The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century by David North has been translated into Tamil and published by Kamkaru Mawatha (Workers Path), the publishing arm of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil edition of this invaluable contribution to Marxism and Trotskyism was made possible through the intellectual, technical and financial resources of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and, in particular, its sections in Sri Lanka and Europe. The SEP in Sri Lanka published a Sinhala version of the book in 2016.

The volume contains a wealth of material, written in polemical form, on the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union, Leon Trotsky’s struggle against Stalinism, the Theory of Permanent Revolution, the rise of fascism, the origins of World War II and the historical evolution of trade unions. North is the chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site and the SEP in the US.

In opposition to the capitalist triumphalism that followed the Stalinist bureaucracy’s liquidation of the Soviet Union in 1991, North explains why the 20th century has been characterised as “unfinished.”

“The dissolution of the Soviet Union, while certainly an event of great importance, did not mark the traumatic end of socialism,” he writes. “History would continue. And, to the extent that the twentieth century is defined as an epoch of intense capitalist crisis, giving rise to wars and revolutions, it is most appropriately characterized as ‘unfinished.’”

The 80 years of principled political and theoretical struggle for Marxism waged by the Fourth International, under the leadership of the ICFI for the past 65 years, is intersecting with an international upsurge of the class struggle. Under these transformed conditions and the urgent necessity to resolve the crisis of revolutionary leadership in the working class, the translation of The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century is invaluable for Tamil-speaking workers, youth and intellectuals in Sri Lanka, south India and exile communities throughout the world.

The Tamil edition of the book can be purchased by contacting the SEP in Sri Lanka or Europe or the ICFI supporters group in India.

Sri Lanka: The Socialist Equality Party, telephone: +94113096987, email: wswscmb@sltnet.lk

India: The ICFI supporters group, telephone: +91 637 9941 408, email: wsindia2013@gmail.com

Europe: email: lepesfrance@gmail.com