Vladimir Lenin changed global history when he put German philosopher Karl Marx's theories into practice in Russia in 1922 with the creation of the world's first communist nation, the USSR. But how did it get to that point? The Tsarist autocracy had ruled Russia for 400 years, keeping Russia in a feudal stage of economic development for centuries. Let's look at how the application of Marx's political ideology helped to transform Russia into one of the leading global superpowers in the 20th century. Buckle up comrade, this is the Marxism in Russia origin story!
Explore our app and discover over 50 million learning materials for free.
Lerne mit deinen Freunden und bleibe auf dem richtigen Kurs mit deinen persönlichen Lernstatistiken
Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenNie wieder prokastinieren mit unseren Lernerinnerungen.
Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenVladimir Lenin changed global history when he put German philosopher Karl Marx's theories into practice in Russia in 1922 with the creation of the world's first communist nation, the USSR. But how did it get to that point? The Tsarist autocracy had ruled Russia for 400 years, keeping Russia in a feudal stage of economic development for centuries. Let's look at how the application of Marx's political ideology helped to transform Russia into one of the leading global superpowers in the 20th century. Buckle up comrade, this is the Marxism in Russia origin story!
Let's look at a timeline of how Marxism developed, first with Karl Marx and then throughout Russia.
Date | Event |
1848 | Marx published The Communist Manifesto. |
1861 | Tsar Alexander II decreed the Edict of Emancipation. |
1869 | The Communist Manifesto (1848) was translated into Russian. |
1872 | Capital (1867) was translated into Russian. |
1883 | Georgy Plekhanov founded Liberation of Labour. |
1895 | Vladimir Lenin founded the Social Democratic organisation The St Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class. He was soon arrested and sent into exile in Siberia. |
1898 | The Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) held its First Congress. |
1900 | Whilst in exile, Plekhanov, Lenin, and a few others founded the Marxist newspaper Iskra. |
1902 | Lenin published his pamphlet “What is to be done?”. |
1903 | The RSDWP informally split into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks after its Second Congress. |
1905 | First Russian Revolution. Tsar Nicholas II created the Duma. |
1914 | Russia entered WWI. |
1917 | February: The February Revolution instated the Provisional Government. |
March: Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. The Petrograd Soviet was formed. | |
April: Lenin released his April Theses. | |
July: The July Days. Alexandr Kerensky became the Prime Minister of the new Provisional Government and reduced Bolshevik support through propaganda. | |
August: Kornilov Revolt. General Kornilov threatened a coup d'état against the Provisional Government. Kerensky asked the Petrograd Soviet to defend the Government, and so armed the Soviet's Red Guard. | |
October: The Bolshevik Revolution. | |
1917-1921 | Russian Civil War. |
1921 | Lenin issued the Decree Against Factionalism. |
1922 | Lenin formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) led by the Russian Communist Party. |
Marxism is a philosophical, economic, political and social set of theories drawn from Karl Marx's writing. His most famous theory is that of economic determinism, which mapped out the creation of socialist and communist states.
Let's look in a bit more depth at how the key theory of Marxism actually worked according to the philosopher himself. Marx theorised that as societies underwent economic development, an exploitative class system also developed. Each stage was inevitable, and so it was named economic determinism. This table demonstrates how each stage unfolds:
# | Stages of Economic Determinism | Brief Description |
1 | Primitive Communism | Early human hunter-gatherer societies operated on a basis of equality. Each member of the society would contribute equally for the good of the whole. Marx described them as being essentially communist. |
2 | Imperialism | As society developed, territories would be marked and emperors would claim ownership of the lands. Originally, this was based on the emperor's ability to fight off competition, but this was then delegated to a nobility class who were rewarded with land for their loyalty to the emperor. The nobility became a new landowning aristocracy. |
3 | Feudalism | The nobility who own the land exploit the peasants who work their land. As the landowning aristocracy better exploit their workers, trade and industry improve. |
Bourgeois RevolutionWhilst industrialisation occurs, a bourgeois middle-class is created which owns the means of production (ie. the factories). The bourgeoisie demand political control and overthrow the aristocratic, feudalist government and establish a bourgeois government which aims to improve the economy through capitalism. | ||
4 | Capitalism | The bourgeois middle-class exploit their workers (the proletariat) and manipulate them to accept their condition. The class divide widens as the capitalists accumulate wealth, whilst the proletariat's situation stays the same or gets worse through wage cuts and other exploitation. |
Proletariat RevolutionThe proletariat undergoes class consciousness and rebel against their exploitation, favouring equality over private ownership. The bourgeois government is overthrown, and a proletariat dictatorship establishes a socialist government. | ||
5 | Socialism | The socialist proletariat dictatorship abolishes the class system and private ownership, and educates the middle-classes about equality and fair treatment. Those who refuse to learn the value of socialism are removed from the society (either imprisoned, exiled, or executed). |
6 | Communism | The socialist government is only a transitional phase of economic development. As the society learns and puts in practice the values of socialism, class, money, government, property, private ownership and the state dissolve as every member works equally. This was Marx's theory that communism was the ultimate political, economic and social stage of society. |
It is important to note that Marx's theory was intended to be a philosophical theory of what a path to Communism could look like. In his other works, such as The Eighteenth Bruamire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx recognised that events could play out differently depending on specific conditions and histories.
