Unless we accept the claim that Lenins coup det Essay Example For Students

Unless we accept the claim that Lenins coup det Essay at gave birthto an entirely new state, and indeed to a new era in the history ofmankind, we must recognize in todays Soviet Union the old empire ofthe Russians the only empire that survived into the mid 1980s(Luttwak, 1). In their Communist Manifesto of 1848, Karl Marx and FriedrichEngels applied the term communism to a final stage of socialism inwhich all class differences would disappear and humankind would livein harmony. Marx and Engels claimed to have discovered a scientificapproach to socialism based on the laws of history. They declared thatthe course of history was determined by the clash of opposing forcesrooted in the economic system and the ownership of property. Just asthe feudal system had given way to capitalism, so in time capitalismwould give way to socialism. The class struggle of the future would bebetween the bourgeoisie, who were the capitalist employers, and theproletariat, who were the workers. The struggle would end, accordingto Marx, in the socialist revolution and the attainment of fullcommunism (Groilers Encyclopedia). Socialism, of which Marxism-Leninism is a takeoff, originatedin the West. Designed in France and Germany, it was brought intoRussia in the middle of the nineteenth century and promptly attractedsupport among the countrys educated, public-minded elite, who at thattime were called intelligentsia (Pipes, 21). After Revolution brokeout over Europe in 1848 the modern working class appeared on the sceneas a major historical force. However, Russia remained out of thechanges that Europe was experiencing. As a socialist movement andinclination, the Russian Social-Democratic Party continued thetraditions of all the Russian Revolutions of the past, with the goalof conquering political freedom (Daniels 7). As early as 1894, when he was twenty-four, Lenin had become arevolutionary agitator and a convinced Marxist. He exhibited his newfaith and his polemical talents in a diatribe of that year against thepeasant-oriented socialism of the Populists led by N.K. Mikhiaiovsky(Wren, 3). While Marxism had been winning adherents among the Russianrevolutionary intelligentsia for more than a decade previously, aclaimed Marxist party was bit organized until 1898. In that year acongress of nine men met at Minsk to proclaim the establishment ofthe Russian Social Democratic Workers Party. The Manifesto issued inthe name of the congress after the police broke it up was drawn up bythe economist Peter Struve, a member of the moderate legal Marxistgroup who soon afterward left the Marxist movement altogether. Themanifesto is indicative of the way Marxism was applied to Russianconditions, 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 the summerof 1903, but was forced by the interference of the Belgian authoritiesto move to London, where the proceedings were concluded. The SecondCongress was the occasion for bitter wrangling among therepresentatives of various Russian Marxist Factions, and ended in adeep split that was mainly caused by Lenin his personality, hisdrive for power in the movement, and his hard philosophy of thedisciplined party organization. At the close of the congress Lenincommanded a temporary majority for his faction and seized upon thelabel Bolshevik (Russian for Majority), while his opponents whoinclined to the soft or more democratic position became known as theMensheviks or minority (Daniels, 19). Though born only in 1879, Trotsky had gained a leading placeamong the Russian Social-Democrats by the time of the Second partyCongress in 1903. He represented ultra-radical sentiment that couldnot reconcile itself to Lenins stress on the party organization. Trotsky stayed with the Menshevik faction until he joined Lenin in1917. From that point on, he acomidated himself in large measure toLenins philosophy of party dictatorship, but his reservations came tothe surface again in the years after his fall from power (Stoessinger,13). In the months after the Second Congress of the Social DemocraticParty Lenin lost his majority and began organizing a rebellious groupof Bolsheviks. This was to be in opposition of the new majority of thecongress, the Menshiviks, led by Trotsky. Twenty-two Bolsheviks,including Lenin, met in Geneva in August of 1904 to promote the ideaof the highly disciplined party and to urge the reorganization of thewhole Social-Democratic movement on Leninist lines (Stoessinger, 33). The differences between Lenin and the Bogdanov group ofrevolutionary romantics came to its peak in 1909. Lenin denouncedthe otzovists, also known as the recallists, who wanted to recall theBolshevik deputies in the Duma, and the ultimatists who demanded thatthe deputies take a more radical stand both for their philosophicalvagaries which he rejected as idealism, and for the utopian purism oftheir refusal to take tactical advantage of the Duma. The real issuewas Lenins control 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 the faction. Kyresha LeFever EssayThe Eastern Front had been relatively quiet during 1917, andshortly after the Bolshevik Revolution a temporary armstice wasagreed upon. Peace negotiations were then begun at the Polish town ofBrest-Litovsk, behind the German lines. In agreement with theirearlier anti-imperialist line, the Bolshevik negotiators, headed byTrotsky, used the talks as a discussion for revolutionary propaganda,while most of the party expected the eventual return of war in thename of revolution. Lenin startled his followers in January of 1918 byexplicitly demanding that the Soviet republic meet the Germanconditions and conclude a formal peace in order to win what heregarded as an indispensable breathing spell, instead of shallowlyrisking the future of the revolution (Daniels, 135). Trotsky resigned as Foreign Commissar during the Brest-Litovskcrisis, but he was immediately appointed Commissar of Military Affairsand entrusted with the creation of a new Red Army to replace the oldRussian army which had dissolved during the revolution. ManyCommunists wanted to new military force to be built up on strictlyrevolutionary principles, with guerrilla tactics, the election ofofficers, and the abolition of traditional discipline. Trotsky sethimself emphatically against this attitude and demanded an armyorganized in the conventional way and employing military specialists experienced officers from the old army. Hostilities between the Communists and the Whites, who were thegroups opposed to the Bolsheviks, reached a decicive climax in 1919. Intervention by the allied powers on the side of the Whites almostbrought them victory. Facing the most serious White threat led byGeneral Denikin in Southern Russia, Lenin appealed to his followersfor a supreme effort, and threatened ruthless repression of anyopposition behind the lines. By early 1920 the principal White forceswere defeated (Wren, 151). For three years the rivalry went on withthe Whites capturing areas and killing anyone suspected of Communistpractices. Even though the Whites had more soldiers in their army,they were not nearly as organized nor as efficient as the Reds, andtherefore were unable to rise up (Farah, 582). Police action by the Bolsheviks to combat political oppositioncommenced with the creation of the Cheka. Under the direction ofFelix Dzerzhinsky, the Cheka became the prototype of totalitariansecret police systems, enjoying at critical times the right the rightof unlimited arrest and summary execution of suspects and hostages. The principle of such police surveillance over the political leaningsof the Soviet population has remained in effect ever since, despitethe varying intensity of repression and the organizational changes ofthe police from Cheka to GPU (The State Political Administration)to NKVD (Peoples Commissariat of Internal Affairs) to MVD (Ministryof Internal Affairs) to the now well-known KGB (Committee for StateSecurity) (Pipes, 140). Lenin used his secret police in his plans to use terror toachieve his goals and as a political weapon against his enemies. Anyone opposed to the communist state was arrested. Many socialistswho had backed Lenins revolution at first now had second thoughts. Toescape punishment, they fled. By 1921 Lenin had strengthened hiscontrol and the White armies and their allies had been defeated(Farah, 582). Communism had now been established and Russia had become asocialist country. Russia was also given a new name: The Union ofSoviet Socialist Republics. This in theory meant that the means ofproduction was in the hands of the state. The state, in turn, wouldbuild the future, classless society. But still, the power was in thehands of the party (Farah, 583). The next decade was ruled by acollective dictatorship of the top party leaders. At the top levelindividuals still spoke for themselves, and considerable freedom forfactional controversy remained despite the principles of unity laiddown 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: BlackhawkPublishing, 1988.