Boris Souvarine (1 November 1895 – 1 November 1984), also known as Varine, was a French
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
,
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
activist, essayist and journalist.
A founding member of the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...
, Souvarine is noted for being the only non-Russian communist to have been a member of the
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...
for three years in succession.
'Historical Note', Preface to Boris Souvarine Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University He famously authored the first biography of
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
, published in 1935 as ''Staline, Aperçu Historique du Bolchévisme'' (''Stalin, Historic Overview of Bolshevism'') and kept close correspondence with
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
and
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
until their deaths.
His anticonformism and early criticism of Stalin made him break away from the party in 1924. In the decades that followed, Souvarine continued publishing as a leading
Sovietologist and
anti-Stalinist
The anti-Stalinist left is an umbrella term for various kinds of left-wing political movements that opposed Joseph Stalin, Stalinism and the actual system of governance Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953. Th ...
. He was also the founder of the Institute of Social History and an author, historian, publisher and journalist.
Early life
Souvarine was born Boris Konstantinovich Lifschits in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Ky ...
to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family. Souvarine's family moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
in 1897, where he became a socialist activist from a young age. He trained as a jewelry designer.
At the age of 14, he came into contact with the French socialist movement while he was working as an apprentice in an aviation factory. He began to attend meetings held by
Jean Jaurès
Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; oc, Joan Jaurés ), was a French Socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became one of the first social dem ...
.
Souvarine experienced his first trauma with the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. Mobilised as part of the French army in 1914, he quickly discovered the horrors of trench warfare and in March 1915, he lost his older brother who died fighting on the front-line.
War pushed Souvarine into politics and the
antimilitarist
Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (esp ...
movement. He joined the
French Section of the Workers' International
The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was foun ...
(SFIO). in 1916 and began contributing to publications of the antiwar socialist minority like ''
Le Populaire'', signing articles with the pseudonym he held onto for the rest of his life. Souvarine is patronym borrowed from a character in
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
's ''Germinal''.
October Revolution
Souvarine's journalistic reputation grew rapidly during the war years as a talented, subtle writer and a skillful polemicist. He welcomed with fervour the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
in 1917 and his Russian skills helped him relay the events closely to left-wing circles in France. In the same year, Souvarine was hired to
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
's ''
Novaya Zhizn
''Novaya Zhizn'' (, ''New Life'') was the first legal Bolshevik daily newspaper. It was founded by Alexander Bogdanov and its first editor was Nikolai Minsky. It was first published in October 1905 in Petersburg, under the guidance of Lenin. It w ...
'' as a correspondent in France.
Following the
Bolshevik coup d'état in November 1917, Souvarine wrote:
Creation of Communist Party
In 1919, Souvarine joined the committee of the
Communist International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...
and became one of its most active members, helping to diffuse large numbers of political and propagandist literature across Europe.
In one of these leaflets, Souvarine wrote:
In 1920, he is elected delegate to the
SFIO's Congress where he advocates for cross-party membership to the Communist International. In March 1920, he created the widely read and influential ''Bulletin Communiste'' as twice monthly mouth-piece of the Third International.
Tours Congress
Souvarine was arrested on 17 May 1920 in a government crackdown that accused a number of communist leaders and revolutionary activists of anarchist plots and conspiracy. Because of a lack of substantive evidence, he was released shortly after with Fernand Loriot and Pierre Monatte, who are all acquitted in March 1921.
In prison, Souvarine buried himself in his journalistic, political and essay writing, writing almost non-stop for ''Bulletin communiste'', ''
l'Humanité
''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist."
History and profile
Pre-World Wa ...
'', ''La Vague'' and ''
La Vie Ouvrière
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
''. It was then that he composed the famous motion for the Tours Congress that would eventually split the SFIO and form the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...
.
In December 1920, Loriot and Souvarine are named honorary presidents of the Tours Congress. Over 75% of congress delegates adopt the Souvarine motion that created the French Section of the Communist International. Much later, once the party became fully Stalinised, it became known as the French Communist Party.
Break with Communist Party
As an executive member of the Comintern, Souvarine kept in regular contact with
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
. When Trotsky became the target of vilification in the
All-Union Communist Party, Souvarine conveyed the French Communist Party's support for Trotsky to the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
' 13th Congress in 1924. He became associated with the communist opposition against
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
. Souvarine was removed from his official roles in the French Communist Party in early 1924 and was expelled by the Comintern in July.
