Aug-Oct 2018

The Preparatory Phase of November Revolution: The Independent Role of the Working Class

A Few Introductory Words

The Russian revolution is often portrayed in a particular framework which narrates that in Russia, there was a party named Bolshevik Party, which was operated by an individual in the main and the workers of Russia followed this party and ultimately in November 1917 this party seized the power. The number of people, who remember the history of that era in this linear manner, is not insignificant. After the passage of a century, it seems that it is an important task of today to recapitulate how the history of that period actually advanced in reality. After the lapse of a century it might seem unfortunate to start from a position which is so many steps back. But however unfortunate it might be, it seems that history by burying the memory of the heights of that glorious era of overthrow of the bourgeoisie from state power into the muck of oblivion, has put up a challenge before us telling us?delve in the muck and retrieve any precious gem out of it if you can. Today we do not have any other alternative than to bow our heads and accept this challenge of history. In this present article, we will endeavour to search a particular aspect, the role of the working class of Russia which motivated them to such a task of creating history. Since we have tried to find out about the independent role of the working class itself in that period, we have not generally discussed about the role of the party or the party leadership with regard to the development of the independent role of the class. That has been dealt with in a separate article. In this context it may be mentioned here that, help have been taken from some of the writings of Lenin for some parts of this article which are to be considered as the recognized evaluation of the struggles and the consciousness of the workers at that time. It is expected that this evaluation will perhaps help in elucidating the role the workers played during that period.

We all know that in 1917, the Russian workers formed the centres of their own power - the Soviets. But the Russian workers did not earn this power in one day. For this they had to take lessons in the course of their struggle over a long period and also earn class-consciousness with the help of their class-party - the Communist party. We can divide that period into some phases:

1. From 1890 to 1905: In this phase, the Russian workers' movement could achieve the socialist direction due to the fusion of the Russian workers' movement with the communist forces and in the end could organize the first revolutionary campaign against the autocratic power of Russia. We will observe that in this very phase the Russian workers gave birth to the SovietS - the centre of the workers' own power on their own independent initiative.

2. From 1905 to 1912: This phase is mainly characterized by the reaction unleashed by the Tsar against the revolution across the whole of Russia which in history is known as the infamous 'period of Stolypin Reaction'. This is also important for us to at least learn in brief, especially being in a situation that prevails now, that how the working class of Russia was able to persist with their struggles against the Tsar.

3. From 1912 to 1917: After the defeat of the first revolutionary campaign, the workers' movement began to gradually rear its head again, starting from the period of tremendous reaction. Ultimately, they were able to dislodge the Tsarist monarchy through revolution in February, 1917. But the bourgeoisie seized the state power. The fundamental tasks of the revolution remained unachieved. In November, the working class of Russia was able to establish the rule of the proletariat overthrowing the Provisional Government of the bourgeoisie bringing a revolutionary, epoch-making change in the lives of the people of a vast area lying under the Tsarist Empire, including Russia.

4. The role of the working class organized as the ruling class: It is the phase after the seizure of power, when the struggle for consolidation of the dictatorship of the proletariat continued throughout the country under the leadership of the working class aiming at the transition to socialist society.

We shall try to understand as elaborately as possible how the independent role of the working class gained domination in each of these phases, excluding the last phase. We will restrict our discussion to some preliminary observations only regarding this last phase. In each of these phases the working class could take decisive roles with its own initiative and those were crucial roles at junctures which were turning-points of those times.

The Early Phase Of Workers' Movement - 1890-1905

The factories in Russia began to be set up in around 1870. It is not that no initiative was undertaken towards the establishment of some industries prior to this, but the development of industrial started during this period only. From the very beginning, the contradiction between the workers and the factory owners started manifesting. One of the main reasons of this is that the ingress of capitalism in Russia took place hand in hand with the development of capitalism in East and Middle Europe.

The workers' movement did not take an organized shape in the decade of 1870-80. In those days the workers expressed their wrath mostly by destroying the machines. At that time, though the Russian workers tried to resist the onslaught of the capitalists by organizing some strikes, but in reality, the strike movements began to take the form of a mass movement from 1896-97 onwards. Two types of organizations emerged from these workers' strike movements - one was the strike committees and the other one was the 'mutual benefit societies' to provide mutual assistance to one another during movements. The main task of the strike committee was to organize the factory-centered strikes. The workers started to organize around these strike committees. As in those days the workers did not have any right to form unions, so the strike committees played the role of a union in practice. This continued till 1905. These committees were fully controlled and led by the workers. Most of the times they were run in complete secrecy due to the terror unleashed by the factory owners and the administration in unison.

During this phase one may observe that this continually developing movement of the workers earned immense importance in the eyes of the Russian communists. At that juncture Lenin drafted the programme for the Social Democratic Party. While stating about the particular phase of movement and formulating the tasks of the communists Lenin stated in the draft,-"The Russian Social-Democratic Party declares that its aim is to assist this struggle of the Russian working class by developing the class-consciousness of the workers, by promoting their organization, and by indicating the aims and objects of the struggle." ¹

While explaining how the Russian workers could achieve this class self-awareness from their struggle, Lenin expressed in the same writing -"By what means do the workers reach an understanding of all this? They do so by constantly gaining experience from the very struggle that they begin to wage against the employers and that increasingly develops, becomes sharper and involves larger number of workers as large factories grow. There was a time when the workers enmity against capital only found expression in a hazy sense of hatred of their exploiters, in a hazy consciousness of their oppression and enslavement, and in the desire to wreak vengeance (italics in original) on the capitalists. The struggle at that time found expression in isolated revolts of the workers, who wrecked buildings, smashed machines, attacked members of the factory management etc. That was the first, the initial form of the working-class movement ... The Russian working class movement has however, already outgrown this original form. Instead of having a hazy hatred of the capitalist, the workers have already begun to understand the antagonism between the interests of the working class and the capitalist class. Instead of having a confused sense of oppression, they have begun to distinguish the ways and means (italics in original) by which capital oppresses them...." ²

That means, during this period, in the course of their own struggles against the capitalist class the Russian workers earned self-awareness and these struggles continuously pushed and prodded the workers to lead them in a more organized manner and through transition to a higher plane. At that time, the communist forces in accordance with the then concrete conditions went on determining their role of how to be integrated with the workers struggle and assist in its transition. From the experience of the Russian workers' movement, it can be emphatically stated that from the very beginning, the Russian workers were summing up their experiences while in the process of advancing their struggles. In that journey of history, they were not merely wooden puppets dancing to the tune of someone else. If we think otherwise, it will be in contradiction to the historical reality. On the contrary, the workers found a section of the conscious communist forces on their side who determined programmes time to time by grasping the inner dynamics of the workers' movement. Also, we must note that this practice continued from the very beginning of the Russian workers' movement.

At such a stage we may note that a section of the workers had arisen from the ongoing study-circles who from the core of their hearts started believing that socialism- communism is the path for the emancipation of the working class. From sustained practice and in keeping with their practical experiences, the workers had reached the conclusion that as the establishment of democracy was impossible without overthrowing the Tsar, in the same manner, the path to emancipation from capitalist exploitation is nonetheless impossible without adopting the course for establishment of socialism. This advanced section of the Russian workers strove by this time to unite in Social Democratic Party (or Communist Party).

