Rise of the Bolsheviks
The February revolution was a spontaneous and leaderless revolution. It left all the political parties behind, including the revolutionary ones. This contrasts with Lenin's vanguardist conception of the revolution. In his book What is to be Done?, published in 1902, Lenin said that:
"The history of all countries shows that the working class, exclusively by its own effort, is able to develop only trade union consciousness, i.e., the conviction that it is necessary to combine in unions, fight the employers, and strive to compel the government to pass necessary labour legislation, etc. The theory of socialism, however, grew out of the philosophic, historical, and economic theories elaborated by educated representatives of the propertied classes, by intellectuals. By their social status the founders of modern scientific socialism, Marx and Engels, themselves belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia. In the very same way, in Russia, the theoretical doctrine of Social-Democracy arose altogether independently of the spontaneous growth of the working-class movement; it arose as a natural and inevitable outcome of the development of thought among the revolutionary socialist intelligentsia."1
By Social Democracy Lenin meant revolutionary Marxism, this was written before Social Democracy became a synonym for the welfare state. Lenin argued that "Class political consciousness can be brought to the workers only from without, that is, only from outside the economic struggle, from outside the sphere of relations between workers and employers."2 Only intellectuals ("educated representatives of the propertied classes") could develop revolutionary socialism, not workers on their own. The task of these revolutionary intellectuals was to form a vanguard party run by professional revolutionaries that would spread socialist ideology among the workers and lead them to make a revolution. The party would be organized hierarchically, with a powerful central committee at the top, based on a highly centralized version of representative democracy called "Democratic Centralism." This position caused a split in the Russian Marxist movement. One faction, the Bolsheviks, supported Lenin's advocacy of a vanguard party while the other faction, the Mensheviks, advocated a more traditional political party. These two factions later broke into two separate parties, with the Bolsheviks organizing theirs along the vanguardist lines Lenin advocated.
Lenin's claim that socialist ideology cannot be developed by the workers' exclusively by their own effort but can only be brought to them from without is false. It may be true for Marxism, but it is not true for all forms of socialism. There have been many examples of workers' developing revolutionary anti-capitalist consciousness and going beyond "trade union consciousness" without the aid of intellectuals. The anarcho-syndicalist movement, which was once massive, is an excellent example. It was literally created by ordinary workers, not by intellectuals, and grew into a mass movement in many countries – even launching a revolution in Spain. In the 1905 Revolution Lenin's "vanguard" was left behind by the revolutionary workers; the Bolsheviks were initially suspicious of the Soviets and opposed them. In 1917 revolutionary workers again left behind the "vanguard", both in the February Revolution and again in the July days.
Even if Lenin was right and revolutionary ideology could only come from the intellectuals his vanguardism would not follow. The intellectuals could simply spread socialist ideology amongst the workers without attempting to impose their authority on the workers. Hierarchical organization is not necessary; the intellectuals could spread socialist ideology to workers who would self-organize against capitalism. They can organize non-hierarchically, instead of using "Democratic Centralism." Just because one group persuades another that a certain philosophy is a good idea it does not follow that the persuading group has to have power over those they persuade.
After the February revolution the Bolsheviks took a position not that far from the Mensheviks. The Mensheviks claimed that the current revolution was a "bourgeois revolution" which would lead to the establishment of capitalism and the rule of the bourgeoisie. A working class socialist revolution would only be possible after a long period of industrial capitalism. The task of socialists was thus not to push for another revolution to overthrow the capitalists but to help consolidate the current revolution, build capitalism, prevent a counter-revolution and build a reformist workers movement. The so-called "vanguard of the revolution," the Bolshevik party, was initially not revolutionary at all!
This changed with Lenin's return to Russia. The provisional government decreed an amnesty for all persecuted dissidents, which resulted in hordes of revolutionaries returning to Russia from exile in the months following the February revolution. The Germans granted Lenin safe passage through German territory to return to Russia, hoping that he would stir up unrest and possibly force Russia to withdraw from the war. Lenin arrived in April; shortly afterward he presented his April Theses at a meeting of the Bolshevik party. In it he called for an end to the First World War, another revolution to overthrow the provisional government, establishing a "workers' and peasants' state" based on the Soviets, "Abolition of the police, the army and the bureaucracy," and "a state of which the Paris Commune was the prototype." Initially most Bolsheviks reacted very negatively to his position. One Bolshevik, "Bogdanov (Malinovksy), beside himself, shouted that Lenin's speech was the raving of a madman; pale with rage and contempt, he showered blame on those who had applauded: ‘One should be ashamed to applaud this rubbish, you cover yourselves with shame! And you are Marxists!'" The old Bolshevik Goldenberg declared that "Lenin has presented his candidacy for a throne in Europe vacant these thirty years: Bakunin's throne. Lenin's new words tell the same old story of primitive anarchism. Lenin the Social Democrat, Lenin the Marxist, Lenin the leader of our militant Social Democracy is no more!"3 Only one senior Bolshevik leader, Alexandra Kollontai, supported Lenin's April Theses from the start. Despite this, Lenin was able to persuade the Bolshevik party to adopt his revolutionary stance, overcoming major resistance.
In the April Theses, his book The State and Revolution (probably his most libertarian work), and other writings Lenin put forth an ultra-democratic and libertarian vision of society. He believed in a "dictatorship of the proletariat," also called a "workers' state," which would be the "proletariat organized as ruling class." Under this "workers' state" the "the police, the army and the bureaucracy" would all be abolished and "the standing army [was] to be replaced by the arming of the whole people." Every government official would be elected, recallable and paid a workman's wage. It was to be a truly democratic state, controlled by the majority. The working class would use this state to oppress the capitalists (a minority of the population) and put down their resistance to the new order. He said that "for a certain time … the bourgeois state remains under communism, without the bourgeoisie!"4 After the revolution society would pass through two phases, first socialism and then communism. Under socialism individuals would be paid based on how much they worked, communism would be a classless society without following the principle "from each according to ability, to each according to need." The ultimate aim of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" was to bring about the end of the state, as it abolished classes and brought about communism the state would begin to "wither away" and eventually disappear completely. He claimed that the "dictatorship of the proletariat" was needed only temporarily to suppress the capitalists and build the new order, as communism comes about it about it was supposed to disappear. Since Russia had a peasant majority in Russia the "workers' state" would be a "revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry" – a joint workers' and peasants' state controlled by the majority. The revolution in Russia was to be the opening shot in a world revolution that would topple capitalism around the globe.
The allegations made by some Bolsheviks that Lenin had gone over to anarchism, though incorrect, are not without merit. Lenin's views between the February and October revolutions incorporated a considerable degree of libertarian rhetoric and ideas. Anarchists have long advocated the arming of the people and called for the abolition of the police, standing army and bureaucracy along with the state in general. Anarchists had already begun pushing for another revolution to overthrow the Provisional government and criticizing the Mensheviks and SRs for cooperating with it. The Bolsheviks took up many slogans the anarchists had already raised, including "All Power to the Soviets" and "the factory to the worker, the land to the peasant" but meant very different things by them. By "All Power to the Soviets" the Bolsheviks meant that the Soviets would run the new "proletarian" state, they would assume state power. The anarchists meant that the state should be abolished and society instead organized by voluntary non-hierarchical associations such as the Soviets. By "the factory to the worker, the land to the peasant" the Bolsheviks meant putting these under state control. Because the state would supposedly be controlled by the workers and peasants this would, they claimed, be equivalent to putting the factories and land under the control of the workers' and peasants. Lenin claimed that, "socialism is merely state-capitalist monopoly which is made to serve the interests of the whole people."5 The anarchists meant the slogan literally – the workers in the factory should directly control it themselves and the peasants who work the land should control the land themselves. Lenin even declared that "While the state exists there is no freedom. When freedom exists, there will be no state."6 It is likely that the libertarian influence on his thought at this time was more the result of the libertarian structures created by the Russian masses, the Soviets, factory committees, etc. rather than as a result of anarchist theory.
Party as a result of the Bolshevik's libertarian rhetoric the Russian anarchist movement allied with the Bolsheviks against the Provisional government. This alliance was broken after the October revolution. The Bolsheviks also allied with the Maximalists (who had a position between the Left SRs and the anarchists) and the left wing of the Social Revolutionary party, the Left SRs. The SRs were a peasant party, the oldest and largest party in Russia. The Left SRs were very critical of the right SRs for cooperating with the Provisional government, it's failure to pass land reform and it's capitalist policies. They advocated Soviet Democracy, land reform and the overthrow of the provisional government. Shortly after the October revolution the Left SRs broke off and formed their own political party.