He became close to anti-Stalinist communist figures in Paris (including Marcel Body,
Christian Rakovsky
Christian Georgievich Rakovsky (russian: Христиа́н Гео́ргиевич Рако́вский; bg, Кръстьо Георги́ев Рако́вски; – September 11, 1941) was a Bulgarian-born socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevi ...
and the writer
Panait Istrati
Panait Istrati (; sometimes rendered as ''Panaït Istrati''; August 10, 1884 – April 16, 1935) was a Romanian working class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed ''The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans''. Istrati appears to be the ...
). In October 1925, Souvarine relaunched the ''Bulletin communiste'' and in February 1926, he organised its supporters in the Marx–Lenin Communist Circle. In the late 1920s, he remained active in the communist opposition, was close to
Pierre Monatte and
Alfred Rosmer
Alfred Rosmer (born Alfred Griot, 23 August 1877 – 6 May 1964) was an American-born French Communist political activist and historian who was a leading member of the Comintern. Rosmer is best remembered as a political associate of Leon Trotsky an ...
and wrote in ''La Révolution Prolétarienne''. He shared some positions with the
Left Opposition as well with the so-called
Right Opposition
The Right Opposition (, ''Pravaya oppozitsiya'') or Right Tendency (, ''Praviy uklon'') in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was a conditional label formulated by Joseph Stalin in fall of 1928 in regards the opposition against certain me ...
, but he refused to take part in its international conference called by
Heinrich Brandler and
August Thalheimer in Berlin in 1930.
[Richardson, p.iv] The Marx–Lenin Communist Circle was renamed the
Democratic Communist Circle
The Democratic Communist Circle ( French: ''Cercle communiste démocratique'', CCD; French pronunciation: εʀkl kɔmynist demɔkʀatik/small>) was a left-wing, political group founded by Boris Souvarine in February 1926 under the original name ...
(''Cercle Communise Démocratique'')''.''
The ''Bulletin communiste'' was continued, and Souvarine also launched ''La critique sociale''. His growing break with Trotsky was indicated by his analysis of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
as
state capitalist, in contrast to Trotsky's designation of it as a
degenerated workers' state
In Trotskyist political theory, a degenerated workers' state is a dictatorship of the proletariat in which the working class' democratic control over the state has given way to control by a bureaucratic clique. The term was developed by Leon Tro ...
.
[Richardson, p.iv]
In 1936, Souvarine encouraged the newly exiled writer
Victor Serge to continue his political activity. By now, Trotsky harshly criticised Souvarine's personal characteristics and stated that Souvarine was a journalist, rather than a revolutionary. Serge's defense of Souvarine and other anti-Stalinists who deviated from Trotsky's positions was among the factors that led to distrust between Serge and Trotsky.
In 1935, Souvarine created the Institute for Social History,
La Souvarine - Institut d'Histoire sociale
a French branch of the International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figu ...
of Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, which was originally created to preserve the archives of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been ...
. He was the secretary general while Alexandre-Marie Desrousseaux was the president and Boris Nicolaevsky
Boris Ivanovich Nicolaevsky (russian: Бори́с Ива́нович Никола́евский) (20 October 1887 – 22 February 1966) was a Russian Marxist activist, archivist, and historian. Nicolaevsky is best remembered as one of the leading ...
was the director.
In November 1936, burglars stole the archives of Trotsky that were deposited at the institute. In 1940, the institute was looted by the Nazis, who brought some of its collections to Germany. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and during the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
, Souvarine moved towards a reformist
Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.
Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can ...
politics and increasingly adopted anti-Soviet positions. After his return to France in 1948 and with the help of Jacques Chevallier, he recreated the Institute of Social History. The institute published the magazine ''Le Contrat Social''.
Later life
Souvarine was involved in a variety of organizations and journals (f.e. «''Est-Ouest''» and «''Le Contrat social''») of the anti-Stalinist left
The anti-Stalinist left is an umbrella term for various kinds of left-wing political movements that opposed Joseph Stalin, Stalinism and the actual system of governance Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953. Th ...
in France, publishing frequently on the Soviet Union, Stalin and Stalinism
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the the ...
. Souvarine also criticised Lenin. His criticisms of Stalinism were important sources for some less orthodox Trotskyists, such as C. L. R. James, who translated his Stalin biography into English.
In 1976, declining health forced him to abandon his position at the Institute of Social History. He died in Paris on 1 November 1984.
Works
Original French publications
* Souvarine, B., 1935. ''Staline, aperçu historique du bolchévisme'', Paris, Plon (re-edited Champ libre
Champ Libre is a French publisher founded in 1969 by Gérard Lebovici in Paris. The name is taken from a phrase which means "free field" (the way is clear).
In 1984, after the assassination of Gérard Lebovici, Champ Libre changed its name and bec ...
1978 and 1985, then éditions Ivrea 1992).
