Responses and Thoughts: Russian Revolution Part 1

The following are my own random thoughts and responses to a couple of readings on the Russian Revolution; The Origins of the Russian Revolution 1861-1917 (Third Edition) by Alan Wood and Leninism by Neil Harding.

The first few chapters of [Wood] seem to be arguing the idea that while Lenin was very well educated, both formally and in Marxism, he could not relate to other European socialists as much because he chose to focus on Marx so strictly. Lenin was always focused strongly on organization and discipline, and these concerns would be highlighted even further as he continued developing his ideas. His strong interest in the works of Marx as well as the fact that his brother was hanged for conspiring to murder the tsar seems to hint strongly to Lenin's future as a revolutionary.

While Lenin was developing his political theory and working toward revolution a lot was going on around him that helped to influence his decisions; the countries workers were striking around 1905, the war with Japan had come and gone as a loss, the Tsar had issued a manifesto helping to partially free the peasants - All of this activity going on in Russia seemed to really play into Lenin's hand and help him spread his thoughts.

While World War 1 was a major reason why revolution was possible, other factors that were a result of the war were more specifically to blame. Some of those factors were military failures, conscription, inflation, and lack of food.

One thing that I found of particular interest in [Wood] was the idea that this "intelligentsia" movement was alive and active as far back as 1790. Wood says that Alexander Radischev was the man who really put the wheels in motion as far as the intelligentsia actually expressing their views publicly. He wrote about his displeasure with the autocratic regime in a book disguised as a travelogue and was eventually punished and sent into exile. This governmental criticism by the intellectual middle class would turn out to be a major factor in revolution and the act of criticizing could be traced back as far as 1790. It seems to me that the Russian government should have been able to see this discontent as a legitimate concern. It is like they ignored these legitimate arguments against hard line autocracy thinking that the displeasure would just dissipate. Obviously this was not the case, as we know it today.

The method in which the Bolsheviks gained power was of particular interest to me because it seemed so violent. In my past dealings with Russian history I failed to realize how much violence was actually involved and the fact there were actually opponents of Bolshevik rule defeated right outside the capital was surprising.

Harding, Neil. Leninism. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996.

Wood, Alan. The Origins of the Russian Revolution, 1861-1917. New York: Routledge, 2003.