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The Soviets: The Russian Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Councils, 1905-1921
The Russian Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers Councils, 1905-1921
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First published January 1, 1958
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June 11, 2025
In a sentence: the research in this book is awesome, the political take is garbage. I'm going to talk about things I learnt from the book (not including important political stuff that is better covered in others).
1905: the formation of the soviets
Strike committees were formed spontaneously throughout the history of the Russian labor movement. The absence of trade unions meant rank and file leadership was needed to direct and organise strikes. During the 1905 revolution many strike committees formed in wake of strikes gripping the country. As these strikes became generalised and more political, engulfing multiple factories and industries at a time, there was a need to link them up in order to direct the broader struggle. In May, one of the first soviets grew out of a broad strike in the Moscow textile district. 40,000 workers were represented in the soviet. The workers demanded the establishment of a monthly minimum wage and the right to organise and discuss freely. Another significant example was the trade-wide council of printers in Moscow that represented 110 plants. It wasn't until later that year at the peak of the Great October strike that the St Petersburg soviet was formed to lead the struggle. In part this was facilitated by Menshevik propaganda that advocated for a ‘revolutionary self-government’ that would include factory delegates. The October strike spread throughout the country, and with it the influence of the soviet. Soviets were formed in other major cities and provincial areas. Delegates from the St Petersburg soviet were sent to meet with other soviets.
Both the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks thought the soviets should be partisan bodies and play a similar role to unions in relation to the SPD in Germany. The Mensheviks believed the soviets would dissolve after the building of a mass party and trade unions but worked within them. The majority of the Bolsheviks believed the soviets represented the watering down of social-democratic politics, and feared they would take the place of the party and prevent the spreading of revolutionary ideas. This was a horrible, sectarian orientation. Lenin and Trotsky were outliers in arguing that the Soviet represented something new and important; a revolutionary worker’s government ’in embryo’.
1917
The February revolution began on the 23rd. On the 27th, the central workers group were released from prison and established the ‘provisional executive committee of the soviet of worker’s deputies’. They appealed for the election of delegates, one for each 1,000 workers and one for each army company. The first issue of the soviet newspaper was released the next day:
"In order to successfully conclude the struggle for democracy, the people must organise their power. Yesterday, on February 27, the Soviet of Workers Deputies was founded in the capital, consisting of elected representatives from factories, rebelling troop units, and democratic and socialist parties and groups. The Soviet of Workers Deputies ... considers its basic function to be: organisation of the people's forces in the struggle for political freedom and people's rule in Russia .... Let us, aIl together, fight ... for the annihilation of the old regime and the convocation of a constituent national assembly, to be elected by universal, impartial, direct, and secret ballot." On March 1 and 2 the committee rejected participation in the Provisional Government by a vote of 13 to 8. Instead, the soviet representatives presented the duma committee with programmatic demands, as conditions for their support of the bourgeois government. The same day the Bolsheviks called on workers to elect deputies to a worker’s soviet in Moscow. The formation of soviets then spread rapidly. They were formed by workers in factories, socialist groups and soldiers across the country. Delegates from various soviets observed other soviet meetings, and the soviet initiated regional conferences in March. This eventually led to federalisation.
‘The First All-Russian Conference of Workers and Soldiers Soviets met from March 29 to April 3, 1917. Conceived only as a meeting of the fifty largest soviets, the conference finally numbered 480 delegates, who came from the Petrograd soviet, from 138 local workers and soldiers councils, 7 armies, 13 base units, and 26 special frontline units. The conference recommended organisation of soviets throughout the country, the regional federation of the now separate workers and soldiers councils, and liaison with peasant organisations.’ On May 9, the first election to the all-Russian soviet occurred, representing 20 million people. A central committee was elected to be the supreme soviet authority, but ultimately proved to be less politically authoritative than the Petrograd soviet that continued to spearhead the struggle.
The nature of the soviets in 1917 was different to those in 1905 when the soviets aimed to overthrow tsarism. In 1917, the soviets were reconstructing a new democratic society. They became a political battleground in which the direction of the revolution would be decided.
