Hello all,
A very quick holiday recap post with some links to the posts and translations that I am most proud of this year. It has been a hugely busy and productive 12 months and I really could not have put all the time and effort into the articles, publications, talks and translations without the amazing support of you, my supporters on this platform. We now have 100 total followers, 76 of which are Patrons.
I am always looking to expand and diversify the content for this page, so if you have any feedback or suggestions then please let me know. I am not a ‘natural’ when it comes to audio-visual material, but do recognise that the written word is not quite what it once was – particularly when there are so many demands on everyone’s time.
Let me know what you have enjoyed this year and make sure to share this with anybody you think might be interested in the content! Did I miss anything important?
All the best for 2024!
BL
1. Podcast (By popular demand): Balkan Socialism with Stefan Gužvica
This podcast was the most popular post on the website this year: and by some margin, at that. Not only do I obviously need to record more interviews this year, but I must get Stefan back as a guest. We planned around two pages of material for this pod, but barely got past the first, so there is more to come!
https://marxismtranslated.com/2023/05/balkan-socialism-interview-with-stefan-guzvica/
2. Article: Clara Zetkin. Clean Breaks and Clear Principles
This article reflects many of the research insights I have arrived at in the past year. It also forms the Introduction to my book, Clara Zetkin: The Women’s and Women Workers’ Question of our Time
The article can be read here: https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1454/clean-breaks-and-clear-principles/
3. Video: Rosa Luxemburg and the Relevance of Republican Democracy
A recording of the paper I gave at the International Rosa Luxemburg Society in Norway. An expanded version will appear in print in 2024: https://marxismtranslated.com/2023/03/rosa-luxemburg-and-the-relevance-of-republican-democracy/
4. Translation: Clara Zetkin’s Spicy Letter on Party History (1932)
One of the most enjoyable aspects of my research this year has been spending time in Berlin working through Clara Zetkin’s papers and writings that were kept under lock and key and labelled ‘Strictly Confidential’ in the German Democratic Republic. Her letters in particular provide fascinating insight into criticisms of the German Communist Party and her misgivings with the Stalinist distortion of revolutionary history.
https://marxismtranslated.com/2023/02/clara-zetkins-spicy-letter-on-party-history-1932/
5. Translation: Karl Kautsky on the proposed revision of the Hainfeld Programme (1902)
This is a personal favourite and I will make sure to publish it early in 2024. What amounts to little more than a snarky and occasionally pedantic commentary on Austrian Social Democracy’s hugely influential Hainfeld Programme becomes, over 120 years later, an insightful introduction to the basic principles on which the programmes of revolutionary social democracy is based. This, moreover, becomes evident by the fact that none other than Vladimir Ilych Lenin plucks a quote from this piece in order to buttress a point he is making in What is to be done?