Adapting Socialism to Peasant Russia
Communism in an Agricultural Society Defied Marx's Industrial Model
Dec 17, 2008
Building socialism in Russia following the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution would be a formidable task. Vladimir Lenin faced opposition from supporters of the Tsarist autocracy – known as “Whites,” various other political parties, and even members of his own party. The ensuring Civil War and imposition of “War Communism” would further complicate attempts to bring all of Russia under the centralized control of the Bolsheviks. Adapting Marxist theory to the realities of the Russian landscape, notably a peasant culture, required new interpretations and policies.
Karl Marx and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
According to Marx, the workers’ paradise or “dictatorship of the proletariat” would be the logical final Hegelian synthesis following the nationalization of industry and banking and the overthrow of the social superstructure. In Western Europe, the bourgeoisie controlled the means of production and reaped the benefits. It was a capitalist system, supported by imperialism, which Lenin considered the highest form of capitalist exploitation.
But Russia lacked the vast industrial enterprises of developed European economies. At the time of the October Revolution, the overwhelming majority of Russians, including all ethnic minorities within the former empire, were peasants. Although most were poor, there were wealthy peasants or kulaks as well as “middle peasants” that owned some land. Bolshevik leader Jakov Sverdlov would define the Marxian struggle in Russia as, “village poor against village bourgeoisie.” [1]
Breaking the Peasant System and Dismantling Orthodoxy
Paul Avrich writes that, “…Marx himself…once wrote of the necessity to back ‘the proletarian revolution by some second edition of the Peasants’ War.’” [2] Avrich notes that this comment deeply impressed Lenin. Lenin referred to the Russian Revolution as the “union of a ‘peasant war’ with the working class movement..” [3] But this would require a reorganization of rural communities and include the dispossession of privately held land by wealthy peasants, an action not fully completed until Stalin gained control.
By 1918 the Bolshevik leadership called for centralization of power, a plan devised, in part, by Stalin. Local community assemblies were abolished and peasant lands subsumed within the system. As the Russian Civil War raged, Lenin instituted the program of “War Communism” yet soon relented after agricultural output plummeted, bread became scare in the cities, and currency lost all value.
Religion, a dominant feature of rural life, was also affected. Orthodoxy was deemed “counterrevolutionary.” Church lands were confiscated and churches were closed. Long a support for peasants, the spiritual safety net was disentangled. Marriages became civil ceremonies as the centralized state sought, in every aspect of daily life, control linked to top leadership, notably the first Politburo formed in 1919.
Adapting Socialism to a Peasant Society
Revolution was not new to Russian peasants, although the last great uprising had been in the late 18th century during the reign of Catherine II. The Pugachev Revolt, interpreted by early Soviets as a spontaneous uprising (much like the October Revolution), was still in collective memories. The Bolsheviks needed to tap into those memories in order to gain the support of peasants. The ruthless and brutal Bolshevik response during the Civil War made this possible.
Perhaps the greatest problem concerned methodology. N. N. Sukhanov asked how peasant structure could be “reconciled with a Socialist reorganization independently of the West.” [4] Ultimately, as Russia forged a separate Socialist path in the aftermath of World War I, the answer would be forced collectivization of agriculture under Stalin in 1929. Neither Lenin’s War Communism nor his New Economic Policy (NEP) succeeded in furthering the goals of a socialist state, though, as Lenin himself said, “A wise Communist will not be afraid of learning from a capitalist.”
Notes and Sources:
[1] Quoted in David MacKenzie and Michael W. Curran, A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond, 4th Ed. (Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1993) Chapter 32.
[2] Quoted in Paul Avrich, Russian Rebels 1600-1800 (W.W.Norton & Company, 1972) pp. 266-267.
[3] IBID.
[4] N. N. Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution 1917: A Personal Record (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984) p. 284.
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