On this day 90 years ago (23 February 1917 in the old Julian Calendar) the Russian Empire’s Tsarist regime - unpopular, decadent, and failing utterly to cope with the stresses of World War I - fell into terminal crisis.
For ordinary urban Russians, perhaps the most basic wartime failure of the Tsarist system was its inability to maintain bread supplies. On International Women’s Day 1917, women textile workers from the Vyborg district of Petrograd went on strike in protest at the bread shortages. As they marched towards the city centre they were joined by their husbands and lovers from the nearby metal works and by thousands of workers from other factories. The chants of “Bread!” were accompanied by cries of “Down with the Tsar!”. Over the coming week the crowds grew in size, along with the political content of their demands. One week later, on 2 March (old style), Russia’s Glorious February Revolution culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the demise of the absolutist Romanov monarchy. It was replaced by an inherently unstable system of dual power - a Provisional Government, drawn in the main from liberal and conservative members of the Duma (the toothless consultative parliament formed as a concession after the Revolution of 1905), governing on terms set by the Soviets (Councils) of Workers and Soldiers Deputies, which were the main institutional framework of the popular-democratic movement which had burgeoned in Russia in the first decades of the 20th century, and which were dominated by members of various socialist parties and tendencies, of which the most important were the Mensheviks, the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and the Bolsheviks.
Over the coming week or so I intend to put up a series of posts providing an account of the democratic Russian revolution of which Glorious February was the culmination, an analysis of its historical internal and external causes, and a discussion of why the opportunities for democratic development presented by this revolution were lost, and why they need not have been lost. Amongst other things, I intend to argue that:
* the preservation and/or reform of the Romanov monarchy were neither desirable nor feasible options in the circumstances of 1917;
* a bourgeois liberal-democratic evolution of Russia along Western European lines - a development which the democratic socialist parties regarded, on orthodox Marxist grounds, as historically necessary - was not a serious possibility given the weakness of the Russian bourgeoisie and the political parties which drew their support from it;
* the only viable alternative to the Bolshevik seizure of power (ostensibly in the name of the soviets) and all that came with it was an historically specific Russian road to democracy, based institutionally upon the soviets and other workers’ and peasants’ democratic organisations which had emerged in the early decades of the 20th century, and led politically by a coalition of parties and movements of the democratic left.
And it being International Women’s Day let us honour and remember the brave Fanny Kaplan.
This is going to be fun. I want to be the Kronstadt Rebellion.
Yes, its certainly been a long road to democracy for the poor buggers.
And I’m not altogether sure they’re there yet. The seem to have stalled in some late 19th Century Robber Baron stage.
J P Morgan and W R Hurst and John D Rockefeller would feel quite at home there.
Actually, come to think of it, the above trio would prolly feel right at home in Howard’s Australia too, so I guess they’re as democratic as we are.
Overall, good effort
Sorry, that’s WR Hearst.
Damn spelling.
Hello sailor? Come on CK, that was blokes not sheilas. Anyhow, Kronstadt was a kind of Christiania of its day and the boys were given alternative accommodation in the holiday camp at Magadan.
I thought you were referring to the death of 90-year-old Captain America.
Typical stalinist propaganda, history rewritten for the good of the masses and the perpetuation of lies.
Re Romonov demise, see house of windsor
Yes. It was jolly decent of King George V to withdraw that invitation to Cousin Nicky to seek asylum in Britain after he was deposed.
Fanny ( or Dora) Kaplan was a poor shot. Perhaps the best memorial for her might be the setting up of firing ranges specifically for wopersyns?
I mean even Kevin Rudd ( through the Bornhoeffer connection) supports assassination politics these days. Just my 2 roubles
( PS - I hope the CHEKA are not reading this!)
