In this short text from 1953, Amadeo Bordiga explores the history of counterrevolutions from the defeat of Spartacus to the Battle of Legnano in 1176, to the Peasant War in Germany of 1525, to Stalinism in 1922.

"Everyone knows how to orient themselves at the moment of victory, but few are those who know what to do when defeat arrives."

Amadeo Bordiga (1889-1970) was the founder of the Communist Party of Italy, and was one of the leading voices against the Stalinist hegemony of the 20th century left. Bordiga saw the Soviet Union as "state capitalist," and sought to rebuild a "true" Leninism as the basis for a revolutionary party.