N.A. ROZHKOV: HIS BOLSHEVIK YEARS AND THE ORIGIN OF HIS POLEMICS WITH LENIN

Revolutionary Russia Vol 18, No. 1, June 2005, pp. 1–22

John Gonzalez

It is ironic, to say the least, that for a long time now the little known name of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Rozhkov (1868–1927) has been used to substantiate a range of claims about the world’s most famous revolutionary – Lenin. Despite numerous one-line references, so little has been written about Rozhkov that readers are unable to evaluate the validity of any statement written about him or his relationship to others, including Lenin. This article attempts to begin to address this issue by providing a very brief biography of Rozhkov, with particular reference to his revolutionary work in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) and his relationship with Lenin up to 1908.

Painful though it is for Marxists to lose in the person of N. R-kov, a man who, in the years when the movement was on the upgrade served the workers’ party faith-fully and energetically, the cause must take precedence over all personal or factional considerations, and over all recollections, however ‘pleasant’.R-kov is not a phrase-monger; he is a man of deeds and, as such, starts at the begin-ning and goes the whole hog.Lenin on Rozhkov, 1911 While his name appears in numerous footnotes, a serious study of N.A. Rozhkov has yet to be written.

Nevertheless, everything from Lenin’s ‘policeman’s mentality’ to his cruel, misanthropic nature has been illustrated by his relationship to Rozhkov. Rozhkov has even been used to demonstrate Krupskaia’s loyalty to her husband. On 13 December 1922, despite having had two paralytic attacks and being in very poor health, Lenin ignored the advice of doctors and found the strength to summon his secretary Fotieva to his apartment in the Kremlin and dictated three letters to her.One of these was a letter to Stalin for the Central Committee Plenum in which he once again called for Rozhkov’s deportation.

Far from being an ‘arbitrary and wayward’ decision,Lenin’s perseverance to have Rozhkov deported, or at least to have him exiled to Pskov, stemmed not only from his determination to have the Politburo follow his instructions but from knowing Rozhkov and having kept track of his revolutionary work for over 16 years. Rozhkov has been dismissed as a ‘minor Menshevik historian with a Bolshevik past’ or even as just ‘another free-thinker’,
 but this is unfair. He was one of V.O. Kliuchevskii’s most gifted disciples and the most influential Russian Marxist historian of the late imperial and early Soviet period of Russia’s history.

Dr John Gonzalez

1.0

Rozhkov Historical Research Centre
Department Member

Dr John Gonzalez is the Director of the Rozhkov Historical Research Centre in New South Wales, Australia. He has been studying and translating the work of N.A. Rozhkov for over twenty-five years and is a leading authority on Russian historiography. He has written numerous articles and has presented conference and seminar papers on Russian, European and Australian history. In 2011 he became a member of the editorial board of the Bulletin of the Moscow State Regional University's History and Politics Series. Dr Gonzalez is the author of Rozhkov's biography entitled "An Intellectual Biography of N.A.Rozhkov (1868-1927): Life In A Bell Jar" which is now available from Brill or major book stores. http://www.brill.com/products/book/intellectual-biography-na-rozhkov For further information visit the Rozhkov Historical Research Centre (RHRC) www.rozhkovcentre.org l

Lenin, Iskra and the RSDLP, 1899-1903

Richard Mullin

My University of Sussex Dphil thesis (2010) reformatted and with very slight revisions (2015)

Contents ........................................................................................................................... 4

Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 5

Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 6

Notes on Names, Texts and Dates ................................................................................... 7

Chapter One: Historiographical and Historical Context ............................................. 8

i) 1899-1903 in the Context of Russian Social-Democratic History and Theory ......... 12

ii) Historiographical Trends in the Study of Lenin and the RSDLP ............................. 23

iii) How the thesis develops previous work ................................................................... 39

A: The Struggle Between Revolutionary Marxism and Economism...............................50