Fanny (or Feiga) was a pretty good shot all things considered. She was a rather small woman firing a large Browning pistol (model 1903, same type as used to good effect on the Archduke Ferdinand). She fronted Lenin and let go three shots (Eat this Vlad!) one of which nearly killed him by going through the lung. The other two hit the body but were deflected form the vital parts by a his heavy overcoat. Not only that but she did not give anyone up under interrogation by the Cheka and was summarily executed without a trial. Amazingly gutsy woman. Lenin is said to have died as a result of the shooting (some 6 years later). This is one of the great unknown unknowns - had he lived, would he have constrained the bloodletting that Stalin unleashed? Would he have done a Gorby by revisiting the NEP on a larger scale and pre-empted the Chinese economic “miracle’ of the 20 hundreds? Would it have been worse under Lenin? And what about Trotsky?
Hey Tic Toc - haven’t you got an irony board at home? it was Trot propaganda anyway.
Given young Vlad’s delight in bathing in everyone else’s blood, I very much doubt it.
I suppose we could be pick up this theme at Bob Gould’s 70th birthday bash on the weekend, CK.
“the only viable alternative to the Bolshevik seizure of power (ostensibly in the name of the soviets) and all that came with it was an historically specific Russian road to democracy, based institutionally upon the soviets and other workers’ and peasants’ democratic organisations which had emerged in the early decades of the 20th century, and led politically by a coalition of parties and movements of the democratic left.”
I think that is a quite realistic summation of the possible alternatives to Bolshevik dictatorship. It is not commonly known that the Left-Mensheviks, Left-Populists, Maximalists and Anarcho-syndicalists were every bit as revolutionary as the Bolsheviks but believed in worker council democracy. I am looking forward to reading this series
‘Tis indeed a significant day in world modern history, Paul. Looking forward to your thoughts on Item 3
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“She fronted Lenin and let go three shots (Eat this Vlad!)”
Tanantino would have added “You Commie PUNK!” to spell it out for American audiences. Your scripts have movie written all over them, Sir Henry.
CK, Cleo bathed in ass’s milk
Vlad loved his tubs of blood
Today’s sad liquid metaphor
Lies slithering in the mud
The Social Revolutionaries (of which Kaplan was one) received the largest number of votes of any party in the pre-Revolution Duma elections, between 1906 and 1909, when Stolypin severely restricted the franchise.
The Social Revolutionaries also received the majority of votes in the December 1917 Constituent Assembly Elections promised by Lenin upon the Bolshevik seizure of power.
Thus, the Social Revolutionaries were a long-standing and powerful electoral force both before and after the two revolutions of 1917.
Interestingly, members of several factions of this party were also the most enthusiastic terrorists in Russia. It is estimated that SRs killed about 20,000 public officials in Russia in 1905 and 1906. SRs were the model for the stereotypical bearded, bomb-throwing “anarchist’ of popular culture.
SRs were both very popular and incredibly violent people. The fact that they shot, stabbed and fragmented thousands of Russian officials seems only to have augmented their popularity.
Thus, it is important to note that in Russia there was scant respect for due process, peaceful assembly, rule of law.
To expect the Bolsheviks to be different from all other major political groups in this regard is just unrealistic.
SRs like Kaplan had been killing their political enemies for a long time. This sort of behaviour was quite normal in the Russian political context.
So Lenin, who was a late starter in this game, proved to be better than his opponents at it?
Big deal.
“The Scythians”
“Panmongolism–a wild, wild word;
But sweet it falls upon mine ear.�
Vladimir Solovyov
You are but millions. Our unnumbered nations
Are as the sands upon the sounding shore.
We are the Scythians! We are the slit-eyed Asians!
Try to wage war with us–you’ll try no more!
You’ve had whole centuries. We–a single hour.
Like serfs obedient to their feudal lord,
We’ve held the shield between two hostile powers–
Old Europe and the barbarous Mongol horde.
Your ancient forge has hammered down the ages,
Drowning the distant avalanche’s roar.
Messina, Lisbon–these, you thought, were pages
In some strange book of legendary lore.
Full centuries long you’ve watched our Eastern lands,
Fished for our pearls and bartered them for grain;
Made mockery of us, while you laid your plans
And oiled your cannon for the great campaign.
The hour has come. Doom wheels on beating wing.
Each day augments the old outrageous score.
Soon not a trace of dead nor living thing
Shall stand where once your Paestums flowered before.
