Bolshevik Revolution: the Saturation Point of Class Struggle - Assignment Example

Teacher’s Bolshevik Revolution: The Saturation Point Struggle THEME A change in the human society that takesplace like a volcanic eruption or an active earthquake deserves the name revolution. Among many, human society will always recognize three revolutions that contributed changes to the landmark of human civilization. These three revolutions are Neolithic, Industrial, and Bolshevik ("History of the Industrial Revolution." 1). The Neolithic revolution that took place about 10,000 years from now made people settle on the land; they adopted agriculture as the principal activity of daily life. The industrial revolution took place in the second half of the 18th century; it brought in people’s minds a dramatic change about the concept of wealth. Until that time, land was considered as the only source of wealth, but industrial revolution added to it manufacturing enterprises as another source of wealth. Technological inventions were behind these two revolutions to happen. Invention of tools that can cultivate the land was behind the Neolithic revolution. Invention of sophisticated tools that arrange production in the plants was behind the industrial revolution. Class struggle in Russia, at the time of booming capitalism in the west, contributed to Bolshevik revolution. It gave birth to a new socio-political system that changed the existing concept of distribution of wealth of a nation. The new concept of distribution of wealth of a nation was named as communism and socialism. It was the topic of hot debate in the 19th and 20th centuries, and until this day, it remains a debatable issue from the political, cultural and social viewpoints. That is why; this assignment has selected to review the Bolshevik revolution from the viewpoint of formation class in the society. CLASSES Today, no one can state when society emerged among human species; however, one can comprehend that it emerged when division of labor became necessary. Emergence of society delivered another new concept by the name social order. Social order activates coordination and cooperation in the society. Combination of social order, coordination and communication in the society introduced social classes. Social classes differentiate people of the society; it started with the slavery age and exists until this day. In ancient Greek and Roman society, 80% of the population belonged to the slave class, and 20% belonged to the ruling class. The fall of Roman Empire created a vacuum in the social structure, which was filled by a hierarchical system called Feudalism. Though slavery was not a dominant part in this new society; however, the same 80% slaves became serfs and peasants. From the legal point of view, they were not slaves, but citizens. The ruling class was also divided into several subclasses, such as King, Church officials, Nobles and Knights. Communication and cooperation among ruling classes and serfs were conducted through strict social orders. It is considered that in 9th – 10th centuries feudal system appeared in Europe in Frankish lands that later spread to Spain, Italy, England, and Germany ("History of Feudalism in Europe." 1). Feudalism in Russia may be traced back to the 11th century; however, only in 17th century it became the dominant form of relationship between the Russian nobility and peasants. Finally, in 1861, the Tsar Alexander II by decree abolished feudalism in Russia. Feudalism in the Western Europe ended at the end of 18th and the beginning of 19th century. Feudalism emerged as a political and economic system that contributed to human society the concepts of rights and duties among the members of the society; this concept exists until this day. It also showed that a political and economic system is characterized by ideology and mode of production, which is protected by social and political institution of the system. The end of feudalism introduced a new political and economic system called capitalism with a new ideology and mode of production. All three social system, ancient Greek and Roman, feudal, and capitalist have one thing in common; division of society into classes with well-defined rights and duties. The class system during the Greek and Roman rule consisted of owner and slave; under feudalism it consisted of several hierarchical layers with the serf occupying the bottom. The capitalist system has two primary classes and two sub-classes. The two primary classes are owners (leisure class) and workers; two sub-classes are small business owners and professionals. CLASS IDEOLOGIES The three social structures, ancient Greek and Roman, Feudal, and Capitalist societies unequivocally demonstrate that a society does not exist without classes. However, society needs an ideology that justifies the social and economic relationships in the existing social arrangements. Marx defines, “ Ideology conceals the contradictory essential relations...because it is based on a sphere of reality which reveals the contrary to its essential relations ("Ideology: A marxist perspective" 1).” The Greek and Roman society taught that the slavery was destiny; most people were born to be slaves, and they are incapable of governing themselves. They were taught that superior breeding was natural, and this superior breeding is destined to rule and own the slaves. This ideology defined the economic relationship between a slave and the owner. Aristotle and Plato, the two great thinkers justified slavery. In Book I, Chapters iii through vii of the Politics, and in Book VII of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says,“But is there any one thus intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature? There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and of fact. For that, some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule ("Some aspects of Aristotles theory of slavery." 