On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 03:57 PM, gojko rakic wrote: > > Some are saying there would be no October Revolution if there was no > Lenin, especially his skills in arguing his case, which he demonstrated > many times.
True, a crisis is when leadership can be decisive. What if Lenin's April Theses had been rejected? The dual power situation couldn't last indefinitely. If the Reds hadn't taken power, the Whites would have. They would have crushed the Soviets and a counter-revolutionary bloodbath would have ensued. The 20th century is replete with such examples. As it was, a civil war and imperialist intervention followed. But it was the Bolshevik control of the state and its resources which allowed it to effectively mobilize and organize the masses to prevent a restoration of the old regime. The tragedy of our times is that the revolution did not spread to Germany and to the rest of the advanced capitalist countries. The much less developed USSR was left isolated and beseiged and, despite some remarkable accomplishments, inevitably displayed the repressive features and economic hardships characteristic of any society under seige. Liberals and social democrats who have wished since 1917 that Kerensky's provisional government had survived and transitioned peacefully into a multi-party parliamentary democracy were dreaming. It was a question of whether a red or a white one-party state would emerge from the chaos in that highly polarized society. At best, the decision could have been postponed - anyone remember the Weimar Republic? - but not indefinitely. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29590): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29590 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/105034294/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
