The first significant attempt to implementcommunism on a large scale occurred in Russia following theFebruary Revolution of 1917, which led to theabdication ofTsar Nicholas II after significant pressure from theDuma and the military.[1]
After the abdication, Russia was governed by aprovisional government composed of remnants of the dissolved Duma and thesoviets—workers’ and soldiers’ councils—in a power sharing system known asdvoevlastie (dual power). Later that year, theBolsheviks, led byVladimir Lenin, seized power in theOctober Revolution and established theRussian Soviet Republic. After theRussian Civil War ended in 1922, the Bolsheviks formally established theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), with Lenin as its first leader.
Throughout the 20th centurycommunism spread to various parts of the world, largely as a result of Soviet influence, often through revolutionary movements and post-World War II geopolitical shifts. TheCold War period saw a global ideological struggle between the communist bloc, led by the Soviet Union, and the capitalist West, led by the United States. The eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked a significant decline in the global influence of communism, though the ideology persists in some countries and continues to inspirepolitical movements worldwide.[2]
Efforts to buildcommunism in Russia began after the success of theFebruary Revolution in 1917, and ended withthe dissolution of the USSR in 1991. TheProvisional Government was established under the liberal and social-democratic government; however, theBolsheviks refused to accept the government andrevolted in October 1917, taking control of Russia.Vladimir Lenin, their leader, rose to power and governed between 1917 and 1924.
TheCommunist Party of the Russian Federation remains the second-largest political party afterUnited Russia.
The First World War placed an unbearable strain on Russia's government and economy, resulting in mass shortages and hunger. In the meantime, the mismanagement and failures of the war turned the people and importantly, the soldiers against the Tsar, whose decision to take personal command of the army seemed to make him personally responsible for the defeats. In February 1917, the Tsar first lost control of the streets, then of the soldiers, and finally of the Duma, resulting in his forced abdication on 2 March 1917.[3]
On 26 February 1917 citywide strikes spread throughoutPetrograd. Dozens of demonstrators were killed by troops. The crowds grew hostile, so the soldiers had to decide which side they were on. As the situation became critical, soldiers refused to work for the Tsar.[3] On 26 February 1917 the Army abandoned the Tsar; the soldiers mutinied and refused to put down the riots. By 27 February 1917 the workers were in control of the entire city.[3]
On 24–25 October 1917 the Bolsheviks andLeft Socialist Revolutionaries organized arevolution, occupying government buildings, telegraph stations, and other strategic points.[4] On 24 October 1917, theRed Guards took over bridges and telephone exchanges.[4] On 25 and 26 October 1917 the Red Guards took over banks, government buildings, and railways stations. The cruiser Aurora fired blank shots at the Winter Palace signalling the start of the revolution. That night (9:40 pm), the Red Guards took over the Winter Palace and arrested the Provisional Government.[4]
On 27 October 1917Lenin proclaimed that all power now belonged to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies.[4]
After Vladimir Lenin andJoseph Stalin took over the Soviet Union, many people still opposed the communist party. This led to the Civil War between the White Army and Red Army. The White Army included the opposition party, while the Red Army included the armed forces of the government and people that supported Vladimir Lenin. TheCivil War resulted in the deaths of 10–30 million people.[5]
Lenin argued that in an underdeveloped country such as Russia, the capitalist class would remain a threat even after a successful socialist revolution.[6] As a result, he advocated the repression of those elements of the capitalist class that took up arms against the new soviet government, writing that as long as classes existed a state would need to exist to exercise the democratic rule of one class (in his view, the working class) over the other (the capitalist class).[6] Lenin wrote that "[d]ictatorship does not necessarily mean the abolition of democracy for the class that exercises the dictatorship over other classes; but it does mean the abolition of democracy (or very material restriction, which is also a form of abolition) for the class over which, or against which, the dictatorship is exercised."[7][8] AfterWorld War I,Karl Kautsky became a critic of theBolshevik Revolution, and was famously denounced by Lenin as a "renegade".[9]
The use of violence, terror and rule of a single communist party was criticised by otherMarxists, includingKarl Kautsky,[10] andRosa Luxemburg,[11] as well asAnarcho-Communists likePeter Kropotkin.[12]
Soviet democracy grantedvoting rights to the majority of the populace who elected the local soviets, who elected the regional soviets, and so on until electing theSupreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Capitalists were disenfranchised in the Russian soviet model. However, according to Lenin, in a developed country, it would be possible to dispense with the disenfranchisement of capitalists within the democratic proletarian dictatorship, as the proletariat would be guaranteed an overwhelming majority.[13] The Bolsheviks in 1917–1924 did not claim to have achieved a communist society. In contrast the preamble to the 1977Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the "Brezhnev Constitution"), stated that the 1917 Revolution established the dictatorship of the proletariat as "a society of true democracy" and that "the supreme goal of the Soviet state is the building of a classless, communist society in which there will be public, communist self-government."[14]
Authors Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenney stipulate that the primary cause of the Soviet Union's collapse was a betrayal of established socialist principles, particularly during the Gorbachev era.[15] Gorbachev's policies ofperestroika andglasnost undermined the planned economy, weakening the Communist Party and allowing non-communist power to take hold. This is catalyzed in Gorbachev's removal of the Communist Party's constitutional role in 1990. A year later, the USSR was dissolved despite a majority of the Soviet citizens voting against dissolution. Boris Yeltsin then became the first president of Russia.[5]Russian presidentBoris Yeltsin would ban the CPSU in the aftermath of thefailed coup attempt. TheCommunist Party of the Russian Federation(CPRF) would be founded at the Second Extraordinary Congress of Russian Communists on 14 February 1993 as the successor organization of theCommunist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (CPRSFSR). The CPRF was the ruling party in theState Duma, the lower house of theRussian Federal Assembly from 1998 to 1999. It is the second-largestpolitical party in Russia afterUnited Russia.
TheCold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and theSoviet Union. It began shortly after World War II and lasted until the early 1990s; this era was marked by ideological, political, and military rivalry between the two superpowers and their respective allies. One of the most significant flashpoints of theCold War wasCuba. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Cuba became a close ally of the Soviet Union, aligning itself withcommunist ideology. This alliance was pivotal during theCuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuban soil brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The crisis was ultimately resolved through a tense negotiation, resulting in the removal of the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and the secret removal of U.S. missiles fromTurkey.
Soviet nostalgia remains prevalent among the Russian populace. Per theLevada Center in 2018, 66 percent of Russians said they regretted the Soviet break-up[16] highlighting the enduring impact of this historical period on thecollective memory of the nation.[17]
