Chapter 11 Chapter II World Revolution 3

3 In Lenin's mind, the ultimate goal of Russian socialism was to achieve world revolution—but this world revolution never happened.Poor Soviet Russia, because of this, walked into a poor and backward isolation for a generation; the future development direction was also destined at that time, at least narrowly limited (see Chapters 13 and 16).But after the October Revolution, in the next two years, a wave of revolution did sweep the world.To the ready-to-fight Bolsheviks, their hopes for a world revolution did not seem unrealistic.The first sentence in the German Internationale is "People all over the world have heard the signal." And this trumpet sounded from Petrograd—since Russia moved its capital to Moscow, which is a safer strategic location, in 1918. , again from Moscow.The trumpet of the revolution is loud and clear, and the sound can be heard.Wherever there is a labor and socialist movement, regardless of ideology, the clarion call of revolution can be heard.Moreover, wherever the trumpets sound, no matter how far or near, it is not limited to the labor and socialist camps. For example, tobacco workers in Cuba have also established "Soviet"-style conferences. Which side of the world is the corner.As for the two years after 1917, it is known as the "Two Years of the Bolsheviks" in Spanish history. In fact, the local leftists who caused disturbances belonged to radical anarchists, and they were completely different from Lenin's ideas. In Beijing, China in 1919, and in Cordoba, Argentina in 1918, student revolutionary movements also broke out.The wind of revolution soon spread throughout Latin America, and various local Marxists and parties were born at this time.Under the whirlwind of the international communist revolution, M.N. Roy, a hard-line Mexican who advocated the Indian national movement, fell sharply. Because in 1917, when the local revolution was at its most intense, it was natural not to talk about national sentiments. , but identified with revolutionary Russia: the portraits of Marx and Lenin began to be associated with the native Aztec emperor Moctezuma (Moctezuma), Mexican peasant revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata, and various The portraits of various Indians were juxtaposed and turned into portraits worshiped by local revolutionaries.The portraits of these figures can still be seen on the large murals painted by official painters.Within a few months, Lowy came to Moscow to plan for the newly formed Communist International, playing an important role in its policy of liberating the colonies.In addition, the main mass organization in the Indonesian national liberation movement, Sarekat Islam, was immediately affected by the October Revolution, partly through the introduction of the local Dutch socialist Henk Sneevliet.A local Turkish newspaper wrote: "The feat of the Russian people will one day become a brilliant sun shining on all mankind." Clearly uninterested, but also cheered the Soviets as a workers' state.In the United States, Finland immigrants (Finns), who had long strongly adhered to socialism, also converted to communism in large numbers.These Finnish workers frequently meet in a desolate mining town in Minnesota, and the meeting is often full of religious atmosphere: "As soon as Lenin's name is mentioned, the heart beats faster and the blood boils... In the mysterious silence, there is a religious atmosphere." We adore everything that comes from Russia.” (Koivisto, 1983) Simply put, the October Revolution was seen around the world as a global event.

Usually, people who have had personal contact with the revolution are less likely to develop religious fanaticism, but a large number of people still convert to communism because of this.Among them were war criminals who had returned home and not only became loyal believers of the Bolsheviks, but later became leaders of the Communist Party of the motherland.Such an example is the Croatian mechanic Josef Broz, who later became the leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito.There were also journalists visiting revolutionary Russia, like Arthur Ransome of the Manchester Guardian.Although Lan is not a well-known political figure, he is a well-known author of children's books. His enthusiasm for sailing is often revealed in his charming works.There is also a figure inspired by the revolution, less Bolshevik, that is, Jaroslav Hasek, a Czech pro-communist writer who later wrote the great literary masterpiece (The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schwejr)—Hasek found that, For the first time in history, he would fight for an ideal.I heard that what surprised him even more was that, after being drunk and dreamed of dying all his life, he woke up from now on and never drank anything in his glass again.During the Russian Civil War, Hasek joined the Red Army as a people's commissar.But when he returned to Prague after the war, he became intoxicated again and returned to the anarchist and bohemian life in the past.His reason was that post-revolutionary Soviet Russia was not to his liking.However, revolution was indeed the ideal he wanted to pursue.

The major events that happened in Russia not only inspired revolutionaries everywhere; what's more, they set off a wave of revolution everywhere. In January 1918, weeks after capturing the Winter Palace, the new government was desperately trying to negotiate peace with advancing German troops.At this time, a large-scale political strike and anti-war demonstrations began to sweep across Central Europe.The wave of revolution first hit Vienna, then passed through Budapest and the Czech Republic, spread all the way to Germany, and finally reached its climax in the Adriatic naval uprising of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.The Confederate power was over, and its army quickly disintegrated. In September, the Bulgarian peasants and soldiers returned home, declared the establishment of a republic, and marched straight to the capital Sofia; but with the help of the German side, the rebels were finally disarmed. In October, the Habsburg king suffered a final defeat on the Italian front and stepped down.Relying on a glimmer of hope, various emerging nation-states have proclaimed their establishment one after another.Their thinking was that, compared to the dangerous Bolshevik revolution, the allies who wanted to win should welcome their appearance (and this idea is not wrong).In fact, Western countries have long been worried about Soviet Russia calling on the people to cease fighting and make peace—not to mention the fact that the Bolsheviks announced the wartime agreement that the allies secretly carve up Europe.The first reaction of the allies was the fourteen-point peace plan proposed by President Wilson of the United States.The plan was to play the nationalist card against Lenin's calls for the unity of peoples.In addition, many small nation-states will form a long wall to contain the red virus.At the beginning of November of the same year, army and navy soldiers all over Germany rebelled one after another. Starting from the naval base in Kiel, the revolutionary wave spread throughout Germany.The republic was proclaimed, the emperor abdicated and fled to the Netherlands, and he was replaced as the head of state, a social democrat who was born as a saddler.

