Ian Birchall
Encyclopedia
Ian Birchall is a British Marxist historian and translator, a member of the Socialist Workers Party
and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left. Formerly Senior Lecturer in French at Middlesex University
, his research interests include the Comintern
, the International Working Class, Communism
and Trotskyism
, France and Syndicalism
, Babeuf, Sartre, Victor Serge
and Alfred Rosmer
. He is on the editorial board of Revolutionary History
, a member of the London Socialist Historians Group
and has just completed a biography of Tony Cliff
.
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left. Formerly Senior Lecturer in French at Middlesex University
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...
, his research interests include the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, the International Working Class, Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and Trotskyism
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
, France and Syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and an alternative to state socialism, which uses federations of collectivised trade unions or industrial unions...
, Babeuf, Sartre, Victor Serge
Victor Serge
Victor Serge , born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich , was a Russian revolutionary and writer. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator...
and Alfred Rosmer
Alfred Rosmer
Alfred Rosmer was a syndicalist leader before World War I and one of the few leaders of that movement to oppose the war from a revolutionary internationalist position....
. He is on the editorial board of Revolutionary History
Revolutionary History
Revolutionary History is a British journal dedicated to the history of the far left. It was founded in 1988 by Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson and has maintained an editorial board representing many strands of British Trotskyism. In its articles, it also covers other anti-Stalinist communist...
, a member of the London Socialist Historians Group
London Socialist Historians Group
The LSHG is a group of socialist historians formed in 1993 to promote discussion of new socialist approaches to history among the public and the academic community. It is focused on discussing the history from the "point of view of the working class." Its convenor is Keith Flett. It holds an...
and has just completed a biography of Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff
Tony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
.
Selected articles/works
- France : the struggle goes on (with Tony CliffTony CliffTony Cliff , was a Trotskyist who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party...
) (1968) - Workers against the monolith : the Communist parties since 1943 (1974)
- The smallest mass party in the world : building the Socialist Workers Party, 1951-1979 (1981)
- Eric Hobsbawm and the working class (with Norah Carlin) (1983)
- Bailing out the system : reformist socialism in Western Europe, 1944-1985 (1986)
- Morris, Bax and Babeuf (1996)
- The spectre of Babeuf (1997)
- Sartre against Stalinism (2004)
- A Rebel's Guide to Lenin (2005)
- Sartre's Century (2005)
- Tony Cliff: A Marxist for His Time (2011)
Works translated/edited
- Lenin's Moscow, by Alfred RosmerAlfred RosmerAlfred Rosmer was a syndicalist leader before World War I and one of the few leaders of that movement to oppose the war from a revolutionary internationalist position....
(translated from the French) (1971) - Flowers and revolution : a collection of writings on Jean GenetJean GenetJean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
(edited with Barbara Read)(1997) - Witness to the German Revolution / by Victor SergeVictor SergeVictor Serge , born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich , was a Russian revolutionary and writer. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator...
(translated from the French) (1999) - The German Revolution, 1917-1923 / by Pierre BrouéPierre BrouéPierre Broué was a French historian and Trotskyist. His work covers various topics including the history of the Bolshevik Party, the Spanish Revolution and biographical works on Leon Trotsky...
; translated by John Archer (edited with Brian PearceBrian PearceBrian Leonard Pearce was a British Marxist politician, historian, and translator.-Biography:Brian Pearce was born in Weymouth, Dorset on 9 May 1915. His father was an upwardly mobile engineer, his mother a domestic servant of Irish extraction. Brian was their only child, a shy and precocious boy,...
) (2005) - Revolution in Danger – Writings from Russia 1919-20 by Victor SergeVictor SergeVictor Serge , born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich , was a Russian revolutionary and writer. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator...
(translated from the French) London: Redwords.(1997)
External links
- Articles in the Marxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...
- Profile at Comment is Free
- Tony Cliff Bibliography - the writings and works of Tony Cliff by Ian Birchall on Modkraft.dk/tidsskriftcentret