How to understand the historical inevitability and significance of the October Revolution?

I the historical inevitability of the October Revolution

1 and the October Revolution are the inevitable reflection of contradictions in the process of Russian modernization.

Since 186 1 serfdom reform, Russia has embarked on a difficult modernization process. By the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, Russian capitalism had developed to a certain extent, with the total industrial output value ranking fifth in the world and fourth in Europe. After the drastic changes in the Soviet Union, some historians asserted that if the October Revolution had not happened, Russian society would have embarked on "the development road of western capitalist countries" and "the broad road of modern civilization". This shows that they lack understanding of the connotation of "social modernization". In the early modernization theory, "modernization" is often equated with "industrialization" or regarded as pure economic growth. [2] Later, people gradually realized that simple economic growth is not completely equal to the all-round development and progress of society, and even the phenomenon of "growth without development" appeared. They excessively pursue the speed of industrial development and do not hesitate to destroy natural resources and ecological environment, which hinders the sustainable development of society and the improvement of people's living standards. According to recognized standards, the modernization process includes at least a series of comprehensive indicators such as social structure, quality of life, population quality, social environment, order and economic benefits, in addition to economic indicators. It is an outdated concept to measure the development degree of a society with simple economic indicators. At the beginning of the 20th century, how did Russia's social and economic development compare with that of major capitalist countries? At present, there is no special research on this at home and abroad, and this paper has made a little attempt. Countries all over the world have put forward different social modernization development index systems, among which the ten indicators of social and economic development formulated by Alex Jinker, a sociologist at Stanford University in the United States, have certain representative significance. Limited by space, this paper refers to the following six indicators proposed by inkeles.

The data clearly show that there is still a considerable gap between Russia and major capitalist countries in the process of modernization, and almost every index is at the bottom.

However, there is a huge obstacle on the road of Russian modernization-brutal and backward czarist autocracy. It embodies the reactionary dictatorship of landlords and serf-owners, so that Russia still retains strong remnants of serfdom. The development of industrialization needs a larger domestic market and more labor force, but the labor service system left over from the old times still requires farmers to work for the landlords without compensation, fixing farmers on the land, which hinders the formation of the labor market; Landlords and rich peasants exploit farmers by usury, and farmers are destitute, which limits the expansion of domestic market and the development of commodity economy; Under the wings of the czar government, the Russian bourgeoisie exploited workers by cruel means, and the workers' body and mind were greatly destroyed. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, the average life expectancy of Russian residents was only 32 years. (4) Due to the lack of educational conditions, the vast majority of Russian residents are illiterate, and only 265,438+0.65,438+0% can read. (5) unable to provide a more skilled technical team for the industrial revolution; In order to maintain reactionary autocracy, the czar government restricted the power of local self-government institutions, banned some voting rights, stifled all progressive reading materials, and deprived the broad masses of people of political rights. There is a sharp contradiction between the perverse actions of the autocratic government and the process of Russian modernization, which will trigger a big storm sooner or later.

2. The irreconcilable contradiction at home and abroad in Russia was the direct factor of the outbreak of the October Revolution.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia was the focus of various contradictions, and its contradictions were acute to an unprecedented extent.

Class contradiction. The contradiction between oppressed peasants and landlords, and between hired workers and capitalists is becoming increasingly acute. In rural areas, farmers often make trouble. They rob landlords of their land, food and feed. According to the latest Russian statistics, 1907 witnessed 197 various forms of peasant uprisings, and 19 1046 occurred in 19 14. The workers' resistance struggle is surging, which has developed from an economic strike to a political strike demanding the overthrow of the czar's autocracy. 19 10 year, 2 14 economic strikes and 8 political strikes. In 19 14, the economic strike rose rapidly to 1370 and the political strike reached 1034. [6] Nearly100000 participants.

Ethnic contradictions. The czar government's policy towards non-Russian ethnic groups, which account for 57% of the population, is to promote Russian chauvinism, suppress the development of ethnic minorities, provoke ethnic disputes and prevent all ethnic groups from uniting against Russian rule. In Poland, the Baltic Sea, Finland and the South Caucasus, national struggles against Russian autocracy broke out constantly, and Russia became a well-known "prison for all ethnic groups".

