Category Archives: History

A Hundred Years of Communism…

Posted on May 10, 2017 by bsixsmith

My essay on communism has been published by Quillette… We must give the Bolsheviks their due. Their success in gaining power was astonishing. A ragtag gang of activists and intellectuals, they seized control of Russia in October, 1917, and defended … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Ideology | 3 Comments

Projecting Liberalism Backwards…

Posted on January 5, 2017 by bsixsmith

An article in the Economist, objecting to the Alt-Right’s appropriation of medieval history, implies that European societies were multicultural… Academics are placing a new emphasis on the ways in which medieval societies differed from the homogeneous world imagined by the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Ideology, Liberalism, Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Orwell Against Modernity…

Posted on December 23, 2016 by bsixsmith

The ubiquity of George Orwell in British and American culture has much to do with his being the secular saint of journalists. If the media was run by Mormons, Joseph Smith would be as famous. He embodies their romantic illusions … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Conservatism, History, Literature | 2 Comments

Conservatism and Classics…

Posted on December 19, 2016 by bsixsmith

Donna Zuckerberg of Eidolon writes on the interest of the “alt-right” in antiquity, and, specifically, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. “It is time,” she says, “For Classics as a discipline to say to these men: we will not give you … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatism, History | 3 Comments

Against Lost Cause Communism…

Posted on November 30, 2016 by bsixsmith

It can be hard, even impossible, to make significant achievements in this world without doing harm. Let us not be euphemistic and reference omelettes and eggs. Sometimes you have to kill people to save other people. Still, it is striking … Continue reading →

Posted in Communism, History | Leave a comment

On Judging Dead Rulers…

Posted on November 27, 2016 by bsixsmith

Fidel Castro was perhaps the best communist. This is, of course, to damn him with faint praise but it is nonetheless worth noting that he murdered thousands rather than millions of his people and never drove his nation to economic … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Leave a comment

The Slave-Owning Sex Pest and A Note on Self-Criticism…

Posted on October 19, 2016 by bsixsmith

However moral our outward behaviour is, our internal monologue features more dark, disturbing impulses or reflections. Whatever the moral code of this or that society, behind its wall its law and principles will be broken. Man is imperfectible. We are … Continue reading →

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Poor Put-Upon Communists…

Posted on September 21, 2016 by bsixsmith

Zoe Williams writes…  Lefties over 40 will never call themselves communists because the inevitable conversation about whether or not Stalin was evil is just too tedious. It is a glimpse of what it feels like to be seen, if a … Continue reading →

Posted in History | 2 Comments

In Defence of Winston Churchill…

Posted on September 14, 2016 by bsixsmith

Had Churchill not led Britain to victory in World War Two he would, or should, have been remembered as a failure. He was perhaps best known for advocating the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, in which tens of thousands of British, French … Continue reading →

Posted in Britain, History | Leave a comment

The Public School in the Progressive Imagination…

Posted on July 15, 2016 by bsixsmith

Imperial Britain was, in a sense, a bully. It strode around the world as a bully strides around a school: pushing about the weaker, less developed nations. It could be brutal, and contemptuous, and it was not above stealing lunch … Continue reading →

Posted in Britain, History, Liberalism | Leave a comment