The fact that this party is essentially the party of the workers and they will perform the main role within the party was from the start opposed theoretically and organizationally by a section of intellectuals within the party. They started obstructing the rise of the workers to the position of leadership within the party organization. During the Tsarist regime there was always a strict vigil over the activities of the party. The agents of Tsar in so many ways kept a vigil over the struggles, campaigns and organization of the workers. Owing to this reality, the activities were run very secretly. Naturally there was hardly any scope for an open atmosphere within the party. The ideal democratic environment within the party was curbed to a great extent. Utilising this opportunity, the intellectuals within the party did not want to include the workers in the leading committees. But this situation changed very soon. It so happened because with the onslaught of the Tsar, when repeatedly entire committee members of a certain locality were exiled or put behind the bar, it was the workers of that region who came forward and ran the committee. A worker from Moscow, named Prokofiev narrated such an experience saying -."I was depressed, sick and ashamed. I was left suddenly without leaders. This was an irreparable blow. When I told my comrades, we groaned and sat around as at a funeral," but then they concluded that "... there was nothing to do but to hold out and continue the work ourselves. So we set out and began to work on our own." Workers like Babushkin of St. Petersburg started coming forward at this stage. Babushkin was at one time exiled at Ekaterinoslav a turbulent centre of revolt, he exhibited that he is capable of leading the organization without the help of the petty bourgeoisie.³

After 1898, the intensity of the economic struggle increased. We have observed that in the earlier phase the then Marxists of Russia were hesitant about the independent role of the working class in revolutionary socialist movement. This hesitation and theoretical confusion came to the surface with the spread of the economic struggle. A section clearly declared in their campaigns that workers are meant for economic struggle only and political struggle is the exclusive arena of the intellectuals and the liberals. At that time only one section of the workers launched a fierce struggle against this economism. Babushkin, who was associated with 24 study circles, fought against this outlook in every study circle_. ⁴ We mention these incidents to highlight the fact that at this stage in Russia, an advanced conscious section of the working class was preparing themselves to lead in any situation which confronts them. At a later stage we shall also witness this leading role of the workers in party activities.

Observing this developed role of the workers, Lenin could give the call - ".....organize, but not only in mutual benefit societies, strike funds and workers' circles; organize in a political party; organize for the determined struggle against the autocratic government and against the whole of capitalist society. Without such organization the proletariat will never rise to the class-conscious struggle; without such organization the working class is doomed to impotency.⁵

Lenin realized that the Russian workers were ready to undertake this task as his analysis was -"...Russian working class has already shown that it can produce such men and women. The struggle which has developed so widely during the past five or six years has revealed the great potential revolutionary power of the working class; it has shown that the most ruthless state persecution does not diminish, but on the contrary, increases the number of workers who strive towards socialism, towards political consciousness and towards political struggle. The congress which our comrades held in 1898 correctly defined our tasks and did not merely repeat other peoples' words, did not merely express the enthusiasm of 'intellectuals'...."⁶

From this phase onwards, we shall witness the struggle for socialism, communism or democracy was no more the subject of the intellectuals or students only. In reality, not only a section of the working class had already made this objective as their agenda, but they also started taking an extensive role in organizing the remaining workers in this direction. In a number of places the ongoing economic strikes of the previous phase, rapidly started transforming into political strikes. In this process of evolution, the role of the advanced section of the working class was very significant.

The beginning of the nineteenth century was marked by the start of an unprecedented industrial development in Russia and as a result of it the working class went on gaining in strength. From 1894 to 1902, the number of factories engaging100-150 workmen increased by 52.8%. But the number of factories engaging 500-1000 workmen had increased by 72% and factories engaging more than 1000 workmen increased by 141%. The role of the workers started extending its influence on the social movement. During 1884 - 1890, the number of the workers arrested for political reasons was only 15% amongst the total number. But during 1901 - 1903, the number of arrested workers rose to 46% or almost half of the total number of people arrested for political reasons. The statistics showing the number of strikes in this period reveals this change more sharply.⁷

Year Political Strikes (%) Economic Strikes (%)

1901 22.1 77.9

1902 20.4 79.6

1903 53.2 46.8

(Source: Istoriya KPSS, Vol. I, 357, quoted in History of the Bolshevik Party: Bolshevism - The Road to Revolution)

Probably mentioning a few movements of this phase would not be irrelevant at this stage of our discussion.

A. On May 1901, a normally peaceful strike of workers started at Abukov militia factory in St. Petersburg. But the army was called to break the strike. The workers also retaliated by throwing stones and iron objects towards the army. This resistance against the army was known as Abukov Resistance. This resistance indicated that the workers were by now ready to start resistance struggle against the state.

B. In 1902, in the region named Rostov-on-Don, a meeting of thousands of factory workers and rail workers practically turned into a general strike. Cossacks and police were sent to repress this movement. A number of workers were killed. The last rites of these slain workers de facto turned into a political demonstration.

C. In 1903, waves of political strikes spread across the southern region of Russia - in the region of Tiflis, Baku, Kiev, Odessa and Ekaterinoslav. The heat of the workers' agitation was transmitted to the peasants also. The peasants participated in the agitation in the provinces of Poltova and Kharkov. Around ten thousand army men were deployed. But the peasant unrest spread across the Black Earth region of Central Russia. The peasants of Volga and Georgia burnt down the houses of the landlords.

D. The waves of the movement touched the students also. Starting with the demand for autonomy of the universities, soon it turned into a struggle of revolutionary-democratic character. The Tsarist rule compelled thousands of students to enroll in the army. In protest, 30000 students resorted to strike. The workers also joined in this strike. As this was a struggle against the onslaught of Tsarist autocracy, so the workers considered this struggle as their struggle for democracy.⁸

But at this juncture a fierce debate opened up within the communists of Russia mainly on the question that how political struggle could emerge with the workers in their economic struggle! One section put forward the view that the workers would march towards the political struggle through the economic struggle itself. They underestimated the revolutionary potential of the workers. It is better to say that they had no confidence about the potential of the working class. That is why we will observe that subsequently they put forward the proposal of merger with the liberal bourgeoisie. They gave up the path of struggle to establish democratic republic under the leadership of working class and put forward the political line of capture of power by constitutional means jointly with the liberal section of bourgeoisie. Under the leadership of Lenin, another section of communists resorted to fierce struggle against this line of thought. As a result of this debate, the newly formed party was divided into two sections: Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. This split of the party in 1903 had a very adverse effect amongst the workers. Most of the committees in the workers' belts were absolutely confused because of this. As a reaction to this state of affairs, one worker narrated in a letter to the Central Committee "The battle now being waged by the majority and the minority is totally incomprehensible to me, and a great many of us do not think it is right...is it really normal to expend all one' s energies and travel from committee to committee only to talk about the majority and the minority? . . . is the question really so important that we should devote all our strength to it and confront one another almost as enemies? ... Already workers circles are getting dissatisfied with the intelligentsia, which forgets the workers over its internaI quarrels; the more eager are about to give up because they do not know what they should do.⁹ This split within the party affected the conscious workers to a large extent. For example, one worker named Solomon Serge mentioned in a report regarding the organization at St. Petersburg - in December 1903, there were 180 members in 18 circles and with students and intellectuals the number was around 360 altogether. But in the winter of 1904, the number declined to four or five. In 1904 only 11 leaflets were published, whereas the number was 55 in 1903.¹⁰

At this stage, to add to the troubles, a newly formed organization led by a priest named Father Gapon started flourishing. The declared objective of this organization was to develop the standard of the life of the workers and the working-conditions in a legalistic way. Their activities earned some support from the Tsar and the police. The reason, as the Tsar after being defeated in a war with Japan was compelled to retreat to some extent. It was convenient for him to arrange for some relief for the workers to divert them from the path of struggle. The constituents of this union were the workers who were newcomers from the villages. But the section of the workers' leaders who moved away from the strike movements of the decade of 1890s were also associated with this movement. The workers of the socialist circles, who were the most skilled among the factory workers and were in a sense detached from the remaining workers, were in a fix. On one hand, Gapon was appealing to the workers in large assemblies to fight till the end and on the other hand, he was praying to the Almighty to lead this movement. We are compelled to mention this situation to the readers because only a few months after this unprepared condition of the communist organization, in the beginning of 1905, the first revolutionary campaign was about to start and the working class was going to establish its organization for practicing of its class power - the Soviet. It is probably an educative phase also revealing how the mass of workers could identify the wrong path shown by Gapon and the conscious workers could come out of their confused state.

