Episode 19: Paul Avrich's 'Kronstadt 1921'

ABC With Danny and Jim

In this episode we discuss Paul Avrich's classic 'Kronstadt 1921' (Princeton University Press, 1970), marking 100 years since this pivotal event in radical history. Along the way we discuss anti-Semitism within critiques of communism, the perils of a mechanistic understanding of class struggle and historical change, the nature of Bolshevik smear campaigns, and the significance of 1921 to the prospects of internationalist socialism.

The book is available online here: https://libcom.org/library/kronstadt-1921-paul-avrich-0

There are many, many pieces to recommend about the Kronstadt uprising and its suppression. A number of useful introductions are available on libcom.org, including:

• https://libcom.org/blog/kronstadt-revolt-one-hundred-years-counter-revolution-02032021
• https://libcom.org/library/70th-anniversary-kronstadt-rebellion
• https://libcom.org/history/1921-the-kronstadt-rebellion

See also the excellent Solidarity publication 'Kronstadt Uprising' by Ida Mett, available here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ida-mett-the-kronstadt-commune.

Over the weekend of 20-21 March 2021 Danny participated in the conference 'Kronstadt as Revoutionary Utopia, 1921-2021 and Beyond'. The conference website hosts a wide range of pieces reflecting on the event and its legacy: https://kronstadt2021.wordpress.com/

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The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio, 'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License, available here: https://bit.ly/35ToW4W

The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here: https://bit.ly/35Nd6cv

The image in this episode is the poster Kronshtadtskaia karta bita! (The Kronstadt Card Is Trumped!) by Vladimir Kozlinskii for the Petrograd office of the Russian Telegraph Agency in 1921, available in the public domain. The image depicts a reactionary White Guard as synonymous with a Kronstadt sailor, both vanquished by RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Republic). Thanks to Dr Hannah Parker for her help interpreting this image.