The contradiction between Russia and other imperialist countries. Due to the backward social and economic development, Russia has increasingly become a place to export foreign capital. Foreign capital controls important economic sectors such as mines, railways, machinery manufacturing and banks, and manipulates the financial sector. 19 13 years, the foreign debt paid alone reached 442.4 million rubles, accounting for 13.7% of the total national budget expenditure. [7] Russia is increasingly becoming an exporter of raw materials for foreign capital. After the defeat of Crimea, the czar government was defeated again in the Russo-Japanese War, and the Russian empire was in danger of being dismembered.

Profound social contradictions aroused resistance from all walks of life in Russia. As representatives of their class interests-19 various political parties established with the introduction of western democratic ideas in the late 20th century, they demanded either constitutional monarchy or bourgeois rule of law, forcing the czar government to change dynasties. In addition, the most striking thing is the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which was founded in 1898 under the guidance of Marxism. Under the leadership of Lenin, his spearhead was directed at the autocratic government, and he directly put forward the slogan of overthrowing the czar's autocracy and carrying out the proletarian revolution.

The shaky "upper class" of the czar's government can no longer rule like this.

19 14 World War I was the fuse of the revolution. The czar's government was defeated in the war, with 3.5 million Russian casualties and prisoners, and lost a large area of territory that was very important in economic strategy. The czar's militaristic policy led to the near collapse of the domestic economy, and the military failure and the deterioration of the economic situation pushed the people to a desperate situation. In 19 16 years alone, there were as many as1000000 strikers in the whole country, and the "lower class" people did not want to live like this. The revolution is coming. Ade Ning wrote in the book 19 17 Russian Revolution witnessed by kerensky: "A few months before the revolution, I felt full of the atmosphere of the Great Revolution, and there was the possibility of turmoil at any time. However, this feeling is not revealed from Bolsheviks, Marxists and revolutionaries, but from moderate socialists, liberals and Rightists. Especially the report of the Security Bureau ... Some famous Duma leaders, such as kerensky, Miliukov and Luo Jiangke, warned in their speeches on the eve of the revolution that the country would soon be in turmoil and rolling in the deep would be bound. " 〔8〕

In a word, Russia's modernization process requires breaking the reactionary superstructure and the old relations of production represented by tsarist autocracy, and Russia's irreconcilable contradictions are the concrete embodiment of this conflict. This proves how absurd the argument that the "October Revolution" is a "conspiracy of a few Bolsheviks" is. As for what changes will take place in Russia, whether it is revolution, reform, bourgeois dictatorship or proletarian dictatorship, we will make further analysis.

3. Can Stolypin take the road of "green revolution"?

In recent years, there is a view that although Russia's reform is inevitable, there was another situation of "green revolution", that is, through the improvement and development of capitalist farms, intensive agricultural production was realized and it embarked on the road of civilized development. However, this process was destroyed by the Bolshevik "Red Revolution". 〔9〕

"Green Revolution" refers to the land reform in Stolypin. Stolypin, then prime minister of the czar government, faced the peasants' thirst for land and the need of capitalist development, and adopted land reform with the main contents of destroying traditional Russian villages and accelerating land privatization. It is of course too one-sided to call these measures "reactionary" in past Soviet historical works. Its reform has promoted the development of Russian capitalism to a certain extent, because some private land ownership farms with capitalist production relations have been established, and also because some farmers have the freedom to choose their occupations after leaving the village cooperatives. At the same time, the immigration policy is also beneficial to the development of Siberia. On the whole, however, Stolypin's reform was unsuccessful: the purpose of the reform was to maintain the czar's autocratic system and cultivate a group of peasants loyal to the czar, and its policies were doomed to dare not fundamentally touch the interests of landlords and rich peasants, the basis of czar's autocracy. Poor farmers were greatly deprived of their rights in land redistribution. From 1907- 19 14, the number of peasant uprisings has increased year by year, reaching thousands a year, which is Stolypin's answer. The guiding ideology of reform is also metaphysical. It seems impossible to develop agricultural production without idealizing the private ownership of land such as farms and granges, or even forcing a production model regardless of regional and climatic conditions. During the whole reform period, the number of farmers who quit the village cooperatives reached a climax in1909-579,400, and then the number of farmers who quit plummeted. By 2006 10 1965438+65438+, only about 3 million farmers had left the village community, less than13 of the total number of farmers, and the allocated land only accounted for 22% of the village community land area. [10] In fact, the reform in Stolypin stopped before the revolution broke out. It can be seen that the argument that it is not the "red revolution" that will develop the "green revolution" is untenable.