Let's look at how the theories of Karl Marx first developed in Russia.
At the time of Marx's activity, Russia was under the Tsarist regime of the Romanovs. This can be seen as the Feudalist stage of Marx's economic determinist stages: the Tsar owned the land and delegated it to nobility who would provide military troops whilst exploiting peasants through a system known as serfdom.
Despite Tsar Alexander II's Edict of Emancipation in 1861, which brought an end to serfdom in Russia and “liberated” peasants, socialists still argued that peasants had become exploited by the newly developing bourgeois landowners. Although Russia had not entered capitalist stage, the Edict had allowed all classes to own land, rather than just the nobility. This meant that wealthy citizens could purchase the land and exploit the newly emancipated peasants, replacing one exploitative class for another.
Marx's The Communist Manifesto was translated to Russian in 1869, which brought a new fervour to the socialist movement against Tsarism at the time. The supporters named themselves Marxists.
Georgy Plekhanov created the first interpretation of Russian Marxism. Originally, he had supported the Populist Socialists in Russia, known as Narodniks, who wanted to unite the peasantry to overthrow the Russian government and establish socialism in Russia based on peasant communes. After understanding Marxism, Plekhanov developed a counter group to the populists known as Liberation of Labour in 1883 whilst he was in exile in Geneva, Switzerland.
Lenin founded the St Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class in 1895 but was arrested soon after and sent into exile. Whilst in Siberia, he sent delegates to the formation of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) in 1898 which united a few Social Democratic groups to discuss how Marxism would be applied to Russia. However, the group lacked coordination with Lenin's physical absence.
In 1900, Plekhanov, fellow Liberation of Labour member Vladimir Lenin, and several others created the Marxist newspaper Iskra. This helped to coordinate Marxist Social Democratic organisations under the united banner of the RSDWP. At the time, the group was in opposition to the Narodniks, and believed that to achieve socialism in Russia, a bourgeois revolution was needed to industrialise and create a large proletariat to then overthrow the bourgeoisie. This followed Marx's model of economic determinism, but rather argued that the revolution must be provoked rather than allowed to occur organically.
The RSDWP held its Second Congress in London and Brussels in 1903. Lenin had returned from exile and Plekhanov travelled from his exiled home of Switzerland, both of which were delegates at the Congress. However, at this time, Lenin had begun creating his own interpretation of Russian Marxism which divided the Party over the issues of political and economic theory.
In 1902, Lenin released his pamphlet “What is to be done?” which outlined how he believed socialism should be achieved in Russia. Lenin gathered support for his interpretation of Russian Marxism and at the Second Congress of the RSDWP two factions formed: Lenin's Bolsheviks and Julius Martov's Mensheviks. Let's look at a brief comparison of the two parties' policies.
