Chris Pallis - Revision history

Smasher: enhanced information further and fixed typos

2025-08-13T03:01:17Z

enhanced information further and fixed typos

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:31, 13 August 2025
Line 3:		Line 3:
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=April 2018}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=April 2018}}
	{{Libertarian socialism sidebar\|People}}		{{Libertarian socialism sidebar\|People}}
	'''Christopher Agamemnon Pallis''' (2 December 1923~~, in [[Bombay]]~~ – 10 March 2005~~, in [[London]]~~) was an Anglo-Greek [[neurologist]] and [[libertarian socialist]] intellectual. Under the pen~~-names~~ '''Martin Grainger''' and '''Maurice Brinton''', he wrote and translated for the British group [[Solidarity (UK)\|Solidarity]] from 1960 until the early 1980s. As a neurologist, he produced the accepted criteria for [[brainstem death]], and wrote the entry on death for ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.<ref name="G05">{{cite news\|author-first1=David \|author-last1=Goodaway \|author-link1=David Goodway \|author-first2=Paul \|author-last2=Lewis \|url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1444577,00.html \|title=Obituary: Christopher Pallis (Maurice Brinton): An irreverent critic of the Bolshevik revolution \|newspaper=[[The Guardian~~]] \|publisher=[[Guardian Media Group~~]] \|location=London, England \|date=24 March 2005}}</ref>		'''Christopher Agamemnon Pallis''' (2 December 1923 – 10 March 2005) was an Anglo-Greek [[neurologist]] and [[libertarian socialist]] intellectual. Under the [[pen name]]s '''Martin Grainger''' and '''Maurice Brinton''', he wrote and translated for the British group [[Solidarity (UK)\|Solidarity]] from 1960 until the early 1980s. As a neurologist, he produced the accepted criteria for [[brainstem death]], and wrote the entry on death for ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.<ref name="G05">{{cite news\|author-first1=David \|author-last1=Goodaway \|author-link1=David Goodway \|author-first2=Paul \|author-last2=Lewis \|url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1444577,00.html \|title=Obituary: Christopher Pallis (Maurice Brinton): An irreverent critic of the Bolshevik revolution \|newspaper=[[The Guardian]] \|location=London, England \|date=24 March 2005}}</ref>

	==Life==		==Life==
	Chris Pallis was born to a prominent Anglo-Greek family, "of whose intellectual achievements he was always extremely proud".<ref name="Goodway2011">{{cite book\|author-first=David \|author-last=Goodway \|author-link=David Goodway \|title=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward \|chapter-url=https://~~books~~.~~google.com~~/~~books?id=A8ttzKzNnJsC&pg=PA288~~ \|access-date=20 October 2012 \|year=2011 \|publisher=[[PM Press]] \|location=Oakland, California \|isbn=978-1-60486-221-8 \|pages=288–308 \|chapter=~~Chris~~ Pallis \|title-link=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward}}</ref> The poet [[Alexandros Pallis]] was a great-uncle, and so the writers [[Marietta Pallis]] and [[Marco Pallis]] were also relatives. His father Alex was general manager of the family firm of merchant bankers, [[Ralli Brothers]]; when he retired, he returned from India to settle in [[Switzerland]]. Educated there, Chris Pallis became fluent in French, English and Greek.<ref name="G05"/>		Chris Pallis was born in [[Bombay]], [[British Raj]], to a prominent Anglo-Greek family,<ref>{{cite web \|last1=Calne \|first1=Donald \|title=Christopher Agamemnon Pallis \|url=https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/christopher-agamemnon-pallis \|publisher=Royal College of Physicians \|access-date=17 December 2023}}</ref> "of whose intellectual achievements he was always extremely proud".<ref name="Goodway2011">{{cite book \|author-first=David \|author-last=Goodway \|author-link=David Goodway \|title=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward \|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/anarchistseedsbe0000good/page/288/mode/2up \|access-date=20 October 2012 \|year=2011 \|publisher=[[PM Press]] \|location=Oakland, California \|isbn=978-1-60486-221-8 \|pages=288–308 \|chapter=Christopher Pallis \|title-link=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward }}</ref> The poet [[Alexandros Pallis]] was a great-uncle, and so the writers [[Marietta Pallis]] and [[Marco Pallis]] were also relatives. His father Alex was general manager of the family firm of merchant bankers, [[Ralli Brothers]]; when he retired, he returned from India to settle in [[Switzerland]]. Educated there, Chris Pallis became fluent in French, English and Greek.<ref name="G05"/>

