As the most energetic fighters against the counterÔÇôrevolution and the most consistent in the struggle for democratic demands, the Bolsheviks won decisive majorities in soviet elections in Petrograd and Moscow in August and September. The Bolshevik party experienced a dramatic growth in influence and popularity. The French Marxist Historian Pierre Broue points out that from a clandestine organisation of 25 000 members at the end of February, the Bolshevik Party grew to 80 000 members at the time of the April conference, 200 000 at the time of the August conference and 350 000 at the end of October. (P. Broue ÔÇô Remarks on the History of the Bolshevik Party p9). He further states that this was unprecedented in modern political history. On realising the utter political Bankruptcy of the provisional Government and the parties that backed it and the clearly discernible upsurge of the class struggle, Lenin decided that it was a time to launch a direct struggle for power. From the middle of September he wrote several letters to the Bolshevik Party Central Committee, urging it to undertake concrete preparations for a final assault against the provisional Government “the ripening and inevitability of the world socialist revolution can be under no doubt, we stand on the threshold of the world proletarian revolution. The international situation gives us a number of objective data showing that if we act now we shall have on our side the whole of proletarian Europe. (Lenin ÔÇô the crisis is ripe quoted in Julius Braunthal ÔÇô the history of the International 1914 ÔÇô 1943 p399)
A military revolutionary committee led by Leon Trotsky was set up by the Petrograd soviet. On 10th October, the Bolshevik Central Committee adopted a decision to launch an uprising against the provisional government. After considerable debate, it was decided that the date for an uprising be set to coincide with the convocation of the all Russia congress of soviets which was 25th October 1917. On the night of the 25th October the red guards under the command of Leon Trotsky stormed the winter palace, the provisional government headquarters and overthrew that Government. On 26th October, Trotsky announced to the soviet conference that Kerensky had been overthrown. This seizure of power by the Bolsheviks was a culmination of popular democratic revolutionary process initiated by the working masses themselves. One of the witnesses of this revolution Sukhanov, a Menshevik and an implacable opponent of Lenin wrote “Were the masses with the Bolsheviks or were the Bolsheviks acting independently of the … Here there can be no two replies. Yes the Bolsheviks acted with the full backing of the Petrograd workers and soldiers” (A Sukhanov ÔÇô The Russian revolution, A personal record p648). This is further attested to by several other eye witness accounts of the revolution and works of modern historical scholarship (see among others J. Reed ÔÇô Ten days that shook the world, N. Krupskaya ÔÇô Memories of Lenin, V. Serge ÔÇô Year one of the Russian revolution and A. Rabinovitch ÔÇô The Bolsheviks come to power).
After the Bolsheviks Seizure of power, the popularly elected Soviets were recognised as supreme political organs of the State which passed decrees on a whole range of socio ÔÇô economic and political issues. Among the first decrees passed by the Supreme Soviet was the decree on land which gave millions of Russian peasants possession of the land formerly owned by a handful of rich landlords. The Bolsheviks had initially not intended to immediately nationalise the factories, contenting themselves with the introduction of workers control of production. However the factory owners were implacably hostile to the new Soviet Government. They resorted to economic sabotage, imposition of lockouts against their employees and wholesale abandonment of factories, engendering economic chaos. This forced the Soviet Government to nationalise factories and place them under full workers control and management. Initially the Soviet Government presided over a democratic regime based on popular democratic councils which were elected in every city, town, and village. These then elected delegates to the A central Executive, who were subject to recall at any time. A vibrant multi ÔÇô party system which included even the ultra-right wing Kadet party was tolerated. Only in the exigencies of civil war, when these parties started plotting and supporting armed revolt against the Soviet state, were these parties banned, and these restrictions were explicitly conceived as exceptional measures of self-defence which would be lifted once the situation improved. The Bolshevik party programme adopted in March 1919 stated, “the forfeiture of political nights and whatever limitations may be imposed upon freedom are necessary as temporary measures (the Bolsheviks party programme cited in Tony Cliff ÔÇô Lenin volume 3 p171).
Among the democratic measures implemented by the Soviet Government were the passing of the decree on self-determination of nations which granted small nations the right to secede from Russia and the decree granting full democratic and socio ÔÇô economic rights to women. The popular democratic measures implemented by the Soviet Government were undoubtedly in the interests of the popular masses, but they deeply antagonised remnants of the old ruling classes and their supporters. They unleashed a campaign of sabotage and terror against the revolution. On 30th August, 1918 a socialist revolutionary member made an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Lenin, and succeeded in assassinating other Bolshevik leaders Volodarsky and Uritsky. On 20th September 1918, some Muslim counter revolutionaries and their British allies shot 26 Bolshevik commissars (V. Serge ÔÇô The life and death of Leon Trotsky p90). Even before the outbreak of full civil war, counter revolutionary gangs intensified their violent campaign against the revolution, slitting throats of Soviet members and massacring thousands of workers in Finland. In response the Soviet Government set up an extra ordinary commission for the suppression of counter revolution (the CHEKA) under Dzerzhinsky to counter these attacks and defend the revolution.
The reactionary forces coalesced around conservative ex- Tsarist Generals Denikin, Kolchak and Yudenich and assembled so called white armies to fight to overthrow the Soviet Government. At the same time the leading imperialist countries whose hostility to the Russian revolution had earlier been expressed by an imposition of an economic blockade against the Soviet regime, now resorted to military intervention. Britain, France, Japan, the U.S and other capitalist countries sent thousands of troops into Russia. The so called white armies launched generalised terror not only against supporters of the new regime, but against anyone who showed reluctance to join their ranks. In response the Bolsheviks mobilised workers and peasants and constituted the Red army under the command of Leon Trotsky to defend the revolution. Economic policy was geared towards catering for the needs of war front. Requisition squads were dispatched to the countryside to confiscate grain to feed the army and workers engaged in defence industries. Though this policy was entirely justified by the grave war situation, in the long run it aggravated and accelerated the disintegration of the Economy ‘the peasant began to till only much as land as was necessary to feed his family, and refused to produce the surplus for which the requisition squads were on the lookout (I. Deutscher ÔÇô The prophet, the life of Leon Trotsky p300). This ultimately led to sharp decline in agricultural production and serious alienation of the peasants from the Soviet regime.
*Otsweletse Moupo is a well known historian, socialist scholar and also former MP and leader of the Botswana National Front