The vision of a hyper-democratic state outlined by Lenin in 1917 is not feasible and even if it could be implemented it would not be able to make the state an instrument of majority rule instead of minority rule. In order to enforce it's rule the state must have it's own armed bodies of people (police, military, etc.) with a top-down chain of command to make the population obey it's laws. Abolishing the police, military, etc. and arming the people would make it impossible for the state to enforce its' orders. These armed bodies of people have to have a top-down chain of command because if they are autonomous they won't necessarily do what the state wants. Theoretically it is possible to have a state without bureaucracy but all states create hierarchical organizations in order to implement their orders. In the modern state this comes in the form of bureaucracy. Non-hierarchical organizations cannot serve this role because a non-hierarchical organization, by virtue of the fact that it is non-hierarchical, can choose not do what those in the top levels of the government hierarchy order it to do. If it has to follow the government's orders then it is hierarchical. Theoretically there are pre-modern forms the state could use instead of bureaucracy (such as a system of vassals) but these are based on personal authority rather than impersonal rules and so it would be impossible to portray them as a implementing the decrees of a "proletarian democracy." Thus any "proletarian" state would have to be a bureaucratic state. The modern state has thousands upon thousands of government officials, as did most pre-modern states. Having every single one of them be elected is impossible; there are far too many positions to be able to choose candidates. At best everyone would spend all his or her time voting, and doing nothing else. In addition this would lead to paralysis within the state since only the electorate could fire officials, not their superiors, interfering with discipline. The different levels of the state would all come into conflict with each other and gridlock would ensue. These anti-authoritarian elements were infeasible and thus abandoned shortly after October.
The state is a hierarchical organization, based on centralization of power; that maintains a monopoly (or near-monopoly) on the legitimate use of violence. All states implement the rule of an elite over the majority and are never controlled by the majority because of this centralization of power and monopoly of force. Decisions are not actually made by the majority but by those on the top of the hierarchy. Ordinary people have no real control over elected politicians after winning power. Once in power elected representatives are isolated from the general population but subjected to great pressure from state bureaucracies, political parties and (in bourgeois democracies) big business. Elected politicians are in power temporarily, whereas the bureaucracy is there permanently. Thus the bureaucracy tends to gain more power than the representatives. In addition the bureaucracy can use black ops, disinformation, bureaucratic slowdowns, media manipulation, coups, brute force and other means to force representatives to go along with their wishes. They can rig elections and repress parties with platforms they do not like to insure that elections are won by parties with platforms they approve of. The right of recall does not give the majority control over the state since officials can use their monopoly of force to disregard or otherwise subvert recall attempts (which is exactly what happened to Russia in the spring of 1918) and even ignoring that actual decision making power still lies with the elected officials. The majority doesn't actually make the decisions itself. In State and Revolution Lenin focuses on administration and accounting but says little about actual decision-making. Once in power elected officials can not only use their authority to subvert elections and recall (insuring that the same elite stays in power regardless of who wins the election) but they can use it to pay themselves higher salaries than the average workman as they do in every state. They will not give up power and "wither away" but actually form a new ruling class over the proletariat. Even if Lenin's program could be implemented it would not result in a state controlled by the majority.7
In State and Revolution Lenin said, "We want the socialist revolution with human nature as it is now, with human nature that cannot dispense with subordination, control and ‘managers.'"8 "Human nature" is an ancient excuse used to justify tyranny for eons. If human nature is such that humans are inherently evil then hierarchy should be abolished because those on the top will abuse their power. If human nature is good then there is no need for hierarchy. Either way, hierarchy should be abolished. If people are too evil (or stupid) to rule themselves then they are far too evil (or stupid) to rule others. The whole point of a social revolution is to change human behavior. Present human behavior is also based on private property, markets and imperialism yet that did not prevent Lenin from calling for the revolution to abolish them "overnight." The workers and peasants in the Russian revolution were already beginning to abolish subordination and managers, creating alternative non-hierarchical forms of organization. Doing away with subordination/hierarchy was not only possible; it was already starting to be implemented.
In State and Revolution Lenin also claimed that "the post office [is] an example of the socialist system. … Our immediate task is to organize the whole of national economy on the lines of the postal system."9 The post office is a highly bureaucratic and authoritarian organization. It is based on a bureaucratic hierarchy, with those on the top giving orders to those on the bottom. It is no surprise that a society organized along the lines of the post office would end up being highly bureaucratic and authoritarian.