	In 1940 the family managed to take the last boat out of France, and settled in England. Pallis went up to study medicine at [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in 1941. ~~Joining~~ the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]], he was quickly expelled for criticising its policy on the [[Second World War]], and became a member of the [[Trotskyist]] [[Revolutionary Communist Party (1944-1949)\|Revolutionary Communist Party]].<ref name=Goodway2011/>		In 1940, the family managed to take the last boat out of France, and settled in England. Pallis went on to study medicine at [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in 1941. He joined the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]], but he was quickly expelled for criticising its policy on the [[Second World War]], and became a member of the [[Trotskyist]] [[Revolutionary Communist Party (1944-1949)\|Revolutionary Communist Party]].<ref name=Goodway2011/>

	For the next 20 years, he combined a distinguished medical career<ref>{{cite journal\|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7496/908 \|title=Obituaries: Chris Pallis \|journal=[[British Medical Journal]] \|publisher=[[British Medical Association]] \|location=London, England \|date=16 April 2005}}</ref> under his real name with pseudonymous revolutionary socialist writing and translation. ~~When~~ he was outed for his use of the name Martin Grainger in such left wing journals as the ''[[New Statesman]]'', he changed his pseudonym. Subsequently his boss, [[Christopher Booth]], defended him from further press criticism, saying he was a fine neurologist entitled to his own political views.<ref name="Richmond">{{cite journal \|author-last1=Richmond \|author-first1=Caroline \|title=Chris Pallis \|journal=BMJ: [[British Medical Journal]] \|date=16 April 2005 \|volume=330 \|issue=7496 \|pages=908 \|doi=10.1136/bmj.330.7496.908 \|issn=0959-8138 \|pmc=556175 }}</ref>		For the next 20 years he combined a distinguished medical career<ref>{{cite journal\|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7496/908 \|title=Obituaries: Chris Pallis \|journal=[[British Medical Journal]] \|publisher=[[British Medical Association]] \|location=London, England \|date=16 April 2005\|volume=330 \|issue=7496 \|page=908 \|doi=10.1136/bmj.330.7496.908 \|pmc=556175 \|last1=Richmond \|first1=C. }}</ref> under his real name with pseudonymous revolutionary socialist writing and translation. After he was outed for his use of the name Martin Grainger in such left-wing journals as the ''[[New Statesman]]'' he changed his pseudonym. Subsequently his boss, [[Christopher Booth]], defended him from further press criticism, saying that he was a fine neurologist entitled to his own political views.<ref name="Richmond">{{cite journal \|author-last1=Richmond \|author-first1=Caroline \|title=Chris Pallis \|journal=BMJ: British Medical Journal \|date=16 April 2005 \|volume=330 \|issue=7496 \|pages=908 \|doi=10.1136/bmj.330.7496.908 \|issn=0959-8138 \|pmc=556175 }}</ref>

	~~His work includes~~ several eyewitness accounts of key moments in European left politics (the Belgian general strike of ~~1960~~, ~~Paris in~~ May 1968, Portugal's [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974–75), a substantial body of English translations of ~~the work of~~ [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], the main thinker of the French group [[Socialisme ou Barbarie]], and two short books ~~– one (~~''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'', 1970) ~~on the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution,~~ and ~~one (~~''The Irrational in Politics'', 1974) on sexual politics.<ref name="G05"/>		Pallis's published works include several eyewitness accounts of key moments in European left politics, such as the [[Belgian general strike of 1960–1961]], the [[May 1968 events in France]], and Portugal's [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974–75; a substantial body of English translations of works by [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], the main thinker of the French group [[Socialisme ou Barbarie]]; and two short books of his own: ''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'' (1970) and ''The Irrational in Politics'' (1974), which is largely concerned with sexual politics.<ref name="G05"/>

	The publishers of a recent online edition of <span style="padding-right:0.15em;">''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control''</span><ref>[http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp001861/bolintro.html The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control introduction]</ref> describe it as follows:

	{{quotation\|''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'' is a remarkable pamphlet by Maurice Brinton exposing the struggle that took place over the running of workplaces in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution. In doing so not only does it demolish the romantic Leninist 'history' of the relationship between the working class and their party during these years (1917–21) but it also provides a backbone to understanding why the Russian revolution failed in the way it did. From this understanding flows alternative possibilities of revolutionary organisation and some 26 years after the original was written this is perhaps its greatest contribution today. For this reason alone this text deserves the greatest possible circulation today and we encourage you to link to it, download the text or otherwise circulate it.}}