Chapter Two: Autumn 1899-Summer 1900: Ideology ............................................... 51

i) Two Contrasting Programmes ................................................................................... 55

ii) Lenin and Rabochee Delo ......................................................................................... 64

iii) A Secret Alliance is Exposed ................................................................................... 71

iv) Economism ............................................................................................................... 76

v) Some Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 82

Chapter Three: Autumn 1899-Autumn 1901: Organisational Tactics ...................... 84

i) Rabochaia Gazeta ...................................................................................................... 86

ii) The Declarations of the Editorial Board of Iskra ..................................................... 94

iii)Lenin’s ‘reinsertion’ of the Plekhanovites back into the RSDLP ........................... 104

iv) Some Conclusions .................................................................................................. 118

B: The Struggle Between Democratic Centralism and Federalism ...............................120

Chapter Four: November 1901-February 1903: Party Democracy......................... 121

i) Two Contrasting Methods of Organising a Congress ............................................. 126

ii)Revolutionary Marxism and Reformism in the Context of RSDLP Democracy ...... 139

iii) The Reconstitution of the Organising Committee and its Work ............................ 145iv)The Jewish Bund ..................................................................................................... 156

iv) Some conclusions ......................................................160

Chapter Five: December 1902-August 1903: Struggle ............................................ 169

i) The Resistance Campaign of the Bund and the Economists .................................... 173

ii) Elements within the Iskra Faction Break with Lenin’s Organisational Plan ......... 182

iii) How the Revolutionary Marxists Split at the Second Congress ............................ 193

iv) How Martov changed his stance ........................................................................... 201

v) Some Conclusions ................................................................................................... 210

Chapter Six: Summary and General Conclusions ................................................... 214

Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 229

The Marxist Ideology of G.V. Plekhanov

The Marxist Ideology of G.V. Plekhanov,
Ella Feldman Belfer, Doctoral Dissertation:
Supervised by Michael Confino, Tel Aviv University, 1972

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction: The Paradox.vii

Part I: 
Plekhanov the Father of Russian Marxism.1

1.From Narodnichestvo to Marxism- From Zemlia i Voliato Gruppa Osvobozhdenie Truda. 

2.Gruppa Osvobozhdenie Truda - Its First Decade.24

A. The Ideological Battles and the Crystallization(towards Maximalism)

3.Gruppa Osvobozhdenie Truda - Its First Decade.56

B.The Growth - from Gruppa to Union.

Part II:
The Gruppa’s Second Decade - Against the "Right".  64

In Defense - Against Revisionism, Economism and the Union. 85

Iskra Zaria - The Collaboration with Lenin.   196 

The Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.  168

Part Ill: 
The Third Decade - Between Bolshevism and Menshevism. 187

FromIskra to the Diary of a Social Democrat.192

 The 1905 Revolution. 209

Plekhanov - A Menshevik. In the Avant-guard Against Lenin. 232

From Golos Sotsial-Demokrata to Edinstvo.  269

PartIV:
From Dogmatism to Pragmatism.309

The War.310

Plekhanov and the February and October Revolutions. 

The Shepherd without a Flock.347

Conclusion: The Circle Completed 388

Notes

Bibliography

In the first section of my work, I shall discuss Plekhanov's transition to Marxism as a background*to the formulation of his ideology in the years 1800-82; the formation of the Gruppa Osvovozhdenie Truda and a survey of its development; the development of Plekhanov’s ideology in these years; the attempts to disseminate Marxist teachings among the Russian revolutionaries, and the success of the Gruppa in this direction;the broadening of the Gruppa into the Union (1883-94). 

The second section covers the ideological struggle against Revisionism(1898) and against Economism, his personal struggle against the Union that ended with the creation of Iskra-Zaria in December 1900, and culminated in the preparations for the Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P.(1893-1903). 

The third section will discuss Plekhanov’s transition from collaboration with Lenin against Economism, to their parting immediately after the Congress of July 1903; from then Plekhanov began his struggle against Lenin’s "left"; his "bourgeois" attitude to the 1905 Revolution as part of his struggle against the left; his role and anti-Bolshevik attitude in the Fourth Congress (the United, April 1906) , and the Fifth,(London, April 1907); from this to a new struggle against the "right"(liquidationism, 1909-12), and during all these years increasing efforts at re-unification of the party (1903-14)


In the fourth section I shall survey Plekhanov's attitude to the First World War, and the revolution of February 1917, prior to the Bolshevik Revolution, and afterwards (1914-17).

All dates are given as recorded in the references — Gregorian in the Russian references, Julian in the Western.

