The Russian civil war of 1917-21 is one of the greatest of historical dramas. And it is the subject of important debates to this day.

The barbarity of the so called enlightened West is on full display: massacres, repression, anti-Semitic pogroms. All utilised to crush the workers revolution of 1917 and to give the peasants' land back to the old landed aristocracy.

The courage, determination, astounding organisational abilities, combined with self sacrifice by millions of workers and peasants across the Russian empire were pitted against the monstrous military might of invading imperialist armies.

This session will consider how an army of poorly trained soldiers were victorious.

Also, it will assess the arguments by both left and right wing opponents of the Bolsheviks. Was the civil war unnecessary if only the Bolsheviks had been more reasonable? Were the measures they took to win that victory justified, or were they the basis of Stalin’s counter revolution?