Thursday, Sept. 13, 1934
THE JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN
Page Five
The History of the
Russian Revolution
By NATAN NEMET2, B.A.
Vol. 1
THE OVERTHROW OF TZARISM By LEON TROTSKY
in-Russia, only a democratic bour- tile to the peasants land hunger, geoia revolution was in order." Of the Russian bourgeiosie Trotsky Even members of Lenin's own appropriately writes: "Whereas in party, notably Rykov, pleaded in the dawn of history it was too un-this strain. And most amusing of rife to accomplish a Reformation, all, the social Revolutionists and when the time came for leading a Cadets, who had always been op- revolution it was overripe." Its ponents of the Marxist philosophy, only ally was international capital-turend around and vehemently re- ism. That is one of the reasons it
preached the Bolsheviks for being "bad Marxists." Indeed, they even quoted Marx to the e*fect that Prance would give the signal for the social revolution and Germany would complete it. Says keen minded John Strachy, "all of these groups had fallen a victim. ot a mechanical theory of social devel-
Translated by Max Eastman, New York; Simon & Schuster,
1932, $4.00
THE Russian Revolution—^though only sixteen years old— has already been the theme of a vast amount of historical co^mlentarJ^ But unquestionably Leon Trotsky's "History" is
the most remarkable piece of writing that has yet appeared on opmenr"whicrin esseice^was in-the greatest event since the French Revolution. , distinguishable from fatalism."
But it is more than that. It is also a work of art. The historical in attempting to show why Rus-portraiture of changing scene, mass action and focal personali- sia was the first country in which confidence of the masses, immedi-ties, although woven into an intricate web of casual'analysis, proletariat took power, Trotsky ately proceeded to give the state retains the freshness of contemporary experience. "It chaUenges °t;r„f R„7ira?hi"~
my mind over-simplify in two dir-The first regards Russian society as so peculiar and unique in cultural tradition, social
set such store on continuing the war.
The development of events from the overthrow of Czarism to the July days, with which the first volume of Trotsky's history deals, becomes clear against this background of class relations.
The Czar had been overthrown by the revolutionary action of workers and peasants. But the socialist leaders, who enjoyed the
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comparison only with Mark's 'Eighteenth Brumaire,' a work upon which Trotsky obviously nurtured himself in preparation ectiojis. for his task."
No one can appreciate the sup- tempts to portray the difficulty in erb quality of Trotsky's achieve- his preface.
ment who has not reflected upon the larger question of historical method involved. "To the ordinary historian there is an implicit dualism between history as it is lived and history as it is uadsrstood." Philosophers tell us that man acts in the present, but his actions can only be understood when they are past. Consequences felt or foreseen, for the historian, are always different from the consequences realized that we truly know what has happened. Trotsky himself at-
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Trotsky, however, is no ordinary historian. Tlie dualism between history as the occasion of experience and history as the object of rcficctlcn uisappears In the crowded pages of this book. The reader feels he is living history In all Its dimensions of glory and pain, and understanding it too.
Aside from Trotsky's literary genius. Professor Sidney Hook thinks there are two reasons which account for his skill in blending the narrative words of events within the perspective of casual esposition. First, he was one of the chief participants in the dramatic situation he describes (a fact rapidly being forgotten in present Soviet Russia.) Historical figures come to life under his incisive characterization because he knew them at first hand, or at the very least, the social milieu which gave content to their motives and direction to their ideals. Second—^he was schooled in the tradition of Marxist analysis which sees beneath the surface of political change the struggle of social classes for state power.
Significantly enough, it is as a Marxist historian that Trotsky achieves his greatest triumph. For he undertakes to solve, in accordance with the Marxist hypothesis, the problem which had baffled most by the super-orthodox Marxists in Western Europe (and inci-dently the problem which give liberals an opening for criticism) namely, now it was possible for an economically and culturally back-WEFu couutry like Russia "to bs the first to place the proletariat in power." The chief argument (and it was more than an academic question) of the Mensheviks and the German Social-Democrats a-gainst the proletarian dictatorship was that, "since the economic prepositions of socialism were lacking
struggle, and political history that it falls outside the scope, of generalization valid for Western Europe. There could then be no discussion as to whether Russia had skipped any stage of development. For the v,'hol8 theory of universal gociai evolution, taken as the basic pre-
power to the bourgeoisie. Their doctrinaire excuse was that the February Revolution was really a bourgeois revolution even though the bourgeoisie did not know it and had not fought for it. The liberal bourgeoisie, literally frightened into taking over the government, was quite aware of its isolation within Russia. It consequently sought to restore to power that class least hostile to its own interests—the monarchy. Miluikov's attempt to establish a constitutional
mise, did not apply. The second in- monarchy failed because none of
terpretation maintained that the common notion .of Russian backwardness and slow growth was-a legend and that Russia wos consequently ripe for a working-class revolution in 1917.
