Left communists: history, representatives, principles and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

The turning point in the history of Russia in the twentieth century can certainly be called the Great Russian Revolution of 1917, which consisted of two parts - the February and October stages. The events that took place in October brought the Bolshevik Party led by V. I. Lenin to power.

For the development of the new state, the Bolsheviks needed a calm environment on the external borders of the country. V. I. Lenin insisted on making peace with Germany, and on conditions that were completely unfavorable for Russia. But the so-called left communists believed that the country needed a revolutionary war, without any negotiations with Germany.

Events of the Revolution

The February revolution began with the protests of Petrograd workers on February 23 (March 8). Throughout the country, people were growing tired of the war and the deterioration of living conditions, because of this, mass demonstrations and protests arose, the demand of which was the overthrow of the tsarist government.and cessation of hostilities. The result of the February Revolution was the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, but the war continued.

In March 1917, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma formed a cabinet that did not support Russia's withdrawal from the war. The Provisional Government considers it its goal to bring the war to victory. A few days later, the Petrograd Soviet adopted the manifesto "To the peoples of the whole world." The purpose of the council is to counteract imperialist policies and call on the peoples of Europe for peace. The so-called dual power appeared in the country.

The October Revolution took place on October 25, 1917. In February 1918, Russia switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, as a result, the date of the October Revolution falls on November 7th. The coup that took place on the night of October 24-25 was unexpected for many.

The Petrograd Soviet has been working for a long time to end the dual power in the country, and as a result, the sailors of the B altic Fleet with detachments of Red Guard workers brought this work to an end. Having seized control of the telegraph, telephone exchanges, railway stations and other strategic facilities, they reached the Winter Palace, which housed the Provisional Government. As a result, on October 26 at 2 am, the Winter Palace was taken by armed workers and sailors during the assault, and the Provisional Government was arrested.

Disagreements in the leadership of the Bolsheviks

For the development and transformation of Russia, the Bolsheviks are going to stop the militaryactions and conclude a peace treaty with Germany, and on very humiliating and unfavorable conditions for the country. This event caused heated discussions and disagreements in the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b). V. I. Lenin and his supporters insisted on making peace at any cost to save Soviet power in Russia, which they considered as a socialist outpost for the coming world revolution. But the main part of the members of the Central Committee believed that the truce could delay the development of the world revolution and, as a result, the power of the Soviets would come to an end.

L. D. Trotsky and his supporters are in favor of refusing to sign a peace treaty. They considered this option possible only if there was a threat of an offensive by German troops, which could lead to the death of Soviet power. That is, Trotsky proposed to adhere to the formula "no war, no peace."

Left Communists, led by Bukharin, believed that they should not enter into negotiations with Germany, but that a revolutionary war should be waged, and only in this way could a world revolution be achieved. And what was the slogan put forward by the left communists? It is better to die with honor and a banner held high than to sign a predatory peace with Germany, that is, "Death or world revolution."

What is communism

The very word "communism" in translation from French means "general" or "public". Communists strive for social equality and common property. There should be no division into social classes, states. Communism assumes the absence of money and puts forward the slogan "From eachabilities, to each according to his needs. But in real life, such a society did not exist, this is a theoretical social system.

Communist ideas assumed social equality based on common property. The famous thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed the Communist Manifesto, in which they foreshadowed the death of capitalism and proposed a program for the transition from capitalism to communism.

Some theorists of communism, who approved and supported the significance of the October coup in Russia, but were dissatisfied with its further development, comparing Bolshevism with state capitalism, began to be called left communists. Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin became the leader of the left communists in Russia.

The concept of left and right

The political division between left and right occurred during the French Revolution, which began in 1789. Three political directions were formed in the National Assembly:

• Right - Feuillants (conservatives advocated a constitutional monarchy).
• In the center are the Girondins (supporters of the republic).
• Left - Jacobins (radicals - advocating changes in society). Liberals who stand for freedom and break with tradition are also on the left.

Thus, in the question of whether the communists are left or right, the unequivocal answer is that they are left. They belong to the radical social democrats, the main thing for which is social equality and commonown. Adolf Hitler, who promised his people freedom, justice, work and other benefits, first of all cracked down on the communists and leftist social democrats, depriving the people of freedom and equality. That's why the communists are on the left and the Nazis are on the right.

Left communism as a political doctrine

The Left Communists are the opposition that emerged within the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The RCP(b) existed from 1918 to 1925. Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich became the leader of the left communists in 1918. What the left communists stood for could be read in the newspaper they published. The Kommunist newspaper called for the acceleration of nationalization, that is, the speedy transfer of enterprises, banks, land, transport and other private property to state ownership. The term "left communism" refers to some Communists' criticism of Leninism.

Recognizing the importance of the revolution, the communist left condemned its development. Many of the members of the opposition saw state capitalism in socialist Bolshevism, including the leader of the left communists, Bukharin. In his work "Children's disease of leftism in communism", V. I. Lenin subjected to a critical analysis of the theory of the left communists. Lenin believed that trade unions and parliamentarism should be used for the purposes of the revolution. The uprising in Kronstadt against the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks in March 1921 and its defeat finally repelled the left communists. By 1930, they began to consider the USSR an accomplice of capitalism and came to the conclusion that a new revolution was needed.

