Russia’s Communist Revolution

Russia’s Communist Revolution

 

A Mythical Tale…

Many people harbour an innocent belief that the Marxist revolution under Lenin’s leadership that established the world’s first communist government in Russia, was a spontaneous uprising if the oppressed, against Tsar’s tyrannical regime. There is no denying the fact that the ordinary people in Tsar’s Russia led a wretched life. Russia’s population then was 70 million, of which 45 million people were trapped in bonded labours on the farms of big landlords. Between 1861 and 1866, Czar Alexander II had made sincere efforts to end the institution of bonded labour. Yet there was hardly any change. In these circumstances, Bakunin translated Marx’s Capital in 1868 and so Marxist thought entered Russia. By 1880, Marxism had taken root and radical movements had started taking shape. In 1881, Tsar Alexander II died in a bomb attack by Ignacious Grinevitsky, a member of a radical organisation, The People’s Will. This strengthened the belief among Marxists that the time was ripe for the revolution to begin.  Marx had theorised that the capitalist development was a pre-requisite to start a communist revolution. Russian revolutionaries enquired with the ageing Marx in the London, whether it was possible to start a revolution in Russia, in the absence of industrialisation. After studying the conditions in Russia, Marx concluded that they offered an opportunity to skip the phase of industrialisation and can start a revolution. After Bakunin’s death in1876, over a period of time, Lenin emerged as leader of communist movement in Russia. Lenin born on 22 April, 1870 had a brother Alexander, who had given up the religion at age of 21 and became a follower of philosophy of materialism. He created a group of students in St. Petersburg University for a direct and decisive action to bring about social change and constructed a bomb to kill Tsar Alexander III. Police unearthed the plot and in May 1887, hanged Alexander to death. Lenin, who was seventeen at that time, had also lost faith in religion and had started studying Marxism. We invariably find opposition to religion being the strongest motivation of all the leading lights of Marxism, before they were even introduced to the idea of economic and social equality. In 1891-92 Russia was hit by a famine and cholera epidemic, Lenin was living in an area where Leo Tolstoy was organising initiatives like soup kitchen’s, but Lenin refused to participate in such efforts, as in his opinion it was necessary to accentuate people’s troubles, in order to ignite their revolutionary fire. Because of his radical plans police arrested him and he was sentenced to exile in Siberia. He their spent his time in reading, writing and crystallising his thoughts. He also completed his book,’Capitalism in Russia’. He was released in 1900 and in 1903, he went to London, In July of 1903, a convention of the Russian Social Democratic Congress was held in London under Lenin’s chairmanship. During the discussions Lenin realised that many delegates were leaning towards Constitutional Socialism rather than militant revolution. This was not acceptable to him. He rallied his supporters around him and split the congress wide open. Manoeuvring his way to majority, he called his supporters ‘Bolsheviks’( Meaning majority in Russian) and opponents ‘Mensheviks’ ( meaning minority). Thus, the revolution got the name of Bolshevik. In this Congress Leon Trotsky met Lenin first time. Initially he had some differences with Lenin but soon they become good friends and admirer of each other. These two friends were to lead Russia’s Bolshevik revolution.

The Russian Revolution of 1905 –

Tsar Nicholas II was initially thought of as a mild, forward looking ruler who will implement  long awaited reforms, but these hopes were soon dashed. He pushed Russia into a meaningless war with Japan, in which Russia suffered a decisive, humiliating defeat. Two years of war lead to a huge economic crisis. Public discontent reached all time high, government officials were assassinated, mass demonstrations were held. Tsar mishandled the public protests. ln January, 22,1905, Fr George Gapon, a priest, led a peaceful march of thousands  of people to the Tsar’s winter palace. Tsar troops opened indiscriminate fire on the crowd resulting in the death of 500 people and 3000 injured. This day is recorded in the Russia’s history as ‘Bloody Sunday’. The news of this unprovoked massacre spread across Russia and it triggered an open revolt. Tsar came to his senses , he withdrew from the Russia- Japan war and agreed to talk to the protestors, who put forth four demands:

A) Freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the right to form unions.

B) Universal right to vote for the Duma ( National Assembly)

C) Repeal of any laws enacted by the Tsar without Assembly’s consent.

D) The right of people’s assembly to check the validity of any decrees issued by the Tsar.

These demands, that are known as “ The October manifesto” clearly indicates that people had no desire to violently end the Tsar’s rule. Communist’s couldn’t accept that the movement had successfully concluded, until the Tsar surrendered completely and a communist dictatorship was established.