So from Vladivostok in the east to the Rhine River in the west, there was a wave of revolutionary fury everywhere.But this was a revolutionary whirlwind centered on anti-war, and the color of social revolution was actually very light.Therefore, the war ended and peace came, and the explosive power of the revolution was much lessened.For the Habsburgs, Romanovs, Ottomans, and peasant soldiers and their families in the small countries of southeastern Europe, the content of the revolution was nothing more than four: the land, the suspicion and fear of the city, and the fear of strangers (especially Jews) , and suspicion and fear of the government.Therefore, although the small peasants rose up to be revolutionary, they did not have a Bolshevik character.This is the case in Austria, parts of Poland, Bavaria in Germany, and most of central and southern Europe.The dissatisfaction of the peasants must be appeased through means of land reform, even in some conservative and counter-revolutionary countries, such as Romania and Finland.From another point of view, since peasants accounted for the vast majority of the population, the socialist parties would definitely not be able to win democratic general elections, and the chances of the Bolsheviks getting ahead were even slimmer.Not supporting socialism does not mean that the peasants are politically conservative, but this mentality is of course extremely detrimental to socialism of a democratic nature.In places such as Soviet Russia, electoral democracies were even abolished altogether.This was the reason why the Bolshevik Party called a Constituent Assembly (a revolutionary tradition that had continued since the French Revolution of 1789), but dissolved it within a few weeks of October.As for the series of small national states established according to Wilson's proposal, although the internal national conflicts did not disappear, the room for the Bolshevik revolution was greatly reduced.This development plays into the arms of the peacemakers of the Allies.

However, the Russian Revolution had a profound impact on the turmoil in Europe during 1918-1919. For this reason, the Moscow authorities inevitably had full confidence in the future of the world revolution.Even for a historian like me, judging from the circumstances at the time, it seemed that only Germany under the Kaiser was immune to the sweep of the revolutionary wave—even the local revolutionaries in Germany probably thought so.Both socially and politically, Germany was quite stable. Although the voices of the working class movement were strong, their stance was extremely moderate. If it were not for the World War II, it would be impossible for an armed revolution to occur in Germany.Germany is not like Tsarist Russia, nor is it like the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire, nor is it like Turkey, the so-called "sick man of Europe", nor is it like the wild mountain people in the southeastern mountainous areas of Europe who can do anything with guns and clubs.All in all, Germany doesn't look like a country in which great upheavals could occur.Compared with the real revolutions in the defeated Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the vast majority of revolutionary fighters and workers in Germany not only abide by the law, but are also quite moderate.The temperament of the Germans is exactly the same as the joke that the Russian Revolutionary Party made about them-but the joke may be fabricated: If the public is forbidden to trample on the grass, the German rebels will naturally obey the order and use the sidewalk.

And yet, in such a country, the sailors rose up to revolutionize and carried the Soviet flag across the country.It was here that a Soviet of Berlin workers and soldiers appointed the head of the government of Socialist Germany.The second revolution in Russia, which was carried out in one go in Germany, seemed to have been achieved at once: as soon as the emperor came to power, power in the capital immediately fell into the hands of radicals.However, the turmoil in Germany was actually only temporary.Under the double blow of defeat and revolution, the old army, country, and power organization all temporarily collapsed.Within a few days, however, the old republic was back in power, no longer afraid of the socialists.The German Socialists did not even get a majority in the first elections held within weeks of the revolution.As for the republican government, let alone the hastily established Communist Party.The latter's two leaders, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, were quickly murdered by army gunmen.

Nevertheless, the German Revolution of 1918 reaffirmed the hopes of the Bolsheviks in Russia.In addition, there are two other things that further fueled its ambitions: First, in 1918, Bavaria in southern Germany announced the establishment of a socialist republic. Although the life span of the republic was short, it did exist.The second was in the spring of 1919, after the assassination of the leader, the Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Munich.Likewise, the short lifespan of the republic was profound, as Munich was a center of German art, humanities, counterculture, and beer (which, after all, is less politically subversive).At the same time, an even more significant event in terms of the westward march of Communism arose on the Hungarian side, namely, the emergence of the Hungarian Soviet Republic between March and July 1919.The communist regimes in Germany and Hungary were, of course, quickly eliminated by brutal means.But disenchanted with the moderate Social Democrats, German workers soon became quite radicalized, with many switching to the Independent Social Democrats. After 1920, he turned to support the Communist Party, and the German Communist Party became the largest Communist Party outside Soviet Russia. 1919 was the most turbulent era in Western society.However, in this same year, efforts to further expand the Bolshevik Revolution simultaneously failed.In the second year, 1920, the Bolshevik leaders sitting in Moscow saw that the revolutionary wave quickly disappeared, but they still did not lose heart.It was not until 1923 that they completely gave up hope of a German revolution.

