Bolshevism Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Bolshevism refers to a movement for Marxist socialist revolution spearheaded by the Bolshevik Party in Russia. Its founder was Vladimir Lenin, and as a consequence, Bolshevism is often viewed as synonymous with Leninism. Leninism, however, has more of a theoretical component than Bolshevism and aspires to be a more complete political ideology.

Bolshevism was born at the Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) in 1903. Lenin advocated a more active and committed party membership of professional revolutionaries, which stood in contrast to the trade union–based membership of other social democratic parties at that time. He forced a split in the party, and, after political maneuvering that assured his faction the majority of the seats in the RSDLP’s leading bodies, he named his group the Bolsheviks (from the Russian word bol’shinstvo, meaning majority). They were opposed by the Mensheviks (from the Russian word men’shinstvo, meaning minority) led by, among others, Julius Martov and Grigorii Plekhanov. However, it was not until the Seventh Congress of the RSDLP in 1917 that the term Bolshevik officially appeared in the party title. In 1918 the party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and in 1925, under the Soviet Union, became the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The term Bolshevik officially disappeared in 1952, when the party name was changed to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The basis of the Bolshevik position was a strategy that emphasized the role of a “vanguard party” of professional revolutionaries who were committed to a Marxist socialist revolution. Those who were inactive or not wholly committed to the movement were excluded from membership. The party committed itself to raising class consciousness among the working class and rejected the view that the Russian workers needed to cooperate with the middle class to bring political change to Russia. It professed to be a party of a “new type,” based on democratic centralism. This means that members participate in the formation of policy and election of leaders, but after a policy has been decided, all party members are commanded to carry it out loyally. In power, the Bolsheviks aspired to create a “dictatorship of the proletariat,” in which the party would rule in the name of the working class and ferret out class enemies.

With the victory of the Bolshevik Party in the Russian Revolution of November 1917 and formation in Moscow of the Communist International in 1921, Bolshevism became the model for other communist parties. Later under Joseph Stalin, it was associated with his policies of rapid industrialization, collectivization of agriculture, socialism in one country, and complete subordination of all other social groups to the interests of the party. Over time, Bolshevism became associated with the Soviet form of communism in which the state did not wither away, as Karl Marx predicted, but instead played a leading role in modernizing the economy and a repressive function in ensuring control over political and social life.

Many Marxist thinkers have been critical of Bolshevism. The Mensheviks argued for more evolutionary movement to communism and thought the Bolshevik idea of bringing developed socialism to agrarian Russia premature in Marxist terms and politically infeasible. Rosa Luxemburg opposed in principle the idea of a centralized party organization that would impede the independent activity of the working class. Leon Trotsky and, later, the Trotskyites of the Fourth International viewed Bolshevism as appropriated by Stalin and turned, into a degenerate form of communism. They argued for greater participation of the membership, more control over the leadership of the party, and more emphasis on the global scope for revolutionary action. While one could maintain that Bolshevism should not be equated with “true communism” as envisaged by Marx, the fact is that only parties based on Bolshevik principles of organization have managed to seize power.

Bibliography:

Besancon, Alain. The Intellectual Origins of Leninism, translated by Sarah Matthews. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 1981.
Dan, Fedor. The Origins of Bolshevism. New York: Harper and Row, 1964.
Kolakowski, Leszek. Main Currents of Marxism, 3 vols, translated by Paul S. Falla. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon, 1978.
Tucker, Robert. The Lenin Anthology. New York: Norton, 1973.
Ulam, Adam. The Bolsheviks:The Intellectual and Political History of the Triumph of Communism in Russia. New York: Macmillan, 1965.