Revolution in Russia/Soviet Russia before World War II
Causes of the Russian Revolution:
Long -term causes included:
unwillingness of the Autocracy to grant political reforms--all political
opposition is therefore revolutionary
growing political radicalism among the students and the intelligentsia, who feel
duty to create a more just society
serf emancipation in the 1860s that rendered the peasant majority as "second
class subjects" of the Tsar and created continuing social tensions
growing class tensions as the urban proletariat grew during the
industrialization of the late 1800s
weakness of the middle class, which fails to provide any stable social base for
liberal reforms
rise of radical socialist political parties dedicated to overthrowing both
Tsarism and (eventually) capitalism: Major (illegal) political parties were the
Liberals
[Kadets and Octoberists]; Socialist Populists [the SRs]; Marxists [Bolsheviks
and Mensheviks...the two marxist groups split over issues of tactics]
Failure of the 1905 Revolution to achieve real lasting political reforms: in
1905 the Tsar declared that he would recognize civil rights of all subjects and
promised a create an elected parliament (duma), but by 1907 the duma electoral
laws had been changed to weaken any opposition
Short-term causes included:
Great economic and social strains of World War One on Russian society
Failure of Tsarist government to prosecute the war effort effectively in
1914-1917
Behavior of Tsar Nicholas II and his entourage, which undermined any shred of
popular legitimacy left to the monarchy
The February Revolution: Main Turning Points
Jan-Feb 1917 strike wave
Workers'/women's demonstrations in late February [mid-March] in the capital city
of Petrograd [St. Petersburg] lead to a spontaneous mass rebellion, which
in early March led to the collapse of Tsarist government.
At the beginning of March 1917, Liberals from the Duma created a Provisional government.
At the same time, socialist organizers created the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers
Deputies--a workers' "council" to coordinate the workers' protest and strike
movement. The Provisional government claimed power in March, but the Soviet
really controlled more
popular support. The Soviet agreed to support the Provisional government under condition that
the government grant equal rights to all, refuse to agree to any imperialistic
war aims,
quickly hold a Constituent (national) Assembly, and institute an extensive land reform
(to give land to the peasants). The
Provisional government did grant equal rights, but failed to complete other reforms.
In
April 1917 there was a government crisis when it became public that the Liberals
had promised to keep "imperialist" war
agreements with France and England; this led to the removal of many Liberals
from
the government. Members of the Mensheviks and SRs parties from the
Petrograd Soviet then joined the
government, which became a coalition of Liberals and Moderate Socialists. But Lenin's party, the Bolsheviks, refuse to join
the government. Lenin rejected any
cooperation with the "bourgeoisie" and called for "all power to the Soviets"
(that the Soviets [workers' councils] take over power).
That means that Lenin, who was not a member of the government, could blame the
Moderate Socialist parties (the Mensheviks and SRs) for any problems faced by
the
government. At the same time, this April Crisis also triggered an increase in labor unrest and strikes.
In
June, the Provisional government's popular Commissar of War, Kerensky, launched
a new military offensive against the Germans (remember that Russia was still
fighting WWI). Kerensky's military offensive proved to be a great
failure, and the Russian army seemed to be collapsing. In the meantime, living conditions got worse, workers demanded pay raises, and a
growing number of unions declared strikes. Soldiers' committees begin refusing to
execute officers' orders. Peasant committees begin demanding the re-distribution
of land of private landowners. Faced with what seemed to be uncontrollable
popular radicalism, the Mensheviks and SRs in the Provisional government urged workers, soldiers, and
peasants to maintain order.
In early
July there was another crisis when rank-and-file Bolshevik workers and soldiers try to seize power
in the capital city of Petrograd. The uprising failed and the government began
arresting Bolshevik leaders. But since the economy kept spiraling down and the
government seemed unwilling to make reforms, the lower ranks of society
[including
soldiers] became increasingly willing to support the far-left position of the
Bolsheviks.
In late August 1917 there was yet another crisis, when the Commander of the Russian Military,
General Kornilov, tried to seize power and overthrow the Provisional government.
He failed, but this crisis further weakened the Liberals, the Mensheviks, and the SRs. Although
Kerensky went on to form yet another version of the Provisional government
coalition, it
was clear that the Bolsheviks and other militant leftists were becoming stronger.
In
September and October 1917, the Bolsheviks, the left SRs, and the Anarchists won
majorities in elections to local Soviets (workers', soldiers', and peasants'
council) across Russia.
In early November, Lenin's party (the Bolsheviks--who later changed their name
to the Communists), used the Petrograd Soviet to seize
power and announced creation of a [temporary] Soviet government. Lenin
announced this at the 2nd
all-Russian congress of soviets. Lenin's government was basically a Bolshevik
one-party regime.
The First Months of Soviet Rule:
Lenin's government was viewed as an "outlaw regime" not only by its opponents in
Russia (including the other socialist parties--the SRs and Mensheviks), but also
by of the other governments of Europe and North America.