1).” Class ideology in the feudal society was established through the custom and tradition. Serf’s children are serfs; Dukes and Duchess children are Duke or Duchess. Economic relationship was established through the justification of the social relationship; serf’s labor belonged to the lord directly. Social relationship of capitalist society revolves around production and free will, which is different from in slavery and feudal societies. Owners are free to choose workers and workers are free to choose owners. The economic relationship among classes is also determined by the principles of freedom of exchange market; buyer and seller of a commodity are constrained ("Ideology: A marxist perspective" 1) by their own freewill. However, the freewill conceals the inequality and unfreedom between propertied and propertyless classes. The workers are not free to withhold the labor-power from the market; in order to survive a worker must sell labor to the plant owner – to the capitalist class ("Ideology: A marxist perspective" 1). Many philosophers, historians and economists view class ideology as a social order that is used by a group who is holding power in order to have the maximum control with a minimum of conflict. CLASS STRUGGLE AND ITS ULTIMATE GOAL The above discussion points out classes in slavery, feudal and capitalist societies. These classes are divided based on status, wealth, and control of production and distribution. These societies also developed ideologies in justifying social and economic relationships among the classes. However, absence of acceptance of the ideology by all classes leads to social disruption, and eventually to revolution. History has noticed numerous social disruptions in the slavery and feudal societies. Such disruptions relate to Spartacus (73 B.C.), Peasants’ Revolt in France (1358), Peasants’ Revolt in England (1381), Peasants’ Revolt in Hungry ( 1514), Haitian slave revolution (1791), The Baptist war in Jamaica (1831). However, until 1917 none of the social disruptions caused by class struggles was able to create a new social and economic relationship. That is why; this essay is named as “The Saturation Point of Class Struggle.” The Bolshevik revolution in 1917 toppled an emerging capitalism in Russia and established a new social and economic relationship. This relationship was named socialism. In a capitalist economic system, an individual is the owner of the production while in the socialist system the state or the society is the owner of the production. In a capitalist system, the first benefactors of the production are the owner, and the second is the society while in the socialist system the benefactors is the society. In a capitalist system, the social relationship becomes the foundation of the economic relationship among classes while in the socialist system economic relationship becomes the foundation of social relationship. Since there is no classes in the socialist system, the benefits from the production is equally distributed to the people of the society. Thus, the socialist system abolishes the classes. We named this phenomenon as the saturation point of class struggle. This moment, according to Marx is described as, ““When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated [sic] in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its political character. Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another. In a place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all ("Karl Marx and the Origins of the Social Theory of Class Struggle" 9).” BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION 1947 Bolshevik revolution tended to establish a classless society. However, abolition of the USSR proved that the experiment failed. Many historians and sociologists noted that a long history of oppression and abuse were the roots of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Feudalism in Europe created a strong and immense central power whereas Russia created a powerful central force to develop feudalism ("Russian Feudal Hierarchy" 1). This differentiation delivered to Russia a much adverse, harsher and acerbic form of the feudal system than in any other countrys feudal system. Majority of Russians serfs could be traded as slaves. The Tsar freed serfs in 1861; however, it did not brought better changes. The average Russians remained poor while handful nobles enjoyed the wealth and land. Social dissatisfaction and poverty were growing faster, which contributed to the emergence of revolutionaries. A group of these revolutionaries was radical enough and in 1881 assassinated Alexander II the Tsar of Russia. Alexander III, the new Tsar responded to it by implementing harsher political restrictions in the country; Russian people grew restless. A small group of urban working class armed with the Marxist ideology wanted to change this repressive climate through revolution. In 1984, Nicholas II became the Tsar. In 1903, Social Democrat Party, the supporter of Marxist ideology split into Menshevik and Bolshevik parties. By that time, a rapid attempt of industrialization had created a new working class who lived in deplorable conditions. The Bolshevik leader Lenin believed that a small, controlled revolutionary party could lead the struggle on behalf of the working class for broad change and eventually seize state power. The year 1905 was a disaster for the Russian Empire; it suffered military defeats in war with Japan, lost significant crop; it created massive famines. Russian people were in miserable condition. The people wanted to take their grievances straight to the Tsar. On January 22, 2005, about 200,000 workers and their families rallied to Tsar to tell about their grievances. However, they were met by the bullets from the palace guards. About 300 people were killed, and hundreds were wounded. The news of this massacre spread rapidly, people were horrified; the revolution began. By 1917, most of the Russians wanted the Tsar out. In November 1917, Leon Trotsky, a lieutenant of Bolshevik force led by Lenin seized the government buildings and declared themselves in control of Russia. Works Cited "History of Feudalism in Europe." infoplease.com. infoplease, n.d. Web. 21 June 2014. . "Ideology: A marxist perspective." academia.uprm.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2014. . "History of the Industrial Revolution." historyworld.net. History World, n.d. Web. 21 June 2014. . "Some aspects of Aristotles theory of slavery." oregonstate.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2014. . "Russian Feudal Heirarchy." hierarchystructure.com. Heirarchy Structure, n.d. 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