Soviets and administration pre-October
Before the October revolution, the Soviet was beginning to usurp local government functions:
‘The workers were first to suffer from growing urban food shortages and local soviets independently adopted stringent measures of aIIeviation. In Nizhni Novgorod, for example, exportation of bread was curtailed; in Krasnoyarsk the soviet introduced ration cards; in other places "bourgeois" homes were searched and goods confiscated’
"In the Urals," Trotsky reported in his history, "where Bolshevism had prevailed since 1905, the soviets frequently administered civil and criminal law; created their own militia in numerous factories, paying them out of factory funds; organised workers controls of raw materials and fuel for the factories; supervised marketing; and determined wage scales. In some areas in the Urals the soviets expropriated land for communal cultivation."
In 1917, the Mensheviks were against the soviets taking power, restricting themselves to the formula of ‘bourgeois revolution’. Mensheviks and SRs aimed to undermine the power of the Soviet by transferring Soviet functions to the provisional government. They hoped the soviets would disappear, similar to how the workers councils would later be undermined in the German revolution.
The soviets after taking power
On November 18 Lenin appealed to the workers to take over all government affairs.
‘The whole country must be covered with a network of soviets, and they must maintain close relations. Each of these organisations, down to the smallest, is completely autonomous in local matters, but it coordinates its activities with the general decrees and regulations of the centralised supreme soviet. In this way a coherent and fully integrated soviet republic wiII emerge.’ In December the army and navy was put under the control of the soldiers committees that would elect all its superiors. A supreme Economic Council was established to manage the economy. The old courts were abolished and replaced with people’s courts with judges appointed by the soviet.
‘Thus emerged a widely differentiated system of soviets, whose backbone was the political workers, soldiers, and peasants soviets, to which were added the various economic and military soviets. Their responsibilities, not always clearly defined, consisted equally of liquidating the old political and social order and of preparing-gropingly at first-a new order which the Bolsheviks called "socialist."’
The soviet constitution stated that
‘For the duration of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the "decisive battle between the proletariat and its exploiters, the latter were to find no place in any government organ" (article 7). The suffrage regulations limited the franchise and eligibility to "those who earn their living by productive and socially useful labor" (article 64) and excluded aIl persons who employed wage earners or lived on unearned income, merchants, and clergy (article 65 )’.
Anweiler doesn’t go into further details about the soviets after October which is a shame. He really starts talking crap in the last couple chapters and it’s hard to read.
Politics of the author
Oscar Anweiler is an anarchist writing in 1956. He admires the ‘grassroots’ organisation of the soviets but sees the centralisation of the soviets as leading to dictatorship. I don't want to delve into a full criticism of his arguments but the book is filled with rabid anti-bolshevik crap. He neglects that workers themselves saw the need for a centralised state that could repress the capitalists and counter-revolution. Dude claims workers were ‘Ignorant of the ground rules of democratic government, they were easy prey for demagogic agitation.’ basically saying workers were idiots. Workers had many political tendencies on offer and through argument and the experience of the revolution they were convinced the Bolsheviks were correct. Read David Mandel's book you idiot.
I'm definitely going to re-read this and look through some of the sources later on, after I read about worker’s councils/soviets in other revolutions in depth.
1905: the formation of the soviets
Strike committees were formed spontaneously throughout the history of the Russian labor movement. The absence of trade unions meant rank and file leadership was needed to direct and organise strikes. During the 1905 revolution many strike committees formed in wake of strikes gripping the country. As these strikes became generalised and more political, engulfing multiple factories and industries at a time, there was a need to link them up in order to direct the broader struggle. In May, one of the first soviets grew out of a broad strike in the Moscow textile district. 40,000 workers were represented in the soviet. The workers demanded the establishment of a monthly minimum wage and the right to organise and discuss freely. Another significant example was the trade-wide council of printers in Moscow that represented 110 plants. It wasn't until later that year at the peak of the Great October strike that the St Petersburg soviet was formed to lead the struggle. In part this was facilitated by Menshevik propaganda that advocated for a ‘revolutionary self-government’ that would include factory delegates. The October strike spread throughout the country, and with it the influence of the soviet. Soviets were formed in other major cities and provincial areas. Delegates from the St Petersburg soviet were sent to meet with other soviets.
