As communists, we must analyze the military aspect of a revolution. We must defend revolutionary forces to the utmost and preserve the pre-existing productive capacity as much as possible. The historical lessons of the Paris Commune and the Russian Revolution are essential for study. Despite the bourgeois media portraying the Russian Revolution as a bloody event, the initial movements of the revolution were minimally traumatic. Only after the Bolsheviks secured a majority in the Soviets was the decision made for the proletariat to seize power. This was a precondition set by the party for the seizure of power. On the day the order to seize power was issued, only a few people lost their lives; in truth, Kerensky’s regime was so rotten it practically collapsed on its own. In the following days, calm reigned over Russia. Lenin and Trotsky even walked the streets without protection. This clearly demonstrates that the bloody initiative in revolutions comes from counterrevolutionary movements. The proletariat itself wants to build, not destroy.
During the night of November 6–7 (October 24–25 in the old calendar), the Revolutionary Military Committee overthrew the Kerensky government and executed a smooth and peaceful transition of power—just in time for the opening of the Soviet Congress. All key points in Petrograd were occupied, and members of the Provisional Government were arrested or fled. “The city was absolutely calm,” writes Sukhanov. “Both the center and the suburbs were immersed in a deep sleep, unaware of what was happening in the stillness of the cold autumn night.” Once the Winter Palace fell, the old regime came to an end. “The operations, unfolding gradually, were so smooth that no large forces were needed,” Sukhanov explains. The insurrection was so peaceful, even compared to the February Revolution, that there were only five casualties, all among the revolutionaries. This was the most bloodless revolution in history.
Rob Sewell & Alan Woods, In Defence of Lenin (Kindle Locations 9188–9190), Kindle Edition.
Clearly, we must not take this scenario as absolute. There will be incidents, stemming from the centuries of class anger present in our society, and even the conditions for seizing power may differ. Each situation must be studied in its particularity to find the best solutions.
The counterrevolutions in Russia and in rebellious France were the triggers for the bloodshed that followed shortly thereafter. Attempting to regain power, the bourgeoisie proved particularly brutal in its repressive methods. In Russia, already in a precarious position due to its participation in World War I, where it had to negotiate peace with Germany to meet the population’s demands, its territory was invaded by 21 nations. In France, similarly, the Versaillese forces entered Paris, leading to a true massacre of their compatriots.
“The slaughterhouses were set up at the end of Boulevard Malesherbes, and it is a grim sight to see each man and woman, of all ages and conditions of life, march in intervals in that fatal direction. A group of three hundred just crossed the boulevard a few moments ago… At Satory, on Wednesday, a thousand captured insurgents rebelled and freed themselves from shackles… Soldiers fired into the crowd, killing three hundred insurgents… In one convoy of prisoners… a woman was being prodded by a gendarme with the tip of his saber until blood ran… M. Gallifet stopped the column, selected eighty-two [prisoners], and had them executed on the spot… Up to a thousand Communards were killed after being captured (June 1)… Human life has become so cheap that a man is killed more easily than a dog. Summary executions are still happening en masse [long after the fighting ended].”
— Daily News, May–June 1871.“Several hundred insurgents who sought refuge in the Madeleine were reportedly killed with bayonets inside the church… Eleven wagons of dead insurgents were buried in the mass grave of Issy… No mercy was shown to any man, woman, or child… Groups of fifty to a hundred were executed at a time.”
— Daily News, May–June 1871.“Mass executions continue indiscriminately. Prisoners are taken in groups to designated places where firing squads and pre-dug trenches await… At one location, the Caserne Napoléon, five hundred people were executed since last night… There are invariably women and boys among them… The prisoners are promptly dispatched by a volley of gunfire and thrown into a trench, where, if not killed by the bullets, suffocation soon ends their pain. Two courts-martial alone are executing people at a rate of five hundred a day. Two thousand bodies are being gathered around the Panthéon.”
— Standard, June 1871.Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray, History of the Paris Commune of 1871 (Kindle Locations 93–100), Kindle Edition.
But when it comes to atrocities, nothing could compare to the methods of White General Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. He was a Baltic German born in Estonia, claiming to be nothing less than the reincarnation of Genghis Khan. A fanatical antisemite, in 1918 he declared his intention to exterminate all Jews and commissars in Russia. His specialty was massacring Jews and skinning people alive. He enjoyed setting cities on fire, roasting “red” children alive in bakery ovens, strangling elderly women, and raping young girls. He was also known for leading his men on nocturnal raids, dragging burning bodies across the steppe at full gallop and vowing to “make an avenue of gallows stretching from Asia to Europe…”
Rob Sewell & Alan Woods, In Defence of Lenin (Kindle Locations 12028–12033), Kindle Edition.
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