A Separate Peace The Dying Legacy

A detailed Summary of A Separate Peace The Dying Legacy

By early 1918 in Russia, the Bolsheviks controlled only the north-western area of the Russian Empire (Petrograd and Moscow) together with the areas between and around them. Various opposition groups were formed against the Bolsheviks, under the new Provisional Government. The provisional government had proposed elections for a new assembly in late 1917; Lenin had seen that the Bolsheviks must act before this democratically elected government convened, but once in power, he allowed the elections to proceed. In the November 1917 polls, Bolshevik candidates won just under 25 per cent of the vote, while the moderate socialists polled over 40 per cent. Lenin sent his loyal troops to close down the constituent assembly the day after it convened. Russia was about to enter a bloody civil war, which was a culmination of the efforts of varied opposition groups to defeat the Bolsheviks, from which it would emerge into Leninist and Stalinist tyranny.

The causes of the civil war are diverse. A confusion of governments and opponents existed, some based on minorities and nationalities. From these, the Lithuanians, Moldavians, and Ukrainians declared independence. There was a Polish dispute over rights of sovereignty which raised tensions bet

Moreover, Lenin and the Russian Communist party took control of the country. Workers' strikes, peasant uprisings, and a rebellion by the Kronshtadt garrison in favour of an all-socialist government were quickly crushed. In 1921 Lenin established the New Economic Policy to strengthen the country, which had been drained by seven years of turmoil and economic decline. On December 30, 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally established when the ethnic territories of the former Russian Empire were united with the Russian Federated Socialist Republic.

The received wisdom is that there was no alternative open to the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks could have followed a more democratic route, but they chose not to. They were in the minority and their goal was to have absolute power. Their failure to understand that socialism and democracy are part of the same process destroyed the prospect for socialism in the Soviet Union. Next time there are revolutionary upheavals in society, it is to be hoped that the revolutionary potential of the working class will not be so squandered.

Freedom is not just a goal, a noble end to be achieved, but rather a necessary part of the process of creating socialism. Anarchists are often accused of being 'utopian'. Beliefs are utopian if subjective ideas are not grounded in objective reality. Anarchists hold that part of the subjective conditions required before socialism can exist is the existence of free exchange of ideas and democracy. To believe that revolution is possible without freedom, to believe those in power can, through their best and genuine intentions, impose socialism from above, as the Bolsheviks did, is indeed utopian, and it can be held that such utopian beliefs are too idealistic, and therefore bad for Russia in the long run.

In response to long term effects, there was a higher degree of stability and unity achieved through the creation of a homogenous group according to historian S. J. Lee. Moreover, there w

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Approximate Word count = 1342
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics