The events of 1917 and the prevailing situation in the world required the search for allies in the seething revolutionary cauldron of various political forces. After the October events, Lenin, who led the Bolshevik party, dismissed the idea of a homogeneous socialist government. There were many speculations about the reasons that made the Bolsheviks enter into a coalition with the left wing of the socialist revolutionaries. Why did the forces, heterogeneous in their political weight and goals of the struggle, believe that they were only benefiting from such a forced alliance? These and many other points will be disclosed in this article.
Socialist Revolutionaries (Socialist Revolutionaries)
This party was created on the basis of populist organizations that appeared in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. The idea of Narodism was that the Russian intelligentsia would return to the roots of popular wisdom, seeking to find their place in this world. They preached an exceptional way of development of Russian society, capable of building socialism immediately, bypassing the capitalist formation. The basis for this should serve as a peasant communal land tenure that existed in Russia. This utopia found a wide response in the souls of the revolutionary populists, dreaming of change.
The Social Revolutionaries were the direct heirs to these views. They managed to gain considerable money capital (mainly due to the propaganda work that they conducted among the peasantry). The Bolsheviks relied on the proletariat, and the peasants simply lost sight of. The broad support of the peasant masses, which the Socialist-Revolutionaries used and was the answer to the question: "What reasons forced the Bolsheviks to join the coalition?"
The socialist revolutionaries did not shun terror. True, it was of an individual, selective nature. The most famous victims were: Vyacheslav von Pleve, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and other high-ranking persons.
What did the Socialist Revolutionaries achieve?
The originality of their ideas was that they were the first to speak about the federal structure of Russia. The transition to socialism was planned as a natural evolutionary path, which should begin with the village. But for this it is necessary to transfer all the land not even to the state, but to local self-government bodies. Users of such land would receive their consumer rate based on personal labor.
They were supporters of the broad representation of the people in all spheres of life. The goals of its program were to create a republic with mandatory attributes in the form of universal universal suffrage, personal integrity, freedom of speech, and empowerment of broad autonomy not only in regions, but also in various communities.
Subsequently, the Bolsheviks (annoyed at their mistakes in working with the peasantry) will take some points from this program.
Reasons for the split of the party of socialist revolutionaries
After the events of the February Revolution, there were disagreements within the Social Revolutionaries. There were several controversial points that served as an apple of contention:
- condemnation of imperialist war;
- complete refusal to cooperate with the Provisional Government;
- solution of the land issue.
All those who did not agree with the party’s general line formed the left faction. It was a sin not to take advantage of such a situation. The Bolsheviks did everything possible to drag the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to their side, realizing the mistakes of their own work. They simply did not have an agrarian program.
The Bolsheviks realized it only in April 1917, putting this issue on the agenda. But with a reservation. It said that when developing such a program, it was necessary to avoid "excessive detail, with hands tied in particulars." In other words, they simply did not want to make unnecessary promises, due to the fact that they themselves had not yet decided what to do with the land issue. So far, it has only been about confiscation.
Left SRs in this regard looked much more profitable. But the union of such motley forces gave every chance to get lasting power. This was the main answer to the question, what reasons forced the Bolsheviks to join the coalition.
The relations of emerging allies on issues of war and peace cannot be discounted. Here they acted as a united front.
Transition to a coalition government
Most parties took the events of the October Revolution as a vile military conspiracy. There was a real threat of civil war if a common solution was not found in society. The position of the All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railway Workers Union added fuel to the fire. By controlling the communication lines, they could easily arrange a regional-level collapse by stopping the movement of trains. Railway workers demanded the creation of a government from all socialist parties.
The Mensheviks-internationalists, Socialist-Revolutionaries and representatives of other parties were forced to accept a compromise. The prospect of a transfer of power from the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks to parliamentary forms of democracy loomed. It was a little hope of resolving social contradictions peacefully.
The urgent need for allies pushed the Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries to create their own political bloc. What reasons forced the Bolsheviks to join the coalition? Indeed, for them, the October revolution was only a transitional stage at the beginning of the revolution. Fear of being in a political minority was the main reason for creating a coalition and consolidation of forces.