The October Days 1917 -POWER PASSES TO THE SOVIETS

I.Mintz The news of the capture of the Winter Palace was sent to the Smolny, where the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets had been opened at 10:45 p.m. on Lenin’s proposal.

The Bolsheviks secured an overwhelming majority at the Congress. The Mensheviks, Bundists and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, seeing that their day was done, left the Congress, announcing that they refused to take any part in its labors. The Congress condemned them and, far from regretting their withdrawal, welcomed it, for with their departure the Congress had become a genuinely revolutionary congress.

The news of the storming of the Winter Palace was received with the wildest enthusiasm. The Congress proclaimed that all power had passed to the Soviets.

“Backed by the will of the vast majority of the workers, soldiers and peasants, backed by the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison which has taken place in Petrograd, the Congress takes the power into its own hands,” the proclamation of the Second Congress of Soviets read.

Neither Lenin nor Stalin spoke at this sitting of the Congress. The two organizers of the victorious revolution were engaged in work of exceptionally great importance at the time. The Provisional Government had left Petrograd only a two-day supply of bread and flour, hoping in this way to make the Bolsheviks’ first gift to the people – hunger. All day and all night Lenin and Stalin worked at organizing armed detachments, placing a Bolshevik in command of each, and sending them out to search the city, to scour the stations, to open all railroad cars, but to find flour or grain. And on the 26th of October the leaders of the revolution received the report: grain sufficient for ten days had been found.

It was only then that Lenin put in his appearance in the Smolny hall. When Lenin took the floor, he was unable to begin his speech because of the stormy ovation he was accorded as the leader and organizer of the victorious revolution. Finally, the audience quieted down and Lenin began to speak. Without any solemn declarations, without any long-winded introductions, he started his speech by reading the decree on peace. And this calm, business-like beginning was characteristic of the stern face of the revolution, was characteristic of all the future work. Lenin spoke a second time at this sitting, reading out the decree on the land, according to which over 150,000,000 dessiatins[*] of former landlord, crown and monastery land passed into the hands of the toiling peasantry.

Thunderous applause and cheers burst forth for the third time when the formation of the Council of People’s Commissars was announced – the first workers’ and peasants’ government in the world in the first victorious socialist revolution. Lenin was endorsed as chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, and Stalin, who had built up the Bolshevik Party together with Lenin, who had prepared the great October Socialist Revolution together with Lenin, who had led it to victory together with Lenin, was confirmed as the People’s Commissar of Nationalities.

WHY THE REVOLUTION WAS VICTORIOUS

Not a single revolution in the world was so bloodless as the revolution in Petrograd.

The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union analyzes the reasons for the victory of the revolution with exceptional profundity.

The great October Socialist Revolution, it says, was victorious, first, because it “was confronted by an enemy so comparatively weak, so badly organized and so politically inexperienced as the Russian bourgeoisie.” (Op. cit., p. 212.)

Russian capitalism had made its appearance on the world arena when all the free territory of the globe had already been occupied by countries in which capitalism had developed much earlier and was consequently on a much higher plane. The only way to wrest a good bit for oneself now was by brute force. Tsarism with its mighty army of one and a half millions possessed this quality.

The Russian bourgeoisie needed tsarism as a police force over the proletariat. That is why the bourgeoisie supported tsarism, and especially its predatory foreign policy. This support partly explains why tsarism existed for so long in Russia, being overthrown only in February, 1917.

But the Crimean campaign (in 1854) had already shown that it was beyond the powers of Russia to compete with capitalist Europe. The unsuccessful war, in which the flintlock of the Russian army was so badly beaten by the rifled bore, tore the mask from the supposed might of tsarism: to the eyes of the astonished world Russia now appeared a colossus with feet of clay. To make up all the shortcomings and to wrest itself from foreign dependence, it was necessary to accelerate the growth of large-scale industry. The tsarist government began to build more railways and more iron and steel works. Subsidies were granted to the capitalists. In order to protect its own capitalists from competition with cheap goods, the Government erected high-tariff barriers, setting substantial duties on imported goods.

Both these measures robbed the masses of the population. It was the people who were fleeced to provide the money for the subsidies granted the capitalists. And the protective tariff obliged the people to overpay for every nail, for every yard of cloth. At the close of the nineteenth century, sheet iron in St. Petersburg sold at from 3 rubles 4 kopeks to 3 rubles 25 kopeks a pood (about 35 lbs.), while in London the price was practically a third as much – 1 ruble 13 kopeks. For calico alone the working people of Russia overpaid more than 120,000,000 rubles annually!

Despite government patronage, industry in Russia did not make sufficient progress to catch up with the equipment of Western Europe. It was necessary to apply to foreign capital again and again. And the foreign capitalists were only too eager to advance loans. They never dreamed that tsarism could be swept away by a revolution.

In order to get round the high tariff barriers, French, English, German and Belgian capitalists began to build factories in Russia itself. Tsarism found itself in a vicious circle. To rid itself of foreign dependence, large-scale industries had been set up in Russia. But the capital required for this purpose came from abroad, and this merely served to increase the dependence on foreign capital.

The Russo-Japanese War and particularly the 1905 Revolution once again forced tsarism to its knees in supplication to foreign capital. The Paris Stock Exchange – at that time the hub of international loan capital – came to the aid of tsarism. The French capitalists needed tsarism in its fight against the German manufacturers, needed it to wring the interest on the old Russian loans from the people, needed it to safeguard the factories of the foreign capitalists in Russia, and most of all needed it to crush the Revolution, sparks of which might kindle a mighty conflagration across the Russian border as well.

Russia’s state debt rose uncontrollably. The new loans scarcely sufficed to cover the interest on the old.

Rallying from the effects of the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and crushing the Revolution on funds supplied by the foreign imperialists, tsarism became irrevocably enmeshed in the bonds of foreign capital. A number of the principal branches of industry were practically the monopolies of foreign capitalists. The French and British controlled over 70 per cent of the iron and steel works in Russia, the Germans over 10 per cent. The iron and steel industry, locomotive and railway car construction works, machine-building plants, the coal mining and oil industries were almost entirely in the hands of foreigners.

During the World War, Russian dependence on foreign capital increased sharply. Tsarist Russia conducted the war on funds supplied by the French and British imperialists. In three years the foreign debt tripled, rising from 4,500,000,000 gold rubles to the enormous sum of 12,000,000,000! By cutting down or increasing the credit they extended, the foreign imperialists could direct the policy of tsarism as they chose. Russia became in essence a semi-colony, of which the British and French ambassadors felt themselves the uncrowned rulers. Millions of workers and peasants of Russia perished for the sake of the predatory interests of the foreign imperialists. Countless working people of Russia fell victim because of the policy of the feudal landlords and the bourgeoisie, which was directed towards preserving the backwardness of the country and its dependence on foreign capital.

The bourgeois-democratic revolution in February, 1917, did not effect any change. The change in government did not change the imperialist nature of the war: under the bourgeois Provisional Government, as under the tsarist government, the war remained a predatory one and was continued on the very same enslaving loans from the foreign imperialists.

“From the viewpoint of world policy and international finance capital,” wrote Lenin, “the Guchkov-Milyukov government is simply a clerk in the banking firm of ‘Britain and France,’ an instrument for the continuation of the imperialist slaughter of the peoples.” (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. XXX, p. 315, Russ. ed.)

The entire course of the historical development of Russian capitalism, its backwardness and dependence on foreign capital, explains the weakness and inexperience of the Russian bourgeoisie. As the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union states:

“It had neither the experience of the French bourgeoisie, for example, in political combination and political chicanery on a broad scale, nor the schooling of the British bourgeoisie in broadly conceived crafty compromise.” (Op. cit., p. 212.)

Nor were the compromisers – the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks – of assistance to the Russian bourgeoisie. In the course of many years of struggle, the Bolsheviks had exposed the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks as agents of the bourgeoisie. In the stormy months of the Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks had isolated these compromising agents of the imperialist bourgeoisie by means of their far-reaching and extensive agitational and propaganda work, with the result that the bourgeoisie and its Provisional Government were left without a support. Another reason for the celerity and success of the socialist revolution was the fact that:

“The October Revolution was headed by so revolutionary a class as the working class of Russia, a class which had been steeled in battle, which had in a short space passed through two revolutions, and which by the eve of the third revolution had won recognition as the leader of the people in the struggle for peace, land, liberty and socialism.” (Ibid., pp. 212-13.)

The condition of the working class in old Russia was exceptionally difficult. The exhausting working day averaging twelve and a half, and in the textile industry as much as fifteen, hours sapped all energy. Unemployment was a constant threat to the worker. In addition to all this there was not a single capitalist country in the world in which there were so many feudal survivals as existed in tsarist Russia. The dictatorship of the feudal landlord hindered the development of capitalism. The working class of tsarist Russia suffered doubly: both because of capitalism and because of the insufficient development of capitalism and the lack of all civic rights. Hence it was the working class which, in its very first actions, headed the revolutionary movement of all democratic elements in town and country against tsarism. Because of its determination and persistence the working class succeeded in awakening and rousing all the working people, all the peoples inhabiting the “prison of nations,” as Lenin called tsarist Russia, for the struggle against the autocracy.

In one of his earliest works, What the “Friends of the People” Are and How They Fight Against the Social-Democrats, written as far back as 1894, Lenin had foretold that “the Russian worker, rising at the head of all the democratic elements, will overthrow absolutism and lead the Russian proletariat (side by side with the proletariat of all countries) along the straight road of open political struggle towards the victorious communist revolution.” (V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, Vol. XI, p. 575.)

This brilliant forecast of the great leader of the working people has been borne out. The proletariat prepared for its role as leader in long years of struggle and came out as the hegemon, the acknowledged leader of the masses.

The third reason for the victory of the revolution was that:

“The working class of Russia had so effective an ally in the revolution as the poor peasantry, which comprised the overwhelming majority of the peasant population.” (History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, p. 213.)

The poor peasantry constituted 65 per cent of the population in old Russia. Tens of millions of people lived in a state of semi-starvation. The lack of land and the exorbitant taxes crushed the peasant poor. Over 60,000,000 hectares of land belonged to a mere 30,000 landlords, who forced the peasants to work for them as in the epoch of serfdom.

From the very first days of the Party’s existence, the Bolsheviks carried on an enormous amount of work among the poor peasants. The masses of the peasantry realized that they could win land, peace and bread only under the leadership of the Party of Lenin and Stalin.

“This served as a solid basis for the alliance of the proletariat and the poor peasantry. The existence of this alliance between the working class and the poor peasantry determined the conduct of the middle peasants, who had long been vacillating and only on the eve of the October uprising wholeheartedly swung over towards the revolution and joined forces with the poor peasants.” (Ibid.)

The October Socialist Revolution was a popular revolution. The Bolsheviks won the masses away from the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. The overwhelming majority of the working people supported the proletariat, headed by the Bolshevik Party.

The international situation also did much to facilitate the victory of the great October Socialist Revolution. The entire imperialist world was split into two hostile camps and was absorbed in the imperialist World War. Clutching at one another’s throats, neither the Anglo-French bloc nor the German bloc could render direct military aid to the Russian bourgeoisie. In face of the devastating onslaught of the proletariat, which led the masses of the working people after it, the Russian bourgeoisie was unable to hold out by itself. It was with good reason that Lenin called the victorious and rapid spread of the great October Socialist Revolution throughout the country the triumphal march of the revolution.

But the main reason for the victory of the revolution was the fact that it was headed by so tried, militant and revolutionary a party as the Bolshevik Party. Under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin, the Party succeeded in smashing the traitorous followers of Trotsky and Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kamenev, rallying the proletariat around its banner. The flexible and wise tactics of the Party convinced the working people of the correctness of the Bolshevik ideas and drew the masses of the people into the struggle.

“Only a party like the Bolshevik Party, courageous enough to lead the people in decisive attack, and cautious enough to steer clear of all the submerged rocks in its path to the goal, only such a party could so skillfully merge into one common revolutionary torrent such diverse revolutionary movements as the general democratic movement for peace, the peasant democratic movement for the seizure of the landed estates, the movement of the oppressed nationalities for national liberation and national equality, and the socialist movement of the proletariat for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.” (Ibid.)

The international situation had been favorable in other revolutions as well. Most peoples had experienced revolutions before. A favorable balance of forces had accompanied a number of revolutions. But not one of these revolutions was led by so consistently revolutionary, so devoted and wise, so firmly welded and flexible a party as the Bolshevik Party. The fact that it was led by the Party of Lenin and Stalin was the principal condition that in the final analysis determined the course and outcome of the great October Socialist Revolution, which was organized and guided by such brilliant leaders as Lenin and Stalin.

[*] A dessiatin equals 2.70 acres. – Ed.

NEXT Why the Revolution Was Victorious