	==References==		==References==
	~~<references/>~~		{{reflist\|22em}}

	==Further reading==		==Further reading==
	*Brinton, Maurice (Goodway, David ed). ''For Workers' Power: ~~the selected writings~~ of Maurice Brinton''. [[AK Press]]. 2004. {{ISBN\|1-904859-07-0}}		*Brinton, Maurice (Goodway, David ed). ''For Workers' Power: The Selected Writings of Maurice Brinton''. [[AK Press]]. 2004. {{ISBN\|1-904859-07-0}}

	==External links==		==External links==
Line 29:		Line 25:
	*[http://www.af-north.org/solidarity/solidarity.htm Pamphlets by the Solidarity-Group (and Maurice Brinton)]		*[http://www.af-north.org/solidarity/solidarity.htm Pamphlets by the Solidarity-Group (and Maurice Brinton)]
	*[http://www.thehobgoblin.co.uk/journal/h72005_GS_RC_Pallis.htm Two Appreciations of Chris Pallis aka Maurice Brinton]		*[http://www.thehobgoblin.co.uk/journal/h72005_GS_RC_Pallis.htm Two Appreciations of Chris Pallis aka Maurice Brinton]
	* Paul Anderson, [~~http~~://libsoc.blogspot.com/2005/03/socialist-for-all-seasons-paul.html A Socialist for all Seasons], ''Gauche'', 25 September 2005		* Paul Anderson, [https://libsoc.blogspot.com/2005/03/socialist-for-all-seasons-paul.html A Socialist for all Seasons], ''Gauche'', 25 September 2005

	{{Authority control}}		{{Authority control}}
Line 47:		Line 43:
	[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]		[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
	[[Category:Greek–English translators]]		[[Category:Greek–English translators]]
	[[Category:20th-century translators]]		[[Category:20th-century British translators]]

UpdateBot: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

2022-04-10T15:07:01Z

robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:37, 10 April 2022
Line 3:		Line 3:
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=April 2018}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=April 2018}}
	{{Libertarian socialism sidebar\|People}}		{{Libertarian socialism sidebar\|People}}
	'''Christopher Agamemnon Pallis''' (2 December 1923, in [[Bombay]] – 10 March 2005, in [[London]]) was an Anglo-Greek [[neurologist]] and [[libertarian socialist]] intellectual. Under the pen-names '''Martin Grainger''' and '''Maurice Brinton''', he wrote and translated for the British group [[Solidarity (UK)\|Solidarity]] from 1960 until the early 1980s. As a neurologist, he produced the accepted criteria for [[brainstem death]], and wrote the entry on death for ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.<ref>{{cite news\|first1=David\|last1=Goodaway\|author-link1=David Goodway\|first2=Paul\|last2=Lewis\|url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1444577,00.html\|title=Obituary: Christopher Pallis (Maurice Brinton): An irreverent critic of the Bolshevik revolution\|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]\|publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]]\|location=London, England\|date=24 March 2005}}</ref>		'''Christopher Agamemnon Pallis''' (2 December 1923, in [[Bombay]] – 10 March 2005, in [[London]]) was an Anglo-Greek [[neurologist]] and [[libertarian socialist]] intellectual. Under the pen-names '''Martin Grainger''' and '''Maurice Brinton''', he wrote and translated for the British group [[Solidarity (UK)\|Solidarity]] from 1960 until the early 1980s. As a neurologist, he produced the accepted criteria for [[brainstem death]], and wrote the entry on death for ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.<ref name="G05">{{cite news\|author-first1=David \|author-last1=Goodaway \|author-link1=David Goodway \|author-first2=Paul \|author-last2=Lewis \|url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1444577,00.html \|title=Obituary: Christopher Pallis (Maurice Brinton): An irreverent critic of the Bolshevik revolution \|newspaper=[[The Guardian]] \|publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] \|location=London, England \|date=24 March 2005}}</ref>