* Souvarine, B., 1936. ''À travers le pays des Soviets'', under the pseudonyme of Motus, Paris, Éditions de France.
* Souvarine, B., 1937.
Cauchemar en URSS
'', Paris, Revue de Paris, (re-edited Agone, 2001).
* Souvarine, B., 1937. ''Ouvriers et paysans en URSS'', Paris, Librairie du travail, (re-edited Agone, 2001).
* Souvarine, B., 1971. ''Un Pot-pourri de Khrouchtchev : à propos de ses souvenirs'', Paris, éditions Spartacus.
* Souvarine, B., 1972. ''Le Stalinisme'', Paris, Spartacus.
* Souvarine, B., 1981. ''Autour du congrès de Tours'', Paris, Champ Libre
Champ Libre is a French publisher founded in 1969 by Gérard Lebovici in Paris. The name is taken from a phrase which means "free field" (the way is clear).
In 1984, after the assassination of Gérard Lebovici, Champ Libre changed its name and bec ...
.
* Souvarine, B., 1982. ''L'observateur des deux mondes et autres textes'', Paris, La Différence.
* Souvarine, B., 1983. ''La Critique Sociale – 1931-1934'', Paris, La Différence.
* Souvarine, B., 1985. ''Souvenirs'' sur Isaac Babel, Panaït Istrati, Pierre Pascal - followed by ''Lettre à Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repre ...
'', Paris, éditions Gérard Lebovici.
* Souvarine, B., 1985. ''À contre-courant'' (collection of texts from 1925 to 1939), Paris, Denoël.
* Souvarine, B., 1990. ''Controverse avec Soljenitsyne'', Paris, Allia Editions.
* Souvarine, B., 1998. ''Chroniques du mensonge communiste'', texts chosen by Branko Lazitch and Pierre Rigoulot
Pierre Rigoulot (born 1944) is a French historian and author. The author of ''L'antiaméricanisme'', he contributed to Stéphane Courtois' ''The Black Book of Communism
''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression'' is a 1997 book ...
, Plon.
* Souvarine, B., 2007. ''Sur Lénine, Trotsky et Staline'' (1978–79), interviews with Branko Lazitch and Michel Heller; ''Boris'' by Michel Heller.
* Boris Souvarine additionally wrote anonymously one of the three parts of ''Vers l'autre flamme'', published under Panaït Istrati
Panait Istrati (; sometimes rendered as ''Panaït Istrati''; August 10, 1884 – April 16, 1935) was a Romanian working class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed ''The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans''. Istrati appears to be the ...
's name in 1929. Re-edition, 1997. ''L'URSS en 1930'', introduced by Charles Jacquier, Paris, éditions Ivrea.
Translated into English
* Souvarine, B., 2005. ''Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism'', Kessinger Publishing Legacy Reprint Series.*
* Souvarine, B., 1964. ''Stalin'', Hoover Institution for War, Revolution and Peace, University of Stanford.*
* Souvarine, B., 2010. ''The Third International'', Bibliobazaar Reprints.
* Souvarine, B., 1939, ''Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism'', Longmans, Green & Co. New York
References
Further reading
* Brown, C. J., 1966. ''Boris Souvarine and the French Communist Movement'', University of Wisconsin, Madison.
* Ilford House., 1978. ''Homage to Boris Souvarine''.
* Richardson, Al., 2001. ''What Became of the Revolution: Selected Writings of Boris Souvarine'', Socialist Platform, foreword by Al Richardson.
External links
Boris Souvarine Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University.
Boris Souvarine Papers
at the International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figu ...
Boris Souvarine Archive
at Marxist Internet Archive
* Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
''An Open Letter to Boris Souvarine''
Marxist Internet Archive.
* Thomas Molnar
"The Man Who Knew Lenin - Boris Souvarine"
in ''National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'', April 19, 1985
* Stelian Tănase
Stelian Tănase (born February 17, 1952) is a Romanian writer, journalist, political analyst, and talk show host. Tănase was from November 2013 to October 2015 the president of TVR. Having briefly engaged in politics during the early 1990s, aft ...
"The Renegade Istrati", excerpt from ''Auntie Varvara's Clients''
translated by Alistair Ian Blyth
*
Les Vies de Boris Souvarine
''Critique Sociale'', 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souvarine, Boris
1895 births
1984 deaths
Ukrainian Jews
French Section of the Workers' International politicians
French Communist Party politicians
Comintern people
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
Historians of communism
Historians of Russia
Executive Committee of the Communist International
Russian socialists
French socialists
Jewish socialists
French male writers
French male essayists
20th-century French historians
Writers from Paris
Stalinism-era scholars and writers
Writers about the Soviet Union
20th-century French essayists
20th-century French journalists