Communism

The Spanish Civil War: If the Republic Had Won

It is often said that the 'ifs of history' are fascinating but fruitless. Here, Rob Stradling shows that a counter-factual consideration of what might have happened allows us new insights into the significance of what did happen.

Berlin and Cuba

Jim Broderick looks at the crisis management of two moments when the spectre of nuclear war shadowed relations between the superpowers.

Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev's period as President of the Soviet Union, 1985-91, was truly revolutionary. But Steven Morewood argues that he failed to understand or control the forces he unleashed.

The October Revolution

Graham Darby argues that the Bolshevik success of 1917 was rooted in the failings of the Provisional Government and the aspiration of ordinary people.

Maxim Gorky and the Russian Revolution

Maxim Gorky was revered over the lifetime of the Soviet Union as the leading artist and intellectual associated with the 1917 Revolution. But did he really approve of Lenin and the Bolshevik experiment? 

Stalin and Stalinism

Martin McCauley argues that our obsession with Stalin as a mass murderer evades the real question – how did his system work?