Editing Russian Revolution (section)

==Historiography==
{{main|October Revolution#Historiography}}
Few events in historical research have been as conditioned by political influences as the October Revolution. The [[historiography]] of the Revolution generally divides into three schools of thought: the Soviet-Marxist ([[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]]) view, the [[Western world|Western]] '[[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]]' view, and the 'revisionist' view.{{Sfn| Critical companion to the Russian Revolution |pages=5-7}} The 'totalitarian' historians are also referred to as 'traditionalists' and 'Cold War historians' for relying on interpretations rooted in the early years of the Cold War and described as a conservative direction; the Western Revisionists have lacked a full-fledged doctrine or philosophy of history, but were distinguished in the 1960s-1970s by their criticism of the 'traditionalist' bias towards the USSR and the left in general and their focus on "history from below" and social perspectives. While the 'totalitarian' historians described the Bolshevik revolution as a coup carried out by a minority which turned Russia into a totalitarian dictatorship, the 'revisionists' opposed such description and stressed the genuinely 'popular' nature of the Revolution. Since the [[Revolutions of 1989]] and the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, the Western-Totalitarian view has again become dominant and the Soviet-Marxist view has practically vanished in mainstream political analysis. The 'revisionists' achieved some success in challenging the 'traditionalists' and became accepted in academic circles, while 'totalitarian' historians retained popularity and influence in politics and public spheres.{{Sfn| Critical companion to the Russian Revolution |pages=3–17}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mawdsley |first=Evan |author-link=Evan Mawdsley |title=The Russian Civil War|year=2011|publisher=Birlinn |isbn=9780857901231}}</ref>{{Sfn|Suny|2017}}

Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik government was thrown into a crisis. Lenin failed to designate who his successor would be or how they would be chosen. A power struggle broke out in the party between Leon Trotsky and his enemies. Trotsky was defeated by the anti-Trotsky bloc by the mid-1920s and his hopes for party leadership were dashed. Among Trotsky's opponents, [[Joseph Stalin]] would rise to assume unchallenged party leadership by 1928. In 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the party and in 1929 he lost his citizenship and was sent into exile. While in exile he began honing his own interpretation of Marxism called [[Trotskyism]]. The schism between Trotsky and Stalin is the focal point where the Revisionist view comes into existence. Trotsky traveled across the world denouncing Stalin and the Soviet Union under his leadership. He specifically focused his criticism on Stalin's doctrine, [[Socialism in one country|Socialism in One Country]], claiming that it was incongruent with the ideology of the revolution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dawsey |first=Jason |date=12 September 2018 |title=Trotsky's Struggle against Stalin |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/trotskys-struggle-against-stalin |access-date=17 March 2022 |website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans |language=en}}</ref> Eventually, Trotsky settled in [[Mexico City]] and founded a base of operations for him and his supporters.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McNeal |first=Robert H. |date=1961 |title=Trotsky's Interpretation of Stalin |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40867583 |journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes |volume=5 |pages=87–97 |doi=10.1080/00085006.1961.11417867 |issn=0008-5006 |jstor=40867583}}</ref> In 1937 at the height of the [[Great Purge]], he published ''[[The Revolution Betrayed]]'' which outlined his ideological contradictions with Stalin, and how Stalin was guilty of subverting and debasing the 1917 revolution. He continued to vocally criticize Stalin and [[Stalinism]] until his [[Assassination of Leon Trotsky|assassination]] in 1940 on Stalin's orders.