Lenin argued that the "dictatorship of the proletariat" was necessary to prevent the capitalists from using armed force to launch a counter-revolution, to defeat them in civil war. He misrepresented anarchist theory by claiming that anarchists think the working class should lie down its' arms after the revolution and not defend it from armed counter-revolutionaries. He then attacked this misrepresentation of anarchism. Revolutionary anarchists, excluding anarcho-pacifists, do believe that the workers should defend the revolution from violent counter-revolutionaries, with force if necessary. A "proletarian" state is not the only way to defend the revolution. If necessary the population can be armed and democratic militias formed to wage a guerilla war against counter-revolutionary armies. Anarchists have done this repeatedly in Ukraine, Manchuria, Nicaragua and Spain. A communal militia system, rather than a state, should be used to defend the revolution.
The Marxist theory of the state claims that the state is an instrument of whichever class happens to be dominant. Under feudalism the state is the instrument of the aristocracy, under capitalism it is the instrument of the capitalists, under socialism it is the instrument of the workers, etc. This theory is incorrect. The state is not merely an instrument through which the dominant class suppresses other classes; it is a means through which a small elite dominates and exploits the majority. Because it is a hierarchical, centralized organization the state always develops a small elite on the top - those in the upper levels of the hierarchy. The "state elite." This elite dominates and exploits the population. Sometimes it does this directly, as would happen in the USSR and Maoist China. Other times it is more effective for this elite to defend the interests of a separate economic elite – such as a corporate elite or a landlord elite. The economic elite and state elite have very similar interests and so it often appears as if the state is merely the instrument of the state elite. Both seek to keep the subordinate classes subordinate, in order to maintain their authority and keep the extraction of surplus going. The state elite benefits from the economic elite's exploitation in many ways - it can leach off the surplus (taxes, bribery, etc.), it can use the surplus to mobilize for war or other goals, etc.
The state elite and economic elite (dominant class), although they have broadly similar interests, do not always see eye to eye and sometimes conflict. An example is Russia in the 1860s. Russia lost the Crimean war because it was behind the times - hadn't industrialized, had a backwards system. The Russian bourgeoisie didn't really exist yet. The loss of this war threatened the power of the state (it could be conquered) and so the state implemented a bunch of reforms designed to modernize the country. Part of this was the abolition of serfdom – which the feudal landlords were overwhelmingly opposed to. The state threw the dominant class overboard in order to save itself. Of course, the manner in which the end of serfdom was implemented allowed the landlords to maintain a position higher over the peasantry - by owning more land - but it was still a major blow to their position, opposed by most landlords. Thus, the state is not automatically the instrument of whichever class happens to be dominant - although the state and economic elites do usually share very similar interests, and often tend to intermingle. Other examples of the state not doing what the economic elite wants are France under Napoleon the third, Peru's revolutionary military dictatorship in the late sixties and early seventies, Peron's regime in Argentina, and the later period of Nazi Germany.
The most common attempt by Marxists to explain these instances of the state conflicting with the dominant class is the theory of Bonapartism. When the classes are evenly powerful there is no dominant class and so the state gains a certain degree of independence. Lenin claimed that both of France's Bonapartist regimes, Bismarck's Germany and Europe's absolute monarchies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were all examples of Bonapartism. This theory fails for empirical reasons. There have been many cases of states conflicting with economic elites when different classes clearly were not equally powerful. Tsarist Russia in the 1860s (when the Russian capitalist didn't really exist) and Nazi Germany provide two clear examples where the ruling class and the subordinate classes were most definitely not equally balanced yet they did not see eye to eye with the economic elite. There have been several cases where the workers and capitalists were equally powerful yet Bonapartism did not develop, such as Italy in the early twenties. And even in the case of Bonapartist France it is debatable whether the workers and capitalists actually were equally powerful.
