''World Revolution, 1917–1936: The Rise and Fall of the Communist International'' was written by Trinidadian Marxist

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, '' The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are i ...

and published in 1937 by

Secker and Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

. It was a pioneering Marxist analysis from a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

perspective of the history of revolutions during the interwar period and of the fundamental conflict between

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 M ...

and

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), 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 ad ...

. James, who was a leading Trotskyist activist in Britain during the 1930s, outlined Russia's transition from communist revolution to a Stalinist totalitarian state bureaucracy building on works such as Trotsky's

The Revolution Betrayed ''The Revolution Betrayed: What Is the Soviet Union and Where Is It Going?'' (russian: Преданная революция: Что такое СССР и куда он идет?) is a book published in 1937 by the exiled Soviet Bolshevik leader ...

. He also provides an account of the ideological contestations within 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 a ...

while examining its influence on the development 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 national ...

and its changing role in struggles such as the German Revolution of 1918–23, the Chinese Revolution of 1925–27 and the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. He was helped when writing it by

Harry Wicks Harry Wicks (16 August 1905 – 26 March 1989) was a British socialist activist. Born in Battersea, London, he went to work on the railways and joined the National Union of Railwaymen in 1919. He joined the Labour Party, but after Black Frid ...

and other Trotskyists, while Dorothy Pizer typed up the manuscript. The work was dedicated to the Marxist Group, of which James was then a leading member.

Reception and influence

Outside of active Communists (like John Ross Campbell and

Andrew Rothstein Andrew Rothstein (26 September 1898 – 22 September 1994) was a British journalist. A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), Rothstein was one of the leading public faces of the British Communist movement, serving as a member ...

, who reviewed the book negatively), the book had a very good reception overall with Trotsky in 1939 calling it 'a very good book'. George Orwell in 1937 thought it ' very able book' while

E. H. Carr Edward Hallett Carr (28 June 1892 – 3 November 1982) was a British historian, diplomat, journalist and international relations theorist, and an opponent of empiricism within historiography. Carr was best known for '' A History of Soviet Rus ...

in 1937 called it 'decidedly useful … in his analysis of the course of the Russian Revolution and of the point at which it took the wrong turning, Mr. James displays commendable independence of judgment and desire to arrive at the truth'. The work was also critically praised by

Fenner Brockway Archibald Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway (1 November 1888 – 28 April 1988) was a British socialist politician, humanist campaigner and anti-war activist. Early life and career Brockway was born to W. G. Brockway and Frances Elizabeth Abbey in ...

and

Eugene Lyons Eugene Lyons (July 1, 1898 – January 7, 1985) was an American journalist and writer. A fellow traveler of Communism in his younger years, Lyons became highly critical of the Soviet Union after several years there as a correspondent of United P ...

. Among Trotskyists the work made a considerable impact. Though the work was banned by British colonial authorities, it was smuggled into India and G Selvarajatnan, later leader of the great strike in the Madras textile mills was converted to Trotskyism upon reading it, and Leslie Goonewardene's ''Rise and Fall of the Comintern'' published ten years afterwards in Bombay was largely based on it. An American edition was published by Pioneer Publications, New York, 1937; and it was reprinted by Kraus in 1970, and Hyperion Press in 1973, and Humanities Press in 1992 (with an introduction by Al Richardson). A new edition appeared in 2017 with Duke University Press to mark the centenary of the

."Duke University Press – World Revolution"

Notes

{{reflist

External links

* Al Richardson
"Introduction to 1993 Humanities Press Edition"
via Marxists.org
World Revolution
at Marxists.org
''World Revolution, 1917–1936''
New edition, 2017, with introduction by Christian Høgsbjerg, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, ISBN 978-0-8223-6308-8.
Review of World Revolution
by Tony Phillips, ''Socialist Review'', issue 429 (November 2017).
Review of World Revolution
by Chris Gilligan, ''Marx and Philosophy Review of Books'' (May 2018). 1937 non-fiction books 20th-century history books Books about Marxism Books by C. L. R. James History books about communism Secker & Warburg books Works about revolutions