle of the Boyne - a victory (as the Orangemen see it) for religious and civil liberty.

A talk by Gregor Kerr at WSM Open Meeting 7/7/97 ... read full story

What initially drew Goldman to anarchism was the outcry that followed the Haymarket Square tragedy in 1886 in Chicago. Emma Goldman had followed the event intensely and on the day of the hanging she decided to become a revolutionary. ... read full story

En 1871 Francia fue a la guerra con Prusia y fue derrotada. La cabeza del gobierno nacional era Adolphe Thiers, él tuvo que negociar los detalles de la paz con Prusia. Después de hacer esto tuvo que afrontar el problema de volver a controlar Paris, de convencer a la ciudad de que la guerra con Prusia había terminado y del desarme de la Guardia Nacional. A Thiers sólo se le permitían 12.000 soldados después de la tregua, y con ellos tuvo que hacer frente a varios cientos de miles de guardias nacionales.

In English: http://www.wsm.ie/news_viewer/3136 ... read full story

The commune was formally installed in the Hotel de Ville two days later in the glorious spring sunshine of Tuesday, 28 March. The national Guard battalions assembled, the names of the newly elected members were read out , as, wearing red, they lined up on the steps of the Hotel de Ville under a canopy surmounted by a bust to the republic. On high the red flag was flying as it had done ever since 18 March and guns saluted the proclamation of the Paris Commune...

This is the notes for a talk given to a WSM meeting in October 1993 that was heavily based on The Communards of Paris, 1871: edited by Stewart Edwards, and published by Cornell Paperbacks; CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

As its in note form it includes sections copied from this book. ... read full story

Was the Cheka integral to Lenin's doctrine or did it arrive by chance?

notes for a talk given to the Dublin branch, March 11th 1992 by Aileen O'Carroll ... read full story

Here I am going to look at four myths, widly accepted by the left and right alike on the October revolutiuon and its aftermath. ... read full story