Lenin's initial program was made up of measures that had been delayed by the Provisional
government: a decree giving peasants control over the land, a decree calling for
immediate peace talks to end WWI, a decree giving workers more control over the
factories, and nationalization of a few key industries (such as banking and
transportation). Lenin's initial program was not designed to build socialism in
Russia right away: he believed that the Russian revolution would trigger a
socialist
revolution in the rest of Europe, and that Socialist Europe would then help
backward Russia to develop its own socialist economy.
In
December 1917, Lenin shut down the opposition newspapers and began ordering
the arrests of opposition political leaders.
At the same time, first Finland, then several other national
minority regions of the former Russian empire declared independence. Also, the
Bolshevik government signed a cease-fire agreement with Germany and began
negotiations towards a peace treaty.
In
January 1918, the Constituent Assembly, Russia's first democratically elected
legislative gathering, met for just one day. Since the Bolsheviks did not have
a
majority (the SRs had the majority), Lenin ordered pro-Bolshevik soldiers to
shut down the Assembly.
In
March 1918, Lenin's government signed a peace treaty with Germany (the
Brest-Litovsk peace) that gave the Germans control over a large portion of
Russia's
territory. This move was opposed by many members of Lenin's own party (now called
the Communist Party), as well as by the SRs.
At the same time, in
Spring 1918, as the economy collapsed even more, Lenin's government nationalized
all private property, so that the state became the only owner of factories, stores,
etc.
The 1918-1920 Civil War:
Between 1918 and 1918, the Communist regime's enemies included the other
socialist parties in Russia (now all outlawed), the "White Armies" (which
include former
tsarist officers, monarchists, and some liberals), and invading armies from 13
different countries (including the USA). The Communist government built its own
army, the Red Army, made up of workers and peasants and led by Communist party
organizers.
The Red Army managed to defeat the Whites in years of very brutal, bloody
fighting (some 3 million people were killed). The Reds won in part because: a) the
Reds were
better organized and controlled strategically important territory in the
country's center; b) the Whites and foreign interventionists never coordinated
their activities; c) the
policies of the Whites alienated peasants, who may have disliked the Communists
but hated the Whites even more.
The economy completed collapsed during the Civil War: money became worthless and
most factories shut down. People fled the cities to the villages hoping to find
food. The Communist regime used force to collect food from the peasants, and
described its emergency policies as "War Communism"
During the Civil War the Communist regime became increasingly dictatorial and
militaristic. Not only was it a one-party dictatorship, but in this "workers'
and
peasants' state" anyone who opposed the Communists was accused of being a "class
enemy." Lenin's government freely used force against all opposition, including
force against workers or peasants who protested.
By the end of 1920, the Reds had managed to win the Civil War and hold on to
power, but the country was in ruins. The peasantry was now in rebellion against
the
communists (the so-called "Green" army of peasant rebels began fighting the Reds
as soon as the Whites had been defeated). The working class had shrunken to
half its size in 1917, and tens of thousands of workers were now striking and
protesting against the Communist government. And in early 1921, soldiers and
sailors
began to mutiny. At the Kronstadt naval base, once pro-Bolshevik sailors seized
control of the city and called for "Soviet power without the Communists" in
March 1921. Lenin had been waiting for the European Socialist revolution, but it
simply did not happen.
And so in spring 1921, Lenin began a policy of "strategic retreat," the New
Economic Policy (NEP).
NEP, 1921-1928:
Lenin's NEP policies restored elements of private property and capitalism in
order to rebuild Russia's economy. Peasants could now sell their grain surplus
at
privately-run markets, and individuals cold own small stores, businesses, and
factories. But the government still completely controlled entire sectors of the
economy,
such as weapons production, coal and metal production, transportation, and
banking. A state-planned sector of the economy therefore existed side-by-side
with
the capitalist sector of the economy.
Although NEP "liberalized" the economy, there was no political liberalization:
the Communists remained the only legal political party, and the regime crushed
any and
all political opposition with extreme force. Moreover, the Communist Party would
no longer tolerate dissent within its own ranks.
Soviet Russia remained an "out-law" state in the 1920s, and the only European
country to enter into direct relation with it was the new democratic government
of
Germany (with the 1922 Rapollo Treaty). In that same year, Soviet Russia and
several of the smaller states of the former Russian Empire in the south and the
east
(also under Communist control) signed treaties to create a Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (the USSR). Although the Soviet Union was supposedly a
federation
of equal states, it was clear from the start that Russia dominated the union.
The first years of NEP were years of terrible famine in Soviet Russia, but by
1923-1924 the economy was beginning to recover. However, agriculture recovered
much more quickly than did industry, and the capitalist sector was growing
faster than the state-owned socialist sector. Moreover, NEP was very unpopular
with
rank-and-file Communist Party members, who saw its as a step backwards.
In January 1924 Lenin died after having suffered a series of debilitating
strokes.
Even before Lenin's death, a great struggle for power had begun within the
Communist Party leadership. At one level, the struggle was about personalities
and the
desire for personal power. But more importantly, it was a struggle over what
policies the party and state should follow.