Trotsky, stood in front of the crowd that was celebrating The Tsar’s acceptance of the Manifesto, and tore a copy of it. He instigated the crowd to continue the revolution. But the people were in no mood to continue as their demands were accepted. Communists tried to keep the revolution alive by organising worker’s council (Soviets). In November 1905, Lenin returned to Russia and jumped into these efforts. However, from the lack of support from the public, this movement fizzled out in two months. Trotsky was arrested and Lenin again manged to escape from Russia. Thus, this uprising against Tsar lasted for 14 months, of which first 12 months was people’s movement and last 2 only the communist continued it. The Tsar, antagonised by the communists violence, abdicated his conciliatory stand. He allowed the people to elect a Duma, but stripped it of its real powers. Thus, a last minute violent intervention by the communists derailed the entire process and Russia’s slow march towards democracy was halted in its tracks.

To rejuvenate the Bolshevik party, Lenin began a series of meetings of communist cadres from different parts of the country. In one such meeting he came across a worker from Transcaucasia region named Joseph Stalin.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 –

The year 1914 began with mounting tension among all the major European nations who had started flexing their military muscles. The tense situation exploded when the crown prince of the Austro Hungarian empire was murdered by a secret society member on 28 June, 1914. Sooner all of Europe was in the throes of world war. Though people in Russia were restless as Tsar failed to keep his promise, but as the first world war broke out, the spirit of patriotism brought the people together in defence of their motherland. However within a few months, tension started mounted again. By 1916, Russia’s war efforts was hurtling towards collapse. Fears were being expressed that the entire eastern front might collapse. Internal situation was also worsening rapidly. Workers and peasants were getting restless, inflation started sky rocketing. Tsar was living in delusion that things were under control.

On 8 March 1917, there was an explosion of people’s resentment and huge demonstrations broke out which spread throughout the country with a lightning speed. Initially Tsar took a tough stand and ordered the forces to crush it. But the demonstrations were so intense that his advisors suggested him to step down. When the army also gave the same advice, Tsar relented. He was kept in house arrest at his palace in Petrogard and a provisional government was setup which never wanted to kill Tsar. The communists have nothing to do with this revolt and provisional government.  Prospect of a democratic government for the first time in the country filled the Russian hearts with hope. All have contributed in this success. Its energy didn’t come from class conflict as envisioned by Marxism, but from class co-operation and co-ordination. Only the Bolsheviks were nowhere to be seen. Lenin was exiled in Switzerland, Trotsky in New York and Stalin was in prison in Siberia. It was a communist propaganda that created a mythical tale that Tsar was dethroned in a communist revolution.

Call it the provisional government generosity or their ignorance that they invited the communists who were exiled all over Europe to return. All political prisoners were also released from Siberia. British warning to their Russian allies that it would be a mistake to allow Lenin to return, was ignored. Germans were enthusiastic that provisional government will now withdraw from the war. But when they saw no such indication they saw an opportunity in Lenin to create confusion and disunity within Russia and destabilise the provisional government. They provided all support to Lenin and his comrades, to enter Germany and transported them to Russia via Sweeden. When Lenin arrived in Petrogard the crowd welcomed and cheered him as a supporter of the revolution. But Lenin strongly criticised the provisional government’s efforts to establish a republic. He insisted on communist dictatorship, takeover of private properties and the implementation of socialistic economic policies. As expected by his German benefactors he denounced  Russia’s continued involvement in war and demanded an immediate peace pact with Germany.

 The communist propaganda machine now swung into action and they started urging workers and peasants to overthrow provisional government. This was the quintessential, anti people communist treachery. The revolution of 1917 was the result of a serious economic crisis. The slow pace of improvement was making the people restless. The Bolsheviks started making exorbitant promises to take advantage of the situation. Lenin thought that time was right to start the fires of a new revolution. He was confident that since army was busy with war, the provisional government would not be able to withstand the violent onslaught by Bolsheviks. This proved to be a serious miscalculation. The provisional government suppressed the uprising and Lenin had to flee to Finland to save his life. Now Lenin decides to proceed more cautiously. Learning his lessons from the recent failure , he decided to build a powerful unit of fully armed revolutionaries, for a final assault before the end of first world war. When Trotsky returned from America, he had received great financial help from some American industrialists, bankers and business people for bringing up an armed revolt in Russia. Influential names were in this lists like, Sir George Buchanan, Alfred Milner, a member of as secret society, Jacob Schiff of Kuhn Loeb etc. It is therefore well documented fact that ultra rich people and families  in America had provided substantial financial help for setting up communist revolution in Russia. The other sources of funds and military assistance ( arms, ammunitions and trained manpower) was Germany’s Kaiser The link between Lenin and the German government was Israel Lazarevich Gelfand , a Russian communist Jew, who was known by his nickname, parvus. He had prepared a 23 page document, which was a roadmap for bringing about an armed communist revolution in Russia. Money, treachery and violence were the principal components of the plan. Within a month of submission of this plan, German government sanctioned 2 million German Marks for the Russian revolution. Lenin never denied having taken such help, he says,” This time we had taken German help for bringing revolution in Russia. One day we will use Russian money