Even if the theory of Bonapartism were correct it would effectively refute the Marxist advocacy of a "proletarian" state. In the process of going from a situation where the capitalists are more powerful than the workers to a situation where the workers are more powerful than the capitalists there is a high probability that they will pass through the point where the workers and capitalists are equally powerful. In the course of the revolution(s) and attempted counter-revolutions that will characterize the transition from capitalism to socialism it is almost inevitable the workers and capitalists will be equally powerful for a time, perhaps repeatedly. Bonapartism is thus almost inevitable during the transition from capitalism to socialism. Hence, the workers' cannot rely on the state to defeat the bourgeoisie because when the class struggle is most intense, when the capitalists and workers' are equally powerful, Bonapartism will come about and give the state a degree of independence, making any "workers' state" completely unreliable. The only time the workers' would be able to rely on any state would be in the period when the bourgeoisie has been decisively defeated, but according to Lenin a "workers' state" is most needed when the bourgeoisie are resisting the strongest. When they have been decisively defeated the state is no longer needed by the workers and can begin to "wither away."
Some, including much of the right and some anarchists & contemporary social democrats, portray Lenin and the Bolsheviks as Machiavellian schemers who set out from day one to impose a totalitarian one party state on Russia. The Bolsheviks just wanted to seize power for themselves; the October revolution was just an elitist coup with no popular support. This view is false. Lenin and the other revolutionaries would not have risked their lives, spent countless years in jail and gone into exile if they only wanted power for themselves. They genuinely believed their actions would create a better society. Nor did Lenin's vision prior to seizing power explicitly call for the dictatorship of one party. In State and Revolution and other writings Lenin put forth a highly democratic vision of the state, not a one-party dictatorship. Just a few weeks before the October revolution Lenin said, "By seizing full power, the Soviets could … ensure … peaceful elections of deputies by the people, and a peaceful struggle of parties inside the Soviets; they could test the programmes of the various parties in practice and power could pass peacefully from one party to another."10
After Lenin came to power he eventually came out in favor of a one-party state (and not just for Russia), but prior to seizing power he held a highly democratic vision. There were statements that could be seen to imply a one-party state, such as his reference in State and Revolution to "the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the organization of the vanguard of the oppressed as the ruling class for the purpose of crushing the oppressors"11 but this was not explicit, as it would become after seizing power. His theory, like the Marxist theory of the state in general, was internally contradictory – is it to be "the proletariat organized as ruling class" or "the vanguard of the proletariat organized as ruling class"? This contradiction was really just the Marxist version of a contradiction inherent in all democratic theories of the state – they all advocate a society run by the majority yet advocate an institution, the state, which is inherently a system whereby a small minority rules. Ordinary bourgeois democracy is also internally contradictory – is it to be "the people" who hold decision making power or elected representatives? That Lenin's vision of the state, one of the most democratic in history, could turn into a totalitarian dictatorship is an indictment not only of Marxism but also of all democratic theories of the state.
In early July dissatisfied Petrograd workers and soldiers (including sailors from the nearby Krondstadt Naval base, a stronghold of radicalism) staged demonstrations against the provisional government. They marched under revolutionary slogans including "all power to the soviets," beginning what would be known as the "July days." This turned into a semi-insurrection against the provisional government. Once again, the so-called "vanguard" was left behind by the workers. The Bolsheviks initially opposed the rebellion and attempted to prevent it but, as it got under way, subsequently decided to support it. The July days failed to overthrow the provisional government and were defeated. The leadership of the provisional government was changed as a result of the July days, making Kerensky head of the government. Kerensky was one of the best-known socialists in the country, a member of the SR party, but a right-wing very conservative "socialist," basically a sell-out to the capitalists. A period of reaction followed the defeat of the July days. Kerensky persecuted revolutionary groups, including the Bolsheviks. Lenin and several other leaders of the party had to go underground and flee the country. Prospects for revolution looked increasingly dim as the right advanced.
What changed this and radicalized the population was the Kornilov affair. The most common account of this is that General Lavr Kornilov launched an attempted coup against the provisional government, intent on imposing a right-wing military dictatorship. This was Kerensky's story. What actually happened is less clear and the details remain murky. There are many conflicting accounts of this story, some say Kerensky tricked Kornilov into revolting, others that there was a miscommunication between Kerensky and Kornilov and still others say Kerensky was trying to play Kornilov and the Bolsheviks against each other. In A People's Tragedy Orlando Figes claims that Kerensky received a miscommunication from Kornilov that he intentionally misinterpreted as implying that Kornilov was about to launch a counter-revolutionary coup. Kerensky used this for his own advantage, warning that Kornilov was about to launch a counter-revolutionary coup and setting himself up as a great hero fighting against Kornilov's coup, causing Kornilov to revolt against the government. This is a plausible account, though not necessarily correct. Whatever actually happened between Kornilov and Kerensky, the effect was to cause Kornilov to rebel against the provisional government and march on Petrograd. The Bolsheviks played a major role in defeating his march on the capitol, giving them more popularity. The attempted "coup" was seen as confirmation that the provisional government could not defend itself from the forces of counter-revolution, as the Bolsheviks claimed. It radicalized many people, initiating a mass movement that would culminate in the October revolution. The revolutionaries, mainly Bolsheviks but also Left SRs and anarchists, won majorities in the Soviets.
