As many theorists of the revolutionary movement, and first of all V. I. Lenin, emphasized in their writings, a revolutionary situation is the situation in the country that is most conducive to the beginning of the revolution. It has its own characteristic features, the most striking of which are mass revolutionary sentiments and the inclusion of the broadest sections of the oppressed classes in the struggle aimed at overthrowing the existing system. The very existence of a revolutionary situation can be seen as the emergence of socio-political conditions for the seizure of power by the advanced class.
The main preconditions for the emergence of a revolutionary situation
A revolutionary situation, according to Lenin, may develop due to a number of factors. One of them is the so-called "crisis of the top". It should be understood as a situation in which the ruling classes are deprived of the opportunity to maintain their dominant position in its original form.
As a result, their policies become unable to contain the growing indignation and discontent of the oppressed masses. The state of society in which the "tops" cannot live as before, V. I. Lenin in his writings described as an indispensable condition for the emergence of a revolutionary situation in the country.
But besides this, he also notes the need for readiness for revolution and its main driving force - the lower strata of society, which make up the majority of the population and are traditionally the object of exploitation. Such readiness is usually the result of a number of negative consequences caused by a sharp drop in the standard of living of the population.
In addition to economic reasons, the creation of a situation in which the "lower classes" do not want to continue to tolerate the established order, contributes to the strengthening of social lawlessness, the general deprivation of the masses and the exacerbation of antagonism (social contradictions) that are the result of this political system. The validity of such a statement is shown by all historical experience. Based on it, Lenin's books were written, containing materials that later served as a guide in the political struggle of the proletariat.
An important role is also played by such factors as the onset of reactionary forces, war or the threat of its outbreak, the instability of domestic life in its various manifestations, etc. As a result, the political activity of the masses often rises to such an extent that, for a start, active revolutionary actions require only a sufficiently powerful detonator.
One more step towards revolution
As the revolutionary theory developed by a whole galaxy of progressive thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries emphasizes, one of the deepest foundations for the emergence of a revolutionary situation lies in the conflict betweenproductive forces and production relations. In view of the importance of this circumstance, we should dwell on it in more detail.
Productive forces are usually understood as a set of means of production: equipment, tools, production premises or land plots and the labor force, thanks to the ability, skills and knowledge of which the final product is produced. In parallel with the general course of historical progress, the productive forces are developing, passing the path from the most primitive forms to modern varieties of high-tech production.
Since at all stages of the development of society, production was most often carried out collectively, certain relations inevitably developed between the people employed in it, determined primarily by ownership of the means of production. It is quite obvious that relations of production and productive forces are not only closely connected with each other, but are also interdependent.
As society develops, previously established relations of production become obsolete and act as a brake on the forces of production. If in the process of history they are naturally replaced by new ones, then the conflict is resolved peacefully. Otherwise, the onset of the crisis may provoke an aggravation of social tension. And as a result, a revolutionary situation arises.
What can serve as an impetus for the development of a revolutionary situation?
Many works of Lenin and other prominent revolutionary theoristsmovements contain indications that the emergence of a situation in which society becomes ready for a radical change in the existing system depends on a whole range of social and political conditions. These include, first of all, the general state of the state apparatus, the strength of the positions occupied by the ruling class, and also, which is very important, the level of development of the working class, the degree of its merger with other sections of society and the presence (or lack) of experience in the revolutionary struggle. When the aggravations in the social and political life of the country reach a critical level, a situation called revolutionary is created in it.
Many works of Lenin are devoted to questions of its development. In them, he points out, in particular, that such a situation can be characterized by increasing dynamism and in its development goes through a number of certain stages. The process begins, as a rule, with mass unrest observed in all strata of society, and gradually growing, leads to a nationwide crisis, followed by a social explosion, followed by a change in the social system.
The importance of the subjective factor in the preparation of the revolution
As the signs of a revolutionary situation become more and more obvious in the country, the role of the subjective factor increases, that is, the readiness of the revolutionary masses to carry out the necessary social transformations leading to the overthrow of the exploiting class. Especially its role increases at the stage when social tension reaches the level of a nationwide crisis, since it does not always endrevolution.