The Soviet-Marxist interpretation is the belief that the Russian Revolution under the Bolsheviks was a proud and glorious effort of the working class which saw the removal of the Tsar, nobility, and capitalists from positions of power. The Bolsheviks and later the Communist Party took the first steps in liberating the proletariat and building a workers' state that practiced equality. Outside of Eastern Europe this view was heavily criticized as following the death of Lenin the Soviet Union became more authoritarian. Even though the Soviet Union no longer exists, the Soviet-Marxist view is still used as an interpretation in academia today. Both academics and Soviet supporters argue this view is supported by several events. First, the RSFSR made substantial advances to [[women's rights]]. It was the first country to decriminalize [[abortion]] and allowed women to be educated, which was forbidden under the Tsar.<ref>{{Cite web  |last=McElvanney |first= Katie|title= Women and the Russian Revolution |publisher=British Library |url=https://www.bl.uk/russian-revolution/articles/women-and-the-russian-revolution |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801145838/https://www.bl.uk/russian-revolution/articles/women-and-the-russian-revolution |archive-date=1 August 2020 |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=www.bl.uk}}</ref> Furthermore, the RSFSR decriminalized homosexuality between consenting adults, which was seen as radical for the time period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Merrick |first=Jeffrey |date=2003 |title=Review of Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia: The Regulation of Sexual and Gender Dissent |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3790378 |journal=Journal of Social History |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=1089–1091 |doi=10.1353/jsh.2003.0104 |issn=0022-4529 |jstor=3790378 |s2cid=142653153}}</ref> The Bolshevik government also actively recruited working class citizens into positions of party leadership, thereby ensuring the [[proletariat]] was represented in policymaking.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Sheila |date=1988 |title=The Bolsheviks' Dilemma: Class, Culture, and Politics in the Early Soviet Years |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2498180 |journal=Slavic Review |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=599–613 |doi=10.2307/2498180 |issn=0037-6779 |jstor=2498180 |s2cid=155792014}}</ref> One of the most important aspects to this view was the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Russian Civil War » HI 446 Revolutionary Russia {{!}} Boston University |url=https://sites.bu.edu/revolutionaryrussia/student-research/katherine-ruiz-diaz |access-date=22 April 2022 |website=sites.bu.edu}}</ref> On paper,{{tone inline|date=September 2024}} the Bolsheviks should have been defeated in part due to the broad international support their enemies were receiving. [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[French Third Republic|France]], the [[United States]], [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], and other countries [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|sent aid to the White Army and expedition forces against the Bolsheviks.]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carley |first=Michael Jabara |date=1989 |editor-last=Kettle |editor-first=Michael |editor2-last=Luckett |editor2-first=Richard |editor3-last=Got'e |editor3-first=Iurii Vladimirovich |editor4-last=Emmons |editor4-first=Terence |editor5-last=Raleigh |editor5-first=Donald J. |title=Allied Intervention and the Russian Civil War, 1917–1922 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40106089 |journal=The International History Review |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=689–700 |doi=10.1080/07075332.1989.9640530 |issn=0707-5332 |jstor=40106089}}</ref> The Bolsheviks were further at a disadvantage due to factors such as: the small land area under their control, lack of professional officers, and supply shortages. In spite of this, the Red Army prevailed. The Red Army unlike many White factions maintained a high morale among their troops and civilians throughout the duration of the civil war.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 August 2019 |title=The Red Army |url=https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/red-army |access-date=21 March 2022 |website=Russian Revolution |language=en-AU}}</ref> This was in part due to their skillful use of propaganda. Bolshevik propaganda portrayed the Red Army as liberators and stewards of the poor and downtrodden.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 November 2017 |title=Russian Revolution: Ten propaganda posters from 1917 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41833406 |access-date=21 March 2022 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Bolshevik support was further elevated by Lenin's initiatives to distribute land to the peasantry, and ending the war with Germany. During the civil war, the Bolsheviks were able to raise an army numbering around five million active soldiers. Domestic support and patriotism played a decisive role in the Russian Civil War. By 1923 the Bolsheviks had controlled the last of the White Army holdouts and the Russian Civil War concluded with a Bolshevik victory. This victory ultimately influenced how the Soviet Union interpreted its own ideology and the October Revolution itself. Starting in 1919, [[October Revolution Day|the Soviets would commemorate the event]] with a military parade and a public holiday. This tradition lasted up until the collapse of the Soviet Union. As time went on the Soviet-Marxist interpretation evolved with an "[[Anti-Stalinist left|anti-Stalinist]]" version of it. This subsection attempts to draw a distinction between the "Lenin period" (1917–24) and the "Stalin period" (1928–53).<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Norbert |last=Francis |url=http://www.ijors.net/issue6_2_2017/pdf/__www.ijors.net_issue6_2_2017_article_2_francis.pdf |title=Revolution in Russia and China: 100 Years |journal=International Journal of Russian Studies |volume= |date=2017 |pages=130–143 |issn=2158-7051}}</ref>

