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The scarlet thread woven into the abolition of serfdom, Lenin’s vision of the communist revolution and the socialist principles detailed in “The Communist Manifesto” is socialist centralism. The abolition of serfdom gave birth to collective peasant communes. Lenin envisioned an elite party vanguard to centrally control the new government. The Manifesto wanted to put the means of production into state control instead of private control. The vital relationship between these three entities is the incorporation of socialist principles with centralized state ownership and leadership.
When Alexander II issued the Emancipation Reform of 1861, the serfs did not gain complete freedom. Alexander’s emancipation no longer made the serfs legally or dutifully bound to their aristocratic master’s whims and gave them property. Though they gained property, they did not have full rights of ownership to it. The Reform called for the land gained by the peasants to be amalgamated into collective property headed by a village assembly. The assembly could prevent former serfs from moving away lest to increase the financial burdens on others, reallocate lands, and prevent sale and mortgaging. The abolition of serfdom was monumental, because socialist principles of public ownership were incorporated into prevailing system of centralized state sponsored initiatives long before the communist revolution took place. The Emancipation Act of 1861 made the means of production, the farms, public property which belonged to a peasant community. Also, the Tsar undertook state led industrialization initiatives like the Trans Siberian railroad, state banks and state owned companies. This phenomenon of centralized ownership did not emanate from the Manifesto because the Tsar was vehemently against any liberal democratic institutions. This idea was generally accepted by the Russian society because only state led initiatives by the tsar were seen as legitimate. Thus, the abolition of serfdom brought socialist type changes amalgamated into strong centralist authority prevailing in Russia.
Lenin’s vision about the communist revolution can be traced to his beliefs about Marxian Socialism enumerated in “What is to be Done.” Lenin believed Marxian Socialism facilitated a centralized power structure with elite professional revolutionaries without oversight, secretive and with stable leaders continuing without opposition. Lenin wanted to establish a proletarian dictatorship with a central committee to regulate all things. Only that committee could be the thinking arm, while the rest would be members executing the commands of the party. The dictatorship would ensure proletarian interests by subverting any bourgeoisie capitalist efforts. A centralized power structure capable of incorporating Marxist socialist principles solidifying state ownership was Lenin’s clear vision of a communist revolution. The communist revolution of 1917 was the implementation of Lenin’s centralist socialist principles. Lenin’s view about the communist revolution brought a highly centralized party vanguard to power. He wanted to establish a proletarian dictatorship faithfully adhering to Marx’s class consciousness, but he wanted the highly airtight centralized Bolshevik party to control it. Lenin’s Bolshevik party gained power over Kerensky’s provincial government, even though Kerensky’s party gained an overwhelming majority in the election held by the National constituent assembly. The airtight party leadership of the central committee of the Bolshevik party was the handiwork of Lenin. Though the Bolsheviks were the minority, the quickly gained the support of the army which enabled them to suppress Mensheviks, reactionaries, counterrevolutionaries, tsarists and nobles. Their centralized party brought every institution under the control of the state and in later decades Engel’s centralized economy. Ultimately, Lenin’s vision to have a strictly centralized socialist party became the dictum of the new Bolshevik government.
But how is Lenin’s vision of the communist revolution related to the abolition of serfdom? When Lenin proclaimed his interpretation of the Manifesto, he based it on prevailing Russian conditions and traditions. Lenin mentioned his view of Marxian Socialism was uniquely meant for Russia because there was no prevailing urban proletariat. Russia was a backward industrial nation and did not have an official proletariat, as in western European nations. Russia had a largely agricultural base and this posed a problem for Lenin, who wanted to establish socialism in Russia. Centralism manifested itself in Russia with a socialist overtone when the tsar abolished serfdom, which led to a communal peasant economy. Lenin capitalized on this prevailing system and championed socialist centralism. Hailing from the commune tradition established by the tsar, Lenin incorporated centralist state traditions into Marxian Socialism, which from 1918 the Bolshevik party called communism. Also, the Manifesto gave Lenin full license to establish a proletarian dictatorship, which controlled the means of production in the name of the state. Recognizing Russia’s need, Lenin developed his view of the communist regime of a highly centralized proletarian dictatorship, by combining ideas about class antagonism and proletarian dictatorship and ownership from the Manifesto, and the prevailing socialist centralist setup issued by the tsar when he freed the serfs. Thus, the relationship between Lenin’s vision, the Manifesto and the abolition of serfdom is centralized authoritarian socialism particular to Russia.
Bibliography (Sources)
Lenin, Vladimir Ilich. “What is to be Done?” 30 October 2008. http://artsci.shu.edu/reesp/documents/Lenin--chto%20delat.htm
Palmer, R.R., Joel Colton, and Lloyd Kramer. A History of the Modern World: since 1815
