The Debate on Soviet Power

"The Debate on Soviet Power is important because the sheer scale of the revolution made it difficult to get at the principle players and what they were up to. Of course, the revolution came out of World War I, but in some ways its political and cultural significance exceeded the war. It was the most important political event of the 20th century – the beginning of the modern age. The problem with that kind of massive, seismic event is that it becomes impossible to get outside of. Instead, you get a lot of ethical generalisations that say more about their authors than about the events they seek to describe. But this book is very special. It is a selection of minutes of the meetings of the Soviet Central Committees – the country’s governing executive and legislative bodies – in the immediate aftermath of the Bolshevik takeover. So this book gives you an ear against the door at a time when the Bolsheviks were trying to work out what to do in the very first weeks and months of power. What it shows you – and I think this is crucially important – is that Lenin always advocated violence and political dictatorship as the vehicles of revolution. I could have chosen a pamphlet that Lenin wrote in 1903 called What Is To Be Done ? , in which Lenin sets out his view on political violence. He’s absolutely for it – political violence is essential in his view. He also believed that the revolution needed to be led by a political vanguard, and of course he intended to lead that vanguard. And as leader, he would embrace political violence as an answer to the violence used to oppress the masses. This was always his philosophy, and it comes through clearly in the conversations recorded in this book. One of the first things Lenin did when he seized power was to permit [Communist revolutionary] Felix Dzerzhinsky to form the Cheka, the precursor of the KGB. He closes down the opposition press. He outlaws rival political parties. He prepares for the liquidation of the Constituent Assembly, originally intended as the parliament of Russian democracy. A lot of people argue wishfully that the Bolshevik revolution was a democratic revolution, and that decisions went through the Soviet Congress where the Bolsheviks had a majority. But the way they came to that majority was high handed to say the least, and this book shows you just how they consolidated their power."