John Medhurst - No Less Than Mystic - A History of Lenin and the Russian Revolution for a 21st-Century Left

On the other hand, I have one small advantage that, I imagine, nearly all historians of the Russian Revolution lack. Since the mid-1980s I have continuously been a trade union activist, an elected representative at Branch and National level, and then a full-time union official. In these capacities I have negotiated with local and national management on numerous issues, represented members personally in grievance and discrimination cases, run recruitment and other campaigns, led strikes, organised picket lines and argued the case for public services and public ownership within Westminster and the EU. I found in writing this book that my personal experience of the socialist and trade union milieu was helpful in understanding the pressures and dilemmas of socialists who also worked outside the political mainstream, also organised congresses, meetings, motions, rallies, demonstrations, etc., while trying to ensure these efforts had some connection to what could be achieved.

I must thank Repeater Books, in particular Tariq Goddard, Mark Fisher and Josh Turner, who have been incredibly generous and supportive. First at Zero Books and now with Repeater, they have been almost alone in UK publishing in giving first-time authors a voice and platform. With Repeater they have again provided a much-needed space for radical, questioning and non-generic work that avoids the double pitfalls of Tory-lite metropolitan narcissism and predictable, self-satisfied leftism.

Lastly, a word of thanks to friends and colleagues who see more merit in Leninism and Trotskyism than I do. In my experience they are better socialists in practice than the doctrine I criticise here–more Alexander Shliapnikov than Vladimir Lenin. I know they will disagree with most of this book, but maybe not all of it.

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A Repeater Books paperback original 2017

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