From the beginning of 1905 the workers of the Putilov arms manufacturing factory in St. Petersburg city resorted to strike. Soon it took the shape of a general strike. On January 5, the number of strikers was 26,000, whereas by 8^th January about 1,11,000 workers joined the strike. The most important feature was that the charter of demands which was prepared by the workers in a meeting held on the 5^th to place it before the Tsar included - demands to form democratic republic, political freedom, release of political prisoners, eight hours working day etc. The workers who took an active role in the preparation of this charter of demands were those who were participants in the social-democratic (communist) activities from earlier days. But the workers prohibited the entry of even the Bolsheviks as well as the Mensheviks in those meetings. The striking workers in Vyborg district were a little soft towards the social-democrats, but everywhere else the workers did not even allow them to deliver speeches. A representative of St. Petersburg narrated that at that time the leaflets of the social-democrats were torn off and they were beaten. On one hand, the workers were supporting the political stand of Gapon in the appeal to the Tsar, but restraining a Menshevik worker from delivering any political speech.

In such a situation, it was decided that the workers from all over Russia would assemble in front of the Winter Palace on 9^th January to submit their deputation to the Tsar. There was no dearth of arrangements to keep this assembly completely peaceful. It was also decided that there would not be any slogan, no banner would be put up. Many Crosses as signs of peace were brought along. It was an assembly of almost 1,00,000 people including the families of the workers. The Bolsheviks were present at the rear end of the assembly. But the Tsar and history had some other thoughts in their mind. That is why the workers witnessed that despite the ample arrangements to communicate in the language of peace, a barrage of bullets from the Tsar's army pierced through the hearts of around 4200 workers. The Tsar, who was the representative of God became the agent of the Devil! And that evening, the workers heard from the mouth of Father Gapon, who was replete with his sermons propagating peace and seeking to connect mankind with god, that the Tsar is dead, we need arms. The exhausted workers were distressed assembling or moving hither and tither across the city throughout the whole night. All of a sudden the workers wanted to hear from the Bolsheviks. Only a few days back the workers who had turned a blind eye to the Bolsheviks and even snatched away and tore the leaflets from their hands were now all agog to hear what the Bolsheviks were saying. As if history had made a leap forward in one day. The slogan raised by the workers of St. Petersburg - "either freedom or death" reverberated throughout Russia and became the slogan of all Russian workers. The incident of 9^th January 1905 drew even the backward section of the proletariat of Russia to the arena of revolution. A new militant consciousness was born with the shattering of a divine faith in the Tsar which brought forward the necessity of the armed struggle in the fight of the workers for democracy. The long standing campaign of the social-democrats for the struggle for overthrow of the Tsarist regime and establishment of democracy during previous ten years began to bear fruit. The natural class-instinct of the working class was awakened. The incident of 9^th January, 1905, created such an impact that even Father Gapon reiterated after that day - we need arms. The struggle of the working class transformed their consciousness. Further that consciousness pushed them to become the creator of history.

1905 - The Commencement of the First Revolution in Russia

'Bloody Sunday' - that is the name by which the 9^th of January1905, began to be called. Henceforth with lightning speed the workers' movement began to unleash in whole of Russia. From 10^th January the workers of St. Petersburg commenced their battle erecting barricades. 1,60,000 workers of 650 factories of the capital went on strike on and from 17^th January. On 14^th January, the tram and railway workers also joined the strike along with about 4,00,000 factory workers in the capital of Poland. Even the doctors also joined the strike in the end. On 16^th January all the socialist forces unitedly gave a call for a rally. About sixty thousand rounds of bullets were fired to disperse the rally. 93 workers died and many were injured. The movement spread across the Baltic region, whose centre was Riga, where a general strike of about 13,60,000 workers continued. Starting from the workers of Poland, Armenia, Lithuania, Georgia, the Jewish workers also joined the general strike. As the workers' strike intensified accordingly the repression of the Tsarist army-police escalated. But the zeal of the workers for the strike movement was heightened defying all these repressions. Lenin wrote later on the basis of this experience: "The lesson of January 9 was a hard one, but it revolutionized the temper of the entire proletariat of the whole of Russia." ¹¹ In January itself, about 4,50,000 workers joined the strike which was more than the number of striking workers in whole of the preceding decade.

1905 - The Origin and Development of Soviet as the Centre of Workers' Power in Russia

Throughout 1905, the strikes were led by the factory-based strike committees formed by the workers themselves. Majority of the strike committees used to break up with the end of the strike. The major reason was that the workers of the strike committees got imprisoned during the strike. But on that particular year it was observed that among the strikes continuing the workers in some kept alive the strike committees. The workers for the first time began to elect their representatives to those committees.

These strike committees began to unite with different trade based organizations in some places. Such organizations of workers were formed in printing, textile, metal and tobacco industries in Moscow, and Kharkov. In September after a general strike in Moscow, a united organization of the representatives of the workers of different important factories was formed. 264 elected representatives of 110 factories formed an executive council comprising 15 members. Let us see what the tasks were that they expressed in a declaration. Then through that we will clearly understand the practical demands of the movements that led to the formation of these committees. "We hereby declare that we shall call the general meeting of the printing trade organization and special meeting of the sections. We would fix the agenda to be discussed in those meetings... formation of the strike fund and arrangement for the distribution will be undertaken, assistance will be provided in negotiation with the printing plant owner."¹². In fact, the first trade unions of Russia was born out of these organizations. At the same time another kind of organization was also born out of these committees. It happened when the strike committees of different factories began to unite. They began to unite to organize strikes throughout the city.

The first Soviet appeared in the month of May in the district of Ivanovo-Voznesensk near Moscow where there were many textile factories. They conducted a meeting on 9^th May and prepared a charter of 26 demands. These demands were mostly of trade union character in essence. For example: night duty must be stopped, overtime must be stopped, factory police should not be posted within the factory etc. There was only one political demand: workers must be given freedom to assemble, to exchange their hard experiences of life and to write those in papers. They called the strike with these demands.

The strike commenced on 12^th May. Almost 40,000 workers participated in the strike. During that strike itself, the government in effect recognized this soviet as the lawful representative of the workers. The organization which was formed to lead the strike gradually came to the forefront as the organization of the proletariat of the whole city. Although this first soviet did not raise any notable political demand. It mainly raised the practical economic demands. The one or two political demands that was raised by it were only perfunctory in nature. But formation of this soviet itself was an indication of the workers getting organized on a different plane. It is so because it will be observed that in the following few months this kind of soviets began to be formed rapidly in other industrial areas of Russia and those were emerging as the centre of the political power of the proletariat.

One thing we should keep in mind that the character of the strike movement kept on changing with the advancement of this movement of 1905. Though the beginning was in reaction to the incident of the bloody Sunday, but in the subsequent strikes the factory-based demands gained importance and they were intermingled with political demands. But as the advancement of the strikes spread rapidly and intensively within the workers, the demands of the strikes also went through an evolution. Even the number of political strikes began to increase gradually. Let us see the final shape of this process that took place in the month of October of that year.

The printing workmen started a strike on 27^th September in Moscow. The workers of St. Petersburg started a strike in solidarity of that strike. In the mean time the railway workmen were preparing to go on strike from 9^th October. There was a conference of the delegates of the railway workers on the 6^th. Somehow a rumour was spread that the delegates were arrested. The news spread amongst the railway workers instantly. The railway workers began a strike from the 6^th as a reaction. All the rail routes coming to Moscow were closed. Strike committees were formed in every rail station and they led the strikes. All the workers of Moscow and St. Petersburg joined a general strike from 12^th October. The demands of this strike in October became totally political in character. The workers raised the demand for a democratic republic with universal suffrage from the very beginning. From 12^th October onwards, the workers of post and telegraph along with the workers of all government and private sectors went on a general strike. In this situation the workers of St. Petersburg initiated the election of a city committee to lead the strikes throughout the city. The Mensheviks who were active in St. Petersburg also gave the call for the election of the representatives of workers to lead the strikes throughout the city. But the workers already realized this necessity from their own experience. The objective of the Mensheviks was to give birth to an autonomous body from this committee. The main objective of the workers was to lead the strike in a more organized way. The objective announced by 40 delegates from a sitting at the Technical Institute of St. Petersburg included deciding the commencement and the end of the strikes and further strengthening and uniting the workers' movement. Thus the journey of the soviet which was ushered in this way in St. Petersburg brought to the fore the declared objective of the strike committee in essence. In the third meeting held on the 17^th, where 226 delegates from 96 factories and delegates from five unions were present, the name 'Soviet of Workers' Deputies' was accepted for the first time. But the form of this soviet went on changing with its advancement. The soviet had to take stand on such questions of the practical field that in actuality it became the centre of the administrative power of the workers themselves and at the same time, a centre for leading a revolutionary organization. This soviet compelled some factory owners to implement eight hours' working day on one hand, and on the other hand it began to establish control over the production in some factories. The most notable act was to extend a step forward towards the formation of an armed regiment from within the workers. This regiment apprehended some tyrannical police officers also.