O Ancient World, before your culture dies,
Whilst failing life within you breathes and sinks,
Pause and be wise, as Oedipus was wise,
And solve the age-old riddle of the Sphinx.
That Sphinx is Russia. Grieving and exulting,
And weeping black and bloody tears enough,
She stares at you, adoring and insulting,
With love that turns to hate, and hate–to love.
Yes, love! For you of Western lands and birth
No longer know the love our blood enjoys.
You have forgotten there’s a love on Earth
That burns like fire and, like all fire, destroys.
We love cold Science passionately pursued;
The visionary fire of inspiration;
The salt of Gallic wit, so subtly shrewd,
And the grim genius of the German nation.
We know the hell of a Parisian street,
And Venice, cool in water and in stone;
The scent of lemons in the southern heat;
The fuming piles of soot-begrimed Cologne.
We love raw flesh, its color and its stench.
We love to taste it in our hungry maws.
Are we to blame then, if your ribs should crunch,
Fragile between our massive, gentle paws?
We shall abandon Europe and her charm.
We shall resort to Scythian craft and guile.
Swift to the woods and forests we shall swarm,
And then look back, and smile our slit-eyed smile.
Away to the Urals, all! Quick, leave the land,
And clear the field for trial by blood and sword,
Where steel machines that have no soul must stand
And face the fury of the Mongol horde.
But we ourselves, henceforth, we shall not serve
As henchmen holding up the trusty shield.
We’ll keep our distance and, slit-eyed, observe
The deadly conflict raging on the field.
We shall not stir, even though the frenzied Huns
Plunder the corpses of the slain in battle, drive
Their cattle into shrines, burn cities down,
And roast their white-skinned fellow men alive.
O ancient World, arise! For the last time
We call you to the ritual feast and fire
Of peace and brotherhood! For the last time
O hear the summons of the barbarian lyre!
1918
I don’t know where you got the 20,000 from, Katz. The closest to a figure I could find is in Richard Pipes’ The Russian Revolution, Harvill Press, paperback, p 147, of “hundreds of political murders.”
There were of other groups such as the Maximalists, who went not only after gumment officials but also landlords and “exploiters”. I guess if we had Maximalists around now, they’d be going after company executives who pay themselves millions while sacking workers and worse, rob them of their entitlements. But I digress.
Before being shot, Fannie Kaplan said: “I shot Lenin because I believe him to be a traitor (to the cause, presumably)…”By living long, he postpones the idea of socialism for decades to come.” She wasn’t wrong. Lenin may have killed the idea altogether by hijacking the mother of all revolutions. Stalin pretty much drove the final nail in its coffin in Spain.
PS But then she did shorten his life and look what happened next.
Yeah, Sir Hank,
Pipes is a strident Bolshie-hater. He is keen to minimise the crimes of all other groups to make the Bolshies seem uniquely evil.
I was surprised by the figure quoted myself.
It comes from a Russian doco “The Russia We Lost”, an anti-Communist doco made in the earlyish 1990s, which decries all violence in Russia, not just Bolshie violence.
Perhaps on the International womens Day we should also remember Maria Bochkareva, founder in 1917 of the Women’s Battalion of Death.
The Battalion fought with initial ferocity but with dwindling enthusiasm in Kerensky’s ill-fated June Offensive against the Germans.
Bochkareva, though, did not lose her fervour. She was injured more than once in the fighting. At one point in the offensive, Bochkareva encountered one of her soldiers copulating with a Russian male soldier in a shell-hole. Infuriated, she bayoneted the woman on the spot.
One can only conclude that the backsliding amazon was at the moment of her violent death “on top”.
Will since we’re dealing in counterfactuals, I don’t see any reason why we should start at 1917. Go back to 1914. What would have happened if Russia hadn’t mobilised?
Thanks Sir Hanky.
We are getting ahead a bit with the attempted assassination because 1917 needs close attention. Some of the more important events for mine include the use of Imperialist German money to hire Polish and Lettish mercenaries. Certainly the red fascists were being Internationalist at this stage.
Also of vital importance is their disguising and cloaking operations.
