‘Beat the Whites With the Red Wedge’: the essence of world revolution El Lissitzky’s iconic Civil War poster ‘Beat the Whites With the Red Wedge’ is perhaps the single most recognisable piece of artwork to emerge from the entire Russian Revolution. Its influence is widespread even today. In this article, Nelson Wan and James Kilby explore how The Red Wedge came into being, how it captures the essence of revolution, and how a work of propaganda such as this can be considered great art.
Culture and Socialism On 3 February 1926, Leon Trotsky gave a talk entitled, “On Culture”, at the Red Square Club in Moscow. He then compiled this talk along with other addresses he had given into the following article, which was first published in Krasnaya Nov, later that year. We publish here an English translation by Brian Pearce, which was first published in Labour Review in Autumn 1962.
A renewed interest in poetry: what does it signify? In the context of a world in crisis, young people in particular are leading a revival of interest in poetry of all kinds. In this article, Jérôme Métellus and Irene Serra explain what poetry is at its most basic level, and from this perspective consider what is driving its increase in popularity.
