The Russian Revolution   Term Paper ID:27849 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Finds that the Russian Revolution started among many different groups some time before the Bolsheviks. Argues that it did not develop as Marx had declared that it would, though Marxist ideology was imposed on the social & political revolt.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Finds that the Russian Revolution started among many different groups some time before the Bolsheviks. Argues that it did not develop as Marx had declared that it would, though Marxist ideology was imposed on the social & political revolt. Paper Introduction: The Russian Revolution was a social movement as well as a political one and involved the assertion of a people that they wanted a change in leadership, in economic structure, and in how society was ordered. The revolution was based essentially on principles espoused by Marx and Engels and then reshaped by Lenin and others in the era prior to the onset of the revolt. The Russian Revolution would serve as a model for other revolutionary movements to come, notably that in China, with modifications according to the specific needs in a given situation. The conceptions of Marx derive from his view of the nature and origin of society. Marx had a conception of human history based on dialectical materialism. This conception includes the underlying idea that the determining factors in the development, relations, and institutions of mankind are not mystical or Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. (Knoebel, p. In Marx's time, bigindustry was taking root throughout Europe. This rudimentary apparatus was then taken over by the Bolsheviks and redirected to form a governmental system under their own control. As the system became entrenched, a fundamental cleavage developed between the mass of the population and the privileged élite. (Knoebel, p. L. (Schapiro, pp. Marx's conception of civil society explains the history of economicdevelopment to his time and offered as well a predictive approach to thefuture. Lenin did not believe it was necessary to wait for a stage ofcapitalist development during which the bourgeoisie would be in control,and so he skipped that step by simply declaring that Russia already was acapitalist country: This eccentric view, which no other student of the Russian economy is known to have shared, rested on an idiosyncratic interpretation of statistical data on agriculture. Norton.Knoebel, E. As early as the spring of 1917 the mass organizations constituted an incipient "counter-authority," an alternative power structure rivalling that headed by the weak Provisional Government. Lenin examines theelements of the writings of Marx and Engels and in general agrees with theidea that history has developed on economic grounds and that it has tendedtoward the classless society over time. New York: Alfred A. (1988). 582). New York: Viking.----------------------- 1 . Lenin convinced himself that the Russian village was in the throes of "class differentiation" which transformed a minority of peasants into a "petty bourgeoisie" and the majority into a landless rural proletariat. . Lenin describes the oppression noted by Marx in terms of imperialismas a stage in capitalism, and he sees monopoly as a form of imperialism.He also sees imperialism as a form of capitalism in transition, "or, moreprecisely, as moribund capitalism" (Knoebel, p. He sees the interplay of classes in terms of domination, andat the present juncture, it is bourgeois society that dominates. 347) The Russian Revolution would be a mass social movement, withdifferent parties vying for control of the social changes that were to bewrought in Russian society: All parties except those on the right of the political spectrum endeavored to gain influence over the mass organizations. E., Meacham, S., & Burns, E. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his 'natural superiors,' and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest. They considered the communal organizationof Russia as an example of a primitive form of society which had occurredin every country at some earlier period of history, and they regarded the absence of private property in the Russian village and what Engels used to refer to sarcastically as the primitive communism of Russia as the best foundation for despotism; and Marx, in particular, indulged in caustic diatribes against Herzen's plans for rejuvenating Europe through the influence of Russian primitive socialism. Norton.Pipes, R. (Keep, p. . . (Lerner, Meacham & Burns, p. 3)Marx and Enges never wrote directly about the situation in Russia in anydepth, but they did make certain references to it that would demonstrate tous how they viewed the matter. It is not timeless but is theresult of economic forces in capitalism and derives from private property.The work is external to the worker and is not part of his nature, so ratherthan fulfilling himself in the work he denies himself. New York: W.W. (Keep, p. The revolution did not develop in the way that Marx had declareda revolution would, and Lenin had to, in effect bend reality, to make itseem as if this were indeed a capitalist society entering the phase ofproletarian revolt. ReferencesKeep, J. under capitalism, produced more wealth than it enjoyed was the working class, the proletariat. Marx and Engels bothfelt that this increase in power and domination for the bourgeoisie wouldin time give power to the proletariat in reaction, and to this end Marx haddefined the nature of the struggle to come. (Pipes, p. . 371)Marx's language here, as in all his writings, is the language of conflictand struggle. Therevolution was based essentially on principles espoused by Marx and Engelsand then reshaped by Lenin and others in the era prior to the onset of therevolt. All human actionsare rooted in labor activities and in the nature of the relations derivingfrom those activities. He sees, however, a need for thedictatorship of the proletariat to be more violent and more oppressive thanMarx makes it seem, and Lenin would direct its power against thecapitalists and exploiters who had dominated in the earlier era as a way offreeing society from their domination in the future and from the effects oftheir domination in the past: We must crush them in order to free humanity from wage-slavery; their resistance must be broken by force; it is clear that where there is suppression there is also violence, there is no liberty, no democracy. Everything else in life rests on thiseconomic foundation. M. Indeed, they are accompaniedthroughout by steps that may not be discernible at the time but which leadto the construction of the new order: The October insurrection which brought the Bolsheviks to power is less of a watershed than is customarily supposed; it might more aptly be compared to a shifting of gears, an acceleration of tempo. (199 ). The struggle between the bourgeoisieand the proletariat had originally existed only in France and England andin a few big industrial centers, but with the increase inindustrialization, it had spread over all of Europe. Marx makes a strong case forthe historical determinism that is the basis of his view, although it isnot clear that the future developments he envisioned were inevitable basedon previous events. The Russian Revolution was a social movement as well as a politicalone and involved the assertion of a people that they wanted a change inleadership, in economic structure, and in how society was ordered. 