Trotsky admits the^ striking peculiarities of Russian material culture but insists upon the profound infiuence which Western Europe exerted on its development. Russia to be sure always lagged behind more progressive countries. Nevertheless, in accordance with a well known principle of cultural diffusion, she was able to take one of the most advanced features of Westren industrial economy. When-
the members of the dynasty cared to slip their heads into a greased noose. Some other way had to be ening demands of the masses for ing demands of the masses for peace, land and bread. There was no other alternative than the prolongation of war.
Combined prosecution of the war—even with no victory, was certain to exhaust the energies of the revolution, and permit the bourgeoisie, under the cover of national necessity and chauvinistic ideology, to build up defences against the enemy within. As was proven by the subsequent attempt
Prayers will be offered for the following who have passed away during the past year:
SCHARA-TZEDECK CEMETERY
Sadie Barnes .............September 26, 1933
Baby Hollander October 16, 1933 AUen Tint October 23, 1933
Sim Alfred Goldston April 12, 1934 Maurice Lacterman . May 13, 1934 L. Wosk May 30, 1934
Kiva Haimson...........June 5, 1934
Abraham Weiss.........June 18, 1934
Harry Kutchei July 22, 1934
Harry Kinberg..........August 12, 1934
Bamett Davis September 3, 1934
OLD CEMETERY (Mountain View) L. Rosenberg .......... Baby Gloria Chess
(Services at Schara-Tzedeck Cemetery)
Members of the Community are reminded that it is a duty to visit the Cemetery a week before Yom Kippur to honor the memory of our dear departed.
The Cemetery Board solicits the members of the Community who have cars to be at the Schara-Tzedeck Synagogue (Keatley and Pender) at 1:30 p.m. to co-operate in transporting all who are without cars.
of Miluikov to induce the German ever we have backwardness at the emperor to put down the October
Revolution. The Russian bourgeo-
base of the social pyramid and hypertrophic activity at its tip, there we are confronted with what Trotsky chooses to call "the law of combined development." Russia as a land in which the archaic and ultra-modern existed side by side, torn by conflicting traditions, and separated by different national allegiances is a classic illustration of this law.
Trotsky's analysis is comparatively easy to follow. No land of Damas, Russia was always subject to influence from the west. But with the development of capitalism, international . in its outlook and in its analysis of investment, this influence became more intense. The very backwardness of Russian industry facilitated the borrowing of the very latest industrial tech-
isie liad less to fear from a German victory than from a defeat at the hands of the working class. That is why, Trotsky observes, having failed to use the revolution for the purposes of the war, the liberals, abetted by near-sighted socialist doctrinairies, attempted to use the war against the revolution. This was the road which led them to a common ruin.
Of itself, the plan to continue the War would not have spelled ruin for the bourgeoisie had it not been for the existence of Lenin's party. Trotsky offers a penetrating sociological analysis of the role played by political parties in a social crisis. In emphasizing the inter - action between class - consciousness and the economic condi-
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nique from Europe. Russian indus- j.^^^g ^^^^^ classes are an ulti-try did not have to overcome the obstacles created by the technological^ progress of earlier centuries. Where the West had to scrap and renew, Russia could make a fresh start. And when she started, she sarted with grand steps. By the twentieth century, although still
mate function, he steers clear of the peculiarities of a narrow, economic determinism without grounding on the 'shallows of idealism." History according to Trotsky is not the record of automatic opeta-tions of economic factors of the activity of classes whose con-
predominantly agricultural, Russia science reflects other influences as
boasted a large scale industry in every respect was relatively more concentrated than the industries of any ohter power. The enormous concentration of industry produced, on the one hand, a small
well. Political parties, he declares, acquire a commanding influence in a revolutionary situation, not merely by their knowledge of the economic terrain, but by their ability to forsee the swift changes in
bourgeoisie dragged in tow by for- ^^^^ consciousness and to deploy eign capital, and a thoroughly class conscious proletariat. The
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class consciousness of the Russian worker is explained by the psychological corrolary of the law of combined development.