The revolutionary movement built up over the next two months, eventually coming to comprise the majority of the population. The provisional government got weaker and weaker, until the October revolution finally overthrew it. The insurrection began on October 25th, not long before the opening of the second soviet congress. Paramilitary forces and revolutionary soldiers, including sailors from Krondstadt, stormed the government buildings. Though the Bolsheviks played a major role in the insurrection, it was not purely a Bolshevik affair. Other revolutionaries, including anarchists, Maximalists and Left SRs, participated as well. "The October Revolution was not a mere coup, but the culmination of an authentic mass movement, notwithstanding the ideology and scholarship inspired by the cold war."12 The October revolution "was but the moment when the Provisional Government, whose power and authority had been completely undermined by popular revolts, was finally officially pushed aside."13 Worker and peasant rebellions, the takeover of land and factories, accelerated with the October revolution (had it not the case for viewing it as a mere coup would be much stronger). By the time the provisional government was destroyed the soviets, factory committees and popular assemblies had already shattered most of its power. It is true that the October revolution was not the leaderless spontaneous event that the February revolution was, but just because a revolution has leaders and some amount of planning does not change it into a coup. Many non-Bolsheviks participated in the insurrection and, as shown by the revolutionaries' victories in the Soviets, most of the population supported the overthrow of the provisional government (although they did not support the one-party dictatorship that would later evolve).
Most Mensheviks and right-wing SRs walked out of the second congress of soviets in protest of the October revolution. They formed "committees to defend the revolution" and attempted to stop the revolution. The insurrection in Petrograd was followed by a brief miniature "civil war" in which soviets seized power throughout the country. Local governments were toppled and replaced with Soviet governments. Over the next several months rightists attempted to form armies in order to launch a counter-revolution, but they were defeated and frequently saw their troops mutiny or desert. In April 1918 Lenin declared:
"We can say with confidence that in the main the civil war is at an end. There will be some skirmishes, of course, and in some towns street fighting will flare up here or there, due to isolated attempts by the reactionaries to overthrow the strength of the revolution—the Soviet system—but there is no doubt that on the internal front reaction has been irretrievably smashed by the efforts of the insurgent people."14
Of course, the "civil war" he was referring to here was merely the initial resistance to October and an assortment of failed counter-revolutionary plots and skirmishes. The real civil war would not start until late May of 1918.
The October revolution created a soviet state; the soviets became the government. The Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic was declared. The second congress of soviets created the Council of People's Commissars or Sovnarkom that ran the state, many local soviets set up local Sovnarkoms to run local governments. The Bolsheviks formed a coalition government with the Left SRs and passed a number of decrees and reforms. They embarrassed the entente by publishing secret imperialist deals the old regime had made with its entente allies. They legalized the peasant seizure of lands, decreed separation of church and state, legalized abortion, decreed equality of the sexes, and made divorce easier. A women's section of the Bolshevik party was eventually created to fight for women's equality and help the party control the female population. On February 1st/14th Russia switched it's calendar to the Gregorian calendar, putting it in sync with Western Europe. In March 1918 the Bolshevik party renamed itself the Communist party. Initially the power of the central government was extremely weak, local soviets and party organs were relatively decentralized. Some soviets even declared their own local republics and dictatorships that ignored the directives of the national government. Some parts of Russia were in near-anarchy. "Kaluga Province became proverbial for its resistance to centralized authority in 1918. There was a Sovereign Soviet Republic of Autonomous Volosts in Kaluga. It was the closest Russia ever came to an anarchist structure of power."15 As the Bolsheviks consolidated their power things became more centralized as the national government asserted its' authority over the country. This process of centralization was greatly accelerated after the civil war broke out but began prior to it.