The soviet was a centre for exercise of political power that emerged solely from the workers' own movement. It should be noted that the workers at first organized in factory-based strike committees to advance their struggle on the basis of economic demands. Through the ongoing struggle, they realized the necessity of unity of all the workers of the factories of the city. This compelled them to organize in the city committees. At the same time, the political questions of the workers began to surface with the development of the movement. The economic demands were principal at the time of formation of the first soviet, but political demands came to the forefront during the formation of Moscow soviet. Moreover, when the city committees started functioning, their actions in the beginning pushed them gradually to assume such a role for the sake of practical struggle that a centre for exercise of political power was born which we know by the name of soviet.

The phenomenon of formation of soviets spread rapidly. Soviets were formed in about 50 cities including Moscow, Odessa. The workers did not take the principal role in this process in all the places, though. Different sections of the petty bourgeoisie took the main role in the formation of soviets in those places. It must be noted that at that time a great empire was represented by Russia. It was not possible for the workers of all the places to sum up their experiences in a similar way, and it did not happen also. When the formation of soviets were going on ( throughout the month of November), at the same time it was also seen that the striking workers were also sending appeal letters to the Tsar so that he takes their side in the strike. These incidents show that there was a considerable difference in the consciousness and organization of the workers.

The revolutionary forces operating within the workers were also not free from this weakness. When the soviets were being formed in St. Petersburg, even many amongst Bolsheviks failed to realize the real significance of these incidents. They were not ready to recognize such non-party organizations as soviets. They demanded that soviets should accept social-democratic (communist) programme. When the workers rejected this proposal of the Bolsheviks in a meeting at St. Petersburg, two leading Bolshevik activists walked out of the meeting. Their main objection was that giving recognition to the soviets would tantamount to giving recognition to spontaneity and keeping consciousness away. They were ready to recognize the soviets as unions at most, not as any revolutionary organization. In their opinion, party was the sole conscious organization which could lead the workers to the revolutionary path. As the soviet was an organization formed from within the workers, they denied the presence of revolutionary element in it. The majority of the Bolshevik leaders including Lenin were in exile at that time. Lenin, though still being in exile, understood the role soviets are going to assume in future and emphatically declared "... we do not shut ourselves off from the revolutionary people, .....we rely fully and solely on the free initiative of the working masses themselves."¹³This analysis played a role in framing the policy regarding the emphasis to be given to the soviet at that time in this contradiction which appeared between the party and the role of soviets. However, this incident gives us an important education.

When the working class in Russia formed the soviet as the centre of their independent power entirely through their own movements, even the Bolsheviks (except Lenin) who were present as a conscious force could not realize its significance correctly. They thought that unless the soviets accept the social-democratic (communist) programme and join the RSDLP, they would not be able to take a revolutionary role in the proper sense. Lenin realized the importance of the soviets from the very beginning and believed that the soviets contain the embryo that could grow up into a provisional revolutionary government and this embryo should be developed to convert the soviets into a provisional revolutionary government.¹⁴ This lesson of the revolution of 1905 helped the workers to form the soviets in 1917 and consolidate their power through these

Role Of The Workers In The Last Phase Of The Revolution Of 1905:

St. Petersburg gradually began to emerge as the centre of workers movements. The Soviet called for a general strike on 31^st October demanding 8 hours working day. In the previous phase, the factory owners provided some concessions to the workers during their strikes, for example, by not opting for a wage-cut during the strikes. But the real, predatory nature of the capitalists were manifested during this period. They began to increase their assault upon these strikes. Realizing that it would not be feasible to continue with the strike for long by countering these attacks, the Soviet called for a withdrawal of the strike on 12^th November. Though the participation of the workers in the November strike was far greater than in the October strike, the workers had reached the last reserves of their strength of resistance. This weakness of the workers became evident to the capitalists too. They promptly acted to break the meetings of the workers through lock-outs and by unleashing the police and the army. The attacks and repressions during this period escalated so massively that the workers practically did not possess the strength to counter it. As a result, after prolonged deliberations at the Soviet, the workers had to withdraw the strike.

However, the retreat of the Petersburg workers did not affect other industrial areas yet. Thus we shall see that the courageous struggle of Moscow workers commenced soon after this. The Moscow workers gradually became very eager to begin their ultimate offensive to overthrow Tsarism. The revolt in the army kindled hopes that there will be a split in the army and they will support the workers. Though, this did not materialize then. But tremendous pressure of the workers from the factory level/shop-level forced the Moscow Soviet to embark upon a movement. This was also a workers decision entirely since the Bolsheviks were not too keen to start a movement at this critical time. The Moscow workers began to directly confront the Tsarist forces on the streets with strikes and barricades. Though there was a preparation of an armed struggle prior to this, it was only at a very primary stage. The workers embarked on an armed resistance against the Tsar even with their feeble strength. This movement drew to an end on 18^th December. By then, more than 1000 workers were already dead and severe repression of the Tsar had begun. To avoid further losses, the workers had to step back from the strikes and the street demonstrations of this period. Along with Moscow, armed resistance had also begun in Georgia-Baltic provinces, and in a host of other cities. But the strength of the armed forces of the workers were feeble in comparison with the Tsar's forces in all the places. When these resistance struggles were going on, the Petersburg workers failed to organise any movement to advance these struggles. Then the retreat of the movements of Moscow and St. Petersburg had a profound effect on the struggles of other places. This was coupled with increased repression by the Tsar. That is, though there was a transition from political strikes to an armed struggle by creating a workers' own detachment during this phase, that was not powerful enough to advance by combatting the Tsar's forces. Despite the revolts and splits and in the army, it was not to such an extent that it could become capable of emerging as a formidable strength in support of the workers. Along with this, the peasants too had then just begun revolting in some places sporadically, so their support too was not strong. Above all, the working class could not unitedly develop coordinated and organized activities that was so vitally necessary for conducting a revolution. Due to these reasons, the period of revolutionary uprising of 1905 had practically run its course by the month of December of that year itself, in spite of some political strikes and scattered resistances at the barricade in 1906.

Later, while commenting on this uprising of 1905, Lenin stated, ?-"In its extent and acuteness, the strike struggle had no parallel in the world. The economic strike developed into a political strike, and the latter into insurrection......The Soviet form of organization came into being in the spontaneous development of the struggle....Without the 'dress-rehearsal' of 1905, the victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible".¹⁵

The Role of Workers In The Period Of Reaction (1906-1910)

Though there was an ebb in revolutionary upsurges after the failed uprising of 1905, in Moscow this lull was still not perceptible in the workers political and economic strikes. In spite of numbering less than the strikes in the latter half of 1905, 2 lakh 60 thousand workers participated in the period of January to March 1906 alone. Two-thirds of these strikes were political strikes. 4 lakh 79 thousand workers participated in strikes from March to May. What is surprising is that these numbers were bigger than that of the summer of 1905. The workers were successful in bringing about 39% of the settlements of these strikes in their favour.¹⁶ They waged these struggles at a time when the terror unleashed by the Tsar had begun crossing all limits. It will be next to impossible to grasp the significance of these struggles if we do not realize the extent of terror during this period.

