By Krishna Jha
It was the beginning of the last century. Transition was already in the process. The context in Russia was maturing up for the October Revolution. It was one of the greatest events in human history when workers and the oppressed started rising to throw off feudal-capitalist regime under the leadership of Vladimir Ilych Lenin. He had famously said that revolution in Russia took place in the weakest link in the chain of imperialist capitalist system. Russia was not advanced as the other capitalist countries in Europe were, and hence it was as late as in 1870 that Georgi Plekhanov founded the Emancipation of the Labour League to organize the working class towards a revolutionary struggle.
Plekhanov had started working on a scientific ideological foundation that was basically Marxism. As industrialisation started gaining its prime position, there was the rise of working class, followed by the formation of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1898 in Minsk. The architect of the party formation was Lenin himself and there was lot of discussion on democratic centralism. The debate was also raised on the character of revolution. The members of the party were expected to be active in their units too. It was at this stage that Lenin wrote the book “What is to be Done?”
It was a stage of sharp theoretical dilemma. Among those coming for discussions led by Lenin were Narodniks, Anarchists, Ultra Left, and many others. He opposed their concept of utopian socialism based on peasantry and the agrarian system. Lenin stressed on the need of a scientific and revolutionary strategy. For theoretical clarity, he wrote, “What the Friends of the People are”. By this time he had evolved a scientific strategy of revolution to struggle against capitalist onslaught. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 20th, Lenin faced incarceration and exile. In such conditions, there emerged sharp differences of opinion also within RSDLP on adoption of tactics.
The two tactics that were suggested by two prominent groups within the party, that were Bolsheviks (majority) and Mensheviks (minority), presented the difference over the nature of revolution. Both groups became two factions and then split as two parties. Explaining the two tactics, Lenin wrote “Two Tactics of Social Democracy”. It was a step towards adding a new dimension to Marxist theory of revolution. Till now the dilemma was that should the revolution move towards the complete demolition of capitalism or aim at getting over feudalism and Tsarist autocratic rule and move towards a bourgeois democratic stage.
Lenin advocated joining hands with small entrepreneurs, marginal farmers and anti-imperialist forces, with working class leading the struggle. Lenin’s contention was that revolution in the state of imperialism has to move through a new stage which he called Bourgeois-democratic, and not socialist directly. Thus, it was one of Lenin’s great contributions in the tactical line of the revolution in the stage of capitalism. Without going to the final stage of socialist revolution led by the proletariat exclusively, he suggested that one has to move in two steps.
Among the famous contributions of Lenin while preparing for the great October revolution, was the united front that was initiated in the two tactics of social democracy. But that also brought sharp differences with Mensheviks. Even a large chunk of working class failed to take in the formulation given by Lenin. The extreme left represented by the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Mensheviks were of the view that Lenin had made a compromise. They thought Lenin supported capitalism and imperialism.
But it was not realized that working class itself was growing in number and also in awareness. It was also a fact that the vital changes in the mode of production were not considered by the opposition. Newspapers like Pravda, Iskra, Izvestia, Rabochaya Misl started bringing to light the stand of both the sides, thus enriching the entire revolutionary process itself. It was the revolution of 1905 that prepared the prelude to October Revolution of 1917. However the 1905 revolution was not successful and it was addressed as “the Dress Rehearsal” for the final act in 1917.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the evolution of monopoly capitalism and imperialism started getting visible. There was the rule of finance capital world over and the world was facing division and re-division while preparing the context for the first world war. The contradictions got accumulated in Russia as the Tsar Nicholas led the Russian army fighting on the War fronts. There were heavy losses as 1,300,000 were killed, 4, 200,000 captured by enemy forces and millions were left handicapped for life. On March 8, 1917, thousands of people gathered on the streets asking for ‘bread’, supported by 90,000 people who went on strike. It was International Women’s Day and bread riots had started under the leadership of women.
It must be pointed out here that Russian revolution was not party revolution, the working class and the masses were coming through soviets and soviets were led by parties. Lenin was in exile, and managed to come only by April. It was a period when he wrote April thesis on dual power. It was the provisional government and alongside it, there was another government led by workers and soviets, holding the power. It was one state and two governments.
As no peaceful transition was possible, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party had a meeting in October, and a decision was taken in favour of armed insurrection, for which Lenin prepared blue print for strategic and tactical moves. Since October, Lenin had been stressing on immediate action without delay. He said, “Events are prescribing our task so clearly for us that any procrastination is becoming positively criminal.” Among all, Lenin had the most vivid vision of the nature and timing of the insurrection. He stressed on October 25, ( November 7, 1917) to be the day for the action to start.
It was a time when Lenin came out with brilliant pieces on the art and science of insurrection. He had clear blue print of how to proceed and the order for that. He asked for the mobilization of fleet, occupation of telephone exchange, the telegraph office, railway stations and the bridges, organizing the workers and the army units. Lenin came to Smolny on October 25, that was November7, taking full control.
In the entire process of revolution, and also after it, leadership was in the hands of Lenin, the great philosopher, and scientific thinker. (IPA
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