The leading figures in this struggle were Leon Trotsky (often considered a
co-leader with Lenin in 1917-1918), Lev Kamenev and Gregory Zinoviev (old allies
of
Lenin's), Nicholas Bukharin (a popular young party leader), and Joseph Stalin
(the head of the party's bureaucratic machinery).
Between 1923 and 1928, various factions involving these leaders formed, fought
over policy, then dissolved:
1923-25: Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Stalin vs Trotsky [the "left opposition"].
Trotsky argued that the country was not industrializing fast enough and that the
peasants had to be taxed more heavily; he also criticized the bureaucracy as
corrupt. Stalin, et al, accused Trotsky of opposing Leninism. Trotsky was isolated as a
result.
1925-1926: Kamenev and Zinoviev vs Stalin and Bukharin. Kamenev and Zinoviev
began repeating Trotsky's basic criticisms. Stalin et al accused them of
breaking with Leninism.
1926-1927: Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Trotsky [the "united opposition"] vs Stalin and
Bukharin. The opposition again warned that the "pro-peasant" economic
policies of Stalin and Bukharin were leading to disaster and that the state
machine was becoming corrupt. Stalin not only defeated them, but had them and
their supporters
stripped of their positions in the party and state.
1928-1929: Stalin vs Bukharin [the "right opposition]. During a grain shortage
in 1928, Stalin adopted many of the policies proposed by Trotsky five years
earlier. When Bukharin protested, Stalin claimed that Bukharin opposed Leninism. Bukharin and his supporters were defeated in 1929, and Stalin launched a new
policy that ended NEP and nationalized all property in the USSR.
Stalinism Before World War Two:
The Stalin program was based upon rapid, forced collectivization of all
agriculture (peasants are driven off of their farms onto giant "collective" and
state farms; those
who resist are accused of being class enemies [kulaks] and arrested, killed, or
deported). It was also based upon extremely rapid industrialization and state
ownership
of all factories, plants, stores, etc. Stalin's policies led to a
disastrous famine in 1932-33 in which well over a million people starved to
death (most in Ukraine, the "breadbasket" of the USSR). Conditions
improved somewhat in the mid-1930s, but collectivization proved an inefficient
form of agricultural organization.
Both agriculture and industry were run according to massive "5 year plans" that
set targets for the entire economy. But the plans were not based upon the
resources
(labor, fuel, machines, etc) that are available; instead, the plans set targets
based upon "needs." The result was that the targets generally were unreachable.
But the
government still claimed that it was meeting all targets.
If any factory manager or collective farm manager did not meet his or her
target, or if anything in the system failed, the Stalin regime blamed it on "class enemies,"
"wreckers,"
"spies," etc. The Stalin regime never accepted the idea that its own planning
could be to blame: instead, they would hunt out the internal enemies who "must be
to
blame." These alleged class enemies (etc) would be arrested, sent to labor camps, deported to
Siberia or Central Asia, or shot.
The result was a system in which corruption and abuse of power was rampant, in
which managers regularly cheated or falsified production statistics, in which
quantity
of goods was more important than quality, and in which denunciations could be
used revenge or for career advancement.
The Stalin regime set as its goal creating a "new Soviet man and women" who
would think, feel, and behave according to Communist ideology and doctrine. To
achieve this, the Soviet party-state outlawed all opposition and carefully cut
Soviet citizens off from "pernicious" foreign influences, it carried out a
constant mass
campaign against religion and used the schools, youth organizations, clubs,
etc., to indoctrinate people with Communist ideology.
Amazingly, in 1930-1941, the USSR did industrialize. In one decade it more or
less caught up with the capitalist industrial powers. Moreover, the Stalin
regime
managed to increase literacy rates and improve health care for most of the
population. We need to understand that the idea of building socialism in the
USSR really
was popular, and that millions of people considered Stalin a great hero. But the
costs of the USSR's rapid progress were enormous--between the forced
collectivization of the countryside and the chaos of rapid industrialization,
the entire society was in almost constant crisis.
In addition, the regime's almost reflexive habit of hunting for enemies became
more and more deadly with each year. After the murder of an important party
official
(named Sergei Kirov) in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1934, the Stalin regime initiated a
campaign of terror. The first victims were Stalin's old opponents, Kamenev,
Zinoviev,
and Bukharin, who with their supporters were tried as "spies" and "enemies of
the people." At the same time, the Stalin regime's efforts to combat corruption
turned
into a series of mass purges of party members. The purges and the terror came
together in 1937-1938: in those years, the secret police executed hundreds of
thousands of innocent people who had been denounced as "enemies." The terror
destroyed much of the leadership of the universities and the scientific
community, the army, and the government. There are no exact figures on the
number of people killed in Stalin's terror. Some estimates are as low as a
million, some as high as ten million. (A conservative estimate is 3 million.)
Still, in the 1930s many leftists outside the Soviet Union refused to believe
that the Stalin regime was murdering tens of thousands of its own people.
Instead, they
looked to Stalin as the only world leader and the USSR as the only country that
seemed to be doing anything to oppose Hitler's Nazi regime (which had come to
power in Germany in 1933) and to fight against fascism....