"In Russia the proletariat did not arise gradually through the ages, carrying with Itself the burden of the past as in England, but In leaps Involving sharp changes of environment, ties, relation and a sharp break with the past. It Is Just this fact— combined with the concentrated oppression of Czarism — tliat made the Russian workers hospitable to the boldest conclusions of revolutionary thought—^just as the backward Industries were hospitable to the last word in capitalist organization." We now have the key to the relation of class forces. Although hampered by the Czarlst autocracy, the Russian bourgeoise could not lead a revolution against it. For alone it was too weak. Nor could it flnd support in other classes. An alliance with the proletariat which regarded the bourgeoisie as its class enemy and was not over nice in distinguishing it from the autocracy, was out of the question. An alliance with the peasantry was rendered impossible because the interlocking character of the banking. Industrial and lay agrarian Interests made the bourgeoisie hos-
them to immediate advantages. Thus the Bolshevists were the leading sprits of . the Russian masses from April on, precisely because they took their Marxism not as an excuse for supine acceptance but as a guide to action. Trotsky presents an even more brilliant Illustration of the same dialectical approach in his analysis of the role of personality In history. Trotsky essays to do this by taking the banner-bearers of the different classes—Nicholas 11, Kerensky, Lenin—In their respective social contexts. The acid question he asks Is whether the course of events would have been different had these men not been on the scene. In the course of his character-analysis of "Nicky," Trotsky draws a happy comparison between the behaviour of the last of the Romanoffs and that of both Louis XVI and Charles I. He shows that despite their varied personal idiom and tradition, the general response they gave to the situation which threatened their powers was the same. Trotsky seeks the cause for this uniform pattern of response in similar social conflicts which forced them Into the policy of halfhearted fussiness and disaster. It is unlikely that any human being in their place—no matter what his stature—could have staved off the desrtuction which attends all at-
tempts to reconcile the irreconcili-able. At such moments the Individual does not make events; events make or break him. Trotsky summarizes graphically:
i<e;.>.:i~> /—f x__x___
wii.iiim \wi ««wMioc Icai llvill
identical) irritations in similar conditions call out similar reflexes; the more powerful the Irritation, the sooner it overcomes persona! peculiaritless To tickle, people react differently, but to a red-hot iron, alike. As a steam-hammer converts a sphere and a cube alike into sheet metal, so under the blow of too great and Inexorable events resistances are smashed and the boundaries of individuality lost."
It is no exaggeration to say that Lenin is the hero of Trotsky's book. Of himself he speaks with admirable restraint. But to acknowledge Lenin's heroic quality is to admit the historical significance of his thought and action. If so, then Trotsky answers the obvious question: "How would the revolution have developed If Lenin had not reached Russia in April, 1917?"
Trotsky quite frankly faces the issue and Intimates that without Lenin the Russian Revlution would not have occurred when it did. After all how can this be denied without calling Lenin's greatness Into question?
All this notwithstanding, Trotsky points out that Lenin was only one mighty link in the chain of circum-sances which brought the proletariat to power. He did not create the conflict of classes which gave him the opportunities of greatness but was himself a part of that conflict. In other words, if the Russian masses without Lenin would not have triumphed when they did, Lenin, without the Russian mases, their experience, courage and faith would not have been the leader he was.
This suggests the one serious weakness of Trotsky's book—an improper evaluation of the relation
between Lenin and the party. In the chapter on the "rearing of the Party," Lenin is pictured as not only dwarfing Kamenev, Tomsky, Stalin, Rykov, and other leaders, but the entire party as well.
Had Trotsky written in 1920 the confusion of the April day would not have loomed so large in his eyes as it did for political reasons in 1930. Furthermore it must be borne in mind that Trotsky did not oflficially join the Blosheviki until July, 1917. This in no way detracts from his greatness.
Only one intimation of prophecy do we receive. The Russian government which he helped to build has proceeded thus far with signal success. But in his view it is faced with new difficulties, new tasks which cannot be achieved within the framework of an isolated state." The fate of the state, he declares, "is thus wholly bound up with the further course of world history." For Trotsky believes stubbornly (and perhaps correctly) that only by engineering a worldwide revolution can Socialism come for the world.
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