27.11.1997

Russia’s second revolution

From ‘The Call’, paper of the British Socialist Party, November 29 1917

In the midst of a war which represents the highest triumph of international capitalist imperialism, and in a country which, to all appearances, is further from socialism than any other in the world, socialists - genuine and not make-believe socialists - have seized the reigns of power.

That alone would have sufficed to strike dismay into the hearts of the ruling classes throughout the ‘civilised’ world. But in the present circumstances their dismay is doubly profound, for the Leninist ‘usurpers’ have come to carry out the watchwords of the Russian Revolution in earnest.

They have come to realise a peace without annexations and indemnities, with the right of nationalities to determine their own fate. To proclaim the land public property and to hand it over to the tillers without any compensation to its former owners, to seize the illicit ‘earnings’ of the war profiteers. To establish an all-round eight-hours day, and to publish all the secret diplomatic correspondence and treaties, which have hitherto been regarded by the capitalist world as sacrosanct and inviolable - and all that without further delay, reservation or compromise. What wonder that the Allies refuse to recognise the authority of the ‘usurpers’, and that the enemy stands perplexed?

The situation is unique - as is the war itself which has brought it about. For the first time we have the dictatorship of the proletariat established under our eyes, and that in a country whose immense extent and population, as well as potential strength, makes it a factor of international life of first class importance.

How long will it last? What fruit will it bear? It is early to tell as yet. What we know is that the Bolshevik success has been carried out with the sympathy and support of the town workers and the common soldiers in the army. It was an act of despair on the part of those masses at seeing the piecemeal surrender of the Revolution and its behests to the imperialist bourgeoisie by the opposition leaders.

On the Bolsheviks’ own part it was prompted by a courageous loyalty to the principles of international socialism as laid down, for the time of war, by the Stuttgart and Basel congresses, and the success of their action was and is due to the support and sympathy of the masses.

On the one hand the utter exhaustion of the nation at large deprives the bourgeoisie of the strength and courage to translate its hatred of the Bolsheviks and its fear of their rule into action. This latter circumstance is a factor which may prove lasting and may help to make the Bolshevik rule more permanent than seems at present reasonable.

If they find the means and the energy to put through the main items of their programme, they will have achieved a tremendous revolution. Their position is difficult beyond words. Morally isolated in the world and silently boycotted at home, their only support is, or ought to be, the international working class. Will it support them? Will it realise that it is their own cause which is being fought out over there by men who have staked their lives on it?

Peace and bread, the suppression of the war profiteer and the greedy landlord - this is what Lenin and his friends are trying to obtain for their own countrymen and for the distressed world at large. Are we going to help them?