CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: THE REAL REASONS THAT LEAD TO THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION
The Russian Revolution was in many ways one of the most mysterious and engaging events of the 20th century. This is not only because with it the so-called scientific socialism formulated by Marx was experimented but also because, in the German philosopher’s predictions, it should not have happened in a nation with a still substantially agricultural economy like the Russian one (where industrialization began ‘, by will of Tsar Alexander II, only in the second half of the 19th century) and where therefore a proletariat comparable to that of the nations (England, Germany, France and the United States of America) had not been formed where the process of industrialization of the economy was decidedly more advanced. For this reason alone, the phenomenon of the Russian revolution appears to be a real historical enigma. Various factors contributed to its materialisation, including geopolitical ones. In fact, the role that the German secret services had in favoring the onset of the revolution with the aim of weakening a geopolitical rival of no small importance in the historical context of the First World War is undeniable. Lenin’s very arrival in St. Petersburg in 1917 seems to have been favored by the German secret services with the precise aim of accelerating the events which then resulted in the revolution, in the wartime collapse of the tsarist armies and therefore in the treaty of Brest-Litovsk with all the its terrible geopolitical consequences for the newly formed Soviet Union. This does not alter the fact that the revolution was undoubtedly the result of profound contradictions within the society and economic structure of tsarist Russia which was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most backward European states of the time. The socioeconomic structure of the Russian state was still, in fact, medieval in nature and therefore based on large land ownership and an enormous mass of laborers who were in fact real serfs. The military career was reserved exclusively for nobles who therefore had complete control of the army and the armed forces. This explains why, although the tsarist state did not enjoy real popular support, it was able to maintain itself until the beginning of the 20th century. And because it needed a powerful push from the outside for it to collapse definitively under the weight of the October revolution. The blow in question was represented by the great war and its developments in Eastern Europe which exposed not only the fragility of the tsarist army but also the contradictions of the Russian economy (incapable, due to its backwardness, of facing the war necessities). These contradictions increasingly exacerbated the feelings of rebellion within society (especially where revolutionary ideals had taken hold most, i.e. in the large cities) and created the conditions for the collapse of the power apparatus of the non-tsarist state. as soon as the first insurrections took shape. The figure of Lenin within the revolutionary process was immediately central (together with that of Trotsky) and makes us understand how the October revolution was essentially hetero-directed and completely functional to the German geopolitical interest which favored Lenin and the process revolutionary provided that the latter, once he took power, signed a peace treaty favorable to German interests and that took Russia out of the conflict (the treaty in question was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the advantages of which are well known territorial implications that it entailed for the German Reich). These are the historical events that determined the Russian Revolution and which say a lot about how this historical phenomenon was, like other famous revolutionary movements (primarily the French Revolution), misinterpreted by a large part of world public opinion as well as from a certain historiography whose bias is quite well known.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE BIRTH OF THE SOVIET UNION
But if it is certainly important to define what the causes of the Russian revolution were, it is equally important to focus on the consequences that it produced both on a political and geopolitical level. It must be clarified immediately that the application of “integral” communism (which provided for the forced collectivization of production processes, both agricultural and industrial) was not possible in the socioeconomic context that materialized in the period immediately following the release of country since the First World War. This is because political instability lasted for several years in the post-war period and counter-revolutionary attempts supported and financed by Western democracies materialized in the country as well as a real attempt to invade the country by them (1918-1920 ). Russia was therefore in the grip of a real sort of political anarchy at least until 1920-1921. Years in which the complete withdrawal of Western troops (and those of the Japanese who had temporarily occupied the Siberian territories north of Manchuria) from the country materialized and the defeat of the counter-revolutionary White armies composed mostly of components of the old Tsarist army. In these years Lenin realized the impossibility of completely and forcibly applying the communist production model of the Bolshevik program and launched a transition economy (known by the name of NEP or: new economic policy) which provided for the partial maintenance of private ownership of production processes. Only with the normalization of the internal situation and with the advent of Stalin (1924) at the helm of the USSR did the complete, and even violent, collectivization of the country’s production processes materialize, established by the famous five-year plans which represented a real model for all planned economy countries in the world. The USSR therefore established itself as the first truly communist country in the history of humanity but in doing so it essentially placed itself outside the international community since the country was literally isolated from the rest of the world and was unable to establish solid international relations with capitalist countries. This isolation was broken only at the end of the 1930s with the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement which sanctioned an alliance of convenience between Moscow and Berlin and which served, in the plans of the German establishment, to avoid the recurrence of a war on two fronts . First World War style, in case the already decided invasion of Poland (which Germany and the Soviet Union divided between themselves during the last months of 1939 on the basis of the so-called secret protocol of the non-aggression pact between Moscow and Berlin) had led to the outbreak of a conflict with France and England (which had formally declared themselves guarantors of the territorial integrity of the Polish nation). Only starting from 1939 did the geopolitical role of the Soviet Union regain a certain weight on the international scene after over twenty years of oblivion (first as an ally of National Socialist Germany and then, after the German invasion of 1941, as an ally of Western countries) . The diplomatic dynamics that preceded the outbreak of the Second World War (with the re-proposal of a new German hegemonic attempt, much more aggressive and lethal than the first) brought the role of the “Russian giant” back to the foreground, whose weight was essential in the wars that followed occurred in Europe from the 18th century onwards. In fact, Moscow’s role was essential to the fate of the Second World War and indeed it can be said that it was won on the field by the Red Army (at the cost, however, of frightening human and material losses). It is useless to underline how the victory in the Second World War was also a direct consequence of the enormous industrial potential created by the will of the Soviet political leadership in the post-revolutionary period (and in particular during the 1930s).
CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: CONSIDERATIONS ON THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMUNIST REVOLUTION IN HISTORY
From what has been written so far it is clear that the Russian revolution was certainly a very important historical phenomenon both from a geopolitical point of view and from an economic, social and even political point of view. Thanks to it it was possible to practically experiment with the communist doctrine conceived by Marx following the productive and social revolution following the industrial revolution. It is not our task to take stock of this historical experience. But what is certain is that it represented a very important stage in the history of humanity also thanks to the vast echo it had in the period following the Second World War on the global economic, social, political and geopolitical stage. Representing the main historical point of reference for all those who advocated overcoming the capitalist economic model and replacing it with the communist one. This model, even if historically defeated, has given decisive ideas for the creation of alternative socioeconomic models to the Anglo-American capitalist one (think of Sweden and its social democracy, in fact a synthesis between capitalism and socialism) certainly more humane than the and more attentive to the real needs of citizens and the less well-off classes. From a purely geopolitical point of view, with the exception of the isolation to which the country was subjected in the twenty years following the outbreak of the revolution, the October revolution did not entail major changes for the Russian power which, in fact, pursued objectives geopolitical and geostrategic ones (the expansion towards the south and the warm seas, the control of the straits and primarily that of the Dardanelles, the interest in Eastern Europe and the Balkan region) that distinguished it from the time of Peter the Great. Which, even if often hidden behind the motivation of the export of communism and the principles of social justice of which the latter was a manifestation, in fact always expressed a desire for power and geopolitical affirmation which were a real indelible character of Russian foreign policy since the times of the Danilovich dynasty.