An example of this is the situation that developed in Russia in 1859-1861, as well as in Germany in 1923. In none of these cases did it lead to a revolution simply because the progressive class was not ready for active actions aimed at seizing power.
As in the first, and in the second case, the spontaneously created revolutionary situation, not having met with proper support, gradually began to wane, and the energy of the masses began to fade. At the same time, the ruling classes, having found a way to keep power in their hands, made every effort to consolidate their position. As a result, the revolutionary upsurge gave way to a streak of reaction.
It is extremely important to precisely define and formulate the signs of a revolutionary situation, since this generally affects the strategy and tactics of the struggle aimed at overthrowing the rule of the exploiting class. As historical experience shows, attempts at a revolutionary transformation of society, undertaken in the absence of objective prerequisites for this, end in defeat and entail unnecessary sacrifices.
The crisis in Russia in the last quarter of the 19th century
How a revolutionary situation can take shape and develop can be conveniently traced by the example of its emergence in Russia in the late 70s - early 80s of the XIX century. That period of national history is characterized by a combination of the development of the workers' and peasants' movement with the struggle of the commoners, mainly the intelligentsia, who formed circles of the so-called populists.
Their activitieswas carried out against the backdrop of a number of negative consequences of the abolition of serfdom. Among them, one can note the exorbitant prices for the redemption of landlord lands by peasants, an increase in the volume of duties and other enslaving measures that led to the ruin of the largest class in the country - farmers.
The situation was aggravated by the famine that arose in a number of provinces due to crop failure in 1879-1880, as well as the consequences of the recently ended Russian-Turkish war. In the current situation, rumors spread for provocative purposes about the redistribution of land allegedly being prepared soon became widespread. All this led to the fact that there were clear signs of possible spontaneous actions of the peasants. The government was extremely afraid of such an outcome of events, and at the same time, the populist revolutionaries were striving for it.
At the same time, a no less threatening picture was emerging in most cities. The consequences of the economic crisis that engulfed Russia in the mid-70s led to mass unemployment, and, as a result, a sharp deterioration in the material situation of most of the representatives of the working class.
Revolutionary struggle as a consequence of social problems
This resulted in an intensification of the social struggle. It is known that at the end of 1878 and at the beginning of 1879, 89 strikes and 24 other cases of social protests were registered in St. Petersburg, most of which were the result of the activities of an underground socialist organization called the NorthernUnion of Russian Workers . In 1891, the first May Day meeting of the revolutionary proletariat was held in Moscow. Subsequently, these illegal meetings, arranged outside the city on May 1, became a tradition and became one of the forms of political activity of the masses.
The revolutionary situation in Russia at the end of the 1870s became particularly acute thanks to the activities of the populists, which have already been mentioned above. If earlier many members of this organization stood on the positions of apoliticalism, assuming the improvement of the social system only by educating the backward and almost completely illiterate rural population, then during this period their views changed dramatically.
The result was the soon-to-be-followed split of the All-Russian organization "Land and Freedom" into two wings - the organizations "Narodnaya Volya" and "Black Redistribution". Henceforth, the Narodnaya Volya chose political terror as the method of their struggle. Very soon, Russia was stirred up and received a wide public resonance by a number of actions carried out by them.
The story includes the assassination attempt by Vera Zasulich on the St. Petersburg mayor F. F. Trepov, committed by her in 1878, the murder of the chief of one of the gendarmerie departments N. V. a victim on one side as well as on the other. The culmination of everything was another assassination attempt on Alexander II in April 1879, and then his assassination, committed on March 1, 1881.
The end of another period of revolutionary struggle
In parallel withthis, already in the spring of 1878, sharply marked the crisis that engulfed the ruling classes, in particular, in response to the appeal of Alexander II to society with a request for assistance in the fight against the ever-increasing manifestations of revolutionary sentiments, many zemstvos in messages sent to him expressed criticism of the ongoing policy.
Unable to find support from the population, the king tried to normalize the situation by taking emergency measures. He transferred cases related to political terrorism to the jurisdiction of field courts, and also entrusted local administration to governors general, which immediately led to the decentralization of state power.
However, the arrests that followed the assassination of Alexander II undermined the strength of the Narodnaya Volya, and the lack of support from the broad masses of the population did not allow them to take advantage of the revolutionary situation to overthrow the existing system. In this case, a fatal role was played by their inability to rouse the people to the struggle, using all the prerequisites available for this. In other words, the very subjective factor that was discussed above failed.
Russia on the eve of the revolution
The events that preceded the February Revolution (1917) and the subsequent seizure of power by the Bolsheviks were completely different. To understand the regularity of the events that happened, one should take into account the situation in which they took place and evaluate the actions of their direct participants.
On the eve of the events that led to the overthrow of tsarism, the revolutionary situation in Russia developed as a result of a number of objective factors. Beforemost of all, the contradictions that caused the First Russian Revolution of 1905–1907 were not resolved. In particular, this concerns the land issue, which remained among the most pressing problems, despite the attempts of the government to solve it by implementing the agrarian reform of P. A. Stolypin.
In addition, one of the detonators of subsequent events was hyperinflation caused by the extremely unsuccessful course of the First World War and the fact that its actions began to unfold on the territory of Russia, affecting many of the most fertile areas. This caused food shortages in major cities and starvation in the villages.
War as a detonator of revolution
The role of the First World War in the dynamics of the growth of social tension and the creation of a revolutionary situation is very large. Suffice it to say that the number of Russians who died in it amounted to 3 million people, of which almost 1 million were civilians.
The general mobilization also had a negative effect on the mood of the masses, as a result of which 15 million people, mostly rural residents, were forced to shed blood for interests alien to them. The general unwillingness to fight was skillfully used by propagandists who were sent to military units by political forces fighting for leadership: the Bolsheviks, the Cadets, the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), etc.
During the First World War, there was a noticeable decline in industrial production, which resulted in the dismissal of a significant number of workers and the subsequentunemployment. All of the above circumstances led to the situation in the country in which the "lower classes", who made up the majority of its population, did not want to live in the old way. This was one of the reasons for the revolutionary situation.
Between two revolutions
At the same time, the "tops" demanded changes, the need for which was due to the weakness of the tsarist government in political and economic terms. The former methods of governing the country have clearly outlived their time and no longer ensured the possibility of retaining power by the big bourgeoisie. Thus, there was also the second component of the emergence of a revolutionary situation in the country - the "tops" could not live in the old way.
Lenin's books, widely published in the Soviet period, are full of materials proving the irreversibility of the revolutionary process that began in the country. Indeed, day by day it developed with ever-increasing strength, resulting in the fall of the monarchy.
According to contemporaries, throughout 1917 Russia was a "boiling political cauldron". The reason for this was that the February Revolution did not solve the main social and political problems that gave rise to it. The Provisional Government that came to power from the first days showed its weakness and complete inability to influence the processes taking place in the life of the country.
The Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, the largest political organization in Russia at that time, with more than a million members in its ranks, did not go far. DespiteDespite the fact that its representatives occupied key positions in many government structures, it also failed to offer a way out of the current crisis and, as a result, lost political leadership.
The party that took advantage of the revolutionary situation
As a result, the Bolsheviks took advantage of the revolutionary situation in the country in a timely manner. Their Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, having managed to win over a significant part of the Petrograd garrison and the sailors of Kronstadt, seized power in October for many years, becoming the head of state.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to believe that during the years of their rule, situations close to revolutionary were not created in the country. If in the 30s the new authorities were able to almost completely suppress all manifestations of social discontent, then the previous decade was marked by repeated protests by both the workers and the peasant masses, dissatisfied with many aspects of the internal policy pursued by the government.
Forcible collectivization, impoverishment of the population, as well as repressive measures against entire strata of society have more than once caused increased social tension, fraught with an explosion. However, using a wide range of measures, ranging from ideological influence to the use of military force, the communists managed to take control of the situation every time.
