IN a previous chapter, you have read about the rise and growth of the
socialist movement. By the early years of the twentieth century,
political movements based on the ideas of socialism had emerged in a
number of countries in Europe. With the outbreak of the First World
War, however, the socialist movement in most countries of Europe
suffered a setback. The Second International faced a split on the
question of attitude to the War and ceased to function. During this
period, however, unrest was brewing in Russia. The Russian
Revolution took place in 1917, affecting the course of world history for
many decades.
In the nineteenth century, almost, entire Europe was undergoing
important social, economic and political transformation. Most of the
countries were republics like France or constitutional monarchies like
England. The rule of the old feudal aristocracies had been replaced by
that of the new middle classes. Russia, however, was still living in the
old world under the autocratic rule of the Czars, as the Russian
emperors were called. Serfdom had been abolished in 1861, but it did
not improve the condition of peasants. They still had miserably small
holdings of land with no capital to develop even these. For the small
holdings they acquired, they had to pay heavy redemption dues for
decades. Land hunger of the peasants was a major social factor in the
Russian society.
Industrialization began very late in Russia, in the second half of the
nineteenth century. Then it developed at a fairly fast rate, but more
than half of the capital for investment came from foreign countries.
Foreign investors were interested in quick profits and showed no
concern for the conditions of workers. Russian capitalists, with
insufficient capital, competed with foreign investors by reducing
workers wages. Whether factories were owned by foreigners or
Russians, the conditions of work were horrible. The workers had no
political rights and no means of gaining even minor reforms. The
words of Marx that workers have nothing to lose but their chains rang
literally true to them
The Russian state under the Czars was completely unsuited to the
needs of modern times Czar Nicholas II, in whose reign the
Revolution occurred, still believed in the divine right of kings. The
preservation of absolutism was regarded by him as a sacred duty.
The only people who supported the Czar were the nobility and the
upper layers of the clergy. All the rest of the population in the vast
Russian empire was hostile. The bureaucracy that the Czars had built
was top heavy, inflexible and inefficient, the members being recruited
from amongst the privileged classes rather than on the basis of any
ability.
The Russian Czars had built a vast empire by conquest of diverse
nationalities in Europe and Asia. In these conquered areas, they
imposed the use of the Russian language and tried to belittle the
cultures of the people of these areas. Also, Russias imperialist
expansion brought her into conflicts with other imperialist powers.
These wars further exposed the hollowness of the czarist state.
The most important demands of the people were fourfold: peace, land
to the tiller, control of industry by workers, and equal status for the
non-Russian nationalities. The Provisional Government under the
leadership of a man named Kerensky did not implement any of these
demands and lost the support of the people. Lenin, who was in exile
in Switzerland at the time of the February Revolution, returned to
Russia in April. Under his leadership, the Bolshevik Party put forward
clear policies
to end the war and transfer land to the peasants and advanced the
slogan All Power to the Soviets. On the question of non-Russian
nationalities, Bolsheviks were the only party then with a clear policy.
Lenin had described the Russian empire as a prison of nations and
had declared that no genuine democracy could be established unless
all tile non-Russian peoples were given equal rights He had
proclaimed the right of all peoples, including those under the Russian
empire, to self-determination. The unpopularity of the Kerensky
government led to its collapse on 7 November 1917, when a group of
sailors occupied the Winter Palace, the seat of the Kerensky
government. Leon Trotsky who had played an important role in the
1905 Revolution returned to Russia in May 1917. As head of the
Petrograd Soviet, he was one of the most outstanding leaders of the
November uprising. An All Russian Congress of Soviets met on the
same day and assumed full political power. This event which took
place on 7 November is known as the October Revolution because of
the corresponding date of the old Russian calendar, 25 October.
The Congress of Soviets on the next day issued a proclamation to all
peoples and belligerent states to open negotiations for a just peace
without annexation and indemnities. Russia withdrew from the war,
though formal peace was signed with Germany later, after ceding the
territories that Germany demanded as a price for peace. Following the
decree on land, the estates of the landlords, the Church and the Czar
were confiscated and transferred to peasants societies to be allotted
to peasant families to be cultivated without hired labour. The control of
industries was transferred to shop committees of workers. By the
middle of 1918, banks and insurance companies, large industries,
mines, water transport and railways were nationalised, foreign debts
were repudiated and foreign Investments were confiscated. A
Declaration of the Rights of Peoples was issued conferring the right of
self-determination upon all nationalities. A new government, called the
Council of Peoples Commissars, headed by Lenin was formed.
These first acts of the new government were hailed as the beginning
of the era of socialism.
The October Revolution had been almost completely peaceful. Only
two persons were reported killed in Petrograd on the day the
Revolution took place. However, soon the new state was involved in a
civil war. The officers of the army of the fallen Czar organised an
armed rebellion against the Soviet state. Troops of foreign powers
England, France, Japan, United States and other joined them. War
raged till 1920. By this time the Red Army of the new state was in
control of almost all the lands of the old Czarist empire. The Red Army
was badly equipped and composed mainly of workers and peasants
However, it won over better equipped and better trained forces, just
as the citizen armies in the American and French revolutions had
won.
Comintern
Soon after the revolution, the Communist International (also known as
the Third International or Comintern) was formed for promoting
revolutions on an international scale. The split in the socialist
movement at the time of the First World War has been mentioned
before. The leftwing sections in many socialist parties now formed
themselves into communist parties and they affiliated themselves to
the Comintern. Communist parties were also formed in other
countries, often with the active involvement and support of the
Comintern. Thus the international communist movement arose under
one organization which decided on policies to be followed by all
communist parties The Soviet Union was considered the leader of the
world communist movement by the communist parties in various
countries and the Communist Party of Soviet Union played a leading
role in determining the policies of the Comintern. It is generally agreed
that Comintern was often used by the Soviet Union as an instrument
for pursuing its own objectives However, the formation of communist
parties in many countries of the world with the objective of bringing
about revolution and following common policies was a major
consequence of the Russian Revolution.
With the formation of the Comintern, the socialist movement was
divided into two sections socialist and communist. There were
EXERCISES
1. Explain the following terms: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Soviet,
February Revolution, October Revolution, Bloody Sunday,
Communist International
2. Describe the social and economic conditions in Russia before
the Revolution of 1917. How did Russias participation in the
First World War help create conditions for the fall of the Russian
autocracy,
3. What were the main objectives of the Russian revolutionaries?
4. Describe the immediate consequences of the October
Revolution on Russias participation in the First World War, the
ownership of land, and position of the non-Russian nationalities
of the Russian empire.
5. Explain the attitude of the USSR. towards the movements for
independence in Asia.
6. Collect pictures connected with the Russian Revolution for
display. Describe the events and the role of personalities shown
in the pictures.
7. Collect documents connected with the Russian Revolution (for
example, the text of the Decrees on Land and Peace) and select
statements for a bulletin board display.
8. Discuss the impact of the Russian Revolution on the world.
9. Discuss the view that the Russian Revolution was brought about
by a small group of revolutionaries without the support of the
masses.