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Russian Marxists and Marxism
1)The Father of Russian Marxism was Georgii Plekhanov (from a Noble background) and he was the first person to recognize the revolutionary potential of the Russian Working Class.
a)It was Plekhanov, who, at the International Socialist Congress of 1889, proclaimed that AThe Russian Revolution would be a workers Revolution.@
b)He had been part of the Narodnik ALand and Liberty@ Party but parted ways with them when in 1879 Terror became their complete political program. (The Narodnaya Volia.)
c)Like all good Russian Revolutionaries he went into Exile in Switzerland after the split.
d)Lenin wrote that Plekhanov=s ASocialism and the Political Struggle@ in 1883. It had the same impact in Russia as the Manifesto had in Europe in 1848.
e)During that time he came to believe that Capitalism was destroying the foundations of the Commune and thus the Autocratic state.
i)He saw the very development of Capitalism in Russia as guaranteeing the Revolution would happen and succeed.
ii)In essence, he saw that with the development of the Proletariat as a result of capitalism,
(1)the workers would support the bourgeois in their fight with the Autocracy
(2)Then when their time came they would fight against the bourgeoisie in their own Socialist Revolution sometime in the future.
iii)Believed that Social Democrats were swimming along the current of history.
(1)This theory will have serious consequences later on.
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f)The Emancipation of Labor Group in 1883.
i)Founded, along with Pavel Akselrod, Vera Zasulich, an old Narodnik, Lev Deich, V.I. Ignatov
ii)First Marxist group in Russia.
g)Plekhanov would later go on to found the RSDRP - AThe Russian Social Democratic Worker=s Party@ (RSDRP) in 1898.
2)Georgii Martov - a Jew from Odessa who had moved into Revolutionary Circles because of the Pogroms and found acceptance among the Marxists and Revolutionaries who did not care about his Jewish background.
a)Make sure you understand why the Jews were over-represented in the Revolutionary Movements.
i)Pogroms of 1881, 1891 and again in 1903-1906 (Think about WHY they occurred)
b)He was an early advocate of a Mass Party encompassing anyone who agreed with any of the RSDRP principles.
i)What is the difference between a “Mass” and a “Cadre” party as Lenin argued for?
ii)This also was to be a source of conflict with Lenin and important during the Revolutions. Some argued that failure to limit membership or have a total revolutionary background allowed the Bolsheviks to triumph.
iii)Problem with a Mass Party in this situation was that the Political Parties were illegal.
3)Pavel Struve - ALegal Marxist@
a)Influenced by Eduard Bernstein, a German Intellectual, who argued that capitalism would evolve into Socialism thru a series of Liberal Reforms - Known as AEconomism@ (Workers focus on “Bread and Butter” issues and not Revolution.) and is the basis of AReformism. “Society grows into Socialism.”
i)Again, took into Russian Conditions what was happening “naturally” in Germany.
b)The idea here was that the workers and peasants would better their lot within the existing society thru Reforms given them by the state.
c)They also believed that society would grow into socialism.
d)The working class would eventually gain more and more concessions and better their lot.
i)Looking at England and Germany this made sense.
e)The working class would eventually take over the state thru the ballot box rather than thru violent Revolution.
4)There were many other Socialist visions in this period. They ranged from Humanist to Radical Communist and Reformist
a)Jean Jaures – France
i)Democratic Socialist
b)Sylvia Pankhurst – England
i)Radical Feminist and Labourite
c)Daniel DeLeon – USA
i)Radical who helped found the IWW and went on to Socialist Politics
d)Keir Hardie – Scotland
i)Socialist/Humanist
e)Otto Bauer – Germany
i)Viennese Socialist with strong Nationalist Bent
f)Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in Germany - very Radical
i)Very Radical – both were killed in 1919’s abortive uprising in Germany.
ii)Rosa would constantly clash with Lenin.
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5)It will be just this Adiversity@ and Areformist@ tendencies that Lenin fears will lead to Reform within nations and Russia, rather than Revolution.
a)He feared the rise of Reformism as being “False Consciousness” leading the workers to identify with their oppressors.
b)He hated “Economism – viewing it as a policy that would lead the workers to a dead-end.
i)He believed that this tendency within the Working Class would only lead to ATrade Union Consciousness.@Understand what this means.
(1)That is, workers losing the Revolutionary edge as their lives improved under Capitalism. He had seen this in England.
6)Vladimir Illich Lenin - the son a country teacher - noble by position in the Table of Ranks - His brother was executed by the Tsarist State for his role in a plan to assassinate the Tsar.
a)Many of you asked about the quote AWhat is to be Done?@ used by Chernyshevsky and Lenin.
i)Lenin=s brother told his mother when she told him about Terrorism: ABut these methods are so terrible!@ - AWhat is to be doneBif there are no other ways?@
(1)At his trial Lenin=s brother said
(a)AWe are encouraged to develop our intellectual powers, but we are not allowed to use them for the benefit of the people.@
ii)Key - Russia could not reform itself and did not allow people to work for change as it was eventually done in the West. This can be one explanation for AWhat is to be done?@
7)Lenin was heavily influenced by what happened to his brother. His sister had also been arrested and exiled from St. Petersburg.
a)He was the single-minded, one could say “obsessed,@ radical who believed that the Revolution had to be led.