Bolsheviks | Mensheviks |
Restricted political party of professional revolutionaries with an exclusive Central Committee. | Open membership party so that any proletarian can run for a seat. |
Belief that Russia should transition from Tsarism to Socialism quickly and with force, skipping both the bourgeois revolution and the capitalist stage. | Belief that Russia should transition from Tsarism to a Liberal/Bourgeois capitalist society and then to socialism through gradual changes and organic revolutions. |
Firm belief in the dictatorship of the proletariat to achieve socialism rather than following democracy. | Open to work with Liberal politicians within a government formed via a Democratic Constitution. |
Lenin's new theory of combining the bourgeois and proletariat revolutions into one, carefully led revolution by militant professionals (known as the vanguard of the proletariat) earned his beliefs the name Marxism-Leninism. Lenin's interpretation differed most significantly from Marx's theory of economic determinism as Marx believed that the economy dictated the politics of society whereas Lenin advocated the idea of politics dictating the economy.
Lenin's interpretation was popular with the radical members of the RSDWP because it was a quicker route to socialism and did not engage with the Liberals to create the inconvenient capitalist bourgeois stage.
The 1905 Russian Revolution demonstrated the failures of a Constitutional Monarchy, as the Tsar suppressed the Duma through rigging elections. This led Lenin to become more radical in his approach. The 1917 February Revolution instated the Provisional Government which constituted both Liberals and Socialists, but its reluctance to act regarding WWI and reform throughout its 7-month tenure showed how this coalition was unfavourable for the Bolsheviks and Russia. The Petrograd Soviet was formed to represent soldiers and workers. Lenin's April Theses denounced the Provisional Government and declared the slogan of “Peace, Land and Bread” to unite peasants, soldiers, and soviets to the Bolshevik cause.
The Bolsheviks and Petrograd Soviet formed an alliance, as the Bolsheviks promised “All Power to the Soviets” to overthrow the bourgeois Provisional Government and allow the proletariat councils to run the government. The Bolsheviks had gained a majority within the Petrograd Soviet by September 1917, creating proletariat and military support for the Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik Revolution occurred in October 1917. The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks formally split, and Lenin led the newly established Russian Communist Party in 1918.
The Russian Civil War followed the Bolshevik Revolution as rivalling political parties fought for control of Russia. The Bolsheviks were victorious by 1921. Lenin's 1921 Decree Against Factionalism banned dissent from other political parties, enforcing the Communist dictatorship.
After the Bolshevik victory, Lenin created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics led by the Communist Party. Its political stance was a socialist nation that was guided by (Marxism-Leninism) communist ideology. The Communist Party's Central Committee led Russia through a dictatorship to enforce socialism throughout the country. Lenin had officially established Marxism in Russia.
Marxism is the belief in the political and economic theories of Karl Marx. Marx's key theory is economic determinism, which explains that society naturally progresses through economic stages with class struggles for control of the means of production. Eventually, after a series of revolutions, socialism is established which leads to communism.
Marxism is a political theory of how to achieve communism. Communism is a political form of governance based on Marx's theories.
According to Karl Marx, every society is destined to become communist through a series of economic and political stages and revolutions. Marxists aim to successfully establish communism in a society.
Marxism understands society through the class system. Higher classes exploit the lower classes. With the establishment of communism, class is abolished and everyone lives in an equal society.
As Marx's theories were based on British society, Lenin had to adapt them to Russia. He argued that a vanguard could lead a revolution representing the peasantry and the proletariat, overthrow Russia's feudalist system and establish communism in one revolution. This opposed Marx's theory that a bourgeois revolution would overthrow feudalism, and after a period of capitalism, a proletariat revolution would overthrow the bourgeoisie.
Which stage of Marx's economic determinism theory was Russia in during the 19th century?
Feudalism
What was the key theory developed by Karl Marx that explained how communism would be established in a society?
Economic determinism
According to Marx's theory of economic determinism, how many revolutions would society undergo before it reached socialism?
Two
What was the name of Georgy Plekhanov's 1883 group which opposed the Narodniks to fight for Marxist revolution?
Liberation of Labour
Plekhanov and Lenin formed which political party in 1898?
The Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party
Who was the leader of the Bolsheviks?
Lenin
Already have an account? Log in
Open in AppThe first learning app that truly has everything you need to ace your exams in one place
Sign up to highlight and take notes. It’s 100% free.
Save explanations to your personalised space and access them anytime, anywhere!
Sign up with Email Sign up with AppleBy signing up, you agree to the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy of StudySmarter.
Already have an account? Log in
Already have an account? Log in
The first learning app that truly has everything you need to ace your exams in one place
Already have an account? Log in