4, can stay in the bourgeois "temporary government" stage?

In recent years, there is also a widely circulated view that Stolypin's road to improvement is not feasible and revolution is inevitable. However, as Jakovleff, adviser to the former Soviet President, said, "Is it more rational to stay in the free February Revolution instead of pushing the country to the dictatorship of the proletariat?" [1 1] Of course, he may not understand a basic principle of historical research: he can only study the history of what has happened, but can't "imagine" how it will happen. What was the situation then?

1965438+February 2007 (Russian calendar), in the turbulent revolutionary wave of people from all walks of life in Russia against the czar's autocracy, the bourgeois interim government was established, which was called "February Revolution" in history. After the establishment of the interim government, it announced a political amnesty, prepared to convene a constitutional convention, declared freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association, and lifted ethnic restrictions. This series of measures of bourgeois democratic revolution is undoubtedly a kind of progress. However, the key is whether they can really follow the capitalist development path and solve the problems of peace, bread and land that the Russian people are urgently concerned about.

At first, the leaders of the interim government were the October Party and the Constitutional Democratic Party, which represented the interests of the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie. [12]18 In April, the provisional government sent a note to the allies, assuring them that "all the people are willing to win the world war completely" and continued to order the frontline troops to fight, which fundamentally violated the wishes of the Russian people who had long been tired of war; On the land issue, the interim government ordered all measures to be taken until "mobilizing the army" to suppress the peasants' action of seizing the landlord's land; Ignoring the requirements of workers' eight-hour working system and production supervision; Trying to obstruct the minimum requirement of realizing the autonomy of the oppressed nationalities ... These actions of the interim government are determined by their nature: the Russian big bourgeoisie is inextricably linked with the tsarist system. For example, the Prime Minister, Duke Lviv, is the leader of the General Committee of Federal Munitions Supply in the cities under the czar's rule. With the approval of the tsar, the Committee can participate in the supply to the front and make a fortune by military orders. They don't want to fundamentally change the internal and external policies of the tsar. "At most, they demand constitutional monarchy." Therefore, in less than half a year, it experienced three crises in April, June and July, which was strongly resisted by the people. How can this interim government continue the bourgeois-democratic revolution?

After the crisis in July, the political power was transferred to the Social Revolutionary Party and the Mensheviks who represented the middle and small bourgeoisie. [13] Why did they fail in the end? First of all, there are ideological limitations. It is believed that Russia is currently undergoing a bourgeois revolution, so "the ruling party should be the bourgeois democratic party, first of all the Constitutional Democratic Party". In action, there are compromises, concessions and even collusion with the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie everywhere. They did not hesitate to betray the revolution, joined the provisional government of the big bourgeoisie, helped them tide over the crisis, and invited the constitutionalists who withdrew from the cabinet after taking office. The front line resumed the death penalty, the revolutionary masses were massacred in the rear, newspapers were seized, farmers who seized land were arrested, factories were closed, and alliances were closed ... Almost all the achievements of the democratic revolution were lost. Secondly, they can't solve the pressing problems of Russian society: postponing the convening of the constitutional convention, continuing the imperialist war, causing the economy to collapse and hunger hanging over the whole country. Peasant uprisings and workers' strikes swept across Russia, and even their own people cursed them for "not taking emergency measures immediately and implementing the reforms that the whole country longed for;" Because of this continuation, they could not stop the Bolshevik October Revolution. (14) Third, in essence, because of the weakness, compromise and immaturity of the Russian middle and small bourgeoisie, they only rely on the big bourgeoisie, and they "have neither the experience of governing the country nor the ability to take responsibility". [15] Social revolutionaries and Mensheviks betrayed the masses, and the masses finally abandoned them. After the drastic changes, the authoritative historical institutions in Russia also pointed out that if the votes of the Social Revolutionary Party and Menshevik reached 70% in the Moscow Duma election in July 19 17, they fell to 18% in the September election, "and this situation also appeared in Petrograd and other industrial centers in Russia". [16] How can we "imagine" that they can continue the bourgeois February Revolution?