Both the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks thought the soviets should be partisan bodies and play a similar role to unions in relation to the SPD in Germany. The Mensheviks believed the soviets would dissolve after the building of a mass party and trade unions but worked within them. The majority of the Bolsheviks believed the soviets represented the watering down of social-democratic politics, and feared they would take the place of the party and prevent the spreading of revolutionary ideas. This was a horrible, sectarian orientation. Lenin and Trotsky were outliers in arguing that the Soviet represented something new and important; a revolutionary worker’s government ’in embryo’.
1917
The February revolution began on the 23rd. On the 27th, the central workers group were released from prison and established the ‘provisional executive committee of the soviet of worker’s deputies’. They appealed for the election of delegates, one for each 1,000 workers and one for each army company. The first issue of the soviet newspaper was released the next day:
"In order to successfully conclude the struggle for democracy, the people must organise their power. Yesterday, on February 27, the Soviet of Workers Deputies was founded in the capital, consisting of elected representatives from factories, rebelling troop units, and democratic and socialist parties and groups. The Soviet of Workers Deputies ... considers its basic function to be: organisation of the people's forces in the struggle for political freedom and people's rule in Russia .... Let us, aIl together, fight ... for the annihilation of the old regime and the convocation of a constituent national assembly, to be elected by universal, impartial, direct, and secret ballot." On March 1 and 2 the committee rejected participation in the Provisional Government by a vote of 13 to 8. Instead, the soviet representatives presented the duma committee with programmatic demands, as conditions for their support of the bourgeois government. The same day the Bolsheviks called on workers to elect deputies to a worker’s soviet in Moscow. The formation of soviets then spread rapidly. They were formed by workers in factories, socialist groups and soldiers across the country. Delegates from various soviets observed other soviet meetings, and the soviet initiated regional conferences in March. This eventually led to federalisation.
‘The First All-Russian Conference of Workers and Soldiers Soviets met from March 29 to April 3, 1917. Conceived only as a meeting of the fifty largest soviets, the conference finally numbered 480 delegates, who came from the Petrograd soviet, from 138 local workers and soldiers councils, 7 armies, 13 base units, and 26 special frontline units. The conference recommended organisation of soviets throughout the country, the regional federation of the now separate workers and soldiers councils, and liaison with peasant organisations.’ On May 9, the first election to the all-Russian soviet occurred, representing 20 million people. A central committee was elected to be the supreme soviet authority, but ultimately proved to be less politically authoritative than the Petrograd soviet that continued to spearhead the struggle.
The nature of the soviets in 1917 was different to those in 1905 when the soviets aimed to overthrow tsarism. In 1917, the soviets were reconstructing a new democratic society. They became a political battleground in which the direction of the revolution would be decided.
Soviets and administration pre-October
Before the October revolution, the Soviet was beginning to usurp local government functions:
‘The workers were first to suffer from growing urban food shortages and local soviets independently adopted stringent measures of aIIeviation. In Nizhni Novgorod, for example, exportation of bread was curtailed; in Krasnoyarsk the soviet introduced ration cards; in other places "bourgeois" homes were searched and goods confiscated’
"In the Urals," Trotsky reported in his history, "where Bolshevism had prevailed since 1905, the soviets frequently administered civil and criminal law; created their own militia in numerous factories, paying them out of factory funds; organised workers controls of raw materials and fuel for the factories; supervised marketing; and determined wage scales. In some areas in the Urals the soviets expropriated land for communal cultivation."
In 1917, the Mensheviks were against the soviets taking power, restricting themselves to the formula of ‘bourgeois revolution’. Mensheviks and SRs aimed to undermine the power of the Soviet by transferring Soviet functions to the provisional government. They hoped the soviets would disappear, similar to how the workers councils would later be undermined in the German revolution.
The soviets after taking power
On November 18 Lenin appealed to the workers to take over all government affairs.
