The Russian Revolutions of 1917 and the Rise of the Soviet Union
The February Revolution of 1917
The First World War exposed the weaknesses of the Russian Empire. During the war, the Russian Empire was in a situation that caused a considerable increase in prices and a lowering of the purchasing power of employees. This increased poverty among the population, both in rural and urban areas. Troops were poorly equipped and poorly directed. In late February, a strike erupted spontaneously in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), demanding food. The Tsar ordered the army to repress it. However, the army refused, and the revolution automatically triumphed. This created different groups in the country, with the Soviets, from the first moment, channeling the revolutionary movement. Within the empire, the Duma formed a provisional government while the Tsar abdicated. This government was chaired by Prince Lvov and comprised bourgeois parties. Later, Kerensky became president. This new government wanted to maintain the war while carrying out a series of reforms: freedom of opinion, press, assembly, an eight-hour workday, and union rights. At first, the Soviets supported these reforms, as did all political parties, including the Bolsheviks under Lenin. But Lenin, who was in exile, returned to Russia and withdrew his support from the government, instead calling for a proletarian revolution and the communism that Marx envisioned. Lenin proposed Russia’s departure from the First World War and the creation of a republic formed by deputies of peasants and workers. Lenin did not want to leave the consolidated liberal state. “Lenin wanted all power to the Soviets”—the power of the people.
The October Revolution of 1917
Between the two revolutions, politics were marked by the presence of the liberal government and the Soviets. During the months after the February revolt, shortages remained, and strikes continued but were repressed by the government. The Bolsheviks were accused of inciting people to violence. The government pursued the Bolshevik party, but the situation worsened. In August 1917, there was a coup that was halted through the intervention of armed Bolsheviks and workers (Nicholas II tried to regain power but could not). The Bolsheviks intended to have an armed insurrection to overthrow Kerensky’s power. The Petrograd Soviet and the Moscow Soviet agreed, and they set the date of the revolt for October 25th. They wanted to coincide with the second Congress of Soviets. On the 24th, the uprising began in Petrograd under the control of a military revolutionary committee, which seized the Winter Palace. All members of the liberal government were arrested except Kerensky. The goal was achieved without any casualties. The Congress of Soviets decided to replace the liberal government with a council of representatives of the people, ruled by Lenin. According to the “April Theses,” Lenin did not want to let the liberal government consolidate, and the October Revolution ended that state. The first measures carried out were:
- First, to declare peace, an end to the First World War. The independence of Finland, Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic Republics was recognized.
- Second, the Decree on Land: the properties of the Tsar, the monarchy, and the church passed into the hands of the Soviets to be distributed among farmers.
- Third, to recognize nationalities within Russia.
- Fourth, worker control of enterprises and nationalized banks.
The April Theses were a reference for the October Revolution. Towards the end of spring, opponents of the Bolsheviks began operating with weapons. Many Tsarists, liberals, and even moderate socialists, who supported the White Army, opposed the Red Army representing the Bolsheviks. The countries of the alliance did not like the communist revolution at all, so they helped the White Army. The civil war lasted until 1921. The Red Army was created by Trotsky, based on military discipline and hierarchy. Political commissars watched the fighters, and some commissioners conveyed the revolutionary ideals. The economy was centralized, and centralized economic planning began. “War communism” led to the nationalization of industry and transport and the monopolization of trade. This was against the Bolsheviks and the peasants, so the Bolsheviks confiscated all available food. To finance the war, the Bolsheviks issued paper money, causing huge inflation that led to wages being paid with food or in kind. The civil war was used to eliminate any opposition to the Bolsheviks, who were made up of democratic Soviets. Back in November 1917, when the Constituent Assembly was created to transform Tsarist Russia into a democratic republic, the Bolsheviks dissolved the assembly in its first and only session, mostly because they had not wanted to submit the assembly’s decisions to the Soviets. The Bolsheviks became the only official and authorized party, to the point that the party and state were confused (state = CPSU). The Red Army achieved important victories that consolidated Soviet rule, which began to expand into Ukraine and the Caucasus, making these territories Soviet republics. The army was only stopped in Poland. The Peace of Riga in 1921 fixed the borders between the states and ended the Russian Civil War.
The Third International or the Communist International
At the end of the First World War in Europe, especially in Central Europe, there was a predisposition to revolution. For many supporters of Marxism, the triumph of the Bolsheviks was the beginning of a revolutionary wave that would consolidate Soviet power. In this context, in 1919, Lenin created the Communist International. The revolution failed in Germany and Hungary, but instead, the USSR was created as a federation of republics within the borders of the Russian Empire. Therefore, the goal became to consolidate and build socialism in a single state: the USSR.
The NEP (New Economic Policy)
The revolution triumphed, but the situation varied. Lenin proposed (1921) to reorganize economic policy. After the war, the situation could improve, and it was at this point that Lenin set out to achieve the levels of production of 1913 (before the war began). Lenin proposed the NEP, a policy that partially restored the market economy to increase production. It did so in agriculture, trade, and consumer industries with fewer than 20 employees. The rest were controlled by the state (centralized economy). The NEP was a mixture of socialism and capitalism. It was described as “state capitalism.” Results of the NEP:
- Increase in agricultural productivity.
- Increase in industrial production.
When the situation seemed to stabilize, disputes arose. There was a sector of the Bolsheviks who wanted to invest in consumer goods industries with the profits obtained from agriculture. In contrast, there was a concern that this could generate rural capitalist social classes within the USSR. That is, the benefit to the landowners could have assumed a higher status within an egalitarian society. There was another sector of the Bolsheviks that sought to prioritize investments in capital goods industries, metallurgy, and energy. They believed that these industries would be the engine of consumer goods industries. They wanted to turn the USSR into a major world power. To achieve this, agriculture and consumer industries had to be sacrificed. But doing so meant being left without food in return.
Power Struggles
In 1924, Lenin died, and a great struggle ensued between Trotsky and Stalin to replace him. Trotsky wanted to extend aid to all revolutionary movements outside the USSR, while Stalin believed that Russia, as a superpower, had to consolidate socialism. Trotsky wanted all decisions and problems to be handled by a parliament, while Stalin wanted an indisputable leader who ruled. Stalin sidelined Trotsky and took power. After much debate about the direction of the USSR, many leaders played dirty; there were many intrigues and secrets. Stalin became a dictator and aimed to make the USSR a world power. The first thing he did was change the NEP to a centrally planned economy (all decisions passed through the state). Since 1928, the process of collectivization of agriculture began. The land passed into the hands of the state. This was done through attacks on kulaks (landowners) so that they would cede their land to peasant associations (controlled by the state). This confrontation led to a collapse of agricultural production that resulted in misery. Industry would have priority in state investments, and its growth was spectacular. This was achieved through autarky, a closed relationship with any country abroad. The first five-year plan showed the difficulty of optimizing resources. They did not know how to administer them. This caused problems in investments that created shortages of consumer goods. Stalin turned his regime into a dictatorship that ruled over all political and social structures of the country. Stalinist terror was based on a policy of elimination, which in many cases was also physical (death). This affected all sectors, including former leaders of the Bolshevik government. Stalinist trials and purges were used to eliminate any internal opposition. This period is known as the Moscow Trials. The Bolshevik police became the KGB.
The First Five-Year Plan (1928-1933)
Stalin oriented the economy towards centralized construction. It was a system where the government controlled all means of production, that is, a society without private property. Five-year plans were created to control the economy. They were binding, and agencies were created to oversee compliance. Stalin’s aim was to turn the USSR into a world power based on industry and to collectivize agricultural production. The first five-year plan (1928-1933) collectivized everything; everything fell into the hands of the state. The state was responsible for distributing resources, and the market economy was eliminated. Agriculture was massively collectivized. This ended the kulaks because of the bad publicity given to them. Industrial growth was due to agriculture, mining, and other primary activities. This caused great inequality between cities and towns. Agriculture became secondary in the five-year plans. All priorities were given to heavy industry. These plans ensured that in 10 years, the USSR transformed its economic base and became an industrialized country.