Victor Serge on Anarchism and Marxism

[Barry Woodling]

Victor Serges "memoirs of a Revolutionary" is a fascinating account of his life as a revolutionary both within the anarchist movement and subsequently as a dissident Marxist. Trotsky denounced Serges views on the Russian Revolution as "an exhibition of petty bougeois demoralisation". This following quote reveals Serges disenchantment with the Russian Revolution.

"The Russian revolution proved, despite itself, to be the continuation of certain ancient traditions stemming from the despotism it had just overthrown. Trotskyism was displaying symptoms of an outlook in harmony with that of the very Stalinism against which it had taken its stand and by which it was being ground into powder"

Barry Woodling

Northern Anarchist Network

[michele cryer]

Thank you Barry...you know, I could live in a library!!! As long as I had an internet connection too, of course

[Barry Woodling]

Serges iconoclastic views are encapsulated in his comments on the Russian revolution in 1921 whilst still a Bolshevik although he never seemed to completely forget his anarchist roots.

He wrote in May 1921 from Petrograd to a French anarchist friend the following:- "The prime error of the present Russian regime is to have created an entire bureaucratic mechanism to manage production instead of leaving it to the workers organised by industry (ie syndicalism). It has failed principally in attacking through methods of centralised discipline and military repression, any individual initiative, opposition or criticism (even a fraternal and revolutionary one), any aspiration to liberty; in short in being guided by a spirit contrary to that of anarchism".

Serges Memoirs of a Revolutionary published by the University of Iowa Press is a fascinating autobiograpy
which reveals the true nature of statism and authoritarian communism.

Barry Woodling

Noprthern Anarchist Network

[michele cryer]

Thanks Barry...

[barrywoodling]

The following short biographical sketch should help to place Serges views in an historical context and be of interest to readers of this thread

Victor Serge was born in Belgium in 1890. His parents were Russian revolutionaries who had fled Tsarist oppression. At an early age Serge left home and moved to France where he joined the anarchist movement. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for refusing to testify against some anarchist companeros. In 1917 he travelled to Spain where he took part in a short lived anarchist rebellion which coincided with a General Strike throughout Spain called by the CNT and the UGT. He was then interned in France

Serge visited Russia in early 1919 during the Civil War and joined the Bolshevik Party although he was quickly expelled for voicing criticisms of party rule. Stalin imprisoned Serge in 1928 and internal exile followed in 1933 in Orenburg in the Urals. In 1936 as a result of international pressure Serge went into exile in Western Europe and finally Mexico. He was subjected to constant Stalinist attacks and died penniless in 1947

Barry Woodling

Northern Anarchist Network.

[michele cryer]

Thanks once again Barry...very interesting articles

[Barry Woodling]

I would like to add a short footnote to Serges life story. George Orwell a trenchant critic of Soviet Communism who fought with the POUM in the Spanish Civil War nevertheless felt a close affinity with Victor Serge. He tried unsuccessfully to get Serges works published in this country.

Barry Woodling

Northern Anarchist Network

[Barry woodling]

Harrison E Salisbury in his book "Russia in Revolution"- 1900-1930 published by Andre Deutsch relates the anecdote of Victor Serge and Nikolai Gumilev. In August 1921 Serge visited the Art House on the Moika in Petrograd to see the poet Nikolai Gumilev an old friend and opponent of his Paris days. Gumilev had married Anna Akhmatova a young poet of pre-revolutionarty Petersburg. Their marriage ended quickly although they had one son Lev who was sent to one of Stalins prison camps in 1930.

Gumilev had remarried and his wife Olga told Serge that Gumilev had been arrested 3 days earlier. Serge went to the Petrograd Soviet and discovered that Gumilev had written what were deemed counter revolutionary statements but he didnt appear to be in any real danger. Gumilev spent his time reciting poems to the Chekists (secret police). However Gumilev who had emerged from the Russian Army after World War One as a monarchist was convicted and sentenced to be shot by the Cheka

One of Serges friends rushed to Moscow and intervened with Felix Dzershinsky the psychopathic head of the Cheka. "Are we entitled to shoot one of Russias 2 or 3 poets of the first order?" Dzershinsky was asked. He replied "Are we entitled to make an exception of a poet and still shoot the others?".

At dawn Gumilev was shot in the name of Lenins Revolution.

Salisbury an American jounalist draws heavily on Anarchist sources in particular Berkman and Goldman in his account of the Bolshevik dictatorship and is well worth reading.

[Mitch]

This book looks interesting Barry. I'm grateful for your snippits, as am struggling at the moment with time to read!

Are you drawing any analogies from this historical text to the current contemporary situation on the politcal scene? eek. ;D

Look forward to seeing you at the NAN conference.

On this actually, I've emailed Rachel and am awaiting directions as a few of us will be driving down from Burnley.

Do you have directions?? Would appreciate if so to:

[e-mail]

Best Mitch

[Barry Woodling]

Thanks for your comments MItch. I believe that Serges analysis of Bolshevism and Leninism is of contemporary relevance. Leninist and Trotskyist parties fully accept the Leninist model of Democratic Centralism and act as historical apologists for the Russian Revolution including the bloody suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921. Serges views as a critical insider are particulary pertinent.

Barry Woodling