Lenin - ideology and change

• 1)Capitalism consists of two classes: the bourgeoisie who privately own the means of production, and the proletariat, who’s labour turns raw commodities into goods.

  2)The bourgeoisie push the workers hard and pay them little in order to maximise profits. They use weapons such as the media, academia, organised religion, etc. as a way of keeping the workers under their control.


  Marxism
• 3)This dynamic leads to resentment and ultimately a revolution where the workers seize the means of production.

  4)Private ownership would be replaced by collective ownership, first under Socialism and then under Communism.

  5)In the final stage of human development, there would be no social classes and class struggle would cease to exist


  Marxism continued
• Class struggle: ultimately, Communism is a classless society where all property and wealth are communally owned.

  We’ve seen the beginnings of Marxism with Plekhanov and his “Emancipation of Labour” group but it hadn’t been relevant.

  The October Revolution and Lenin’s slogans just appealed to what the peasants and workers wanted at the time; were they really subscribing to Marxism?


  Question of the truth about Marxism
• •Lenin makes it clear that he believes trade unions and spontaneous strikes will not lead to fundamental changes. He believed there must be a revolutionary party to lead the workers into a revolutionary mindset.


  What is to be done
• •Marxism seeks to end the wages system, so trade union activity to better conditions is pointless.

  •Some of the suggestions were later seen in 1917:

  1)Alliances were formed with other anti-Tsarist forces.

  2)Immediate and unifying broad policies (peace, bread and land).

  3)Mass organisations (the Soviets).


  Existence of party was essential
• •Communism doesn’t seek a ruthlessly powerful state, it aims for the state to “wither away”. But this can only happen if there are no longer any irreconcilable class differences.

  •A revolution needs to introduce a new type of state machine, one that is the “working class organised as the ruling class”, or the “dictatorship of the proletariat”.

  •Recognised that this organisation needed to remain for as long as it took to transition to true Communism. They needed “democratic centralism” and also the abolition of democracy (which is a feature of the state).


  The state and revolution (1917)
• • Lenin and Trotsky assumed that the Bolshevik seizure of power would spark other revolutions in Europe, particularly in Germany. However, they were also committed to pursuing peace with Germany, knowing it would strengthen the German Imperial government!
  • The German government demanded large amounts of Russian territory which split the Bolsheviks. Some, such as Nikolai Bukharin wanted “revolutionary war” and to continue to fight; but this would have been a betrayal of the promises the Bolsheviks had made when seizing power.


  Response to war
• ·         Lenin was more pragmatic and argued for the acceptance of the German terms. After long debate, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on 3rd March 1918 and ratified by an emergency Party Congress, but only after Lenin threatened to resign twice!

  ·         This decision set a precedent for future action. “Socialism at home” would take priority over the spread of international revolution.


  What was Lenin's approach to war
• ·         The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Most of the territory on Russia’s western border (including Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Poland) was lost. Russia lost 1/6 of its population and 2 million square kilometres of land, including the area that produced almost 1/3 of Russia’s agricultural produce. 26% of Russia’s railway lines and 74% of its iron ore and coal supplies were taken.


  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• • Before taking power, Lenin had suggested a conventional Marxist view that government would be in the hands of “the people”, using the slogan “All power to the Soviets”. He wrote State and Revolution just before the revolution where he said that ‘the people’ would readily see that a Bolshevik government ruled in their interests and would support it.
  • He spoke of an expansion of democracy, with ‘the people’ managing their own affairs and a reduction in state bureaucracy.

  Type of government the Bolsheviks should adopt
• Lenin’s decrees on land and factories would seem to support this, but workers were taking over factories and peasants seizing land so he might not have had a choice.


  Evidence for the government that Lenin wanted
• • The Petrograd Soviet contained non-Bolsheviks, so Lenin sidelined it and formed the Bolshevik-only Sovnarkom instead. Sovnarkom ruled by decree, without reference to the Soviet. The local soviets retained importance but were brought into a new Bolshevik/Communist power structure.
  • Lenin did allow some left-wing SRs to join Sovnarkom in November, following protests about a “Bolshevik” state but he was so hostile to any other suggestions of power sharing that Kamenev and Zinoviev (who favoured a broad socialist government) resigned temporarily.


  Other parties in Sovnarkom
• ·         “Once again there seemed to be a clash between the Marxist principle that power sprang from the people, and Lenin’s determination to retain a dominant voice. Such determination meant that the Bolshevik state would be a one-party state.”


  Quote
• • Lenin’s hostility towards sharing power went against his ideological belief and what the people were calling for. He probably feared that other socialist leaders would not work with him personally and would dilute his own vision for the future.
  • Lenin shut down the Constituent Assembly in January 1918. When civilians demonstrated against this, they were fired on and 12 were killed. This seems to go against the Marxist view of “power to the people”


  Lenin's attitude to Bolshevik power
• ·         Creation of the Cheka in December 1917 – the “dictatorship of the proletariat” would require the active repression of “counter-revolutionary” enemies.

  ·         Between 1918 and 1920, the new Communist State became even more firmly associated with “terror” and repression as the Bolsheviks fought their political enemies (former tsarist to right-wing SRs) in the civil war.

  Terror and preservation of the Soviet state
• ·         The war showed the weaknesses of Bolshevik control and had a big impact: the demand for obedience to the Party tightened; new central controls were brought in to manage the economy (known as War Communism) and deal with food shortages; terror was used systematically.


  what did the war reveal about the Bolsheviks
• Central planning, nationalisation of industry and state control could be seen as fulfilling socialist principles, but also could be seen as pragmatic reactions. Under pressure after 1921, Lenin “changed course” and allowed some capitalist practices, suggesting that pragmatism was more important than ideology.


  How far was Lenin pragmatic
• ·         Lenin developed the concept that the Party could not be wrong and also introduced a “ban on factions” within the Communist Party, pointing out the importance of party unity.

  ·         Another ideological change was that “national self-determination” for the ethnic minorities was abandoned and all independence movements denounced as “counter-revolutionary”. Demands for independence in Georgia were brutally crushed by Stalin, despite fact he was Georgian himself.


  How did Lenin ensure his own total control
• • “A fierce attack on the Church (seen as a rival power source) began, censorship became more systematic, and the powers of the Secret Police were extended.”
  • No mercy to opponents. Martov, the Menshevik leader, left the country and 5,000 Mensheviks were arrested for “counter-revolutionary” activities. In 1922, a group of imprisoned SRs were given a “show trial” and accused of plotting to assassinate Lenin; 34 leaders were condemned, 11 were executed and the party was outlawed.


  1921-24 key features of Soviet state well established
• ·         Lenin was shot in the neck by Fanya Kaplan in August 1918. He suffered three strokes and died in January 1924.


  When did Lenin die