133-134) One of the interesting things about the Russian Revolution is that ittook place in a country that had not achieved the level of capitalismcalled for by Marx and Engels as a precursor to the revolution of theproletariat. . the injustices and brutalities of serfdom provoked a number of violent revolts, which were put down with great severity and failed to alleviate the peasants' condition. The human being is defined in terms of work, production,and his or her relationship to what is produced. 876) Marx's idea of human nature is seen in his concept of the force ofhistory, in his theory of revolution and of the class struggle leading torevolution, and especially in his concept of alienation based on economicrelationships. H. Russian Studies. New York: W.W. The workers do not own the means of production. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Lerner, R. The Russian Revolution would serve as a model for otherrevolutionary movements to come, notably that in China, with modificationsaccording to the specific needs in a given situation. This conception includes the underlying idea that thedetermining factors in the development, relations, and institutions ofmankind are not mystical or ideological but economic. ix)The violent portion of the revolution is often emphasized, but suchviolence and the accompanying anarchy and disorder are usually onlyfeatures of the first part of the revolution. 589) For Marx, bourgeois society is dominant because it controls the meansof production, while the proletariat is alienated from the product of itslabor because it does not own the means of production. This struggle defines the ongoing stream of historical materialism,based on the necessary social conditions defined by economic relations.The class consisting of the bourgeoisie developed during the feudal period,and as the bourgeoisie got the upper hand it put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. Human beings must secure a livelihood, and toaccomplish this they organize their productive forces to operate throughoutthe resulting economic spectrum. Knopf.Schapiro, L. Capitalism was increasing inpower throughout Europe, and the industrial revolution of capitalism hadproduced clarity in class relations. Marx found there to bealienation in the individual's loss of control, of personal wholeness, analienation that is basically economic. Marx had a conception of human history based on dialecticalmaterialism. (Keep, pp. Western civilizations: Their history and their culture. In ourpresent social structure, it is the capitalist who owns the means ofproduction, and this person sells the product of the labor of the workers.Marx sees this as the exploitation of one class by another, finding that itproduces class hostilities based on material inequalities. (1976). Marx and Engelswrite in the "Manifesto of the Communist Party": "The history of allhitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (Knoebel, p.473). The Russian Revolution. E. Marxist ideology was effectively imposed on the socialand political revolt that was taking place in response to the excesses oftsarist Russia, especially in the treatment of the serfs and peasants inrural regions, with the ideology imposed by urbanites to effect thespecific changes they envisioned for their society. Marx could see all around him evidence of the domination of thebourgeois class over the rest of society, and he believed that the tensionsand antagonisms of such an arrangement would lead to revolution andrevolutionary change. Classics of Western thought, volume III: The modern world. It is through this economic structure that societycomes into being, and the society that results is made up of socialclasses, with one class dominant at a given time based on the control ofthe means of production. The Russian Revolution: A study in mass mobilization. (1987). . Where they were successful in bringing them under their control they could often direct them into the channels they desired without the rank-and-file members fully realizing what was afoot: namely, that their organization was losing its former autonomy and pursing different goals, prescribed for it from without. Theworkers sell their labor and are alienated from the product of their laboras a consequence. The conceptions of Marx derive from his view of the nature and originof society. Marx could also clearly see that society wasbecoming more simplified as the number of social classes and gradationswithin classes was diminished, with this reduction coming specificallybecause of changes in productive relations. The classstruggle is the defining fact of societal life and leads in time to theviolent overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class, leading tothe dictatorship of the proletariate for a time until a completelyclassless society is produced. Human nature is expressed in the way individualsrelate to class and the way they are controlled by that relationship. Marx in Das Kapital notes that the workerswho are forced to sell their labor become nothing more than commodities inthe economic market: Marx preached that the only class which. The Russian Revolution put these ideas to the test, but ideology wasnot the cause of the revolution but only one of the tools brought to bearin a social situation that had already deteriorated to an intolerabledegree: The revolutionary upsurge of 1917 derived its dynamic impetus from processes deeply rooted in Russian history, above all from the close connection forged between aristocracy and serfdom. xii-xiii) The social movement that would become the revolution was thus startedamong different groups forming to oppose the prevailing social order sometime before the Bolsheviks took it over and imposed their own ideologicalconcerns. (1988). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.