5. The reason of Bolshevik victory.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 50 political parties in Russia, among which the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Social Revolutionary Party, the Menshevik Party and the Bolshevik Party were large and influential. [17] We have analyzed the reasons for the failure of the first three parties. Naturally, the historical responsibility for the development of the Russian revolution can only fall on the Bolsheviks.

The main reasons for the Bolshevik Party's victory in the October Revolution are: 1) the leadership of the Party headed by Lenin. The New Bolshevik Party is composed of the most conscious and advanced members of the proletariat, and the Russian proletariat is the most revolutionary because of its cruel oppression. "Special historical conditions make the Russian proletariat become the pioneer of the revolutionary proletariat in the world in a certain period, perhaps in a very short period." [18] Unlike the vacillating bourgeoisie, they realized the necessity of change and seized the historical opportunity to ask the revolution to break through the scope of bourgeois democratic revolution (such as the socialization of factories, the establishment of workers' and peasants' Soviet regime, etc.). ) and make the revolutionary situation develop in their favor; The Bolshevik Party was established in accordance with the principle of democratic centralism to ensure the unity of the Party. The Party has formulated the correct strategy and tactics for the victory of the revolution, established the policy of workers and peasants alliance and the policy of striving for the peaceful development of the revolution to armed uprising, and planned the political form of the Soviet Union, a proletarian dictatorship country. The correct leadership of the Bolshevik Party is the decisive condition for the victory of the October Revolution. 2) It has solved the most pressing social problems in Russia and won the support of most people. The second meeting of representatives of all-Russian Soviet engineers passed a land decree, announcing the abolition of private ownership of landlords' land and farmers' right to share land; The peace decree was passed, announcing Russia's withdrawal from the world war, so that Russian officers and men suffering from war heard their voices; Announced the principle of equal self-determination of all ethnic groups in Russia, recognized the independence of Finland, Ukraine, the Baltic Sea and other countries, and laid the foundation for cooperation among people of all ethnic groups in Russia. This series of measures greatly enhanced the prestige of the Bolshevik Party and made the Soviet regime "triumph" throughout the country. 3) Be able to creatively combine Marxism with Russian practice and absorb the most advanced ideas and outstanding scientific achievements of mankind. At that time, many Russian revolutionaries had been exiled abroad, and they were able to study Marxism and other bourgeois democratic ideas in detail and understand the experience of the European proletarian revolution and the Eastern national movement. More importantly, Lenin did not stick to individual Marxist discourse, but boldly developed Marxism. In particular, whether a backward country like Russia can cross the capitalist "Kafting Canyon" to carry out socialist revolution is a heated debate between Lenin and Menshevik represented by plekhanov and Suehanov, which is still debated by historians. Lenin's main point is that the October Revolution does not mean the immediate realization of socialism, but it is still only the task of the bourgeois democratic revolution. However, due to the special international environment and domestic conditions in which Russia is located, it can and should go beyond the scope of bourgeois democratic revolution, transition to socialism and take some initial steps of socialism. This is the socialist nature of the October Revolution. [19] On the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the October Revolution, looking back at this period of history, Lenin made a classic summary: "The immediate and urgent task of the Russian revolution is the task of bourgeois democracy." [20] "In our revolution, the work of the proletariat or socialism can be summarized into three major items: (1) withdrawing from the world imperialist war by revolutionary means; Exposing the killing of two world-class capitalist bandit groups made this war impossible ... (2) Establishing the Soviet system and realizing a form of proletarian dictatorship ... (3) Economically laying the foundation of the socialist system. In this regard, the most important and basic work has not yet been completed. " [2 1] That is to say, in a backward country like Russia, the socialist revolution can and should be carried out without delay; However, what the revolution needs to solve is still the task of bourgeois democratic revolution, and at the same time, it is necessary to establish a socialist political and economic foundation, and this work is long-term. This is all about the significance of backward countries directly carrying out socialist revolution across the capitalist Kafting Canyon. Lenin's thought drew a clear line with the right-leaning thought that Russia can only engage in bourgeois revolution and the left-leaning thought that Russia should realize socialism immediately. The development of Marxism has entered a new stage-Leninism. Armed with these advanced theories, the Bolshevik Party won a great victory in the October Revolution.