Almost 15 thousand workers and peasants were hanged from October 1905 to April 1906 alone. Apart from these, there were innumerable peasants whom the Cossacks simply hanged by the trees without any trial. Innumerable women workers and peasants were raped in broad daylight in front of the Tsar's army. Nearly 45 thousand people were sent to exile. In addition to all these, the capitalists unflinchingly sacked workers and declared lock-outs. The workers continued with their strikes even under such repressive circumstances. Popov, an advanced worker of the 'Siberian Railway Workers Union', while awaiting death in his death-cell in Siberia, wrote to his mother, "I leave this world of darkness and repression with complete peace of mind giving way to other younger forces. If we have achieved little, they will finish off what we started. I die fully convinced that our bodies will provide a firm foundation upon which will arise a better future for my long-suffering native land."

Based upon such extremely courageous struggles of this period, the Bolshevik Party analysed that there was no regression of the revolutionary situation, that, the workers were still carrying it forward. But the desperate struggles waged by the workers during these period were actually a manifestation of their inability to accept defeat and to determine their clear and specific tasks accordingly.

In short, just as the working class, in spite of the 1905 revolutionary uprising, had to step back for being unorganized, similarly, the retreat from the struggles could not be carried out everywhere in an equally consistent and organised manner due to this very lack of organization. This weakness rapidly came to the fore in the face of a severe reactionary onslaught.

The first and foremost setback of the defeat of the revolution came from the section of intellectuals. Those that joined the Party and the struggles of the workers in hordes during the phase of revolutionary upsurge, suddenly at this juncture they began to dissociate themselves from it. Not only did they dissociate themselves silently, but they also began to raise doubts about the potential of the working class to be the leaders of the revolution. During this period, the philosophical theory/ doctrine of "be skeptical about everything" began to gain acceptance amongst these intellectuals. They began to doubt everything starting from the possibilities of a Socialist Revolution to the revolutionary role of the working class and up to the Theory of Dialectics. This had a profoundly detrimental effect in the world of philosophy. The working class were relatively free from this philosophical anarchy as long as they, grounded upon the revolts at the grass-roots level, were gradually advancing. But after this, the working class, along with even their advanced sections, could not remain totally unaffected by the tremendously engulfing despair and frustrations that pervaded society. During this period along with a sizable section of petty-bourgeois, a sizable section of workers too left the Party. In some regions the party membership was reduced to almost half its original strength. But, in spite of such adversities, during this most trying reactionary period, it was the advanced section of workers only who came forward and took reins of the Party. They began to wage a two-pronged struggle?one was to carry forth with the political activities even under such severe reactionary onslaught, and on the other they started waging a war against the various ideological confusions of that period. Practically, these years became the period when the vanguard of the proletariat took a more clear, specific, political position and also conducted and carried forward the revolutionary struggle even in a tough condition of lack of support of the lower strata of general workers.

We get a description of this situation from one of Lenin's writings?"Party nests among the workers... scattered in large numbers throughout the area, in most cases without any intellectual forces, without literature, even without any connection with the Party Centres, don't want to die ......The number of organized members is not decreasing but increasing .... There are no intellectuals, and the workers themselves, the most class-conscious among them, have to carry on propaganda work." And the general conclusion reached is that "in a number of places responsible work, owing to the flight of the intellectuals, is passing into the hands of advanced workers" (Sotsial-Democrat, no,1,28). ¹⁷

During this period, the advanced workers had to work in a condition where there was no central leadership, no central periodicals or organ, nor the existence of the Party organization whatsoever. The workers sustained themselves in the factories. Most did not even have the scope to maintain contact amongst themselves owing to the fact they had to work clandestinely. However, they grabbed the slightest opportunity to work openly in any mass organization, wherever such opportunities were present. Conditions took a turn for the better from about 1911. But such turning point in struggles were also initiated by the workers themselves. We shall now observe in brief about how this was made possible.

The Resurgence of Workers Struggle After The Reactionary Period (1912-14)

The year 1912 began without many incidents, much like the five years preceding it. The number of strikes were abysmally low. January passed and then February. There wasn't a slightest indication of any impending storm. On the last day of February, workers launched a strike in the world's biggest gold mine, Lena in Siberia. Meagre wages and inhuman working conditions were the causes of their strike. On the 4^th of April, the Tsar's army fired upon an assembly of 3000 workers and killed 270 of them. More than 250 were injured. This day became another bloody Sunday in the history of the Russian workers' movement. The Lena incident jolted the workers awakening them from their slumber and shattered the prevailing dormancy. Between April 14-22, 1,40,000 workers in Petersburg and 30,70,000 workers in Moscow embarked upon strikes. And from 1^st May, 1000 strikes were organized in Petersburg alone, the numbers of which were far greater than even those of the year 1905. ¹⁸ A significant difference between the strikes in the beginning of 1905 and the strike of this period was perceptible. The strikes of 1905 began with a petition to the Tsar, whereas, the strikes of 1912 began with the slogan- "Down with Tsarism!"

In fact, the series of workers' struggles in this new phase continued till the year 1914, or more concretely, till the commencement of First World War. It was during this phase that a considerable section of young workers came forward who began to embrace communist ideology. The Party of the working class, which was practically wiped out during the reactionary period, began to rise from the ashes everywhere, getting reorganised by the zealousness of this section of workers. Not only did the workers bring to the fore the democratic demands against the Tsar, but their struggles gradually veered towards the path of communism also. Those that are under the illusion that it is the task of the Communist Party to build up struggles, have either forgotten these lessons of history or these lessons are incapable of having any impact on their consciousness. We cannot disown this history as being falsified, as in Lenin's own words, the period is described thus as?'The Revolutionary movement of the proletariat in Russia has risen to a higher level. Whereas, in 1905 it began with mass strikes and Gaponiads, in 1912, despite the fact that the police has smashed our party organizations, the movement is beginning with mass strikes and the raising of the republican banner! (italics in original). The separate "nuclei" and disconnected "groups" of workers did their duty under the most difficult and trying conditions. The proletariat set up its own "May day committees" and went into action with a revolutionary (italics in original) platform worthy of the class which is destined to free mankind from "wage slavery".⁽¹⁹⁾

The Role of The Proletariat During The War

With the beginning of the First World War in 1914, an all pervading atmosphere of subdued anxiety, depression and demoralization kept escalating. Nearly 40% of workers from big factories had been sent to the war. The Bolshevik Party had already renounced the war. The youth, in unison with the conscious workers had begun organizing propaganda work against the war among the workers. Owing to this and coupled with their own experiences, the workers, overcoming their initial doubts and hesitations, again embarked on the path of protests and agitations. But there was a marked difference between the general situation and this specific situation arising out of war. The Tsar had already won over a section of the middle class in support of the war?patriotism overwhelmed their feelings for their nation. Even the backward section of workers were steeped in the nationalist fervour due to the war. When the advanced workers began their agitation against the war, in different regions, the above-mentioned section of middle-class came down heavily upon them in collusion with the Tsar's police. Countering these attacks nearly 27,000 workers took out a procession on 31^st July with the singular slogan?"The Imperialist War does not serve our interests". Protest demonstrations and processions renouncing the "war" were organized in 31 districts of 17 provinces. Open confrontation with the Cossacks and the police forces took place in many places. ⁽²⁰⁾

