ABSTRACT
The revolution that erupted in Russia in November 1917 shook socialists around the world – South Africa was no exception. Socialism was now no longer merely a utopian vision, but a feasible alternative to capitalism. The International Socialist League was electrified. ‘Long live the Social Revolution, the Light from the East’, proclaimed the International on 16 November. Two weeks later it wrote: ‘The Word becomes Flesh in the Council of Workmen … the political dictatorship of the proletariat’. 1
