Western Socialist Research Articles

Journal de Russie d'Albert Thomas

Journal de Russie (April 22-June 19, 1917), by Albert Thomas, an unpublished document edited by I. Sinanoglou. Of the many Western socialist missions to Russia in spring 1917 that of Albert Thomas stands out as the most important. He combined extensive experience in the international socialist movement with a passionate zeal for the Allied cause. Endowed by his government with extraordinary powers to determine French policy in the new Russia, Thomas had also to convince the more sceptical Russian socialists that the cause of European socialism and democracy and the defence of revolutionary Russia's newly-won liberty could be promoted only by a vigorous military effort against the Central Powers. In his Russian diary, Thomas records his intimate contacts with the leaders of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd soviet. He attempted, without success, to convince his governement that the Allies would have to accept the revision of their war aims and participate in an international socialist conference in order to win revolutionary Russia to the cause of the Entente.

Peaceful Transition to Socialism?

The present situation in Chile (late November) is in important respects unique in political history. A popular front (Unidad Popular-UP) government is in office after having been elected on a program which is much more radical than any program on which a Western socialist party or popular front has ever run, let alone won, in the past. It is important to be clear about this since the UP program has already played, and undoubtedly will continue to play, a crucial role in the unfolding of events in Chile, one of the key countries of Latin America.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Western Socialists and Ghana

THE STRUGGLE OVER THE meaning of words used political discourse is unending. Several years ago, George F. Kennan wrote that Russia was moving in the direction of rudimentary parliamentarianism, at least within the Central Committee-that Parliament of Man. A curious and debatable extension of the word parliamentarianism which is covered by the step backward, rudimentary, thus barring anyone asking Kennan for evidence, say, a Russian Hansard. I suppose we must expect such debasement of language the era of permanent Soviet meliorism.