	==Life==		==Life==
	Chris Pallis was born to a prominent Anglo-Greek family, "of whose intellectual achievements he was always extremely proud".<ref name="Goodway2011">{{cite book\|first=David\|last=Goodway\|title=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8ttzKzNnJsC&pg=PA288\|access-date=20 October 2012\|year=2011\|publisher=[[PM Press]]\|location=Oakland, California\|isbn=978-1-60486-221-8\|pages=288–308\|chapter=Chris Pallis\|title-link=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward}}</ref> The poet [[Alexandros Pallis]] was a great-uncle, and so the writers [[Marietta Pallis]] and [[Marco Pallis]] were also relatives. His father Alex was general manager of the family firm of merchant bankers, [[Ralli Brothers]]; when he retired, he returned from India to settle in [[Switzerland]]. Educated there, Chris Pallis became fluent in French, English and Greek.		Chris Pallis was born to a prominent Anglo-Greek family, "of whose intellectual achievements he was always extremely proud".<ref name="Goodway2011">{{cite book\|author-first=David \|author-last=Goodway \|author-link=David Goodway \|title=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward \|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8ttzKzNnJsC&pg=PA288 \|access-date=20 October 2012 \|year=2011 \|publisher=[[PM Press]] \|location=Oakland, California \|isbn=978-1-60486-221-8 \|pages=288–308 \|chapter=Chris Pallis \|title-link=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward}}</ref> The poet [[Alexandros Pallis]] was a great-uncle, and so the writers [[Marietta Pallis]] and [[Marco Pallis]] were also relatives. His father Alex was general manager of the family firm of merchant bankers, [[Ralli Brothers]]; when he retired, he returned from India to settle in [[Switzerland]]. Educated there, Chris Pallis became fluent in French, English and Greek.<ref name="G05"/>

	In 1940 the family managed to take the last boat out of France, and settled in England. Pallis went up to study medicine at [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in 1941. Joining the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]], he was quickly expelled for criticising its policy on the [[Second World War]], and became a member of the [[Trotskyist]] [[Revolutionary Communist Party (1944-1949)\|Revolutionary Communist Party]].<ref name=Goodway2011/>		In 1940 the family managed to take the last boat out of France, and settled in England. Pallis went up to study medicine at [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in 1941. Joining the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]], he was quickly expelled for criticising its policy on the [[Second World War]], and became a member of the [[Trotskyist]] [[Revolutionary Communist Party (1944-1949)\|Revolutionary Communist Party]].<ref name=Goodway2011/>

	~~In 1947~~ he ~~married Jeanne Marty,~~ a ~~working-class French university student, and for a decade he dropped out of politics to pursue his~~ medical career. ~~In 1957 he joined the Trotskyist group led by~~ [[~~Gerry Healy~~]], the ~~Club, which~~ in ~~1959 became~~ the [[~~Socialist Labour League~~]]. He was ~~expelled by Healy in 1960 and with~~ a ~~group of other ex~~-~~members of the SLL immediately set up Solidarity~~. ~~Like a number of other former members of the SLL he was also involved with the journal ''International Socialism'' in the early 1960s~~.		For the next 20 years, he combined a distinguished medical career<ref>{{cite journal\|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7496/908 \|title=Obituaries: Chris Pallis \|journal=[[British Medical Journal]] \|publisher=[[British Medical Association]] \|location=London, England \|date=16 April 2005}}</ref> under his real name with pseudonymous revolutionary socialist writing and translation. When he was outed for his use of the name Martin Grainger in such left wing journals as the ''[[New Statesman]]'', he changed his pseudonym. Subsequently his boss, [[Christopher Booth]], defended him from further press criticism, saying he was a fine neurologist entitled to his own political views.<ref name="Richmond">{{cite journal \|author-last1=Richmond \|author-first1=Caroline \|title=Chris Pallis \|journal=BMJ: [[British Medical Journal]] \|date=16 April 2005 \|volume=330 \|issue=7496 \|pages=908 \|doi=10.1136/bmj.330.7496.908 \|issn=0959-8138 \|pmc=556175 }}</ref>

	For the next 20 years, he combined a distinguished medical career<ref>{{cite journal\|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7496/908\|title=Obituaries: Chris Pallis\|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]\|publisher=[[British Medical Association]]\|location=London, England\|date=16 April 2005}}</ref> under his real name with pseudonymous revolutionary socialist writing and translation. When he was outed for his use of the name Martin Grainger in such left wing journals as the ''[[New Statesman]]'', he changed his pseudonym. Subsequently his boss, [[Christopher Booth]], defended him from further press criticism, saying he was a fine neurologists entitled to his own political views.<ref name="Richmond">{{cite journal \|last1=Richmond \|first1=Caroline \|title=Chris Pallis \|journal=BMJ : British Medical Journal \|date=16 April 2005 \|volume=330 \|issue=7496 \|pages=908 \|doi=10.1136/bmj.330.7496.908 \|issn=0959-8138\|pmc=556175 }}</ref>		His work includes several eyewitness accounts of key moments in European left politics (the Belgian general strike of 1960, Paris in May 1968, Portugal's [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974–75), a substantial body of English translations of the work of [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], the main thinker of the French group [[Socialisme ou Barbarie]], and two short books – one (''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'', 1970) on the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution, and one (''The Irrational in Politics'', 1974) on sexual politics.<ref name="G05"/>

	His work includes several eyewitness accounts of key moments in European left politics (the Belgian general strike of 1960, Paris in May 1968, Portugal's [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974–75), a substantial body of English translations of the work of [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], the main thinker of the French group [[Socialisme ou Barbarie]], and two short books – one (''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'', 1970) on the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution, and one (''The Irrational in Politics'', 1974) on sexual politics.

	The publishers of a recent online edition of <span style="padding-right:0.15em;">''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control''</span><ref>[http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp001861/bolintro.html The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control introduction]</ref> describe it as follows:		The publishers of a recent online edition of <span style="padding-right:0.15em;">''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control''</span><ref>[http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp001861/bolintro.html The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control introduction]</ref> describe it as follows:

	{{quotation\|''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'' is a remarkable pamphlet by Maurice Brinton exposing the struggle that took place over the running of workplaces in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution. In doing so not only does it demolish the romantic Leninist 'history' of the relationship between the working class and their party during these years (1917–21) but it also provides a backbone to understanding why the Russian revolution failed in the way it did. From this understanding flows alternative possibilities of revolutionary organisation and some 26 years after the original was written this is perhaps its greatest contribution today. For this reason alone this text deserves the greatest possible circulation today and we encourage you to link to it, download the text or otherwise circulate it.}}		{{quotation\|''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'' is a remarkable pamphlet by Maurice Brinton exposing the struggle that took place over the running of workplaces in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution. In doing so not only does it demolish the romantic Leninist 'history' of the relationship between the working class and their party during these years (1917–21) but it also provides a backbone to understanding why the Russian revolution failed in the way it did. From this understanding flows alternative possibilities of revolutionary organisation and some 26 years after the original was written this is perhaps its greatest contribution today. For this reason alone this text deserves the greatest possible circulation today and we encourage you to link to it, download the text or otherwise circulate it.}}

	~~Chris Pallis died in March 2005.~~

	==References==		==References==
Line 45:		Line 41:
	[[Category:British people of Greek descent]]		[[Category:British people of Greek descent]]
	[[Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members]]		[[Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members]]
	[[Category:Marxist writers]]		[[Category:British Marxist writers]]
	[[Category:Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944) members]]		[[Category:Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944) members]]
	[[Category:Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members]]		[[Category:Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members]]

>Citation bot: Add: doi. Removed proxy or dead URL that duplicated free-DOI or unique identifier. Removed access-date with no URL. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Headbomb | Pages linked from cached Wikipedia:WikiProject_Academic_Journals/Journals_cited_by_Wikipedia/Sandbox | via #UCB_webform_linked 178/336

2021-02-23T08:07:23Z

Add: doi. Removed proxy or dead URL that duplicated free-DOI or unique identifier. Removed access-date with no URL. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Headbomb | Pages linked from cached Wikipedia:WikiProject_Academic_Journals/Journals_cited_by_Wikipedia/Sandbox | via #UCB_webform_linked 178/336

New page

{{short description|British doctor and libertarian socialist}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Libertarian socialism sidebar|People}}
'''Christopher Agamemnon Pallis''' (2 December 1923, in [[Bombay]] – 10 March 2005, in [[London]]) was an Anglo-Greek [[neurologist]] and [[libertarian socialist]] intellectual. Under the pen-names '''Martin Grainger''' and '''Maurice Brinton''', he wrote and translated for the British group [[Solidarity (UK)|Solidarity]] from 1960 until the early 1980s. As a neurologist, he produced the accepted criteria for [[brainstem death]], and wrote the entry on death for ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.<ref>{{cite news|first1=David|last1=Goodaway|author-link1=David Goodway|first2=Paul|last2=Lewis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1444577,00.html|title=Obituary: Christopher Pallis (Maurice Brinton): An irreverent critic of the Bolshevik revolution|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]]|location=London, England|date=24 March 2005}}</ref>

==Life==
Chris Pallis was born to a prominent Anglo-Greek family, "of whose intellectual achievements he was always extremely proud".<ref name="Goodway2011">{{cite book|first=David|last=Goodway|title=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8ttzKzNnJsC&pg=PA288|access-date=20 October 2012|year=2011|publisher=[[PM Press]]|location=Oakland, California|isbn=978-1-60486-221-8|pages=288–308|chapter=Chris Pallis|title-link=Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward}}</ref> The poet [[Alexandros Pallis]] was a great-uncle, and so the writers [[Marietta Pallis]] and [[Marco Pallis]] were also relatives. His father Alex was general manager of the family firm of merchant bankers, [[Ralli Brothers]]; when he retired, he returned from India to settle in [[Switzerland]]. Educated there, Chris Pallis became fluent in French, English and Greek.

