Glatter grew up in postwar Britain and like a number of radicals, inspired by the vision of change from below, choose to avoid university education through the world of work having been expelled from school in 1966.
[2] In 1985, on the 80th anniversary of the 1905 Revolution in Russia, he published a small pamphlet which remains one of the best short introductions to that tumultuous year, 1905: the great dress rehearsal, 1985.
After 3 years at Queen Mary College in London, inspired by Donald Rayfield, he emerged with a first class degree in Russian – a remarkable achievement, especially considering that he had only a limited time in Russia itself.
Now in his late 40s, he won a bursary as a research student at the University of Wolverhampton to work with Professor Neil Malcolm on the relationship between the Russian regions and the world economy in the wake of the collapse of the USSR.
His argument, more controversial then, perhaps than now, was that in the 1990s in Russia the links connecting the different elements that had ruled the old USSR collapsed but much of the personnel of the old order or those close to them remained in power.
While many were tempted to see this as a restoration of the old chain of command Glatter’s analysis led him to argue that this was much more a negotiated process and the centre was less strong then some imagined.
He therefore gained agreement to translate and publish these in a book length issue of Revolutionary History, which in addition contains articles and data on strikes and the Rosa Luxemburg’s analysis of 1905.
Pete, Glatter, ‘London Busmen: Rise and Fall of a Rank and File Movement’, International Socialism, first series, no.74, January 1975.
Pete Glatter, ‘Tyumen: the West Siberian Oil and Gas province’, Royal Institute of International Affairs Russia and Eurasia Programme, February, 1997, pp. 1–6.
Pete Glatter, ‘Review article: On Elites after State Socialism: Theories and Analysis, edited by John Higley and György Lengyel’, Historical Materialism, Volume 11, Number 1 / April, 2003, pp. 243–255.