The very day when the war was first declared in St. Petersburg, workers from 20 factories undertook demonstrations and strikes to build up a resistance against the war. But the very next day, when they took to the streets to protest, masses on either side of the streets suddenly turned violent and attacked the workers along with the Tsar's forces, all the while hurling abuses, calling them traitors and agents. Such attacks on the protesting workers intensified in the following days. The workers were fined heavily for organizing strikes. The trade unions were nearly smothered. The workers were over burdened with immense pressure of production under the garb of defending the nation. The atmosphere was so repressive that no one dared identify themselves as Bolsheviks in a factory, not because they were afraid of prison but because they stood the chance of being heckled and even beaten up by their co-workers. Thousands of party members were jailed. Carrying out any type of Party work openly was practically rendered impossible. In this way, the revolutionary upsurge that was so conspicuous in the previous phase was now drowned in waves of national chauvinism. Even the Marxists, barring a few Bolsheviks, joined the rank and file of the backward strata, championing the cause of the national frenzy in support of the predatory war. Internationally also, the Marxist organizations, split into two. Even in such hostile situations, the Bolshevik workers, though underground themselves, carried on with their propaganda work amongst the workers, which ranged from distributing anti-war leaflets in the factories to advocating their views and opinions incessantly. Almost 550 different kinds of leaflets were distributed in between 1915 to Feb 1917 itself, with a total of 20 lakhs being printed. ⁽²¹⁾

Not only did the class-conscious workers sustain themselves in such hostile conditions, but they also kept organizing themselves secretly. When the general situation was of utmost terror, they moved ahead with steely determination, disseminating lessons of each and every twists and turns of the predatory war to the proletariat, linking it up with the workers' own experiences and helping in assimilating it. When the general workers maintained silence on the issue of taking an anti-war stand, the workers of two big factories- Putilov and Ericsson?handed over one-fifth of their wages to the families of workers killed in the war.

Meanwhile, shortage of food and weapons accelerated the unrests and agitation amongst the soldiers. In October 1915, a revolt occurred in the Navy, though the revolt was successfully crushed soon by the lackeys of the Tsar's army. But to prevent the revolting soldiers from being awarded capital punishment, the St.Petersburg committee called for a unity of the revolutionary proletariat and the general masses. The Petrograd workers began a strike in solidarity with the soldiers. Owing to this, capital punishment for the naval soldiers were revoked.

The number of workers strikes kept increasing by the day. In between February and April 1915, a total of 574 strikes were undertaken. But in the next half, up to January 1916, the number of workers participating in nearly 606 strikes almost doubled. Out of these, 45% strikers were participants of political strikes. ⁽²²⁾ This legacy continued for the whole of 1916 and was then joined by the struggles of the rural proletariat. This intensified from 1916. The struggles of the Russian proletariat were once again pregnant with a revolutionary situation.

The number of women workers in the Russian factories were increasing rapidly owing to the fact that male-workers were being forcibly sent to war. Majority of the workforce in the textile industries were women-workers. Their number kept increasing in other industries too. For example, the percentage of women workers in the manufacturing industries prior to the war in 1914 was about 27.4 which increased to 34.2 percent by the January of 1917. ⁽²³⁾ But they were victims of utmost wage inequalities. The value of rouble kept depreciating alarmingly on account of the war due to which there was a massive inflation- food products became very expensive. A severe food crisis precipitated. The women folk's spare time was spent in standing in queues for acquiring bread for their kids. During this time, the women workers started playing a significant role in the workers struggles. On one hand, they came forward to organize strikes. On the other, they took a crucial role in the propaganda work amongst the army as if it was their own family members and relatives who were forcibly dispatched to the war. These women workers, along with organizing themselves against the attacks of their employers in factories, also started resisting the domestic repression that they had been subjected to. The realization that the fight for emancipation from exploitation of capital is the only path for emancipation from these two kinds of oppressions inflicted upon them, influenced a considerable section of these women workers. As a result, their participation in the army of the class-conscious proletariat gradually increased in number.

1917?The Year of Revolutionary Insurrection

The year 1917 was ushered in with successive workers strike. Severe economic crisis arising out of war had started nearing its zenith. During this period, we get to observe the reaction of the workers against such a situation. Due to unavailability of fuel production in 39 factories of Petrograd were shut down December 1916. The railways were closed for the same reason. Acquiring basic necessities like bread, meat, etc became difficult - almost impossible. A strike commenced in Petrograd from 9th January. Workers started to rally around this strike with processions and assemblies which continued till February.

Meanwhile, on 14^th February a call for a protest demonstration was given to commemorate the anniversary of the arrests and trials of Bolshevik deputies. Workers from 58 factories rallied around this demonstration by resorting to strikes. Slogans like?'Down with the Government', 'Down with the war', 'Establish a Democratic Republic' were raised from these demonstrations. These were like little eruptions in the beginning of workers unrests, indicative of a massive volcanic outburst in near future.

In the meantime, food riots broke out in several areas due to shortage of food stock. Women workers took an active and advance role in these riots. The workers of Putilov factory had initiated a strike movement for hiking their wages in a department and to reinstate some retrenched workers. This began on 18^th February. 30,000 workers of this giant weapons factory participated in this movement. The following day, the management responded by declaring a lock-out. This step by the management was like adding fuel to fire. Women, who were already staging demonstrations for food, joined these ranks of workers in their protest. The following day, the women workers assembled to commemorate International Women's Day. Thousands and thousands of youth joined the women workers and Putilov workers. Together they raised slogans against Tsarism, against the war demanding food. ⁽²⁴⁾ Thus began a new chapter in the history of Russia's revolutionary uprising. From the next day, nearly half of the workers of Petrograd began a strike. Women-workers took a key role in organizing strikes on 23 February. They appealed to the workers of different factories to strike and come out onto the streets. Workers came out in masses and assembled on the streets. Voices echoed - Down with hunger!, Down with war!, Down with the Tsar!, Long live the Republic! Thus, in this manner, February Revolution began in Russia. No call for the uprising was given by anybody, No one forced the workers onto the streets. The workers organizing themselves on their own, spilled out onto the streets blowing the bugle of revolution. And it was the women-workers and female members of workers' families who played an advanced role in that revolutionary uprising.

But interestingly just one month prior to the uprising, while addressing the communist youth of Switzerland on the subject of the 1905 revolution, Lenin was heard saying, "We, of the older generation may not live to see the decisive battles of this coming revolution."⁽²⁵⁾ Lenin said this not because he was outside Russia and did not possess the necessary information. Actually, even the Bolshevik organization within Russia was totally unprepared and taken by complete surprise by the rapidity of the onset of February revolution. As is seen from the speech of V.N.Kayurov, a member of the Bolshevik committee in the Vyborg district, an important centre of the movement. While addressing a militant women workers' meeting on February 22, he asked them to restrict their actions to the commemoration of the Women's Day. He asked them clearly to refrain from any partial demonstrations and to act only on the instructions of the Party Committee. But when the events of the following day unfolded in a different manner, he was clearly expressed his indignation saying, "The previous evening I had called on the working women to show restraint and discipline?and now, out of the blue, there was this strike."⁽²⁶⁾ This was not just his opinion. Initially, the Bolsheviks failed to gauze the mood of the workers. Just as they faltered and wavered and could not take a decisive stand during the period of 1905, they manifested a similar position during this time too. Although overcoming their initial hesitation, the Bolsheviks soon got down to work and integrated themselves with the workers movements. And on 27^th of February, they arrived at a decision about how to advance from the general mass-strikes to an armed uprising. Obviously we are not discussing the role of the Party here, as that is a different subject. The reason behind mentioning this event is to highlight the fact that in this period too, the workers themselves took an active initiative in bringing about the transition from mass-strikes to a revolutionary struggle. Those who are carry with them the impression that irrespective of historical situation, the workers have always acted under the party's directives, will surely find it difficult to explain these sequence of events.

But we shall also have to keep in mind that the Bolshevik Party, could not be seen to have led the February revolution. Yet someone or the other definitely led the revolution. Who were they? Every worker knew that even for a strike of a couple of hours someone gave the call from the front. That person was their leader. The person knew at least from his past experiences, he knew, what the workers had to specifically do in that particular situation. For example, the Bolsheviks were a minority in the Putilov factory. Many a times party decisions never reached them on time. But it is they who took an advanced leadership role during strikes and demonstrations. But they were not Marxist intellectuals. Still they read the political magazines, leaflets, etc. very minutely, all the while corroborating it with their own living experiences. By the dint of their class-consciousness and through summing up and assimilating their own experiences they de facto advanced the February revolution. It is they who raised appropriate slogans consistent with the particular situation and decided upon the next course of action. They were the natural leaders of the workers.

The Formation of Soviets

Immediately after the commencement of the February strike movements, especially after February 23, the workers started discussions for proceeding towards the formation of Soviets. The formation of the Soviets in 1905 was still fresh in their memory. Elections to select the deputies of the Soviets also began in many factories on 24^th February. Some representatives of the Socialist groups (there were representatives of the illegal Trade Unions. Duma members, Party members), decided in a meeting on 23^rd and 25^th of February to announce the election of the Deputies to the Soviets. But they were arrested on 25^th February itself, even before the declaration of the said decision. Notwithstanding this attack the workers themselves went ahead with the process of election of the Deputies for the Soviets.

Finally, a meeting of the provisional executive committee of the "Soviets of Workers Deputies" was held on 27^th February. It was decided in that meeting that there will be one representative for every 1000 workers and one representative for each company of army. On 28^th February, this committee, through a written declaration announced that it will be the primary task of the Soviet "to organize the people's forces and to struggle to consolidate political liberty and popular government. ⁽²⁷⁾ In the presence of nearly 120 elected representatives in a plenary session held that day, it was decided that they will not participate in the Provisional Government but act as organs of controlling revolutionary democracy instead. The number of workers and soldiers representatives jumped considerably during the subsequent phase. The numbers which stood at 1200 in the beginning of March swelled to 3000 by the middle of March. The plenary sessions of the Soviet were not like the ornamental sophisticated sessions of the bourgeois parliament. It used to be an organized disciplined assembly of workers and soldiers. Beginning from Petrograd, Soviets gradually sprang up in nearly all the cities of Russia. In villages too, Peasants Soviets started forming.

With the progress of the revolution more and more the Soviets kept acquiring the role of a workers state and gradually it became "a state within the state". To deal with the food crisis, the Soviets issued a ban on the export of food stock and ensured that everyone got food through ration cards. They even safeguarded the right to 8 hours working-day in factories. These issues were later overseen by the factory committees. The most strikingly important event of this period is that the Soviets created its own armed forces of the people in which the soldiers not only participated, but also played a role in training and arming a large section of workers with military training. There were some Soviets which even established workers' control on the supply of raw materials and fuel to their factories; they took a crucial role in transporting commodities to the market; in some places where the factory owners refused to run the factories, the Soviets aided the workers in operating the factories themselves.

We should bear in mind that right from the inception of the Soviets, the Social - Democrats differed in their opinions about the path that the Soviets should adopt. On one hand, the Mensheviks, who were comparatively a majority in the Soviets, opined that since Russia was in the phase of completing bourgeois democratic revolution and there was not yet a question of socialist revolution, hence the Soviets have to remain as appendages of the bourgeois in power. In short, the Soviets will have to function under the ruling bourgeoisie, who were centrally in power in the Provisional Government and act as appendages to them. On the other hand, the Bolsheviks, who were a minority, though opposed to the Mensheviks, failed to arrive at a decisive position on the question of what the relation between the Soviets and the Provisional Government should be. This dilemma persisted till Lenin returned from his exile. In this prevailing situation, the Soviets, practically on the strength of the struggles at the grass-roots level, continued to become the centres of power of the proletariat. As a consequence of which, when Lenin raised the slogan of transferring all power to the Soviets, the Bolsheviks opposed it, but the workers at the Soviets immediately grasped the significance of this slogan and proceeded to execute it. Thus, it will not in any way be a distortion of history to state that, beginning from the overthrowing of Tsar and establishing of the Soviets, to increasing their numbers and expanding their base and further to transforming the Soviets into instruments of power of the workers and peasants - it was the leadership of the working class who took a crucial and predominant role in all these.

There was a period of time when the workers of the Soviets failed to recognise the reformist politics of the Menshevik leadership to keep the Soviets as more appendages of the bourgeois and the big landlords in power. They did work to advance the Soviets, but could not comprehend this deception of the leadership. As a result when the Bolsheviks carried out a consolidated and extensive propaganda under Lenin's leadership, they had to undertake the extremely patient task of bringing the workers out of the influence of these reformist leaders. The formation of the armed forces under the control of the Soviet was initially aimed at being defensive, like, teaching a lesson or two to a tyrant manager or take punitive measures against lumpens and thugs. It did not have the aim to prepare for an armed insurrection to wrest power from the bourgeois. Despite the fact that the workers themselves decided to create a militia soon after the formation of the Soviets. Prior to the October revolution, the membership of the militia was nearly one lakh. Gradually, the hypocrisy of the politics of Menshivism became evident to a section of workers, During the 1^st All Russian Congress of the Soviets, held from 3^rd - 24^th June, the, militia, under the Bolshevik leadership, convened assemblies to exert pressure on the Congress. Petrograd workers were becoming increasingly restless to wrest power. But the petty - bourgeois leadership of the Soviets still reposed their faith in the bourgeois government. It was again the workers themselves, who, on one hand undertook the enormously crucial task of bringing this contradiction to the fore through persistent propaganda, and on the other, emphatically highlighted through the living experiences of the workers the necessity of overthrowing the bourgeois from power. Consequently, the workers began to join the Bolsheviks in large numbers.

The Bolsheviks, were then of the opinion that time was not yet ripe to overthrow the bourgeois from power. Hence they appealed to the masses to show restraint and patience. The particular reason put forth was that the peasants were not yet prepared for revolution and workers of other cities were not yet responding. Hence, they were in favour of buying more time to prepare for the complete transfer of power to the Soviets. They appealed to the working masses to begin their movements in a restrained and cautious manner, But it became clearly evident to the workers, that the bourgeois character of the provisional revolutionary government and the coalition of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries were the main hurdles to the path of revolution. On 9^th July, the Executive Committee of the Soviets declared that the Provisional Government was the liberator of revolution. On describing about how the revolutionary character of these petty - bourgeois forces were undergoing degeneration, Lenin said, "On February 28, in the Petrograd Soviet, they promised conditional support to the bourgeois government. On May 6, they saved it from collapse and allowed themselves to be made its servants and defenders by agreeing to an offensive. ...On June 19 they approved the resumption of the predatory war. On July 3 they consented to the summoning of the reactionary troops, which was the beginning of their complete surrender of power to the Bonapartists. Down the ladder, step by step".²⁸

In the meantime, the Soviets began to expand it's base among the workers. Along with this the most significant step was the formation of factory committees in the factories. From the month of March itself the factory committees of workers came up alongside the Soviets. Though these committees initially functioned as strike committees, their role was more extensive in nature. Through these committees, workers began to participate actively in almost all the affairs of a factory. They controlled the activities of the capitalists and the managers. If need be they even deposed the manager and themselves performed his functions. A particular activity became hugely popular amongst the workers at this time. They expelled the tyrant managers and supervisors for the factories by giving them joy-rides on push-carts. They began to practically take the affairs of production from the capitalists in to their own hands. Where ever, the capitalists shut down factories under the pretext of unavailability of raw materials and fuel, it was the workers who shouldered the responsibility of running these factories. In bigger factories, the workers themselves assumed the role of accountants. They kept record of the workers' wages, production costs and share of the owner's profits.

We shall notice that the demands of the strikes held during this phase kept altering. For example, the workers of the Donbass mine area embarked on a strike in September, which was participated by almost 2 lakh 80 thousand workers. They even laid siege to some mines. When the owner refused to accede to their demands, they arrested him. When the provisional government sent armies to crush the strikes, the workers demanded, "Transfer all power to the Soviet." In fact, the demands rising from almost all the strikes held in September - October was the demand to transfer all power to the Soviets.

