Russia was predominately a backward agricultural country, she also possessed a highly developed industry with a class-conscious proletariat. The standing need of the Russian peasants for land, the dislocations in industry produced by the war, the prevalent mood of war-weariness, and the disorganization of the governmental apparatus produced a revolutionary situation which became progressively more acute from February to the eve of October. A revolutionary situation, however, is not yet a revolution. For that a political party is needed. The second line of evidence is then introduced. This consists in showing that the Bolshevik Party, and the Bolshevik Party alone, had the correct programme to meet the needs and demands of the great masses of the Russian people. Taken together, the revolutionary situation and party made the October Revolution the only possible historical solution.
Even if nothing in the above account were disputed, the conclusion is a non sequitur. There have been other periods in history which showed us a revolutionary situation and a revolutionary party with a “correct” programme from its point of view—and the whole summed up to failure—for example, Germany in 1923. Nor is it true that the Bolshevist Party was the only party with the programme which, on this analysis, was called for by the situation. The Bolshevik programme was really adapted from the official programme of the Social Revolutionary Party during this period.[1]
The great difference was that the programme of the Social Revolutionary Party remained a paper resolution, completely disregarded by its representatives in the Provisional Government and Soviets, while the Bolshevik Party carried the programme out.
Given the situation in Russia, the October Revolution must be regarded as the work of the Bolshevik Party which capitalized for its own political purposes the hunger of the Russian masses for peace, land, and bread. The main problem then is the relation of Lenin to the Bolshevik Party—to its programme, strategy, tactics, and will to action. Before we consider it, we should observe that, in fact, the leading role of the Bolshevik Party in the events that culminated in the seizure of power is disputed by none. In question is only the extent to which the
- ↑ See, for documentation, Chernov, The Great Russian Revolution, English translation, 1936, Yale University Press, especially Chapter XIX., pp. 392–402. The left wing of this party, it should be recalled here, joined the Bolsheviks in October.
