HISTORY AS POLITICS, POLITICS AS HISTORY: REMEMBERING THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

A Review of Duncan McFarland ed., The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union: Seeds of 21^st Century Socialism, Changemaker Publications (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/changemaker) 2017. The Socialist Education Project, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism

 Harry Targ
“…you are Americans and are meant to carry liberty and justice and the principles of humanity wherever you go, go out and sell goods that will make the world more comfortable and more happy, and convert them to the principles of America.” (Woodrow Wilson shortly after the Russian Revolution quoted in L.S. Stavrianos, Global Rift, 1981, 492.)

“there are two great evils at work in the world today, Absolutism, the power of which is waning, Bolshevism, the power of which is increasing. We have seen the hideous consequences of Bolshevik rule in Russia, and we know that the doctrine is spreading westward. The possibility of proletarian despotism over Central Europe is terrible to contemplate.”(Secretary of State Robert Lansing shortly after the Russian Revolution in Stavrianos, 494).

“The masses are in power... And on the morning of 13 November, after the defeat of Kerensky's Cossack army, Lenin and Trotsky sent through me to the revolutionary proletariat of the world this message:

Comrades! Greetings from the first proletariat republic of the world. We call you to arms for the international social revolution.” (from Judy Cox, “John Reed: Reporting on the Revolution,” International Socialism Journal, Winter, 1998.

History is Complicated

As the sentiments of President Wilson and his Secretary of State suggest, the United States emerged from World War I to embark on a global campaign to crush the new Soviet Union economically and militarily. It, along with a dozen other nations sent troops into the country that would become the Soviet Union to help counter-revolutionaries overthrow the new Bolshevik regime. In subsequent years, (until 1933), the United States refused to recognize the Soviet Union. Western powers watched as Germany rearmed and expanded its control across the heartland of Europe. Italian fascist armies and German airpower were used to destroy democratic Spain, again with the United States and the British on the sidelines.

After the war, the Truman Administration launched a “cold war,” against the Soviet Union. It transferred resources to Western Europe to rebuild the capitalist part of it. It unleashed covert operators to infiltrate trade unions and political parties in Europe and Latin America and began beaming propaganda and sending operatives into Eastern Europe to undermine Soviet influence.

Germany was the centerpiece of this new global struggle. As the source of military forces that killed 27 million Soviet citizens in World War II, the status of Germany became most critical to the Soviets. And for the United States a reindustrialized, remilitarized Germany would constitute the centerpiece of the campaign to fight Communism and promote capitalism on the world stage. Ironically, the Cold War started over Germany and could have ended there with a mutually derived agreement to create a neutralized and united Germany (much as was agreed to in Austria). But western diplomats ignored Soviet offers to negotiate the creation of such a Germany.

Without revisiting all the critical points of contestation between the East and the West, it is important to make clear that the Soviet Union, the weaker of the two “superpowers,” was targeted for challenge and defeat by every United States administration from 1917 to 1991. This cost both countries and their allies trillions of dollars in military spending and millions of lives.

The Russian Revolution and the New Workers State

Reflecting upon the 100-year anniversary of the Russian Revolution may lead us to reject Eric Hobsbawm’s characterization of the last century as the “short twentieth century.” Why? Because Hobsbawm regarded the contestation between global capitalism and socialist revolution as encompassing the years between 1917, the revolution, and 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union. But a good case can be made that as John Reed put it, “Ten Days That Shook the World” is still going on. And the collection of essays reviewed here passionately makes the case, that as the sub-title suggests, the Russian Revolution may have planted the seeds for a 21^st socialism, a socialism whose characteristics will meet the needs of today, not the last century.

The essays in this volume are not designed to be an apology for errors and crimes of the Revolution or what followed but rather a description of those building blocs of human liberation that have had their inspiration in the Revolution and what followed. The opening essay moves back and forth historically to describe the workers Soviets, examples of direct democracy, and the variety of movements today that are equally struggling to be open, transparent, and democratic. Another addresses the nationalism question and the difficult task the new state had in melding together in one nation, a multiplicity of ethnicities, respecting unity and diversity.

Other essays address the influence of the Russian Revolution on the emergence of industrial unionism in the United States and the building of multi-ethnic, multi-racial working class communist parties and the role of building international anti-colonial and anti-racist solidarity. The volume has essays that suggest the important contribution the new revolution had on the arts and culture, social psychology, and education. A classic essay describes the critical role of women in the revolution and the rights they achieved in the new society.

And for those unfamiliar with the history of 1917, one essay provides an overview of the overthrow of the Tsar, the rise to power of the Mensheviks, and finally the seizure of power of the new Bolshevik regime led by Vladimir Lenin. Additional essays describe the impacts of the counter-revolution, the premature rush to communizing the society, and the adoption of a New Economic Policy, a combination of market and socialist characteristics, needed to survive economic and political crisis. The essay points to NEP-type policies adopted by twenty-first century Socialist regimes. Juxtaposed with the use of markets, another contributor analyzes the need for organization in the revolutionary process to be effective. Finally, one of the essays (by this reviewer) critiques how modern social science and anti-Soviet leftists misunderstand the revolutionary processes going forward from 1917.

The last three sections of the volume are perhaps the most critical as we look critically at and honor the Russian Revolution. Part of a 1990 public presentation by Carl Bloice (1939-2014), long-time reporter in Moscow for the People’s World is reprinted. Shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bloice argues that the government was not able to advance technologically and scientifically as its resources and human capital would have allowed. Thus economic stagnation and lack of competitiveness with the West occurred. Why the lack of scientific advance, he asks? Because the Soviet Union drifted toward authoritarianism and declining democracy, and it is in a democratic environment that intellectual creativity is most likely to flourish.

Finally, the volume ends with brief remarks Paul Robeson articulated about his first experiences as an American of African descent in the Soviet Union. He found an environment free of racism that he had never experienced in the United States. And the volume ends with an inspiring poem by Langston Hughes: “Good Morning Revolution.”

And About History

It is a common place now to repeat the old adage: “history is written by the winners.” Old adage or not, the media mocking of Russia today, coupled with subtle references to the former Soviet Union is being orchestrated by the same kinds of imperial voices that have been raised for almost one hundred years now. The words of Woodrow Wilson and Robert Lansing are part of common discourse today.

As contentious as it might be, it is time for progressives to revisit the history of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union in a way that is not chauvinistic and self-serving and raises the possibility of creating a twenty-first century socialism. This collection of essays does just that. Our emerging millennial socialists and our progressive activists would benefit from a quick read of The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union: Seeds of 21^st Century Socialism.