RE: [OPE] Marx: 'The Possibility of Non-Violent Revolution'

Hi Jerry and coleagues,

I have recently read a book by Victor Serge, "The first year of the
revolution" which I found very good. One of its chapters deals with the
question of violence by revolutions and counter-revolutions. He argues
that revolutions can be bloodless because of the overwhelming power of the
majority of the population against a minority of capitalists. The Russian
revolution fits this description. Counter-revolutions, on the other hand
have to be bloody because to overcome the power of enormous number of
people is necessary to exterminte many of them. And so it was in the
aftermath of the Paris Commune, in the Finish counter-revolution. Even
where revolutions properly speaking hadn´t taken place, such as in Chile,
counter-revolution was very bloody.
Obviously we have to separate revolutions from civil war. If after a
revolution the bourgeoisie and its allies just packed its belongings and
went away then there could be no violence at all. From then on the matter
would revolve around how revolutions could accomodate withn its political
institutions the interplay of different communist views which is a thorny
issue as we know. >
I have not read Marx´s speech yet but I intend to.

Greetings to all
Paulo
>
>
>> Does anyone have read?: Karl Marx, ‘The Possibility of Non-Violent
>> Revolution’, in Robert C. Tucker (ed.), TheMarx-Engels Reader (New York,
>> 1978), pp. 522–4.
>
>> Is it available on-line somewhere?
>
>
>
> Yes it is, Alejandro. Marx's speech to the First International in
> Amsterdam on
> September 8, 1872 was published in the journal _La Liberte'_ and it can be
> read online at http://www.marxists.org under the title "La Liberte'
> Speech".
>
> The title of the talk was apparently given by Tucker, not Marx.
>
> In solidarity, Jerry_______________________________________________
> ope mailing list
> ope@lists.csuchico.edu
> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
>

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Received on Mon Jan 12 08:21:26 2009