In Defence of October

Study the lessons of the Russian Revolution

About us 1917 Live

Theses on the Tasks of the Party + the Present Situation

Written in November, 1917.

(α) Recognition of the revolution of 25.X. as a socialist revolution.

(β) Rejection of all limitations to this in the spirit of reversion to the bourgeois-democratic revolution (gradual transition; "stage" of the bloc with the petty bourgeoisie, etc.).

(γ) Dictatorship of the proletariat, its special features as compared with "general", formal (bourgeois) democracy, its tactics.

(δ) Soviet power and the power of the. Bolsheviks.

(ε) Agreement with the petty bourgeoisie not in the sense of a bloc for a bourgeois-democratic revolution, not in the sense of restricting the tasks of the socialist revolution, but exclusively in the sense of the forms of transition to socialism on the part of different sections of the petty bourgeoisie.

(ζ) Bourgeois liberties versus suppression of the exploiters.

(η) Saboteurs and capitalists; capitalists and “public opinion” of the bourgeoisie.

(θ) The Constituent Assembly and its subordination to the Soviet power, to the interests and conditions of the civil war.

(ι) Top organisations (Vikzhel, Peasants’ Central Executive Committee, etc.) and the struggle against them.

(κ) Struggle against reformism in its modern presentation:

   (1) the proletariat’s hands tied by fellow-travellers from among the petty bourgeoisie

   (2) restricted scope of the revolutionary struggle of the rank and file

   (3) rejection of terrorism.

 

Source: Marxist Internet Archive.

Read More

23.02.1917
The February Revolution
Strikes and protests erupt on women's day in Petrograd and develop into a mass movement involving hundreds of thousands of workers; within 5 days the workers win over the army and bring down the hated and seemingly omnipotent Tsarist Monarchy.
Read more here
16.04.1917
Lenin Returns
Lenin returns to Russia and presents his ‘April Theses’ denouncing the Bourgeois Provisional Government and calling for “All Power to the Soviets!”
Read more here
18.06.1917
The June Days
Following the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the reformist leaders called a demonstration to show the strength of "democracy". 400,000 people attended, the vast majority carried banners with Bolshevik slogans.
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16.07.1917
The July Days
Spontaneous, armed demonstrations against the Provisional Government erupt in Petrograd. The workers and soldiers are suppressed by force, introducing a period of reaction and making the peaceful development of the revolution impossible.
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9.09.1917
The Kornilov Affair
Following the July days, the Bolsheviks were driven underground and the forces of reaction were emboldened. This process culminated in the reactionary forces coalescing around General Kornilov, who attempt to march on Petrograd and crush the revolutionary movement in its entirety.
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26.10.1917
The October Revolution
The Provisional Government is overthrown. State power passes to the Soviets on the morningm of 26th October, after the Bolsheviks’ Military Revolutionary Committee seize the city and the cabinet surrenders.
Read more here
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