In the meantime, the advanced workers realised the expeditious need to organise the rural peasants and rural proletariat to expropriate the bourgeois from power. The First Congress of the "All Russia Soviet of Peasants Deputies" were of the opinion that not only will the rich land owners oppose and stiffly resist the transfer of land without any compensation, even the capitalists will oppose this severely. Not until the peasant's lose their trust in the capitalist class, not until a strong alliance of workers and peasants is forged and not until all the state power is transferred to the Soviets of workers,peasants and soldiers, will the transfer of land to the peasants materialise. At the same time, the necessity of organising the agricultural labourers and the poor peasants in separate Soviets or forming separate groups within the general peasant Soviets was stressed upon because the rich landed peasants could obviously defeat to the capitalists and landlords coalition ⁽²⁹⁾ . With this decision, detachments of advanced workers spread into different villages to organise the poor peasants and agricultural labourers and gave the call to confiscate lands from the landlords. They began organising to prepare for an armed insurrection of the workers and peasants with the aim of expropriating the capitalists from power. The peasant movement began to escalate and reached its height in September - October with the help and support it received from these advanced workers.

The whole of Russia witnessed the height of the movements of peasant masses and various oppressed nationalities along with the revolutionary movements of the working class. The whole situation was advancing towards a revolutionary insurrection. "To be successful, insurrection must rely not upon conspiracy and not upon a party, but upon the advanced class. That is the first point. Insurrection must rely upon a revolutionary upsurge of the people (italics in original)......" ⁽³⁰⁾.We shall observe that ultimately in the revolution of 25^th October, or 7^th November in accordance with the modern calendar, it was the working class who stood as the vanguard in every aspect of the insurrection to wrest power from the bourgeois. The revolution was practically carried through to its conclusion by the working class together with the army who were de facto the uniformed armed peasants. How they planned about the insurrection under the able leadership of the Bolshevik Party, how they literally executed the plan with tenacity and discipline in reality is a different history. This article does not present the scope of that discussion.

Before drawing to an end of this phase, we shall reflect upon certain aspects. Before the 1905 uprising, the Russian workers went to the Tsar with a petition. What was the language and tone of that petition? "We workers inhabitants of St. Petersburg, have come to Thee. We are unfortunate, reviled slaves, weighed down by despotism and tyranny. Our patience exhausted, we ceased work and begged our masters to give us only that without which life is a torment... ..... Sire, do not refuse aid to Thy people! Demolish the wall that separates Thee from Thy people....... If not, we are ready to die on this very spot" ^31.This is, as if, the language of an utterly backward, unenlightened working class. But these very workers, after a few days, were to give rise to the Soviets! Lenin's analysis of this amazing transformation of the proletariat was - "The principal factor in this transformation was the mass strike ... At the same time, the Russian revolution was also a proletarian revolution, not only in the sense that the proletariat was the leading force, the vanguard of the movement, but also in the sense that a specifically proletarian weapon of struggle- the strike - was the principal means of bringing the masses into motion. ..." ³². For this very reason, the revolution of Russia is intrinsically related to the evolution of strikes. The rise and fall of the number of strikes directly reflected the consciousness and struggles of the proletariat. It is through the strikes that the proletariat kept transforming their organisation and consciousness. Strike committees, Soviets, workers committee or factory committees - all were formed at different stages of conducting strike movements. It was the weapon of strikes with which the advanced proletariat was able to draw even the most backward section of the proletariat into the arena of struggles.

The Role of Proletariat As The Ruling Class

It is important to mention at the start that we are incapable of discussing this phase within the ambit of this article. In fact, the struggles for a transition to communism after the revolution, it's strength and weaknesses are a subject of a lengthy discussion and research. But perhaps, it will not be totally irrelevant to mention that we are so grossly fed with populist discussions about what the communist party did, what role did Lenin play and how did Stalin strengthen or weaken it thereafter, that we have nearly forgotten that it was in all actuality the working class, who appropriated power by overthrowing autocracy and capitalism through an insurrection. It is important to analyse this phase in terms of how the working class succeeded or failed in advancing this newly acquired power. At the same time it is also imperative to bear in mind that, when the colossal responsibility of carrying forward the struggles of the international communist movement came to rest historically on the shoulders of the Russian proletariat, they had to practically confront a thousand objective hurdles. Fighting against the deeply - ingrained backwardness in their own country, they also had to face the inexorably difficult counter - revolutionary actions of the capitalists-imperialists both from within and without. They, then, did not hesitate or falter to accept this challenge. Freshly out of the First World War after the revolution, they had to confront with all their strength, a civil war and an allied, collective force of 14 foreign powers for a long two and a half year.

After the end of this war, Lenin wrote, "The finest members of the working class are dead. They had made huge sacrifices, faced famines, their death - rates have increased. But they will prove that they did not fight the capitalist - class out of vengeance, instead, they have with tenacity and determination, been fighting for a system where there will not exist any landlords or capitalists. ³³

This war squeezed the life blood out of the working class. Only 47% workers were left after the war of the number of workers present in 1917, nearly 8 lakh workers participated in the war, out of which 1 lakh 80 thousand perished.

A truly amazing thing is this that even in the midst of all these adversities, the thought of organising an international army to assist the German revolution was being considered. A proposal to create an army of 20 lakhs to aid the international revolution was passed in 1917. And it was the workers again, who came forward in this task. Through this, they proved that their war was not just to expropriate the Russian capitalists from power, but they were on the path to annihilate capitalism internationally.

The possibility of a German revolution ended by 1918. On the other hand, the majority of the most advanced, resilient and experienced ( through their past struggles ) section of proletariat perished in this war. Consequently, the Russian proletariat faced a new challenge. That was, in a situation, when even the proletariat of other countries, especially in the most advanced imperialist nations, were not prepared to appropriate power, how to advance their struggles for a transition to socialism. To what extent were they successful in this aim, what were the objective and subjective difficulties and why were they forced to retreat, is a different discussion. ?

Source:

1. "Draft and Explanation of the Social Democratic Party ", Lenin Collected Works, Volume 2, Page-113.

2. Ibid

3. "History of The Bolshevik Party?Bolshevism, The Road to Revolution" (Web Page 8 of https://www.bolshevik.info/bolshevism-the-road-to-revolution.htm. Chapter 17 Rabocheye Dyelo)

4. Ibid

5. "Urgent Tasks of Our Struggle", Lenin Collected works, Volume 4, Page - 367.

6. Ibid

7. Source -(3).

8. For all the above mentioned incidents - Source (3).

9. "The Soviets, the Russian workers, peasants and soldiers Councils.1905 - 1921", by Oscar Anweiler. Page - 31.

10. Ibid

11. "Revolution Teaches". Lenin Collected works. Volume - 9. Page - 147

12. Source (3)

13. "Our Tasks and the Soviet Workers' Deputies". Lenin Collected Works. Volume - 10, Page 27

14. Ibid? Pages - 22-23.

15. "Left -wing Communism - An Infantile Disorder." Lenin Collected Works. Volume - 31, Page - 27.

16. Source (3).

17. "On to the Straight Road", Lenin Collected works, Volume - 15, Page - 18.

18. Source (3)

19. "Slogans of All - Russian Conference of RSDLP". LCW, Vol-18, Page- 113.

20. "The International Working Class Movement",VOL-3,Page-578-87.

21. Ibid, Page-580.

22. Ibid

23. Source (3), 'Work among Women'.

24. Source (3).

25. "Lecture on the 1905 Revolution", LCW. VOL-23. Page-253.

26. Source (3), The Bolsheviks in February.

27. Source (3).

28. "Lessons of the Revolution"-LCW , VOL-25. Page-241.

29. "Lenin's Speech at the 1^st Congress of All-Russia Soviets of Peasants Deputies" LCW, VOL-24, Page-481-482.

30. "Marxism and Insurrection", LCW, VOL-26, Page-22.

31. Source (3).

32. Source (25), Page-238-239.

33. 'Leninism Under Lenin", M Liebman, Print Edition, 1985 (quoted from page-323).

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