How did Joseph Stalin adapt socialism to conditions in Russia? The October Revolution had transformed the political landscape of Europe. The remnants of the Old Regime, which had fallen to Catherine the Great in January 17zhukov’s reign, were in the forefront against the new revolutionary government. At this point in time the question posed by historians is how did Stalin and the remnants of the Old Regime adjust to the demands of the October Revolution? The mainstream historian of the time, Alexander Kerensky, answers this question in his famous work, The Revolution Of Personality. I will not reproduce here the entire content of this book, but I will present here his key arguments in support of his diagnosis of Stalin and his assessment of the Soviet leadership during these trying times.
The most important question posed by Kerensky at the time, as I note in my later work, After the Fall, was how did the Menshevik and the Narodniks accept and take responsibility for the political degeneration that occurred in Russia? These two groups, the Mensheviks and the Narodniks, did not believe in a separate political system for the country. They were bound together by an imagined brotherhood. The Mensheviki, or “Mensheviki” as they were more commonly called, were mostly farmers and landed gentry. The Narodniks were urban professionals and were primarily from the intelligentsia. These two groups came to be known collectively as the “Red Army,” which General Alexander Kerensky’s Red Army crossed to join General George S. Patton’s Third Army in defeating the German army at the Battle of the Bulge.
The Mensheviks advocated a peaceful transition of power through popular election and a government of national assembly with power shares among the various groups of Russians. The Narodniks advocated seizing control of the factories and running the economy in conjunction with the government. The Mensheviki and the Narodniks united, with the Mensheviks supporting the ideas of a constitutional monarchy and centralization of power. This put a great deal of opposition to the established order. The Mensheviki and the SRs were the main forces of “Bolshevik” revolution.
Returning to how did lenin adapt Marxism to conditions in Russia? One possibility is that he became the de facto leader of the Mensheviki, and that after his death, the leadership was centralized around him. Other possibilities are that he developed a new appreciation of democratic socialism and created a theoretical synthesis between socialism and liberalism, and embraced some of the theories of liberalism prevalent in England at the time. One possibility is that he simply sought to justify the actions of the revolution that had killed his family, and other Mensheviki were simply following his lead.
Some historians have suggested that after his death, Maxim turned to an extremely anticlerical position and began a campaign of terror against the Mensheviks. Others have suggested that this was the cause of his murder. Whatever the case, his murder touched off a chain reaction of events that would ultimately end in the bloody Sunday in Moscow. The February Revolution killed hundreds of innocent people, including many members of the ruling party. The Mensheviks and the bourgeoisie took up arms against the revolutionary apparatus, and the cannons that opened fire on the seated royals on the day of the Bloody Sunday were a symbol of the struggle between the classes for control of the capital.
How did lenin adapt Marxism to conditions in Russia? The “Stalinization” of the workers movement came about as a direct result of the mass arrests, trials, and executions of the previous December. The mass worker’s strikes that followed were met with violence by the police and army. After these developments, the Menshevik and Socialist parties liquidated their differences and joined together in what came to be known as the Munich agreement.
After World War I, the “Bolshevik” threat became a serious problem for the Russian leadership. At this point, how did lenin adapt to conditions in Russia? Once again, history presents a clear answer. He created a social revolution by purging the “bourgeoisie,” which he believed to be responsible for the financial crisis, and concentrating instead on economic development, in order to appease the Menshevik and Social Democratic parties.
The question remains as to how did lenin adapt to conditions in Russia? Was he simply following his lead after having read a book that told him exactly what to do, or did he have a pre-determined plan? Regardless of how he chose to adapt his political ideas, one thing is certain.
