Essay:Stalin's role in the October Revolution

Stalin’s Role in the October Revolution

Many anti-communists, especially Trotskyists, claim on Wikipedia, among other places, that Stalin had very little to do with the planning and execution of the October Revolution. What was it really like?

At the illegally held 6th All-Russian Party Conference of the Bolsheviks in July/August 1917 Stalin had long belonged to the inner leadership circle of the Bolshevik Party. Even during the period from February to November 7, 1917, he carried out enormous organizational and journalistic work. After the fall of the Tsar, he returned to Petrograd from four years of exile. The Central Committee assigned Stalin and Kamenev to edit the party newspaper "Pravda" (“Truth”). Together with Molotov, Stalin also directed the work of the Bolshevik Central Committee and the Petrograd Committee of the Bolsheviks.

In March 1917, the bourgeois Provisional Government was formed with the help of the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. It supported the continuation of the war and opposed the expropriation of large landowners and the distribution of land to the peasants. At the same time, Soviets (councils) of partly armed workers’ and soldiers’ deputies arose. At that time, the Bolsheviks were still in the minority there.

This dual power was a unique feature of the Russian Revolution. For many Bolsheviks, it was initially unclear how to proceed. The party “adopted a policy of exerting pressure by the Soviets on the Provisional Government in the question of peace and could not yet bring itself to take the next step forward … to the new slogan ‘All power to the Soviets.’”

Lenin, who was still in exile in Switzerland at the time, returned to Russia on April 3, 1917. In his April Theses, he set out the tasks for the Bolshevik Party: the goal was to transfer all state power to the Soviets and to establish the Soviet Republic. Lenin opposed any support for the Provisional Government. Stalin later said of his own position at the time that he had initially taken an incorrect stance. He stated that he “only completely abandoned it in mid-April, when I joined Lenin’s theses.”

The 5th Party Conference, which opened on April 24, adopted Lenin’s April Theses. Stalin became one of three secretaries of the Central Committee and remained one of the editors of Pravda. No other member of the Bolshevik Party bore so much executive and administrative responsibility. Lenin was the recognized leader; Stalin was his general staff chief.

As War Minister of the Provisional Government, Kerensky launched a major military offensive against Germany on July 1, which ended in disaster. The response of the masses was demonstrations and protest meetings. In Petrograd, in mid-July, there was a spontaneous uprising by armed soldiers, sailors, and workers. The Bolsheviks persuaded the fighters not to proceed with the insurrection yet. At that point, the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries who collaborated with the Provisional Government still had a majority in the Soviets. The Bolsheviks managed to turn the attempted uprising into mass demonstrations.

On July 19, the Provisional Government began repressive measures, directed mainly against the Bolshevik Party and other revolutionary forces. A vicious campaign was launched against Lenin, labeling him a “German spy.” He was wanted by the authorities. Trotsky, Kamenev, and others were in favor of Lenin surrendering to the counterrevolutionary courts. The majority of the party leadership rightly rejected this. Lenin was hidden in various places and moved to Finland at the end of August.

Stalin, together with Dzerzhinsky and Sverdlov, took over the leadership of the party. From July 26 to August 3, 1917, the 6th All-Russian Party Conference was held under conditions of illegality. At this conference, Stalin proposed the admission of Trotsky and his supporters — the group Mezhraiontsy (“Interdistrict Group”). Its members, former Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, declared their unconditional agreement with the Bolshevik program and policy. However, at this party congress, Preobrazhensky, a supporter of Trotsky, proposed an amendment to a resolution submitted by Stalin. The amendment stated that only if the proletarian revolution triumphed in Western Europe could socialism be built in Russia. This question played a central role in the inner-party struggles over the next ten years. Incorrectly, this conflict is often portrayed merely as a personal power struggle of Stalin.

On October 16, the Central Committee elected a party center headed by Stalin, responsible for organizing the uprising. Kamenev and Zinoviev opposed the insurrection and even made the plans public. They argued that one should wait until the government attacked. The revolution began on the night of November 6–7. After the victory of the October Revolution, Stalin became a member of the Council of People’s Commissars.

Stalin had a significant personal share in the success of the October Revolution in Russia. He maintained close ties with party members as well as with the working masses. At the First All-Russian Soviet Congress in July 1917, he was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets. At the Second Congress, as mentioned above, he became a People’s Commissar.

Portrayals that downplay his role at that time are based either on ignorance — or are slanderous.