Looking back now, the Bolsheviks actually made a big mistake in 1920, which caused a permanent split in the international labor movement.At that time the Bolsheviks should not have organized the international communist movement into a small group of elite "professional revolutionary fighters", following the model of the Leninist vanguard.We will all see that the October Revolution was widely sympathetic and supported by international socialists. After the First World War, the socialist movements in various places became radicalized and became extremely powerful.With very few exceptions, there was generally strong support for participation in the new Bolshevik Third International.The Bolsheviks launched the new Comintern to replace the Second International (1889-1914), which had been bankrupt due to its inability to fight the Great War.In fact, at that time, the socialist parties in France, Italy, Austria, Norway and other countries had also voted to join the Third International.The anti-Bolshevik die-hard conservatives have become a minority in the Socialist Party.But the goal of Lenin and his party was not simply to unite those who sympathized with the October Revolution to create an international socialist movement.They intend to create a disciplined contingent of international warriors whose career is in revolutionary conquest.All parties that did not agree with Lenin's line were blocked from the door of the Communist International, and even faced the fate of being expelled.The Leninists believe that the fifth-column-style speculative psychology and reform arguments are meaningless, and the "idiot parliament" criticized by Marx is, needless to say, useless.The pace of these reforms in the system will only weaken the power of the party.In the minds of the Bolsheviks, the battle was coming; and on the battlefield, only soldiers were needed.

But the thesis of the Bolsheviks can only be established under one condition: the world revolution is still going on, and the revolutionary battle is about to start.But by 1920, the tide was clear; while the situation in Europe was still unstable, Bolshevik-style revolution was no longer on the agenda of the Western countries.But on the other hand, the communist regime in Russia is also deeply entrenched.True, when the Comintern met in Russia, things seemed promising.The Red Army, which had already won the civil war, was fighting against Poland, marching all the way to Warsaw, with the momentum of rushing the wave of revolution to the west by the way.This brief war between Russia and Poland was caused by Poland's territorial ambitions.It turned out that after the Great War, Poland, which had been in ruins for 150 years, finally regained its country and reaffirmed its 18th-century border rights to Russia.These lands penetrate deep into Russia, in Belorussia, Lithuania, and Ukraine.The advance of the Red Army is described very well in the literary masterpiece "Red Cavalry" (Red Cavalry) by the famous Russian writer Isaac Babel, which is widely praised by contemporary people.Those who applauded included the Austrian novelist Joseph Roth, who later wrote an elegy for the Habsburg dynasty, and Mustafa Kemal, the future leader and father of the country of Turkey.However, the Polish workers failed to rise to respond to the Red Army's offensive, which was turned back at the gates of Warsaw.Since then, there has been no fighting on the Western Front, although there is still activity on the surface.However, the trend of the revolution to the east has been very rewarding, and it has entered Asia, which Lenin had always paid close attention to.In fact, between 1920 and 1927, the hope of world revolution seemed to rest entirely on the Chinese revolution.Under the leadership of the Kuomintang, the revolutionary army was advancing all the way. The Kuomintang became the hope of national liberation at that time. Its leader Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) not only welcomed the Soviet model and military aid from the Soviet Union, but also accepted the new Chinese Communist Party to join. his revolutionary cause. From 1925 to 1927, the KMT and the Communist Party jointly launched the Northern Expedition, starting from their base in southern China and sweeping across northern China.Therefore, since the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, until Chiang Kai-shek, the commander-in-chief of the national army, launched the purge of the party and massacred countless communists, the orders of the central government were finally implemented in most parts of China for the first time.The defeat of the Communist Party in China proved one thing, that is, the time was not ripe for Asia at that time.And, even when revolution seemed momentarily promising in Asia, it was difficult to conceal the defeat of revolution in the West.

By 1921, the revolution was over, and no one could deny this fact.The revolution retreated back to Soviet Russia, but politically, the power of the Bolshevik Party was also unshakable (see Chapter 13).The Third Congress of the Comintern, though aware of the fact that revolution had slipped from the Western agenda, was unwilling to admit it readily.They began to call on the socialist parties of the revolutionary line which they had driven out at the Second Congress to form a "United Front" with the Communist Party.But what exactly this united front meant was long debated and divided by subsequent generations of revolutionaries.In any case, the efforts of the Bolsheviks came too late.A permanent split in the socialist movement has taken shape.Leftist socialists, individuals and parties mostly returned to the camp of the social democratic movement led by anti-communist moderates.The new Communist Party eventually became a minority among the European left.And generally—with a few exceptions, such as Germany, France, and Finland—the communists, even if they were fanatical, remained a minor party.This situation did not change until the 1930s (see Chapter 5).