India's obsession with Kashmir: democracy, gender, (anti-)nationalism

Nitasha Kaul

ABSTRACT 

 This article attempts to make sense of India's obsession with Kashmir by way of a gendered analysis. I begin by drawing attention to the historical and continuing failure of Indian democracy in Kashmir that results in the violent and multifaceted dehumanisation of Kashmiris and, in turn, domesticates dissent on the question of Kashmir within India. This scenario has been enabled by the persuasive appeal of a gendered masculinist nationalist neoliberal state currently enhanced in its Hindutva avatar. I focus on understanding how the violence enacted upon Kashmiri bodies is connected to feminised understandings of the body of Kashmir in India's imagination of itself as a nation state. I argue that the gendered discourses of representation, cartography and possession are central to the way in which such nationalism works to legitimise and normalise the violence in Kashmir. I conclude with a few reflections on how Kashmir is a litmus test for the discourse on (anti-)nationalism in contemporary India.

KASHMIR IS INDIA'S GAZA 

#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA

KASHMIR Imprisoned Resistance: 5th August and its aftermath 2019

#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA

Swathi Seshadri

Gautam Mody

Clifton Rozario

Veena Gowda

Saranga Ugalmugle

Mihir Desai

Between August 5 and 6, 2019, two presidential orders, C.O. 272 and C.O.
273, were issued that had the effect of abrogating Article 370 and Article
35A, and effectively dismantled the limited protection afforded to state of
Jammu and Kashmir in self-governance, territorial integrity and the
collective rights to land and livelihood. As lawyers, activists and a medical
doctor, we felt it important out of a sense of solidarity for the peoples of
Jammu and Kashmir, but also out of a sense of responsibility to understand the situation first hand on the ground, in order to advance the true spirit of a democratic society and hold our elected government and the institutions of democracy accountable for their actions. An eleven-member team comprising advocates, trade union and human activists and a psychiatrist visited the Kashmir Division from September 28 – October 4, 2019. The broad objective of the team was to understand the situation persisting in the two months since the abrogation of Article 370, and, second to assess the quality of access to justice in these compelling circumstances.

Publication Date: 2019
Publication Name: Imprisoned Resistance: 5th August and its aftermath

The Hidden Magic of Masonic Craft Workings

The Green Mountain Freemason, Quarterly, 2011

Travis W Shores

More Info: pp 6-11

Publication Date: Sep 2011

Publication Name: The Green Mountain Freemason, Quarterly

Shakespeare's Use of Occult Beliefs and Sources

Helen H Gordon
Howard Schumann

Shakespeare's use of ghosts, witches, astrology, sorcery, magic, and alchemy indicate familiarity with occult ideas. Edward de Vere, who used "William Shakespeare" as a pen name, had connections with astrologers and alchemists like Dr. John Dee, and Rosicrucians like Francis Bacon. He was both a Rosicrucian (exploring science and supernaturalism) and a Freemason (employing symbols and rituals). The Stratford resident, William Shakspere, had no connections to these secret societies.

SHAKESPEARE AND THE OCCULT A Path to Edward De Vere

By Howard Schumann

According to the scientific/materialist paradigm of our time, the only true reality is the one we can detect with our five senses. Believers and practitioners of the occult are usually dismissed as heretics, blasphemers aligned with the Devil, or just simply crackpots. In the Elizabethan era,however, belief in the occult was virtually universal."he Renaissance era saw the emergence of new ideas and a deep curiosity about anything mystical. It was the age of Nostradamus, when the Renaissance fusion of Christianity, Hermetic Philosophy(a set of beliefs based primarily upon the writings attributed to Hermes "Trismegistus) was accompanied by strong belief in magic, astrology and alchemy.

*

References to the occult pervade the works of many literary writers of the time, including William Shakespeare. While the plays are obviously filled with occult references, there is no evidence at all that William Shakspere of Stratford was ever involved with such practices or had even read widely on the subject. On the other hand, there is considerable evidence, as will be discussed later, that Edward de Vere was a patron of the wellknown occultist and philosopher Dr. John Dee and was himself a practitioner of the occult art. 

Shakespeare and His Sources Shakespeare's Occult Sources  

Travis W. Shores 

July, 2013

University of Oxford

 English Literature Exeter College

Shakespearean plays source themselves from such a multitude of influences that I may spend my entire life pulling apart the intricacies of Elizabethan era, Renaissance philosophy and social awareness. Though the elements of Shakespeare's plays can readily speak to any one of these subject headings it is important to consider what his thoughts were or, at very least, what his awareness was to the idea of death, life, afterlife, magic and religion. We see repeated themes within the Shakespearean cannon that deal with the unknown and unexplained supernatural phenomenon. From ghosts to witches and maddening insanity induced by visions. These elements are some of the most effective in his plays yet they remain behind the shroud of common knowledge and relegate themselves to the mists of speculation and periphery. It becomes my interest then to flesh out, if you will, the parts of Shakespeare's influences that have led to the dramatic situations that we cherish and adore within his greater known works. In essence: I choose to examine what were his immediate spheres of influence with the occult. 

"Lady Alcumy": Elizabethan Gentlewomen and the Practice of Chymistry: a Thesis Submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington
2010

Sienna Latham

Publisher: Victoria University of Wellington
Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010

Abstract
This thesis explores the advent of gentlewomen's chymical activities in Elizabethan England. In the sixteenth century, chymistry gained widespread currency under Queen Elizabeth I. This thesis argues that the queen's significant chymical interests contributed to her iconography, thereby bridging England's previously discrete chymical and female realms. It shows that Elizabeth's influence and fundamental societal changes enabled women, beginning with the gentry, to acquire and apply chymical knowledge. Four case studies highlight the queen's impact on her female subjects through an examination of primary manuscript and printed sources. The Protestant gentlewomen Grace Mildmay,Mary Sidney Herbert, Margaret Hoby and Margaret Clifford may first have encountered chymistry in the manifestation of their religious beliefs through charitable healing, but they developed their knowledge in very different ways. Evidence of their engagement with chymical practitioners and writings provides context for their activities. Shared motivations led to divergent practices, indicating that chymistry in Elizabethan England took as many forms as there were practitioners. This thesis asserts the crucial importance of community to early modern chymists, noting courtly links and overlapping social circles. It contributes to limited historiography on Elizabethan alchemy as well as female alchemists
Contents
Introduction 1
1.Gnosis and Praxis: Queen Elizabeth I and Her Chymical Court 16
2.Grace Mildmay 44
3.Noble Nurse of Learning: Mary Sidney Herbert 69
4.Margaret Hoby 91
5.Margaret Clifford and the Elizabethan Chymical Community 115
Conclusion 140

Leah DeVun, "Erecting Sex: Hermaphrodites and the Medieval Science of Surgery," Osiris 30:1, Scientific Masculinities (2015): 17-37.

Leah DeVun

This essay focuses on “hermaphrodites” and the emerging profession of surgery in thirteenth- and fourteenth- century Europe. During this period, surgeons made novel claims about their authority to regulate sexual difference by surgically “correcting” errant sexual anatomies. Their theories about sex, I argue, drew upon both ancient roots and contemporary conflicts to conceptualize sexual difference in ways that influenced Western Europe for centuries thereafter. I argue that a close examination of medieval surgical texts complicates orthodox narratives in the broader history of sex and sexuality: medieval theorists approached sex in sophisticated and varied

manners that belie any simple opposition of modern and premodern paradigms. In addition, because surgical treatments of hermaphrodites in the Middle Ages prefigure in many ways the treatment of atypical sex (a condition now called, controversially, intersex or disorders/differences of sex development) in the modern world, I suggest that the writings of medieval surgeons have the potential to provide new perspectives on our current debates about surgery and sexual difference.

The Jesus Hermaphrodite: 

Science and Sex Difference in Premodern Europe

Leah DeVun

In Book IV of Ovid’s Metamorphoses , a love struck water nymph named Salmacis attempts to seduce Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, at the edge of her fountain.
Despite the youth’s apparent lack of interest, Salmacis follows him into the water, forcibly kissing and fondling him. When he rejects her advances, she asks the gods to join them forever.The result is a single creature of fused male and female body parts:As when one grafts a twig on some tree,he sees the branches grow one,and with common life come to maturity,so were these two bodies knit in close embrace:they were no longer two, nor such as to be called, one, woman,and one, man. They seemed neither, and yet both.