revolution
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George OrwellA comprehensive history of Russian revolution in a short, simple book that anyone can understand. I think in this fact lies the beauty of Orwell’s work. People of all ages can appreciate and visualize even the most complex social changes.
It seems that Orwell did describe Russian revolution very closely with fall of the capitalist empire, communist revolution, Marx, collectivization, fight between Trotsky and Stalin, dictatorship and full counter-revolution and come back to the similar state as it was before 1917 but with a different name.
Also, it seems, that even if it accounts for the Russian revolution, the pattern is the same for all them. This book is a reminder to us how events usually unfold and what happens at the end. And what kind of people typically end-up on top in any system regarding of the title.
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Russell BrandSerious book written in the funny style. Russell Brand basically shares with us things he believes in, mostly concerning how the modern world should look like and how we can get there.
His book is a good account of meaningful quotes (and their simple interpretations) of wise people of our time and from the past. But it is also an account of ideas and implementation policies that are available right now. He collected those ideas from different spheres of life - politics, economy, ecology, culture, religion - and presented them in easy to grasp form.
What this book does is show us that better future is possible and that so many people working on it and believe in it and that it will happen soon.
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The thing that had happened in Spain was, in fact, not merely a civil war, but the beginning of a revolution. It is this fact that the anti-Fascist press outside of Spain has made it special business to obscure. The issue has been narrowed down to “Fascism versus democracy” and the revolutionary aspect concealed as much as possible. In England, where the Press is more centralized and the public is more easily deceived than elsewhere, only two versions of the Spanish war have had any publicity to speak of: the Right-wing version of Christian patriots versus Bolsheviks dripping with blood, and the Left-wing version of gentlemanly republicans quelling a military revolt. The central issue has been successfully covered up.
George Orwell -
(Editor: French) would have quaked had someone told them that if they carried rebellion to its conclusion, it would mean no more little bakeries, no more package-good stores or bistros with their cats dozing in the sun behind the windowpane. Theirs was always a secure revolt because their bitterness and their nihilism rested on the tacit understanding that thought and action was measured by different standards: thought, even the most violent, did not offend custom. Any other nation, had it permitted itself such a dose of poison, would have long ago ceased to exist; for France it was healthy. Only when carried to different soil did her slogans, books, and programs reveal their destructive force, among the people who tool the printed word literally.
Czesław Miłosz