The Russian Revolution, 1917
The April Theses By V.I Lenin
This document caused a bombshell when it was revealed to the Bolsheviks in
Petersburg, advocating as it did the overthrow of the "Revolutionary" Provisional Government,
and an end to collaboration with the bourgeois liberals and right-wing socialists. The
April Theses are Lenin's call to arms for the October Revolution.
The Lessons of October By Leon Trotsky
This document was an attempt to outline the history of the October
Revolution and summarise its lessons as a kind of manual of revolutionary practice for the
newly formed Communist Parties of Western Europe, written by one of its principal organisers.
10 Days That Shook The World By John Reed
John Reed was an American journalist and socialist who was in Russia from
mid-1917, and wrote this novel based on his experiences. My copy reads "the epic novel that
Lenin read three times!".
The History of the Russian Revolution By Leon Trotsky
Trotsky's magnum opus is one of the most inspiring and educational Marxist
books available. Covers the period from just before February 1917, and concludes with the
declaration of the Soviet Republic at the Second Congress of Soviets in late October. It is
very rich both in its history of the revolutionary class struggle of 1917, and for the
concrete application of Marxist theory. The two are worked together so seamlessly the result
can justly be called poetic.
Russia: The Making of the Revolution By Steve Wright
This pamphlet is a useful introduction to the Russian Revolution, outlining the chronology,
the context, and the political organisations that were involved.
Russia: How the revolution was lost By Chris Harman
This pamphlet is an introduction to the degeneration of the revolution and
the Stalinist counter-revolution.
Lenin Rearms the Party, from Lenin, Vol. 2, All Power to the Soviets
By Tony Cliff
This is the chapter from Cliff's biography of Lenin that deals with the
April Theses and the vacillation of leading Bolsheviks after the February
revolution of 1917.
In Defence of October By Leon Trotsky
In Defence of October was written at a time when Stalinism had
completed its victory over the Revolution in Russia, and many demoralised intellectuals were
turning away from Revolutionary politics. Trotsky's Defence is an attempt to extract
the heroic and inspiring legacy of October from the burial it was being given by the
Stalinists, the Right and the disillusioned ex-leftists.