Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire

Historical Materialism #228

by Eric Blanc

This groundbreaking comparative study rediscovers the socialists of Russia’s borderlands, upending conventional interpretations of working-class politics and the Russian Revolution. Researched in eight languages, Revolutionary Social Democracy challenges long-held assumptions by scholars and activists about the dynamics of revolutionary change.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Russia, Russian History

472 pages

About the author

Eric Blanc is a former high school teacher and currently a doctoral student at NYU Sociology. He has appeared on Democracy Now and writes for The Nation and The Guardian. During the Los Angeles, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Denver, and Oakland public education strikes, Blanc has been Jacobin magazine’s on-the-ground correspondent.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written, this book not only covers well-worn ground, it unearths fresh material from impressive original source research in multiple languages. Blanc persuasively argues that a lot of insight about politics in late Czarist Russia and during the 1917 Revolutions can be gained by looking at the non-Russian areas of the empire: Poland, Finland, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the Baltics. Helpfully, Blanc also intersperses historiographic comments, debunking not only the obvious anti-communist distortions, but also the various "revolutionary" historians (including those from the author's own (former?) Trotskyist comrades). At times the references to and analogies drawn with regard to debates about contemporary politics (especially about the tired debate about "independent politics", i.e. outside the Democratic Party in the U.S.) are a bit of a stretch. But the historical narrative stands firm.

[Charlie Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall great and an incredible source about the revolution in the borderlands, as well as the realities of socialist strategy leading up to october 1917. His stuff about high inclusion democracy fell pretty flat imo, and it’s honestly incredible he can write a book like this, that places the need for class independence so front and center throughout, and then justify supporting the democrats. It doesn’t take away from the value of the book though, which should be very useful for all communists looking to learn from 1917

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading this book, I thought I was pretty well-read for an amateur on the development of the Bolshevik party and the Russian Revolution. I was so wrong!

This book is sure to become a classic -- it rewrites the history of the Russian Revolution from a much broader perspective -- showing the Bolsheviks as one among many developing socialist organizations in the Russian Empire.

This book shatters the idea of Bolshevik exceptionalism in a number of different ways. First, it builds upon the work of Lars Lih to show that the Bolsheviks and Lenin, as well as most of the other socialist organizations in the Russian Empire, looked to German Social Democracy and the works of Karl Kautsky as their guide. By showing that virtually all Russian social democratic organizers looked to Kautsky for guidance, this book sets out the proof for the hypothesis Lih put forward in his book on _What Is To Be Done?_

Second, also advancing the work of Lih, Blanc shows that there was nothing exceptional about Lenin's organizational model. Lenin himself drew on lessons from the Jewish Bund. And other groups were far more rigid and centralized than the Bolsheviks -- none more so than Rosa Luxemburg's Polish social democratic organization. (Blanc's revision of the rosy picture we have of Luxemburg is one of the most entertaining and eye-opening themes of the book.)

Finally, the long chapter on the development of Finnish social democracy makes this book a must-read.

Finland, with its relative autonomy, elected parliament, and free trade unions, sets up an interesting counter-experiment to the development of social democracy in the rest of the Russian Empire. Blanc uses this counter-example to explore how authoritarianism forced an insurrectionary politics on social democracy in the rest of the empire, and how working in a relatively legal framework requires socialists to approach the conquest of power with more consideration towards using legal methods and attaining a formal elected majority. These are valuable lessons for democratic socialists today.

[Richard Marcantonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author puts himself and the reader in the shoes of socialist leaders across the Tsarist Empire as they navigated strategic and tactical decisions, always keeping in view the divergence of outcomes based on adherence to, or divergence from, what he calls the "orthodox Marxist" strategic framework. Very relevant to the strategic questions the Left is grappling with today, and highly accessible prose.

[Dimitrii Ivanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very elegantly designed study, synthesising research and sources on social-democratic parties in Russian Poland, Finland, Latvia, Ukraine to present a new look at the hows and whys of the road to 1917 and the outcomes of the Bolshevik revolution. Overall continuance with the Orthodox Marxism (mostly of Kautsky-ite) variety is stressed, as is the agency of groups outside the Bolshevik-Menshevik diad. Luxemburg, or rather her political strategies in regards to Poland, is the surprising villainess here, and Kuusinen, and his Marxian orthodoxy in the run-up to 1918, the unexpected force of good (in the book's system of coordinates). This may be mainly a work of historical sociology, and written with a view of giving lessons to fellow socialists, but it also provides major correctives to the historical studies in addition to providing a shining example of how rewarding the 'regional' studies can be.

[Natan Bedrosian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very appreciated attempt to look towards the Russian revolution(s)-with its subjective and objective factors- from a wide imperial viewpoint from Finland till Caucasus.
Although, the situation in Caucasus and Central Asia must be researched and investigated further and hope to see other publications concentrated in the manners.

[Rob Trump · Rating 3 out of 5]

Main thesis is that the Bolsheviks represented less of a break from mainstream Marxist thought than has been generally assumed, and that particulars fetishized by both Trotskyists and “anti-revisionists” are so much cargo cult worship. I think this is correct, or at least I am convinced by Blanc. I am slightly less convinced that this is super important, but I’m glad I read the book.

[Alek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. Anyone vaguely interested in this period of history needs to read this book to understand what the "Russian" Revolution was.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

The major political conclusions drawn in this book are at best debatable and at worst actively harmful, but it is still a significant step forward in terms of histories of Russian Marxism and therefore worth the read. The conclusions rarely flow from the evidence presented and I was frequently left wondering 'how did we get here?'. That said, the evidence (which is acquired from extensive and original primary source research in multiple language) and the general narrative is well presented, painting a picture of a vibrant political scene in the late Russian Empire. This is something that is often discounted or overlooked in favour of presenting the Bolsheviks as power-hungry (and uniquely Russian) usurpers and manipulators.

I've read this book twice now over multiple years and it is still the only historical monograph that depicts this accurately. I think I will still be grappling with understanding and refuting many of the political arguments for a while though....wish me luck.