On November 7, 1917 (October 25 in the old Russian calendar, hence October Socialist revolution) amidst the chaos and carnage of the First World War in backward Tsarist Russia, the spark of a brighter future for the working masses took hold and raged into a bonfire.
The glow from this bonfire lit up the world with its promise of a more equal and just society, a society whose goal was socialism.
Much has taken place since 1917; wars, famine, the Cold War and the demise of the first state whose proclaimed purpose was the building of socialism. Yet despite the problems, the setbacks, the hope and promise for a more just and equitable future for humanity still inspires many millions across the world who are continuing the struggle for socialism.
Red October
As a gauge of how important the October Socialist Revolution was, one has only to look at the response of the capitalist states towards the new regime. The hostility shown towards it was uniform across the ruling class circles of the capitalist nation-states. From politicians, such as Lord Curzon in Britain, who had a visceral hatred of the Bolsheviks, through to the upper echelons of the bureaucracies and thence to capitalists themselves; those who stood at the forefront of state, industry or agriculture despised the nascent Soviet state.
It took only a few months after November 7 (October 25) for foreign backed armed intervention to occur, backing the ‘whites’ against the ‘reds’ during the civil war period. The ruling class circles in Russia that had been deposed were in the main backed by their class cousins across warring Europe, with the notable exception of the German and Austro-Hungarian representatives.
These latter backed the Bolsheviks not out of sympathy for any socialist/internationalist ideals, but rather because they were fighting Russia and her allies for top dog position amongst the imperialist powers. The German and Austro-Hungarian imperialists sought to undermine their Russian and Allied opponents; they saw the Bolsheviks as a political virus that they could use to infect their opponents.
The important point here is that at the time of the October Socialist Revolution, ruling class circles in Europe and the US recognised the event and subsequent regime as being a fundamental challenge to their class rule. It was an example to the proletariat and the peasantry of the world that state power could be seized and real attempts made to build socialism.
The uprising in Petrograd, now Saint Petersburg, was timed to coincide with the sitting of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies. It was from this body of representatives of the ordinary working men and women of Russia that the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom), the nucleus of a Soviet government was formed. The make-up of this representative body stood in stark contrast to the governing elites in the advanced capitalist countries of the time, some of whom were monarchs and/or aristocrats. Any wonder then that the working masses of the world had enormous sympathy for and interest in this new government. No wonder then that the Bolsheviks, the October Revolution and the new state were despised by those used to privilege and wealth; this was a direct challenge to ruling class power, not only in Russia but worldwide.
Workers take control
In the first flush of excitement associated with the seizure of power, a number of important decrees were promulgated. Amongst the first was a decree that proposed that Russia was withdrawing from the First World War unilaterally (Peace decree), and another proclaimed the end of private property in land and the distribution of land to those who actually worked it, i.e. the peasants (Land decree).
Other decrees dealt with the nationalising of the banks, the repudiation of foreign debts and the seizure of factories, which were then placed under the control of the Soviets.
The heady optimism of the time, reflected in the utopian nature of some the decrees, was fuelled by the belief that world revolution was just around the corner. Russia was to be just the curtain-raiser to a much wider, more substantive series of events that would truly usher in the era of socialist construction and the death knell of capitalism.
Lessons of history
Alas, this was not to be. Amongst the tragedies of the twentieth century was the underestimation of the tenacity of world capitalism to adapt and to ride out economic crises such as the Great Depression. This was matched by the overestimation of the power of the socialist states, and the forces struggling to build socialism.
Suffice to say that in spite of the unravelling of the Soviet Union and developments, both positive and negative that took place in that country during the twentieth century, its foundational moment, November 7 1917, was and is a momentous moment for the working people of the world. It was the first time in world history that power was seized in the name of the toiling masses, and the building of socialism was to be the goal of the new state. For this reason, the Great October Socialist Revolution will never be forgotten.
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