People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity
Any Political and party leadership 1 Scholarship and theory 1
Affiliation

Most people

Any French Workers' Party (POF) 1

All 1 affiliations

France

French Workers' Party (POF) 1
Position(set)
Any Counter-revolutionary forces 1 Non-Bolshevik socialists 2 Marxism and communism 4
Citizenship
Any France 1 United States 1
Background(set)
Any Russia 30 Germany 22 France 10 United Kingdom 9 Hungary 6 Georgia 4 Finland 3 Spain 3 Austria 2 Belarus 2 Belgium 2 Cuba 2 Italy 2 Moldova 2 Chile 1 Czechia 1 Greece 1 Ireland 1 Madagascar 1 Poland 1 Switzerland 1 Turkey 1 Ukraine 1 United States 1
Era
Any

People of the wider world

The age of the Internationals and empires1820–1917 1 Scholars of this history1892–현재 1
Non-Bolshevik socialists Background: Cuba Clear all

Paul Lafargue

Paul Lafargue
French Workers' Party (POF) Non-Bolshevik socialists France Cuba 1842–1911 ✕ Suicide

Marx's son-in-law, author of The Right to Be Lazy, first socialist deputy in the French parliament

"Healthy in body and mind, I end my life before pitiless old age which has taken from me my pleasures and joys one by one." — Suicide letter, 25 November 1911

French Marxist theorist born in Cuba. Co-founded the French Workers' Party (POF) with Jules Guesde and systematized economic determinism as a historical method. In his later years, defended revolutionary Marxism against Jean Jaurès's reformism.

Career timeline
  • 1864–1865Studied medicine in Paris; joined French section of First International as a Proudhonian anarchist
  • 1866–1868Moved to London, frequented Marx household; General Council member, corresponding secretary for Spain
  • 1868Married Laura Marx, Karl Marx's second daughter
  • 1871–1872Fled to Madrid after Commune's fall; propagated Marxism via La Emancipación, fought anarchist dominance in Spanish section
  • 1880Co-founded French Workers' Party (POF) with Jules Guesde; serialized first draft of The Right to Be Lazy in L'Égalité
  • 1882–1891Returned to Paris as POF's leading theorist; led strikes and electoral campaigns, repeatedly imprisoned
  • 1891Elected from Lille as first socialist deputy in French parliament — campaigned from prison
  • 1890s–1905Defended orthodox Marxism against Jaurès's reformism; published major works on economic determinism, origins of property
  • 1908–1911Retired from active politics after Toulouse unity congress; wrote memoirs of Karl Marx

Samuel Farber

Samuel Farber
Non-Bolshevik socialists United States Cuba 1939–

American sociologist who reopened the debate on the Cuban Revolution

In The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered (2006) he cast the revolutionary leaders as autonomous actors pursuing their own ideological vision rather than a master plan, challenging the dominant reading.

Born in Marianao, Cuba, to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland. He joined the anti-Batista movement as a high school student, moved to the United States in 1958 and took his PhD in sociology at UC Berkeley in 1969. He taught at UCLA, SUNY-Old Westbury, Fairleigh Dickinson and Brooklyn College (CUNY), retiring in 2007, and has written on the Cuban Revolution, the Castro government, Soviet history and US politics from a left-wing, radical-democratic standpoint. No death record is confirmed.

Career timeline
  • 1939Born in Marianao, Cuba
  • 1950sTook part in the anti-Batista mass movement as a high school student
  • 1958Moved to the United States
  • 1969PhD in sociology, UC Berkeley
  • 1976Published Revolution and Reaction in Cuba, 1933–1960
  • 1990Published Before Stalinism
  • 2006Published The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered
  • 2007Retired from Brooklyn College (CUNY)