Communism rise in Russia and a turn to Authoritarianism Ch. 22

Communism rise in Russia and a turn to Authoritarianism

             The communist revolutions shared many characteristics with the previous political revolutions that inspired them, especially the French Revolution.  Strayer sees that these “revolutions, like their French predecessor, ousted old ruling classes and dispossessed landed aristocracies” (662).  An educated group helped lead the peasants to see their exploitation, and then organized them to fight for their rights, thus inspiring these revolutions.  Another point that Strayer sees in these fights for a “good society” was that they all shared a vision “in a modernizing future, not in some nostalgic vision of the past” (662).  The communists had learned from watching the French Revolution and were wary of a military leader taking power post-revolution.  These revolutions may share and have learned from the previous revolutions, but they had their own characteristics.

            World War I, and the shortages that were being created through Russia’s involvement in the war inspired the peasants to begin to organize protests.  These demonstrations lead to the resignation of Tsar Nicholas II by February 1917.   He would be replaced by a weak Provisional Government, mostly made up of people that continued on the involvement in WWI.  With the resignation of the Tsar, many Russian soldiers left the army, trade unions began to organize in the cities, “soviets” (an organic grassroots group made up of workers and soldiers) were formed to hear all citizens voices, and the peasants in the countryside began to redistribute the large landholdings of the elites.  The ineffectual power of the Provisional Government allowed this social revolution to continue and build power.  The Bolsheviks would eventually arise to power within this radicalized environment.             

            The Bolsheviks, lead by Lenin, would demand “an end to the war, land for the peasants, workers’ control of factories, self-determination for non-Russian nationalities… called for the dissolutions of the Provisional Government and a transfer of state power to the new soviets” (664).  The Bolsheviks would seize the state through a coup, and then face a three-year civil war.  The civil war would be fought by the Bolsheviks on many fronts, from having to fight the old guard, to foreign imperialists scared of communists state, and having to deal with their own internal problem from having to forcefully keep the revolutionaries in check and enforce food rationing.  The civil war left a legacy of authoritarian power that the now Union of Soviet Socialist Republic would continue with.

            I think the legacy and the lessons of the civil war forced the Bolsheviks to become authoritarian, I also think must people who have taken power and then faced a civil war immediately upon taking power will, generally, go in the direction of authoritarianism.  This is partly from needing to coalesce ones power throughout the country in a short period of time that is already charged for resistance, and adding a civil war.  The civil war was troubling since it involved some internal resistance, but was mostly funded, and fought by, western powers that were at the time also fighting WWI.  The turning away from the soviets and towards authoritarianism helped them to build their army, get the supplies needed for the army, and eventually win the war.  Thus, painting a somewhat positive picture of authoritarianism since the Bolsheviks were able to keep in place some of the popular victories they had fought for.