[[Nikita Khrushchev]], Stalin's successor, argued that Stalin's regime differed greatly from the leadership of Lenin in his "[[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Secret Speech]]", delivered in 1956. He was critical of the [[Joseph Stalin's cult of personality|cult of the individual]] which was constructed around Stalin whereas Lenin stressed "the role of the people as the creator of history".<ref name="archive.org">{{Cite book |last=Khrushchev |first=Nikita Sergeevich |url=https://archive.org/details/TheCrimesOfTheStalinEraSpecialReportToThe20thCongressOfTheCommunistPartyOfTheSovietUnion. |title=The Crimes Of The Stalin Era, Special Report To The 20th Congress Of The Communist Party Of The Soviet Union. |date=1956 |pages=1–65}}</ref> He also emphasized that Lenin favored a [[collective leadership]] which relied on personal persuasion and recommended the removal of Stalin from the position of General Secretary. Khrushchev contrasted this with the "despotism" of Stalin which require absolute submission to his position and also highlighted that many of the people who were later annihilated as "enemies of the party", "had worked with Lenin during his life".<ref name="archive.org"/> He also contrasted the "severe methods" used by Lenin in the "most necessary cases" as a "struggle for survival" during the Civil War with the extreme methods and mass repressions used by Stalin even when the Revolution was "already victorious".<ref name="archive.org"/>

Views from the west were mixed. Socialists and labor organizations tended to support the October Revolution and the Bolshevik seizure of power. On the other hand, western governments were mortified.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnstone |first=Diana |title= The Western Left and the Russian Revolution |date=1 July 2017 |journal=Monthly Review |volume=69 |issue=3 |page=77 |doi=10.14452/MR-069-03-2017-07_6 |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2017/07/01/the-western-left-and-the-russian-revolution |access-date=4 October 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> Western leaders, and later some academics concluded that the Russian Revolution only replaced one form of tyranny (Tsarism), with another (communism).<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Century of 1917s: Ideas, Representations, and Interpretations of the October Revolution, 1917–2017 |url=https://www.husj.harvard.edu/articles/a-century-of-1917s-ideas-representations-and-interpretations-of-the-october-revolution-19172017 |access-date=4 October 2022 |website=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |language=en}}</ref> Initially, the Bolsheviks were tolerant of opposing political factions. Upon seizing state power, they organized a parliament, the Russian Constituent Assembly. On 25 November, an [[1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election|election]] was held. Despite the Bolsheviks being the party that overthrew the Provisional Government and organizing the assembly, they lost the election. Rather than govern as a coalition, the Bolsheviks banned all political opposition. Historians point to this as the start of communist authoritarianism.{{Sfn|Dando|1966|pages=314–319}} Conservative historian [[Robert Service (historian)|Robert Service]] states, "he (Lenin) aided the foundations of dictatorship and lawlessness. He had consolidated the principle of state penetration of the whole society, its economy and its culture. Lenin had practiced terror and advocated revolutionary amoralism."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |title=Lenin}} in {{Harvnb| Critical companion to the Russian Revolution |page=19}}</ref> Lenin allowed for certain disagreement and debate but only within the highest organs of the Bolshevik party, and practicing [[democratic centralism]]. The RSFSR and later the Soviet Union [[Political repression in the Soviet Union|continued to practice political repression]] until its dissolution in 1991.

[[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] theoreticians have disputed the view that a one-party state was a natural outgrowth of the Bolsheviks' actions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grant |first=Alex |date=1 November 2017 |title=Top 10 lies about the Bolshevik Revolution |url=https://www.marxist.com/top-10-lies-about-the-bolshevik-revolution-part-one.htm |website=In Defence of Marxism |language=en-gb}}</ref> [[George Novack]] stressed the initial efforts by the Bolsheviks to form a government with the [[Left Socialist Revolutionaries]] and bring other parties such as the Mensheviks into political legality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Novack |first=George |title=Democracy and Revolution |date=1971 |publisher=Pathfinder |isbn=978-0-8734-8192-2 |pages=307–347 |language=en}}</ref> [[Tony Cliff]] argued the Bolshevik–Left Socialist Revolutionary coalition government dissolved the Constituent Assembly due to a number of reasons. They cited the outdated voter-rolls which did not acknowledge the split among the Socialist Revolutionary party and the assemblies conflict with the [[All-Russian Congress of Soviets|Congress of the Soviets]] as an alternative democratic structure.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cliff |first=Tony |title=Revolution Besieged. The Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly) |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1978/lenin3/ch03.html |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> Trotskyist historian [[Vadim Rogovin]] believed Stalinism had "discredited the idea of socialism in the eyes of millions of people throughout the world". Rogovin also argued that the [[Left Opposition]], led by Leon Trotsky, was a political movement "which offered a real alternative to Stalinism, and that to crush this movement was the primary function of the Stalinist terror".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rogovin |first=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-8936-3897-6 |pages=1–2 |language=en}}</ref>