Prior to the revolution the Bolsheviks had criticized the provisional government for its failure to hold elections for the Constituent Assembly. The Bolsheviks hoped that electoral victory in the Constituent Assembly would solidify the power of the Soviet government and held elections to the Assembly on November 12th. The socialist parties won overwhelmingly, although the Bolsheviks did not gain a majority as they had hoped. The Bolsheviks received 24 percent of the vote, the SRs 38 percent, the Mensheviks 3 percent, and the Ukrainian SRs 12 percent. The Kadets (liberal capitalists) received only 5 percent of the vote.
It was not an entirely fair election on account of the split in the SRs. The left SRs officially split from the SR party just after the election lists had been drawn up and were therefore unable to run their own slate. The right SRs also had a greater control over the party nominating mechanisms then their support warranted. As a result the right SRs were over-represented in the Constituent Assembly. Because the left SRs were pro-October and the right SRs were anti-October this was not a minor difference. Had the left SRs been able to run their own slate in the election there would probably have been more left SRs and less right SRs in it, especially if there had been enough time to conduct a lengthy electoral campaign against the right SRs. It is not unlikely that had the left SRs run their own slate the Bolsheviks could have formed a majority coalition with them, having the Constituent Assembly rubber-stamp the Soviet government and dissolve.16
Having failed to gain a majority in the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks decided it should be disbanded. After losing the election, Lenin now argued that Soviet democracy represented a higher form of democracy than the parliamentary democracy of the Constituent Assembly. This argument was not without merit, since Soviet representatives could theoretically be recalled although bourgeoisie (and allied strata) could not vote in Soviet elections,17 but if Soviet democracy were a better form of democracy then elections to the Constituent Assembly should have never been held in the first place. Armed forces dissolved the Constituent Assembly on January 6, the day after it met. The right-wing socialists whined about the closure of the Constituent Assembly, but most ordinary Russians weren't very bothered by it. "There was no mass reaction to the closure of the Constituent Assembly."18 For most "the constituent assembly was now a remote parliament. The peasants had greeted its closure by the Bolsheviks with a deafening silence."19
Zhelezniakov, an anarchist sailor from Krondstadt, led the detachment that dispersed the Constituent Assembly. Unlike the Bolsheviks, anarchists had always opposed the constituent assembly - its purpose, after all, was to establish a state and consequently the rule of a small elite over the majority. The anarchists were opposed to even holding the elections for the Constituent Assembly, whereas the Bolsheviks only turned against the Constituent Assembly when it was clear that it wouldn't do what they wanted. Anarchists wanted to take this a step further, dissolving the Sovnarkom and abolishing the Soviet state. After October anarchists diverged from the Bolsheviks, their former allies. Many called for a "third revolution" to overthrow the "Soviet" government, establish a federation of free soviets and abolish the state.
In March 1918 the Soviet government signed a humiliating peace treaty, the Brest-Litovsk treaty, with the Central Powers, bringing Russia out of the First World War. Russia was not in a good position to negotiate and had to give up large amounts of territory. This treaty was very controversial within Russia. The left SRs and the left wing of the Communist party argued that they should not give in to the German imperialists and should instead wage a guerilla war against them. The coming world revolution would supposedly topple the German government within a short time, bringing them to victory. They were outvoted and Russia signed the treaty. The left SRs left the government in protest.
Notes:
1 Essential Works, p. 74-75 "What is to be Done" section II, A
2 Essential Works, p. 112 "What is to be Done" section III, E
3 Chernov, p. 418
4 Essential Works, p. 346, "State & Revolution" Ch. 5, section 4
5 Lenin, Impending Catastrophe part 11
6 Essential Works, p. 343 "State & Revolution" Ch. 5, section 4
7 See my essay "Authoritarian Socialism: A Geriatric Disorder" for a longer explanation of why "workers states" always become forms of elite rule and my essay "Death to Leviathan" for a further elaboration on the analysis of the state contained here. [http://question-everything.mahost.org]
8 Essential Works, p. 307 "State & Revolution" Ch. 3, section 3
9 Essential Works, p. 307-308 "State & Revolution" Ch. 3, section 3
10 Lenin, Tasks of the Revolution
11 Essential Works, p. 337 "State & Revolution" Ch. 5, section 2
12 Farber, p. 43
13 Skocpol, p. 213
14 Lenin, "Speech in the Moscow Soviet"
15 Figes, People's Tragedy p. 685
16 Farber, 56-57
17 Lenin, Theses On The Constituent Assembly
18 Figes, People's Tragedy p. 518
19 Figes, People's Tragedy p. 576
