The spread of Marxism in Russia played a large role in the history of our state in the 20th century. It was on this ideology that the Bolshevik party was founded, which after the October Revolution came to power. In this article we will tell how this movement originated in our country, what the first Marxist organizations and their representatives were like.
Background
The spread of Marxism in Russia, in fact, was provoked by the split in the populist organization Earth and Freedom. This is a revolutionary secret society that existed on the territory of our country since 1861. His first inspirations were Chernyshevsky and Herzen.
The organization counted on a peasant uprising, which was planned to be organized in conjunction with the Polish revolutionaries. However, the authorities arrested the leaders of the movement, the Poles began an uprising ahead of schedule, and the liberal community refused to support them, believing in the progressiveness of the reforms that had begun in the country. Hopes for a peasant rebellion did not materialize. As a result, in 1864, Earth and Freedom self-destructed.
The organization was restored in 1876, but already as a populist. She was guided by the slogans that came from among the peasants, and in her program proclaimed the principles of collectivism and anarchism. Initially, the organization created village settlements, campaigned peasants, calling it "going to the people." However, these methods failed. Then the Narodniks concentrated their main efforts on political terror.
There was a split between the leaders of Earth and Freedom. One of the activists, Georgy Plekhanov, headed the Black Redistribution group, and in 1880 was forced to emigrate. Abroad, he became acquainted with the works of Marx, popular at that time, becoming an active propagandist of his teachings, one of the first representatives of Russian Marxism.
The first organization of workers
The very first organization of workers was created in Odessa by the populist Evgeny Osipovich Zaslavsky in 1876. It was called the "South Russian Union of Workers."
Odessa at that time was a dynamically developing industrial and commercial Russian city. Before the emergence of the new organization, a circle of volunteers was already operating here.
Zaslavsky wrote a charter based on the ideas of Karl Marx. Therefore, the "South Russian Union of Workers" can be called the first Marxist organization in Russia. The leaders of the movement considered the important part to be the struggle for political freedoms and the building of socialism. This distinguished her from other populist groups that were oriented toward anarchist ideas and utopian projects of socialism. Moreover, the charter did not have a clear idea of how the struggle of the proletariat should be waged.
In early 1876, the "South Russian Union of Workers" was defeated after the betrayal of one of its members. The first political process in the Russian Empire was organized in Odessa, in which revolutionaries-workers became participants. The three leaders of the movement went to hard labor. The rest are in exile and prison.
Revolutionaries in St. Petersburg
In Russia, Marxist ideas fell on fertile soil. In the country at that time there were many organizations that were unhappy with the state of affairs in the country.
One of them is the Northern Union of Russian Workers. In 1878, she became one of the first political organizations in Russia. It was created in St. Petersburg, where by that time many capitalist industrial enterprises had opened. This contributed to the growth of the proletarian population. In addition, there was a port in the city through which revolutionary literature came.
The organizers of the Northern Union of Russian Workers were Gorodnichny, Smirnov, Volkov and Saveliev. Departments were organized in the districts of St. Petersburg, headed by the workers themselves. In February 1880, even its own printing house was launched, in which it was planned to print the newspaper "Working Dawn". During the layout of the first issue, the police raided with a search.
It was also possible to open branches in Moscow and Helsinki, but it never turned into an all-Russian organization, the Northern Union of Russian Workers. In 1880, he was defeated by the authorities. Its members, who managed to escape the arrest, joined the People’s Will.
Marxism comes from abroad
In 1883, Plekhanov, together with like-minded people, created the Marxist organization Emancipation of Labor in Geneva. Its tasks were to disseminate the theories of the German philosopher in Russia, the ideological struggle against populism. The stake was made on the proletariat, which at that time was beginning to actively form in the country. It was his Marxists who considered the foundation of the revolutionary class.
With the development of capitalism, the labor movement and the final disillusionment with populist ideas grew. In the 1880s, the first social democratic groups appeared, based on Marxist positions. In one of them, Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) began his activities in Kazan. This is the future ideological inspirer and leader of the Bolsheviks, known throughout the world.
Organization of Lenin
It was Vladimir Ulyanov who in 1985 created in St. Petersburg the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. In his work, he tried to move from the theoretical ideas of Marxism to direct agitation among the workers.
The organization led a strike and revolutionary movement in the country, and was engaged in the distribution of illegal literature. Lenin managed to establish interaction between the workers of several Petersburg enterprises at once.
Already in December, over 50 active participants, including Lenin himself, were arrested on a denunciation. The leader of the movement, while in prison, kept in touch with colleagues who remained at large, actively wrote leaflets (made small containers of bread, and used milk as ink). When he searched his cell with guards, he simply ate all the dirt.
In 1896, mass strikes were organized. About 30 thousand people took part in the largest strike then. In August, several dozens of members of the Union for the Emancipation of the Working Class were detained. In total, more than 250 people were arrested. The organization was defeated, in fact, ceased its activities.
The role of Plekhanov
This man was perhaps the main ideologist of Marxism in Russia in the 19th century. The secret society "Black Redistribution" organized by him was originally located in St. Petersburg. They even managed to print the first issue of the revolutionary newspaper of the same name, which outlined the main ideas. However, the entire issue was seized by the gendarmes directly at the printing house. Subsequent issues were already printed abroad.
In March 1878, the authorities dispersed the strike in St. Petersburg. Many of the leaders of the people's volunteers were arrested. However, George V. Plekhanov managed to avoid this fate. Two years later, he left for Switzerland.
After the Emancipation of Labor group, to the appearance of which he was directly involved, Georgy Valentinovich created the Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad. He takes part in the publication of the Iskra newspaper.
Party creation
Since 1898, social democratic groups began to play a key role in the spread of Marxism in Russia. They appear in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinoslavl, Kiev.
Decisive is their joint meeting in Minsk, at which an important decision is made on the creation of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. However, the charter and program were developed a little later. Soon, almost all congress delegates were arrested.
In 1900, the Iskra newspaper was created. This publication has been work oriented. It published propaganda and propaganda materials, including information about the workers' struggle for their rights. In the formation of the party and the spread of Marxism in Russia, it played a decisive role.
Second Congress of the RSDLP
Since the majority of the participants in the first congress of the RSDLP were arrested, and without having had time to really decide anything, it is the second that becomes constituent.
Georgy Valentinovich Plekhanov is directly involved in its organization and preparation. It takes place in 1903 in Brussels. Many then remembered his speech in which he allowed the restriction of democratic principles for the sake of the success of the revolution. After the congress, Plekhanov collaborated with Lenin for a short time, joining the Bolsheviks. But as a result, he disagreed with his views and became one of the leaders of the Mensheviks.
Return to Russia
Plekhanov returned to Russia after the February Revolution, having spent 37 years in forced emigration. However, he was not admitted to the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. He had to be content with the publication of the newspaper Unity, in which he published articles on the most important political events of that time.
Plekhanov opposed Lenin's April Theses and supported the Provisional Government.
The negative Russian ideologist of Marxism reacted to the October Revolution. He was convinced that the country was not ready for socialist changes. Moreover, he assured that the seizure of power by one party or one class would lead to sad consequences. Plekhanov was the author of a letter to the Petrograd workers, in which he warned that the Russian proletariat, seizing untimely political power in their hands, would cause the Civil War. At the same time, he convinced that the Bolsheviks were at the helm for a while, so he did not think about serious resistance to them.
Already in the fall of 1917, his condition worsened sharply. On November 2, he was hospitalized. On January 28, 1918, Plekhanov left Petrograd for a Finnish sanatorium. On May 30, he died from a heart embolism that developed due to tuberculosis.