86 years since the October Revolution!

[Edric O]

I may be a day late (I didn't have the time to post this yesterday), but you didn't really think I'd let this anniversary slip by unnoticed, did you? ;)

The 7th of November = the 25th of October in the old-style calendar = the anniversary of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917.

On the one hand, this revolution was a huge victory for the working class and it set the foundations of the first socialist country in history. On the other hand, it happened in the wrong place and at the wrong time (i.e. in an impoverished backwards nation recovering from years of bloody war), which eventually caused the downfall of Russian socialism in the 1920's and the rise of the stalinist dictatorship.

So this is a bittersweet anniversary for all communists. A reminder of our greatest victory and our greatest error - allowing Stalin and his bureaucracy to establish their totalitarian regime.

The October Revolution itself was quick and almost bloodless. Simply put, the people refused to take any orders from the government any more and all power was given to the soviets ("soviet" = Russian for "council"; in this context, the word refers to workers' councils). Since the majority of the police and military wouldn't take their orders either, the government was left powerless. The only actual fighting occured inside the Winter Palace, where the government ministers were holding a crisis meeting.

It should also be noted that the head of government, Alexander Kerensky, fled the country like a coward on the eve of the revolution. He lived the rest of his life in the USA.

Unfortunetaly, in the years following the Revolution, Russia had a central government in name only. Regional leaders were practically independent and a violent civil war broke out between the communist "Reds" (who had the support of the majority of ordinary Russians) and the forces of a rather unstable feudalist/capitalist/social democratic coalition, called the "Whites" (they were supported by Western Powers who wanted to maintain the old order in Russia; eventually, the Western Powers sent their own invasion troops and started the Wars of Intervention, which lasted until 1921). All this chaos and fighting completely ruined Russia's already slim chances of building a true socialist system. A few years later, Stalin delivered the final blow.

As I said, it is a bittersweet celebration...

Click here to read more about the October Revolution, and the events surrounding it.

And in anticipation of what Caid is going to say, here's a good quote:

"From the combination of its strong and weak points has grown up an official idealisation of the February revolution as an all-national revolution, in contrast to the October one which is held to be a conspiracy. But in reality the Bolsheviks could reduce the struggle for power at the last moment to a "conspiracy," not because they were a small minority, but for the opposite reason - because they had behind them in the workers' districts and the barracks an overwhelming majority, consolidated, organised, disciplined."

- Leon Trotsky

[Vanguard3000]

Whoa, thanks for the reminder, Edric. I'll drink to that!

Well, I would if I had any booze. In any event, thanks.

[Caid Ivik]

Partija Lenina

Strana narodnaja

nas k torzestvu

komunizma vediot! ;D

[Warskum]

Now in english plz

I did understand a bit,something like; group of Lenin and something with communisme ;D

[leo]

Partija Lenina

Strana narodnaja

nas k torzestvu

komunizma vediot! ;D

;D

[Mihail]

Dla Rodini!

(For the Motherland!) :D :)

Also, if I am correct, the Army also did a sort of revolution, the refused to execute the order to fire on the Russian civilians.

[Caid Ivik]

Vpriod, k pobiede! ;D

[Warskum]

caid speak english so we can understand

[Edric O]

I hereby declare this the official Soviet memorabilia thread! :)

(I had hoped to actually get to talk about the revolution with people interested in it, but I guess no one is interested...)

[SurlyPIG]

I wonder what day the anniversary is of when the Romanovs were lined up and shot with their children in the cellar of a Siberian prison...

[Edric O]

I don't know, but maybe it's around the same time as the anniversaries of the days when the Romanovs ordered the people who disagreed with their rule to be lined up and shot with their children in the cellar of a Siberian prison.

[SurlyPIG]

Who knows? Seems to me there's not much fundamental difference between the pre-revolution Russia and the post-revolution Russia...

[Edric O]

True. That's why I said this was a bittersweet celebration. The October Revolution ultimately failed. But it's the kind of failure you have a lot to learn from. And the kind you can look back to and think about how close you came to success.

[SurlyPIG]

Were they very close? They never established a glimpse of a democracy (they hadn't even attempted one). Even under Lenin.

[Edric O]

Actually, they did. That's what the workers' soviets (councils) were. They had the building blocs of a system that could have been the most democratic in the world... but the stalinists soon put an end to that idea.

[SurlyPIG]

But the councils had no actual power, other than influence. They were like unions or pressure groups are today. What good does having influence do if you live under a government that doesn't need to be elected to have power? It's about as good as it is to have a gun with blanks for bullets.

[Caid Ivik]

Councils were a groups of party-based oligarchs. Taken from proletariate, that's for truth, but taken over it, so nothing changed. But still, it was better way than Bakunin's "anarchija - mat porjadky" (anarchy - mother of order)...

[Edric O]

Ace, the councils had plenty of political power. Hell, they formed the entire legislative branch of government in the early days. It was only later that they were slowly stripped of that power and turned into mere pressure groups, and then into simple decorations.

Caid, the soviet councils originally had nothing to do with the Communist Party. The industrial workers themselves created them in order to represent their interests. When the bolsheviks came to power, their main argument against their political enemies was that the people should be given full power to run the country - the famous slogan of "all power to the soviets".

What you say is true, but that only happened years later, when Russia was on the road to stalinism. The "Communist" Party began to subdue the soviets by ensuring that its own people were elected as their leaders.

[SurlyPIG]

Calling them the legislative branch is a VERY gross exaggeration. They had little more power than actually controlling their internal affairs, which isn't any different from any other club/group/union/party. How many decision about the country itself were actually up to them? Not many...

[Edric O]

The supreme legislative chamber (i.e. the Parliament) was the Supreme Soviet, which was subordinate to the regional soviets, which were subordinate to the local soviets. So, in fact, the soviets were the legislative branch of government in the beginning (until they were stripped of their power).

[Caid Ivik]

Party shortly after revolution wasn't fully unite due to lack of contact. Russia is a big land. But when their power consolided, all soviets declared loyalty to Lenin. Altough we can't say there was no coordination. If there were some who didn't accepted his authority had to cross Trockij's agents. They were declared as kulaks and executed, if not sent to Siberia.