This concept means the struggle of a social group, the purpose of which is either to fight against the growing revolution, or to overthrow the newly established revolutionary one and, as a result, restore the old social and political system.
Concept in science
K. Marx noted that by its very development, a revolution gives rise to a counter-revolution. In modern science, counterrevolution is viewed as the inevitable second stage of the entire revolutionary process. One of the clearest examples is the White Guard movement in post-revolutionary Russia.
Counter-revolutionaries use different forms of struggle:
- open, such as armed uprisings, riots, foreign intervention, civil wars;
- hidden, such as plots, blockades, sabotage, acts of sabotage.
Hidden, secret methods of struggle begin to be used in the event of a complete victory of the new social order.
What is a counter-revolution? By K. Marx's definition, this is the resistance of the "eliminated" classes and the desire of the new exploiting class to "stop" the revolution where it has already been [vol. 20, p. 206].
Anychange breeds opposition, so there is no revolution without counter-revolution.
Civil War 1918-1922
What is contra? The most understandable and closest revolution for the population of our country, of course, is the October Socialist Revolution of 1917. The cardinal changes aroused fierce opposition from representatives of the abolished classes. Representatives of the nobility, officers, and intelligentsia united under the banner of struggle. In the revolutionary environment, it was precisely these people who did not want to put up with changes.
One of the most famous armed uprisings was the rebellion of the Czechoslovak military corps in 1918, which resulted in the creation of the Provisional All-Russian Government and the start of a large-scale military operation that escalated into a civil war.
In August 1918, the Allied forces of the Entente (Great Britain, France, Italy) entered the north of the country. The actions of the Allied forces are regarded by modern historians as an intervention.
Contra - what is it?
After the defeat in the First World War, the allied states changed their direct military presence on Russian territory for economic assistance. This is an example of hidden counter-revolutionary actions. The United States provided financial assistance, issued loans; France and England sent weapons and ammunition. Among the people, the allies of the White Guard movement were called "contra".
History knows examples of the temporary return of former regimes caused by counter-revolutionary actions, for example, the Restoration of the Stuarts in England of the 17th century and the Bourbons in France of the 18th century.
Some current representatives of communist as well as socialist movements and parties consider the reforms of the 90s of the XX century, which led to the change of the totalitarian political regime with a planned economy to a democratic one with a market economy, as a counter-revolution and restoration of the former, pre-revolutionary state system. But this, of course, is their subjective opinion, which has not passed the test of time.
