The Rise Of Communism In Russia (2269 words) Essay Example For Students

The Rise Of Communism In Russia (2269 words) Essay The Rise of Communism in Russia Unless we accept the claim that Lenins coup that gavebirth to an entirely new state, and indeed to a new era in thehistory of mankind, we must recognize in todays Soviet Unionthe old empire of the Russians the only empire that survivedinto the mid 1980s (Luttwak, 1). In their Communist Manifesto of 1848, Karl Marx andFriedrich Engels applied the term communism to a final stage ofsocialism in which all class differences would disappear andhumankind would live in harmony. Marx and Engels claimed to havediscovered a scientific approach to socialism based on the lawsof history. They declared that the course of history wasdetermined by the clash of opposing forces rooted in the economicsystem and the ownership of property. Just as the feudal systemhad given way to capitalism, so in time capitalism would give wayto socialism. The class struggle of the future would be betweenthe bourgeoisie, who were the capitalist employers, and theproletariat, who were the workers. The struggle would end,according to Marx, in the socialist revolution and theattainment of full communism (Groilers Encyclopedia). Socialism, of which Marxism-Leninism is a takeoff,originated in the West. Designed in France and Germany, it wasbrought into Russia in the middle of the nineteenth century andpromptly attracted support among the countrys educated, public-minded elite, who at that time were called intelligentsia (Pipes,21). After Revolution broke out over Europe in 1848 the modernworking class appeared on the scene as a major historical force. However, Russia remained out of the changes that Europe wasexperiencing. As a socialist movement and inclination, theRussian Social-Democratic Party continued the traditions of allthe Russian Revolutions of the past, with the goal of conqueringpolitical freedom (Daniels 7). As early as 1894, when he was twenty-four, Lenin hadbecome a revolutionary agitator and a convinced Marxist. Heexhibited his new faith and his polemical talents in a diatribeof that year against the peasant-oriented socialism of thePopulists led by N.K. Mikhiaiovsky (Wren, 3). While Marxism had been winning adherents among theRussian revolutionary intelligentsia for more than a decadepreviously, a claimed Marxist party was bit organized until1898. In that year a congress of nine men met at Minsk toproclaim the establishment of the Russian Social DemocraticWorkers Party. The Manifesto issued in the name of the congressafter the police broke it up was drawn up by the economist PeterStruve, a member of the moderate Legal Marxist group who soonafterward left the Marxist movement altogether. The manifesto isindicative of the way Marxism was applied to Russian conditions,and of the special role for the proletariat (Pipes, 11). The first true congress of the Russian Social Democraticworkers Party was the Second. It convened in Brussels in thesummer of 1903, but was forced by the interference of theBelgian authorities to move to London, where the proceedings wereconcluded. The Second Congress was the occasion for bitterwrangling among the representatives of various Russian MarxistFactions, and ended in a deep split that was mainly caused byLenin his personality, his drive for power in the movement,and his hard philosophy of the disciplined party organization. At the close of the congress Lenin commanded a temporarymajority for his faction and seized upon the label 0Bolshevik(Russian for Majority), while his opponents who inclined to thesoft or more democratic position became known as the Mensheviksor minority(Daniels, 19). Though born only in 1879, Trotsky had gained a leadingplace among the Russian Social-Democrats by the time of theSecond party Congress in 1903. He represented ultra-radicalsentiment that could not reconcile itself to Lenins stress onthe party organization. Trotsky stayed with the Menshevikfaction until he joined Lenin in 1917. From that point on, heaccommodated himself in large measure to Lenins philosophy ofparty dictatorship, but his reservations came to the surfaceagain in the years after his fall from power (Stoessinger, 13). In the months after the Second Congress of the SocialDemocratic Party Lenin lost his majority and began organizing arebellious group of Bolsheviks. This was to be in opposition ofthe new majority of the congress, the Menshiviks, led byTrotsky. Twenty-two Bolsheviks, including Lenin, met in Genevain August of 1904 to promote the idea of the highly disciplinedparty and to urge the reorganization of the whole Social-Democratic movement on Leninist lines (Stoessinger, 33). The differences between Lenin and the Bogdanov group ofrevolutionary romantics came to its peak in 1909. Lenindenounced the otzovists, also known as the recallists, whowanted to recall the Bolshevik deputies in the Duma, and theultimatists who demanded that the deputies take a more radicalstand both for their philosophical