Adopting the popular slogans such as ,’ All power to the Soviets’ for example. This could be seen as early ‘ promise them anything’ and ‘ fistful of dollars’ campaign promises. Cheap rhetoric used to gain political advantage…works in every country.
Then there was the ‘ State and revolution’ left turn. More cheap rhetoric used for getting rid of Kerenskyist democracy then discarded like so much campaign promises fodder.
Finally the creation of the CHEKA by Lenin and Trotsky. You don’t need right wingers like Pipes and Conquest to find out this stuff either.
There are plenty of contemperaneous libertarian and democratic socialist sources as well as the fatal words from the fithy mouths of the red fascists themselves.
‘ Whatever it takes’ Stalin-Lite was poised at the end of 1917 to drive a dagger into the heart of the social revolution.
Or to quote Uncle Vladimir:
Paul Norton - are not your 2nd point and your 3rd point contradictory? If the bourgeois left was too weak to hold sway in its own right, then how could it have ever got in the lead of the workers and peasants in coalition?
All this mutual frottage over how nasty the Bolsheviks were would produce some light as well as frictional heat were the frotteurs to demonstrate just how much purer than the driven snow were the Bolsheviks’ opponents during 1917.
If it could be demonstrated that the alternative leaders of Russia were upholding the high principles and practices of Millsian liberalism, or anything vaguely similar to it, then perhaps their moral outrage may be to some retrospectively useful purpose.
For example, long before the Bolsheviks were in any position to mount a challenge to the Provisional Government, in July 1917, Kerensky sent his bovver boys in to wreck Bolshie headquarters and to attempt to assassinate Lenin and other leading Bolshies.
Lenin was still on the run the morning of the October seizure of power.
Or is there a special rule that anti-Bolshie violence is always ok — the retrospective moral judgement of history clause?
Just two things: Katz, just because Pipes was a right-wing Bolshie hater and spawned a Neo-Con, does not mean - ipso facto - he is wrong, even if it was in his interest to quote those figs, as you point out, because it suited his line. I find 20,000 hard to credit and I have no line to push. The SR hit squads, of whom there weren’t that many, were a special group of (self-decribed) terrorists within the SR. Not all SRs went around armed looking for a target.
Also, SR were not Social Revolutionaries BUT SocialIST Revolutionaries. They can be considered well to the left of the Bolshevist clique and appeared very genuine about carrying out a revolution, whereas Leninism swapped one authoritarian state for another, moreover, one that became increasingly authoritarian, interventionism notwithstanding. Workers became no better off. The “bread for all” slogan is ironic in view of the fact that just before he got popped by Feiga (1918), Lenin was stopped by another woman demanding a stop to bread being confiscated from people in the city by armed “revolutionaries”. Lenin’s guards throught that Kaplan was another “petitioner”.
So? A well-organised party in an authoritarian state would be ill-advised to recommend that all its cadres become terrorists. Take the Provisional IRA, Hamas, Hezbollah, Tamil Tigers, etc., etc., as examples of this tendency to specialise. The point is, that the SRs maintained a terrorist cadre.
Like I said, I was surprised by the figure as well. I’ve done a little research on it since last evening, but haven’t found any corroborative info.
Again, so? You’re only ‘genuine’ about revolution in a violent situation if you are left holding the gun, or it is prised from your dead hands.
Well, the point I was making is that a specialist cadre such as the one we are talking about was small, comparatively speaking, in relation to the size of the movement as a whole, and 20,000 would make them rather busy. Kaplan was apparently a “sole trader” and not part of a squad, although she did make bombs as part of a unit in earlier days. She was arrested when a bomb went off in the “lab” (injuring her eye) and did a bit of time in Siberia. She was a hard case. After shooting Lenin she could have shot through but allowed herself to be arrested. This too was part of the modus operandi - to go down fighting, not quite suicide but close. This supports your “genuine” assertion. So, Katz, we are not in any major disagreement and I can get back to savouring the delights of my new CD, Lunatico, by the Gotan Project.
Who’s a Russophile then, Sir Henry?
Damn, I should work for the CIA and get paid.
KGB was harder. :)))
“Savouring” gave it away.
You have to give up favorite words.