In 1940 the family managed to take the last boat out of France, and settled in England. Pallis went up to study medicine at [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in 1941. Joining the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]], he was quickly expelled for criticising its policy on the [[Second World War]], and became a member of the [[Trotskyist]] [[Revolutionary Communist Party (1944-1949)|Revolutionary Communist Party]].<ref name=Goodway2011/>

In 1947 he married Jeanne Marty, a working-class French university student, and for a decade he dropped out of politics to pursue his medical career. In 1957 he joined the Trotskyist group led by [[Gerry Healy]], the Club, which in 1959 became the [[Socialist Labour League]]. He was expelled by Healy in 1960 and with a group of other ex-members of the SLL immediately set up Solidarity. Like a number of other former members of the SLL he was also involved with the journal ''International Socialism'' in the early 1960s.

For the next 20 years, he combined a distinguished medical career<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7496/908|title=Obituaries: Chris Pallis|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|publisher=[[British Medical Association]]|location=London, England|date=16 April 2005}}</ref> under his real name with pseudonymous revolutionary socialist writing and translation. When he was outed for his use of the name Martin Grainger in such left wing journals as the ''[[New Statesman]]'', he changed his pseudonym. Subsequently his boss, [[Christopher Booth]], defended him from further press criticism, saying he was a fine neurologists entitled to his own political views.<ref name="Richmond">{{cite journal |last1=Richmond |first1=Caroline |title=Chris Pallis |journal=BMJ : British Medical Journal |date=16 April 2005 |volume=330 |issue=7496 |pages=908 |doi=10.1136/bmj.330.7496.908 |issn=0959-8138|pmc=556175 }}</ref>

His work includes several eyewitness accounts of key moments in European left politics (the Belgian general strike of 1960, Paris in May 1968, Portugal's [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974–75), a substantial body of English translations of the work of [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], the main thinker of the French group [[Socialisme ou Barbarie]], and two short books – one (''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'', 1970) on the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution, and one (''The Irrational in Politics'', 1974) on sexual politics.

The publishers of a recent online edition of <span style="padding-right:0.15em;">''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control''</span><ref>[http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp001861/bolintro.html The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control introduction]</ref> describe it as follows:

{{quotation|''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control'' is a remarkable pamphlet by Maurice Brinton exposing the struggle that took place over the running of workplaces in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution. In doing so not only does it demolish the romantic Leninist 'history' of the relationship between the working class and their party during these years (1917–21) but it also provides a backbone to understanding why the Russian revolution failed in the way it did. From this understanding flows alternative possibilities of revolutionary organisation and some 26 years after the original was written this is perhaps its greatest contribution today. For this reason alone this text deserves the greatest possible circulation today and we encourage you to link to it, download the text or otherwise circulate it.}}

Chris Pallis died in March 2005.

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
*Brinton, Maurice (Goodway, David ed). ''For Workers' Power: the selected writings of Maurice Brinton''. [[AK Press]]. 2004. {{ISBN|1-904859-07-0}}

==External links==
*[http://www.marxists.org/archive/brinton/index.htm Maurice Brinton Archive]
*[http://libcom.org/tags/maurice-brinton Libertarian Communist Library Maurice Brinton Archive]
*[http://www.af-north.org/solidarity/solidarity.htm Pamphlets by the Solidarity-Group (and Maurice Brinton)]
*[http://www.thehobgoblin.co.uk/journal/h72005_GS_RC_Pallis.htm Two Appreciations of Chris Pallis aka Maurice Brinton]
* Paul Anderson, [http://libsoc.blogspot.com/2005/03/socialist-for-all-seasons-paul.html A Socialist for all Seasons], ''Gauche'', 25 September 2005

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallis, Chris}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:British socialists]]
[[Category:British Marxists]]
[[Category:British people of Greek descent]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members]]
[[Category:Marxist writers]]
[[Category:Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944) members]]
[[Category:Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members]]
[[Category:Libertarian socialists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Greek–English translators]]
[[Category:20th-century translators]]