8)Even though he believed in the “Workers Revolution” and that when the Revolution came it had to come from the Workers:
a)He did not believe that the workers could achieve ARevolutionary Consciousness@ on their own.
i)As was said above he believed that left to their own devices, they were either too “immature@ or would develop a ATrade-Union Consciousness.@
(1)This goes back to the Episode of Northern Exposure - where the shopkeeper said ABeing and consciousness, that old song again.@
ii)It also goes to Marx where he warns against ASpontaneous@ revolts without sufficient consciousness.
b)He believed that a “Revolutionary Vanguard” led by the intellectuals and the most advanced elements of the Working Class would have to lead the Working Class to Revolution.
c)He would merge the Voluntarismof the Populists and Anarchists with a AScientific@ vision of Marxism.
i)He argued that:
(1)AThe task of Social Democracy is to instill social democratic ideas and political consciousness into the mass of the proletariat and to organize a revolutionary party unbreakably tied to the spontaneous labor movement....We must train people who will dedicate to the revolution not a free evening but the whole of their lives.@
ii)Lenin could not accept that the Revolutionary Working Class had to sit back and wait for their turn in the historical process.
iii)He argued, along with others, that the Workers in Russia, unlike those in the West had developed into a mature, revolutionary class and so they did not need to help the Bourgeois to power and then go back to being exploited.
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(1)The workers would break the Tsarist state and then skip the ABourgeois@ phase of History and move directly to socialism, by establishing the ADictatorship of the Proletariat.@
iv)He also took Marx’s 1882 writings stating that the Revolution could develop in Russia First and then spread and be based on the Commune.
9)These competing views of Marx and the Revolution took hold in the RSDRP.
a)And despite Lenin, the prevailing view within the RSDRP was that the Bourgeois stage of History had to be completed BEFORE the Proletarian Revolution. Then the Workers would have to sit back and wait their term.
10)The belief was that these were Laws of History and that Russia had to go through these stages.
a)Without Capitalism and the Bourgeois phase there could not be any socialism.
i)In essence what the more moderate wing of the RSDRP, Martov, Plekhanov, Akselrod and the Majority of the RSDRP argued was that:
(1)Since the Bourgeoisie was too weak to carry out its Historical Role of overthrowing the Autocracy, Social Democracy were to assume the leadership role in doing this.
(2)Once the Autocracy was overthrown and once the Bourgeoisie gained a high enough level of maturity the SD=s would give up leadership and go into opposition until it was time for the workers to rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie.
11)How practical of a plan is this? How do you tell radicalized workers after a Revolution that: AOkay, you=ve done your job. Now, go home and back to the factories to be oppressed by the Bourgeoisie until we develop a sufficient class-consciousness and organization to overthrow the Bourgeoisie.
a)Plekhanov was totally trapped by the AIron Laws@of Historical Development. SD could help push along historical development but could not violate those laws.
b)He and many of the Social Democrats followed Marx slavishly and believed that you could not skip the stages of History. Regardless of what they wanted they had to accept they had to wait their turn.
12)Lenin and the Bolsheviks - As we talked earlier, one of the major issues within the RSDRP was if the Party should constitute itself as a Mass or Cadre Party
a)Lenin believed that a small, revolutionary Elite, the Vanguard, had to exist to lead the workers to Revolution.
i)As was said – Lenin believe that on their own, Lenin believed, the Working Class could not develop sufficient revolutionary class-consciousness.
b)This elite would have to be done by a small, tightly-organized and very revolutionary vanguard.
c)They would have to aid the workers in their struggle, organizing them and pointing them towards the proper goals.
i) He outlined this entire strategy in AWhat is to be Done?@ in 1902.
13)This would eventually lead to a split in the party in 1903 at the Second Party Congress. It begins in Brussels and ends in London because of the Police.
a)At this party a conflict erupted over the issue of whether the RSDRP should be a Mass or a Cadre Party
i)What is the difference? – Remember the Difference.
b)Martov and many who were to become Mensheviks and SRs came out for the Mass Party.
14)Anyway, the battle forms of the Editorship of ISKRA (The Spark) – but takes on the issue of the Party.
a)Initially Martov=s faction for the Mass Party won. But then there was a walkout by Jewish Bund faction and also the Economists.
b)Some historians claim that Lenin engineered both walkouts. That is questionable.
15)What happened was a “tragedy” in three acts.
a)Lenin loses by 5 votes 28-23.
16)But then the battles in the party begin.
a)The Bundists, who wanted autonomy for Jewish workers walks out once they lose that.
b)The Economists walk out when ISKRA becomes the “official” party paper instead of theirs.
c)This means that the Moderates lose out by 23-20
17)Regardless this gave him the majority within the Congress over the issue of ISKRA.
a)But, in reality it means a split in the party from those who want a Acadre, conspiratorial party and the Mass Party@
b)His faction was known as the ABolsheviks@ - majority. The defeated was the Mensheviks - minority
i)Another irony - The Mensheviks made up the Majority of the Party while the Bolsheviks made up the Minority.
18)As we said at the outset, the Mensheviks wanted to organize as the SD=s in the West did, but Lenin wanted a small, conspiratorial party.
a)In a Russia that did not allow parties or independent action whose made more sense?
b)The Mensheviks also were willing to wait their turn in History. The Bolsheviks were not.
i)Who would appeal more to the Workers in Russia?
c)Keep these in mind going into 1905
19)Questions to keep in mind:
a)What is the difference between a Mass and a Cadre Party?
b)What is the conflict of consciousness and spontaneity?
i)Who is on each side?
c)Which group believes that History has to be allowed to unfold?
d)What are the consequences of each position?
i)The Determinists – (Mensheviks) are locked into waiting for History to Unfold
ii)The Voluntarists – (Bolsheviks) Creating vanguard and dictatorship.
20)This would be the conflict within the Revolutionary wing before 1905.