Militaryopposition

By the fall of 1918, a group of left-wing communists confessed their errors to Lenin and ceased to exist as an organized opposition. And at the Eighth Congress of the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the left communists were reborn into a military opposition. They opposed the involvement of bourgeois military specialists, the creation of a regular army and greetings between privates and commanders in the army, considering this a relic of autocracy.

Who was the left communist

In addition to the leader of the left communists N. I. Bukharin, the opposition included:

• F. E. Dzerzhinsky;
• I. Armand;
• A. M. Kollontai;
• G. I. Myasnikov;
• M. S. Uritsky;
• B. V. Obolensky;
• M. V. Frunze and others.

Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin

N. I. Bukharin was born in 1862. His parents were school teachers. Nikolai Ivanovich himself graduated from the first gymnasium in Moscow and began his studies at the university. He enters the Faculty of Law to study the profession of an economist. But in 1911 he was expelled from the educational institution in connection with revolutionary activities and arrest. He took part in the demonstrations of the revolution of 1905-1907.

At the age of 19, he organized a youth conference, from which a Komsomol organization was subsequently created. In 1908-1911 he became a member of the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP and worked with trade unions. In 1911, after being arrested, he fled from exile to Austria-Hungary. His acquaintance with V. I. Lenin takes place in1912, in Krakow. While in exile, Nikolai Ivanovich is engaged in self-education. He studies Marxism and the writings of utopian socialists. In 1916, abroad, he met Leon Trotsky, and a little later he met Alexandra Kollontai.

In 1918 he became the leader of the left communists. In 1919, he was wounded during a terrorist attack by anarchists. From 1918 to 1921, he wrote the books "The ABC of Communism" and "The Economy of the Transitional Period", which were created under the influence of war communism.

Bukharin's work under Stalin

In 1924, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin dies, and Bukharin becomes closer to Stalin. Friendship is established between them. Nikolai Ivanovich calls Stalin Koboi and addresses him as "you". In turn, Stalin calls him Bukharchik or Nikolasha. In Stalin's fight against Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, Bukharin gives his friend significant support.

As a result of this struggle, the founder of the Comintern, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, was removed from all posts and sent into exile in 1927, and two years later he was expelled from the USSR, subsequently losing his Soviet citizenship. Trotsky died in 1940 at the hands of an NKVD agent in Mexico.

History of the NEP

In 1926, Bukharin took the post of leader in the Comintern. He becomes a supporter of the NEP, having understood the mistakes of war communism. The goal of the NEP (new economic policy, created by V. I. Lenin in March 1921 to replacepolicy of war communism) consisted in the development of private enterprise and market relations.

Thus, Lenin wanted to raise the national economy, which was completely destroyed by 1920. Workers left the cities, factories did not work, the volume of industry was reduced and, as a result, agriculture fell into decay. There was a degradation of society, the intelligentsia fled the country or was destroyed. Peasant uprisings took place everywhere, and then the army began to rebel. On March 1, 1921, an uprising of Red Army soldiers took place in Kronstadt under the slogan "For Soviets without Communists!" The authorities were able to suppress the uprising by March 18, while some people died, while others fled to Finland.

NEP and capitalism

The main objective of the NEP was to replace the surplus appropriation (a tax under which the peasants were deprived of up to 70% of grain) for a tax in kind (tax reduction to 30%). It was the most successful economic project of that time. But later Lenin had to admit that this restoration of capitalism was necessary for the development and survival of the policy of the Bolsheviks. Therefore, gradually the authorities began to curtail the new economy, liquidating private capital.

In 1927 there was a disruption of state grain procurements. Grain stocks began to be confiscated from the so-called kulaks. All this served as a complete curtailment of the NEP, and the authorities set a course for collectivization and industrialization. But only in 1931, private trade in the USSR was completely banned.

ConvictionBukharin

Nikolai Ivanovich in 1928 began to oppose collectivization and the destruction of the kulaks as a class. He believed that the only way for the development of the economy was cooperation, which would gradually supplant individual farming and level the kulaks with ordinary villagers. But this approach completely contradicted the policy of Stalin, who led the course towards collectivization and industrialization in the country.

The Politburo reacted sharply negatively to Bukharin's speech and demanded to stop slowing down collectivization. In the spring of 1929, Bukharin was removed from his posts. From 1929 to 1932, Nikolai Ivanovich became the publisher of the journal Socialist Reconstruction and Science

The death of Bukharin

In 1936 and 1937, a number of accusations of anti-Soviet activities were brought against Nikolai Ivanovich. And in March 1938, the military collegium declared Bukharin guilty and pronounced a verdict: capital punishment - execution. He was rehabilitated in 1988 and posthumously reinstated into the ranks of the Communist Party.

Bukharin was an amazing person. A friend of Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and their enemy at the same time. He was a very educated and talented person. He knew several languages, was a journalist and at one time edited such newspapers as Pravda and Izvestia. Companions respected and feared Bukharin. Nikolai Ivanovich realized that his death was inevitable, he knew the system very well and understood that it was useless to resist it.