Second, the historical significance of the October Revolution

1 and the significance of the October Revolution to Russia.

For the first time, workers and peasants, who account for the vast majority of Russia's population, got rid of the status of slavery and exploitation and became the masters of the country's political life. From the perspective of economic status, there was a big gap between the rich and the poor before the revolution. 65,438+02 banks control 80% of the national bank's capital, reaching several billion rubles, while the average monthly salary of workers is less than 65,438+06 rubles. On average, each landlord owns 300 mu of land, while ordinary farmers only own 8 mu [22]. After the revolution, the average monthly wage of workers in various departments in China was 33 rubles only from the wage level of 65,438+0,940, including 32.3 workers in industrial production departments, 33.9 workers in construction, 34.7 workers in transportation, 265,438+0.9 workers in farm, 32.3 workers in cultural and educational departments, 46.7 workers in scientific research institutions and 38.8 rubles for cadres in state administrative organs at all levels. [23] In Russian and human history, the principles of social justice and equality were truly realized for the first time.

Safeguard national independence and territorial integrity. As pointed out in the party program adopted by the third Russian Congress in October 1995 10, the great October socialist revolution made Russia save the only realistic opportunity of the nation-state in the First World War when its military, political and economic collapse, territorial dismemberment and the ruling bourgeoisie and the landlord alliance were completely incapacitated. In World War II, 194 1 year, fascist Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and the territory with 45% population, 33% total industrial output value and 47% cultivated land fell into enemy hands. When the Soviet Union was facing extinction, Soviet workers, peasants and soldiers inspired by the October Revolution fought bravely under the leadership of the Soviet Union, relying on the country's strong industrial and national defense capabilities.

Russia will become a world industrial power in a short time and take a solid step towards modernization. Lenin once put forward a famous argument when refuting that some people in the Second International thought that "Russia's productive forces have not yet developed to the socialist level": Why can't we first obtain the premise of revolution by revolutionary means, "and then catch up with the people of other countries on the basis of the worker-peasant regime and the Soviet system?" [24] After the October Revolution, the Soviet regime accelerated the pace of industrialization. In a relatively short period, that is, after the completion of the second five-year plan in 1937, Russia changed from a backward agricultural country to an industrial country: in 19 13, the total agricultural output value of Russia was 24.043 billion rubles, accounting for 34.8% of the national income, while the industrial and transportation industries were only 65.438+. It accounts for 19.3% of national income. From [25] to 1937, the agricultural output value of the Soviet Union was 26.2 billion rubles, and the total industrial output value reached 95.5 billion rubles. [26] It has accounted for more than 80% of the national income. Compared with 1938+09 13, the industrial output value of the Soviet Union increased by nearly seven times, with an average annual growth rate of 7.8%. [27] During the same period, the annual growth rate of the United States was 1.4, that of Britain was 0.7, that of France was 0.6, that of Japan was 2.7, and that of Germany was 1.6. [28] It took only a few decades for the Soviet Union to complete the industrialization process that western countries took hundreds of years to complete. At this time, the total industrial output value of the Soviet Union has occupied the second place in the world and the first place in Europe. [29] Not only in industrial production, but also in the development of other social indicators, some remarkable achievements have been made, which historians have not paid enough attention to in the past. We try to use sociological and statistical methods to make a comparative study of the social and economic development of the Soviet Union and major western capitalist countries: [30]

Table 2 1940 Comparison of social development between the Soviet Union and major capitalist countries before and after; Urban population and tertiary industry per thousand people per thousand residents

In the total population of the country, the proportion of the employed population is already very common.

Number of doctors, number of educated people

Soviet Union 33 23 0.8 245

Usa 56.5 5 1.8 1.33 220

Germany 75 34.3 0.69 133.7

British 80.4 42.7 0.42 122

France 35.0 0.68 13 1.7

Japanese book 37.9 29.8 0.9 166. 1

Infant death

Country-specific exchange rate (reverse reference)

Standard ‰)

Russia 8 1

United States 33

Germany

England 33

France

Japanese book 60