The first socialist state in history lasted only seventy years. This is a very small period of time in the scope of world history. Its achievements have been pilloried - its demise being the greatest argument against its achievements. But merely because it disappeared does not mean that it was without merit. It provides us with the assurance that a workers and peasants' state can exist, that it can create policies to benefit the vast masses of the people rather than merely the rich, that it can heal and educate rather than merely starve and kill.
Red October is an invitation to rediscover the importance of the Russian Revolution, to explore how it faltered and to nudge us to consider the ghosts of that revolution in our own movements today.
Contributors: Prakash Karat, Prabir Purkayastha, Irfan Habib, Prabhat Patnaik, Amar Farooqui, B. T. Ranadive, Sitaram Yechury, Jodi Dean, Shahrzad Mojab