The Revolutionary Democracy of 1917
Those who draw a straight line from the October Revolution to Stalinism invariably ignore the civil war that came in between.
The Petrograd soviet assembly, 1917.Kristallstadt / Wikimedia
For almost a century, most commentators have agreed that the October Revolution represented an undemocratic seizure of state power. Instead of allowing liberal democracy to grow after February, the Bolsheviks moved rapidly to take control.
But how democratic was Russian liberalism in 1917? Were alternative forms of democratic participation — structured through soviets, factory committees, peasant land committees, and other bodies — available? Against the mainstream consensus, the history of the Russian Revolution suggests that rather from being anti-democratic, the Bolsheviks supported the most radical democratic forces of their time against the attempts of liberals to constrain those forces.
Democracy in the February Revolution
Russian liberals wanted to avoid revolution altogether as long as World War I continued. When the February uprising began, they remained loyal to the tsar, and when Premier Golytsin signed the order to dissolve the Duma, they did not object.
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