This timely book is both a celebration of the life and work of Victor Serge (1890-1947) and a critical appreciation of his thought. As Susan Weissman argues in her introduction, Victor Serge was a uniquely experienced and talented member of the revolutionary generation that participated in the October revolution and its aftermath. Serge was an active revolutionary, a pamphleteer, historian, novelist, journalist, poet and biographer.
He was at once Russian, Belgian, French and Spanish; anarchist, syndicalist, Bolshevik, Left Oppositionist, prisoner and refugee. The one constant thread in Serge’s life was his revolutionary Marxism, which included a commitment to human dignity, the rejection of privilege and a belief in the true democracy that is only possible under socialism.
It is easy for doctrinal bigots to point out inconsistencies in Serge’s writings, but what comes through clearly is his undoubted honesty and commitment to the cause of human self-emancipation. As Daniel Singer notes, Serge may have been unorthodox by nature and often appeared as a heretic voice but he was never a renegade. This book recognises the breadth of contribution made by Serge. The first section comprises testimonials to Serge, including essays by his son and daughter, Vlady and Jeannine Kibalchich, plus a piece written by Wilebaldo Solano, a surviving POUMista. Literary criticism is the focus of the second section, providing articles on subjects such as The Novel of the Revolution and Proletarian Culture by authorities on Serge’s work. The third section deals with Serge’s politics, including sections on Anarchism, Leninism, Trotskyism, Socialism and Stalinism. The final section covers work by Serge himself and concludes with his essay Thirty Years After the Russian Revolution.
Hopefully this book will lead readers to investigate further the work of Serge himself. Serge’s The Case of Comrade Tulayev is probably the most powerful and authentic novel of the purges in Russia. His Memoirs of a Revolutionary provides a unique insight into the left in the first half of the twentieth century. It is particularly appropriate that the work of Serge becomes talked about and accessible in the aftermath of the fall of Stalinism.
Serge’s writings exhibit the emancipatory and democratic tradition that flowed from the Russian Revolution and serve as a reminder that Stalinism was not the only possible outcome. For new generations of socialists, Serge’s work will provide insight against the backdrop of the horror of Stalinism and the sterility of the grouplets.