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In the
mid-nineteenth century Marx’s ideas seemed to have little
relevance for a backward and agrarian country like Russia.
Moreover, many Russian intellectuals did not believe their
country would ever be capitalist and shared the vision of a
unique destiny for Russia conjured up by Slavophiles and, later,
by Narodniks. However, the crisis of Narodnichestvo of the early
1880s made many dissidents disillusioned with peasant socialism.
By that time, as a result of the ‘Great Reforms’, Russia’s
industrial proletariat and, with it, the working-class movement
began to emerge. This attracted the attention of some
revolutionary-minded intellectuals who became increasingly
interested in the Marxist idea of a socialist revolution led by
the urban proletariat.
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In
1883, in exile in Switzerland, the first Russian Marxist group was set up under
the leadership of George Plekhanov (1856-1918). The members of this small
organization - ‘Emancipation of Labor’
- had been active Narodniks in the past, former activists of the ‘Black
Repartition’ group which had emerged as a propagandist wing of the ‘Land and
Liberty’ after its split in 1879.
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Plekhanov
and his associates were deeply concerned by the ideological crisis
in which Narodnichestvo had found itself by the early 1880s and they
sought to find a solution by subjecting their views to a complete
overhaul. They did not abandon their basic socialist ideals, but
they now came to see capitalism as a necessary evil, an unavoidable
stage in the evolution of mankind which more advanced countries and
nations already pursued and which Russia would not be able to
escape. |
Their
theoretical inquiries led them to the following conclusions: the
post-reform Russia was taking the capitalist path and this
would inevitably lead to the complete disintegration of the peasant
commune. Therefore Narodniks’ belief in the triumph of ‘communal
socialism’ was groundless. The pauperization of the peasantry would
lead to the growth and consolidation of the proletariat. It would be
the proletariat which could and should lead Russia to socialism by
establishing its dictatorship and carrying through necessary changes
in all spheres of life. In order to prepare the proletarian
revolution, it was necessary to give the emerging labor movement a
right direction, provide it with a scientifically-based ideology and
arm it with a program of action. These tasks could only be carried
out by revolutionary intelligentsia, steeped in the spirit of
Marxist teaching.
The members
of the ‘Emancipation of Labor’ group sought to forge this new
intelligentsia by converting to Marxism as many former supporters of
Narodnichestvo as possible. They translated key writings of K. Marx,
F. Engels and their followers into Russian and produced their own
works, in which they analyzed the situation in Russia from Marxist
positions. A particularly important role in the dissemination of
Marxism in Russia was played by Plekhanov’s books Socialism and
Political Struggle (1883) and Our Disagreements (1885).
By subjecting the main propositions of Narodnichestvo to
severe criticism and by persistently affirming the theoretical
supremacy of Marxism, Plekhanov and his adherents hoped to bring at
least part of the revolutionary-minded public under the banners of
the new ideology.
At the
beginning, Plekhanov’s group seemed to make little headway in
Russia, as most Russian socialists continued to believe that Russia
would bypass capitalism. However, the industrial upsurge of the
1890s made the Marxist approach seem more relevant to Russia, and
the ‘Emancipation of Labor’ group began to attract disciples among a
younger generation of revolutionary intellectuals. Marxist
literature widely circulated among the intelligentsia, provoking
heated arguments and debates, in the course of which the new
movement of social thought acquired both vehement opponents and avid
supporters. First Marxist circles began to spring up inside Russia,
mainly comprised of university students. They wanted to study the
Marxist theory and establish contacts with factory workers.