vagaries which he rejectedas idealism, and for the utopian purism of their refusal to taketactical advantage of the Duma. The real issue was Leninscontrol of the faction and the enforcement of his brand ofMarxist orthodoxy. Lenin demonstrated his grip of the Bolshevikfaction at a meeting in Paris of the editors of the Bolsheviksfactional paper, which had become the headquarters of thefaction. Bogdanov and his followers were expelled from theBolshevik faction, though they remained within the Social-Democratic fold (Wren, 95). The Civil Rights Movement Essay The Eastern Front had been relatively quiet during 1917,and shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution a temporary armisticewas agreed upon. Peace negotiations were then begun at thePolish town of Brest-Litovsk, behind the German lines. Inagreement with their earlier anti-imperialist line, the Bolsheviknegotiators, headed by Trotsky, used the talks as a discussionfor revolutionary propaganda, while most of the party expectedthe eventual return of war in the name of revolution. Leninstartled his followers in January of 1918 by explicitlydemanding that the Soviet republic meet the German conditionsand conclude a formal peace in order to win what he regarded asan indispensable breathing spell, instead of shallowly riskingthe future of the revolution (Daniels, 135). Trotsky resigned as Foreign Commissar during the Brest-Litovsk crisis, but he was immediately appointed Commissar ofMilitary Affairs and entrusted with the creation of a new RedArmy to replace the old Russian army which had dissolved duringthe revolution. Many Communists wanted to new military force tobe built up on strictly revolutionary principles, with guerrillatactics, the election of officers, and the abolition oftraditional discipline. Trotsky set himself emphatically againstthis attitude and demanded an army organized in the conventionalway and employing military specialists experienced officersfrom the old army. Hostilities between the Communists and the Whites, whowere the groups opposed to the Bolsheviks, reached a decisiveclimax in 1919.Intervention by the allied powers on the sideof the Whites almost brought them victory. Facing the mostserious White threat led by General Denikin in Southern Russia,Lenin appealed to his followers for a supreme effort, andthreatened ruthless repression of any opposition behind thelines. By early 1920 the principal White forces were defeated(Wren, 151). For three years the rivalry went on with theWhites capturing areas and killing anyone suspected of Communistpractices. Even though the Whites had more soldiers in theirarmy, they were not nearly as organized nor as efficient as theReds, and therefore were unable to rise up (Farah, 582). Police action by the Bolsheviks to combat politicalopposition commenced with the creation of the Cheka. Under thedirection of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the Cheka became the prototypeof totalitarian secret police systems, enjoying at criticaltimes the right the right of unlimited arrest and summaryexecution of suspects and hostages. The principle of suchpolice surveillance over the political leanings of the Sovietpopulation has remained in effect ever since, despite the varyingintensity of repression and the organizational changes of thepolice from Cheka to GPU (The State Political Administration)to NKVD (peoples Commissariat of Internal Affairs) to MVD(Ministry of Internal Affairs) to the now well-known KGB(Committee for State Security) (Pipes, 140). Lenin used his secret police in his plans to use terrorto achieve his goals and as a political weapon against hisenemies. Anyone opposed to the communist state was arrested. Many socialists who had backed Lenins revolution at first nowhad second thoughts. To escape punishment, they fled. By 1921Lenin had strengthened his control and the White armies andtheir allies had been defeated (Farah, 582). Communism had now been established and Russia had becomea socialist country. Russia was also given a new name: The Unionof Soviet Socialist Republics. This in theory meant that themeans of production was in the hands of the state. The state,in turn, would build the future, classless society. But still,the power was in the hands of the party (Farah, 583). The nextdecade was ruled by a collective dictatorship of the top partyleaders. At the top level individuals still spoke forthemselves, and considerable freedom for factional controversyremained despite the principles of unity laid down in 1921. Works CitedDaniels, Robert V., A Documentary History of Communism. New York: Random House Publishing, 1960. Farah, Mounir, The Human Experience. Columbus: Bell Howess Co., 1990. Luttwak, Edward N., The Grand Strategy of the Soviet Union. New York: St. Martins Press, 1983. Pipes, Richard, Survival is Not Enough. New York: SS Publishing, 1975. Stoessinger, John G., Nations in Darkness. Boston: Howard Books, 1985. Wren, Christopher S., The End of the Line. San Francisco: Blackhawk Publishing, 1988.