To bring revolution in Germany.”

Things progressed exactly as per the roadmap prepared by Gelfand, as Trotsky was assigned the task of organising ‘Red Guards’ who would take the communist to power. Backed by Big money, trained man power, arms and ammunitions, Trotsky created a fearsome militia that was armed to teeth. Now feeling safe and confident, Lenin returned to Russia in October 1917 and on 7 November 1917, he ordered the Red Guards to open fire at the Winter Palace and begin an open armed attack on the government. In the absence of Russian military which was at the border, this time, it was beyond the provisional government’s weak forces to withstand the ferocious attacks of the Red Guards. Bolsheviks soon took control of almost all the cities. Ordinary people who had always supported the Provisional Government put up stubborn resistance, but it was impossible for the unarmed civilians to resist the armed revolutionaries. By mid December, the last remnants of resistance, and with them people’s hope of democracy, were extinguished.

Even before the communist action had started on 7 November, the Provisional Government had announced the elections to the National Assembly will be held on 25 November. The communists themselves have been demanding elections , hoping to get the support of peasants and workers, so Lenin decided to allow the elections to be held as planned. Till, then communists had not established control over the entire country.  Elections took place in this fluid situation. Nearly 75% people rejected the communists. When the assembly was convened on 18 January 1918, Lenin requested them to hand over all their legislative functions to the ‘Congress of Soviets’, and then pass a resolution to dissolve themselves. Members rejected this outright. Early, the next morning, armed guards entered the Assembly and requested the members to adjourn. Glancing at the riffles all around, the members had no option other than to oblige and quietly leave. Thus ended the last hope of democracy that millions of Russians had so fondly nurtured in their hearts. This then, is the real story behind the highly romanticised spontaneous uprising of the oppressed, for the creation of an equal and just society.

 

Russia…. The Laboratory of Marxist Ideas

In March 1918, the Bolsheviks were named ‘The Russian Communist Party’ and Lenin began the mega experiment of bringing about the fundamental changes in the Russian economy, on the lines of the Marxist Theory. Lenin ended private ownership, all industries were nationalised, all land that belonged to aristocracy, the Tsar and the Church was confiscated, with all livestock and implements. All trade was taken over by the government. He abolished wages and replaced them with payment in kind. He ordered all the supplies to be rationed among people according to their class. For example, a worker or a soldier would get 35 pounds of bread, while a manager or a professor would get only 12 pounds. Technically qualified people had to work as dictated by the government. The government had the sole right on all agricultural produce, and farmers were not allowed to sell any of it.

These policies considered ideal by communism, played havoc with the Russian economy. Without any personal incentive to work, production on farms and in factories dwindled. In factories it came down to 13% and in agriculture, it reduced by half. Black markets were booming. Cheating became a norm as it was impossible to be honest.

Bolshevik leaders began threatening the people to produce more. This caused resentment among common people. A new organisation, the White Guards emerged that promised to end the Red tyranny and free the Russian people. Lenin gauged he severity of this crisis. He authorised Trotsky to mobilise the Red Guards, whose number quickly swelled to 5 million. He organised the secret police, Cheka, to keep watch on dissenters and to check anti- Bolshevik sentiments. They were given all the rights to investigate, arrest and execute suspects. Thousands were killed by firing squads. Communist continued to feel insecure. They felt that the rising discontent might result in people rallying around the Tsar. To prevent this, they shot the Tsar and his entire family to death on 16 July 1922. Within a few weeks of Tsar’s death, the Cheka chief was killed and Lenin himself was seriously injured in an ambush by the White Guards. In a swift retribution, Cheka sleuths shot 500 people dead. Lenin continued to establish Soviets (Worker’s Council) in different parts of the country, who would send their representatives to the Supreme Soviet. Lenin would implement his policies through this network, which was backed by the enforcing power of the Cheka’s secret police and the Red Army. The opposition was not well organised and structured. Yet they continued to put up a stubborn resistance.

Lenin’s Bolshevik revolution had pushed Russia into a horrific civil war, in which close to 30 million people lost their lives. The socialistic economic policies imposed by Lenin had not resulted in abundant production as envisaged by Marx. Productivity had actually hit rock bottom. The disastrous famine of 1921 completely broke the bck of the Russian economy. Nearly 35 million people were starving, of which 500000 died of starvation. In a short period, communism had brought human beings to the level of animals.

Shaken by these events, Lenin back tracked. He withdrew the socio-economic policies ordained by Marx and declared a slew of measures to put the derailed economy back on track. These were packaged as New Economic Programme (NEP). Wages and salaries were reinstated, resulting in the circulation of money in the economy. Private trade was allowed. Farmers were allowed to lease additional land to peasants and to sell their product in the open market. It must have been painful for Lenin to insult the memory of Marx by reviving the market economy and private ownership. But he had to swallow the bitter pill as the devastation caused by the Marx’s policies eas staring him in the face. Within a short span of implementing these policies, the economy started limping back to normal. It was proved at this point itself that you cannot run a country with Marxist economic policies. But the communists never accepted this fact.

After Lenin’s death on 20 January 1924, Stalin took control of the party and the state. Stalin was always uncomfortable with the New Economic Programme that had thrown Marxist economic doctrines to the wind. Stalin set about to once again implement pure socialism and began the second act of converting Russia into a Communist Utopia. In the year 1928, he began the implementation of the First Five Year Plan. It wiped out the independence the farmers and the business community were enjoying. Private property was once again confiscated and the resistance was ruthlessly crushed. But the result of implementing socialist policies was no different. The Five tear Plan wiped out all the prosperity Russia was enjoying under NEP. Anticipating a strong resistance from the prosperous farmers known as Kulaks, Stalin ordered a total genocide of the farming community. Another important aspect of the Five Year Plan was the implementation of the communist ideal of the annihilation of religion. By 1930, Union of militant Atheists had a membership of 2.5 million. Churches and Cathedrals were converted into warehouses, celebrating Christmas was prohibited. Holiday on Sunday was cancelled and a policy of rotating holiday was introduced. All the ideas of Marx and Engels saw the light of day under Joseph Stalin.

Public dissatisfaction rose rapidly. By 1930, Stalin had a feeling that things were going out of hand. He conveniently pushed all the blame on the government officers. He acted as if he had no inkling of the miseries the people were suffering, as everything was hidden from him by the bureaucracy. Having cleared himself of the blame, Stalin continued to proceed with his programmes. Discontent reaches at its peakon account of starvation, farmer genocide, deportation to Siberia merely on suspicion, By 1932, many in the party and the army had come to conclusion that Stalin had to be removed to prevent yet another bloody revolution. Around this time two major events occurred that helped Stalin to tide over the crisis and consolidate his power. The first was Hitler’s coming to power in Germany, in 1933. It was felt that due to extreme hatred of Hitler against communism, he can attack Russia anytime. The second was, after sixteen long years, USA recognised the communist regime in Russia in 1933. Both these events strengthened Stalin’s faltering position. Stalin took the practice of using secret police to keep a close watch on opponents, to a new level. After all his efforts of eliminating dissent, Stalin could not demonstrate any success from the implementation of socialistic economic policies. He had to finally introduce capitalistic reforms like giving interest on investment, introducing bonds with attractive returns, giving different wage/ salary to people with different skills and abilities, thus accepting income disparity etc.

Thus, it is conclusively demonstrated time and again, that forget the tall claims of equality, fraternity, prosperity and abundance - it is impossible to even stay alive under communist economic policies. Every single time, you are forced to give up communist ideas, simply to survive. The only possible conclusion is , the theory itself has a fundamentally wrong. Ignoring the truth, the Russia of Stalin, Khruschev and Brezhnev, which was backed by a victory in the second world war and the consolidation of power within the country, set about to fulfil Marx’s dream of global control. However, they had realised that a bloody Marxist revolution through the barrel of a gun cannot help them fulfil this dam. Having witnessed a complete failure of the economic ideas of communism on one hand and a better quality of life in the capitalist countries on the other, people were unlikely to be attracted to communism. They realised that they needed a new strategy.