‘The whole country must be covered with a network of soviets, and they must maintain close relations. Each of these organisations, down to the smallest, is completely autonomous in local matters, but it coordinates its activities with the general decrees and regulations of the centralised supreme soviet. In this way a coherent and fully integrated soviet republic wiII emerge.’ In December the army and navy was put under the control of the soldiers committees that would elect all its superiors. A supreme Economic Council was established to manage the economy. The old courts were abolished and replaced with people’s courts with judges appointed by the soviet.
‘Thus emerged a widely differentiated system of soviets, whose backbone was the political workers, soldiers, and peasants soviets, to which were added the various economic and military soviets. Their responsibilities, not always clearly defined, consisted equally of liquidating the old political and social order and of preparing-gropingly at first-a new order which the Bolsheviks called "socialist."’
The soviet constitution stated that
‘For the duration of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the "decisive battle between the proletariat and its exploiters, the latter were to find no place in any government organ" (article 7). The suffrage regulations limited the franchise and eligibility to "those who earn their living by productive and socially useful labor" (article 64) and excluded aIl persons who employed wage earners or lived on unearned income, merchants, and clergy (article 65 )’.
Anweiler doesn’t go into further details about the soviets after October which is a shame. He really starts talking crap in the last couple chapters and it’s hard to read.
Politics of the author
Oscar Anweiler is an anarchist writing in 1956. He admires the ‘grassroots’ organisation of the soviets but sees the centralisation of the soviets as leading to dictatorship. I don't want to delve into a full criticism of his arguments but the book is filled with rabid anti-bolshevik crap. He neglects that workers themselves saw the need for a centralised state that could repress the capitalists and counter-revolution. Dude claims workers were ‘Ignorant of the ground rules of democratic government, they were easy prey for demagogic agitation.’ basically saying workers were idiots. Workers had many political tendencies on offer and through argument and the experience of the revolution they were convinced the Bolsheviks were correct. Read David Mandel's book you idiot.
I'm definitely going to re-read this and look through some of the sources later on, after I read about worker’s councils/soviets in other revolutions in depth.
February 16, 2015
On one hand this book provides a brilliant empirical and historical study of the origins of the Russian Soviets, and also goes in to depth about what exactly a soviet is - with good notes on their structure, and the ways that they changed over the years. On the other hand, the whole book is infected with a partisan anti-Bolshevism (despite the author recognizing the mass support that the Bolsheviks enjoyed). In attacking the Bolsheviks the author also repeats many untrue statements about the "Bolshevik dictatorship" which have since been proven completely false after the release of Soviet archives after the fall of the USSR.
August 1, 2023
Very interesting book that goes over the practical issues faced in the Soviets and some of the mistakes that were made by the Bolsheviks.
I would have liked if there would have been a more profound material analysis of why the Bolsheviks decided to not allow the Soviets their necessary democratic autonomy, and mainly why they didn't allow other socialist parties and free elections in the Soviets. I don't think 'they wanted to cement their own power' is a satisfying answer.
In any case, very interesting book and a must read for anyone who wants the world to be transformed to a truly democratic, socialist council Republic, without repeating the mistakes of the past.
I would have liked if there would have been a more profound material analysis of why the Bolsheviks decided to not allow the Soviets their necessary democratic autonomy, and mainly why they didn't allow other socialist parties and free elections in the Soviets. I don't think 'they wanted to cement their own power' is a satisfying answer.
In any case, very interesting book and a must read for anyone who wants the world to be transformed to a truly democratic, socialist council Republic, without repeating the mistakes of the past.
October 14, 2012
The best introductory survey to the "soviets," not Russians, but the workers, peasants and soldiers councils of 1905-1921. Anweiler presents the soviets in a historical panorama of similar self-emancipating labor and popular forms from the Paris Commune to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He asks important questions? Are they merely intermittent protest activity, or self-governing political forms? Did they arrive before or after Lenin? What was their status once Lenin's Bolshevik regime consolidated state power? What happened with the Kronstadt sailors? All the big questions about the Russian Revolution are covered from the point of view of the direct democratic forms the Russian workers created on their own authority. Outstanding!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews