1954 普列汉诺夫与俄国马克思主义起源

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The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review

Plekhanov and the Origins of Russian MarxismAuthor(s): Samuel H. BaronReviewed work(s):Source: Russian Review, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan., 1954), pp. 38-51

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Plekhanov a n d t h e O r g i n s o fR u s s i a n Marxi sm*

BY SAMUEL . BARONITwas in the year of Karl Marx's death that Russian Marxism wasborn. In I883, five people in Geneva, Switzerland, joining to-gether as the "Emanicaption of Labor" Group, launched the fatefulmovement that was to lead fifteen years later to the formation ofthe Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party, and was to have suchphenomenal consequences in I9I7 and thereafter. The outstandingleader of the new revolutionary organization was George Plekhanov,who is rightly called the "father of Russian Marxism."It was not for lack of acquaintance with Marx's work that theMarxian movement began in Russia at this relatively late date.Literate Russians had had ample opportunity to familiarize them-selves with Marxian ideas inasmuch as (I) the works of Marx andEngels were admitted freely into the country at mid-century andfor some time thereafter, (2) Das Kapital was legally published inRussia in 1872 and sold well, (3) the revolutionary undergroundpublished illegally other works of Marx and Engels in the seventiesand eighties, and (4) Marxian writings were not infrequently dis-cussed in the periodical press. Leading Russian thinkers, such asBelinsky, Chernyshevsky, Lavrov, Bakunin, Tkachev, and Mik-hailovsky, all had knowledge of some of Marx's works, and severalof them had high praise for some aspects of Marxian thought.' Theimportant revolutionary organization, Narodnaya Volya (The Peo-ple's Will), wrote to Marx in I880: "The class of advanced intelli-gentsia in Russia, always attentively following the ideologicaldevelopment of Europe and sensitively reacting to it, has met theappearanceof your works with enthusiasm." 2

*A slightly condensed version of this article was read at the I952 meeting of theSouthern Historical Association in Knoxville, Tennessee. [Ed.]'For a good account of Marxian ideas in Russia prior to the formation of the"Emancipation of Labor" Group, see B. A. Chagin, Proniknovenie idei Marksizmav Rossiyu, Leningrad, I948. With regard to Chernyshevsky's acquaintance withMarxian ideas, V. Shulgin, "K voprosu o proniknovenii Marksizma v Rossiyu v40-60 godakh XIX veka," Istorik Marksist, Nos. 5-6, 1939, pp. 171-3.2Ispolnitelnyi Komitet Sotsial-Revolyutsionnoi Partii v Rossii, November 7,

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Plekhanovand the Origins of Russian MarxismBut if advanced Russians had had a considerableexposuretoMarxism, f variouspersonshad a warmrespectfor Marxandsome

of his ideas,priorto 1883,Russianthinkers amiliarwith that systemof thought agreedin failing to accept a thorough-goingMarxismwith its economic,political,sociological,and philosophicalmplica-tions. Radical Russians had not taken Marx'sideas as a basis fortheir revolutionaryactivity for, in general, they consideredthat,whileMarxhad laid bare the rootsandworkingsof capitaliststates,his diagnosisand prognosticationswere inapplicableto Russia. Itwas rather the doctrinesof populism(narodnichestvo)hat held al-most universalsway in Russian socialist circles. Marxismbegantowin adherentsonly when, as a consequenceof repeatedfailuresofpopulist movements to attain their ends, faith in the ideas andmethodsof those movementsweakened.Then there was resumedthat questfor "analgebraof revolution" hat hadengagedadvancedRussians for decades. In the course of this renewedquest, Plek-hanov, who had been an enthusiasticpopulist in the first years ofhis revolutionarycareer,was drawn to Marxian thought, whichappearedto him to offera more realisticand practicablebasis forthe Russianrevolution.A studyof hisexperienceandof thedevelop-ment of his ideas with respect to Russia's social evolution revealsPlekhanov'sreasonsfor abandoningpopulist views in favor of aMarxianapproach.But the lessons that Plekhanov drew fromhisexperienceand studies had more than a personalsignificance; heyprovided the rationale for defectionsof other revolutionistsfromthe populistranks and for the consequentbuildupof the RussianMarxianmovement.In 1874,the youngnoblemanPlekhanovwas a brilliant, irst-yearstudent at the Mining Institute in Petersburg.In that turbulentdecade,the universitieswerehotbedsof revolutionarypropaganda.The times were such that a classroomcould be used for a revolu-tionary meeting, vhilea professoracquiesced n such activity byforegoinga scheduled ecture.3Under such conditions,Plekhanov,like so many other youths, was drawn into revolutionaryactivityand, gradually,he abandonedhis studies. The sentimentshe feltwhen, as a neophyte revolutionist,he encounteredhis first repre-I880, Perepiska K. Marksa i F. Engelsa s Russkimi politicheskimi-deyateliami,I947,p. 206.3Such an incident is recounted in an autobiographical article by D. Blagoev,"Kratkie vospominaniya iz moei zhizni," ProletarskayaRevolyutsiya, No. I, I927,p.88.

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The Russian Reviewsentative of the masses illustrate well both the romantic nature ofthe populists and the gulf that tragically separated them from thosethey yearned to help.When I met Mitrofanov for the first time [he wrote] and recognized that hewas a . . . representative of the people, in my soul there stirred a feeling ofcompassion. ... I very much wanted to converse with him but did not knowhow and with what expressions. . . . It seemed to me that the language of ...[the student] would be incomprehensible to this son of the people .. .andthat I would have to use the absurd manner of speech of our revolutionarypamphlets.4By December, 1876, Plekhanov, then an agitator for the revolu-tionary organization "Land and Liberty" (Zemlya i Volya), wasprepared to burn his bridges behind him. In that month, he ad-dressed an illegal demonstration of students and workers on theKazan Square in Petersburg.5 The meeting was broken up by thepolice and, in order to escape arrest, Plekhanov fled abroad. There-after, he was wanted by the authorities; when in his native land, hewas obliged to remain incognito.6Some months later, when he returned to Russia, Plekhanovshowed unexampled energy for the cause of rebellion. The broadscope of his activity as an agitator can be seen in the series of revolu-tionary proclamations-the first products of his pen-which headdressed to students, workers, Cossacks, and "educated society."7His vigor and talent soon brought him to a position of leadershipin the then dominant populist organization, "Land and Liberty";and, early in 1879, he was made an editor of its periodical publica-tion.But even in I879, while Plekhanov was a populist, he was apopulist with a difference. His first revolutionary assignment hadforeshadowed his future role, for it involved propaganda not among

4G. V. Plekhanov, "Russkii rabochii v revolyutsionnom dvizhenii," Sochineniya,Moscow-Leningrad, 2nd ed., 1924, III, p. 127.5Plekhanov's account of this appears in ibid., pp. 62-65.6Materialrelating to Plekhanov's early revolutionary career may be found in thefollowing sources: ibid.; numerous memoirs of L. Deutsch, R. M. Plekhanov andothers in Gruppa "OsvobozhdenieTruda," Moscow, 1924-28, 6 vols.; 0. Aptekman,G. V. Plekhanov,Leningrad, 1925; L. Deutsch, "Kak Plekhanov stal Marksistom,"ProletarskayaRevolyutsiya,No. 7, 1922; L. Deutsch, "0 sblizhenii i razryve s Naro-dovoltsami," ibid., No. 8, 1923; L. Tikhomirov, Plekhanov i egodruz'ya, Leningrad,I925.7Aseries of these proclamations appear in Literaturnoenasledie G. V. Plekhanova,Moscow, 8 vols., I934-40, 1.

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Plekhanovand the Origins of Russian Marxismthe peasantsbut amongthe Petersburgworkmen.8The aim of thepopulists n minglingwith the workmenwas to recruitpropagandistsforactivity amongthe peasants,those who wereexpectedto providethe massbasis for the revolution. But in orderto win the confidenceof the workers,the revolutionistshad to take part in the workers'struggles.Thus Plekhanovcame to participatein strikes, to sharethe experiencesof the workers,and to writepropagandaand mani-festoesfor them. Whilethose who weretryingto activate the peas-ants were having little success, Plekhanov obtained a positiveresponsefrom the workersamong whom he carriedon agitation.The significance f thiswas not lostuponhimand,evenasa populist,he pointedto the socialistinclinationsof the city workerand to theusefulrolethat thelattermightplayin the socialrevolution.9Early in I879, thereappeared n the journal,Land andLiberty,along article in which Plekhanovdetailed his populist views.10Heexpected that Russia would soon produce a great revolution, arevolution that would establish an anarcho-socialistorder. Therevolution would be consummated when the intelligentsia, dis-satisfied as it was with the political and social order, would, byagitation,succeedin arousingthe greatmass of discontentedpeas-ants and in directingtheir fury against the existing regime. Therevolutionwould bring the destructionof the state and the dis-tributionof state and noble lands amongthe peasants. The char-acter of the new society would be determined by the anarcho-collectivist nature of the peasants who were the overwhelmingmajorityof the Russianpeople. The age-longdesireof the peasantfor freedomand self-governmentwould lead to the destructionofthe coercive,centralized tate and its replacement, romthe bottomup by a "freefederationof freecommunes." Sincethepeasantswereorganizedin collectivist-typecommunes,it was deduced that thefuturesociety wouldbe collectivist in nature,with propertycollec-tively owned and with production,whetheragriculturalor indus-trial, organizedon a collectivist basis."1Although much was leftunsaid, it was clear that, to Plekhanov'sway of thinking,Russiawould attain socialism through the revolutionaryaction of the

8Plekhanov recalls these experiences in "Russkii rabochii v revolyutsionnomdvizhenii," op. cit.9Plekhanov, "Zakon ekonomicheskogo razvitiya obshchestva i zadachi sotsializmav Rossii," Sochineniya, I, p. 70.?lThe rticle is cited in the preceding footnote."Ibid., pp. 62-5.

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2TheRussian Reviewpeasantryandwithoutpassingthrougha capitaliststageof develop-ment.

This generalscheme was by no meanspeculiar o Plekhanov,theinfluenceof Bakunin is all too clear, and some such outlook wascommonto most of the revolutionarypopulistsof the period I876-I879. But what is arrestingabout Plekhanov'sanalysisis that in1879, he alreadyshowed concern that his system should be con-sistent with Marxianprinciplesas he then understood hem. Thushe said:"Let us see to what the teachingof Marxobligatesus . .in viewof the necessityof establishing he pointsof departureof ourprogram."12Unlikeother Russianpopulists,heargued hat Marxianprinciples were relevant not only to capitalist societies, but to allsocieties. However,this did not signifythat all societiesmust haveidenticalhistories; or, "weavingandcombiningvariously n varioussocieties, they [Marxian principles]give entirely dissimilar re-sults . ,"13It wassignificant hat the articleunderconsiderationwasentitled"TheLawof the EconomicDevelopmentof SocietyandtheTasksofSocialism n Russia." The title suggested,and the contentsof thearticleconfirmed,hat Plekhanovwas at one with Marx in identify-ing "the economichistoryof society" as the determining actor insocial evolution.14 He held up to criticismthe "utopian"socialistsof the thirties and forties who, consideringthe mind all and lifenothing, had supposedthat a happily-conceivedplan for a well-proportionedand smoothly-functioningociety could, by virtue ofskillfuluse of propaganda,be translated nto realitywithoutrefer-ence to the stage of economic development existing at a given timeand place.'5Arguing,in effect, that his own populistviews couldnot be describedas utopian, Plekhanovinsisted that the peasantcommunewas stable, that its collectiveownershipof land and thecollectivisthabits of work and thought that it createdamong thepeasantsprovideda real and sound basis for socialism n Russia.16If Russia differed romthe Westin thisregard, f Russiacouldattainsocialism n a uniqueway, it wasonly because he peasantcommunehad fallenin the West, and with it, the collectivistinstinctsof thepeople. When those instincts were replacedby individualism,the

12Ibid.,p. 59.3Ibid.,p. 62.14Ibid.,p.57-8.15Ibid.,. 57.16Ibid.,p.6i, 62,65.

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Plekhanov and the Origins of Russian Marxismpossibilityof socialism n the West vanisheduntil such time as thegrowth of large-scale, factory productionwith its socializationoflabor had once again restoredthe social spirit that had decayedwith the decay of the commune.17The very cornerstoneof Plek-hanov's system, then, was the belief that the communeprovidedthe basis for Russiansocialism,and that the commune"does notbearwithin itself the elementsof its own doom."'8In termsof hisown theoreticalpremises,it followedthat if the communeshoulddisintegrate,the socialconditionsessentialfor the establishmentofsocialismwouldno longerobtainin Russiaand, in that case,only autopiancouldspeakof the likelihoodof socialismthere in the nearfuture.The early influenceof Marxupon him is important n helpingtoexplainPlekhanov'sater, definitive,conversion o Marxism;but it isclear that, in I879, the young revolutionistdid not qualify as aMarxist. Plekhanov believed that Marxian principles supportedthe outlookand programof the populists. But this was, at least inpart, an erroneousudgment;for Plekhanov, ike most of the popu-lists of that time, considered hat the revolutionwoulddestroythestate andopentheway to ananarcho-federalistrder,whileMarxistsheld that a state, and a strongly-centralized state, was essential forthe transition to socialism. Very shortly before the publication ofthe article discussed above, he had described all of Russian historynot as "the history of class struggle," but, in anarchist terms, as"an unbroken struggle of the state with the commune and the in-dividual."19 And so poorly oriented was Plekhanov in questions ofWestern socialism that he grouped Marx and Engels with Rodbertusand Dihring as "the brilliant pleiade" of socialism, in I879,20 hat is,a year after Engels had published his celebrated attack upon Dihr-ing.Nevertheless, Plekhanov's exposure to some Marxian ideasclearly had produced a strong impression upon him. For the present,he could both be a good populist and be faithful to Marxian pre-cepts, as he then understood them, since there seemed to him to beno contradiction between the two. But in time, his faith in thepopulist creed was shaken, while a more extensive contact with theprimary sources of Marxism strengthened his conviction as to the

17Ibid.,pp. 59-60o18Ibid.,p. 6I.g9Plekhanov, Korrespondentsii," ibid., p. 29.20Plekhanov,"Zakonekonomicheskogo razvitiya obshchestva," ibid., p. 57.

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The Russian Reviewvalidity of that outlook. Within a very few years, he became per-suaded of the essential incompatibility of populism with Marxism;and this led to his renunciation of populism.When within "Land and Liberty" there developed a strong tend-ency to abandon agitation among the peasants and workmen infavor of a terroristic, political struggle with the government, Plek-hanov led the fight against the terrorists. When dissension within"Land and Liberty" led to its dissolution in the fall of I879, Plek-hanov became a leader of the new, anti-terrorist organization, "TheGeneral Redivision" (Chernyi Peredel), which, in opposition to theterrorist "People's Will," affirmed its adherence to the traditionalviews and methods of "Land and Liberty."21 But Plekhanov's faithin the old populist outlook was soon weakened by the failure of"The General Redivision" to compete successfully with the terroristsin attracting fresh forces. When even those who remained loyal tothe old populist ideas showed little inclination to carry propagandato the countryside,22doubts arose in Plekhanov's mind as to thecorrectnessof the views of the "redivisionists."Around the same time, his doubts were compounded by his en-counter with Orlov's book, CommunalProperty in the Moscow Dis-trict. Orlov presented such persuasive data on the decline of thepeasant commune, that Plekhanov was obliged to revise his opinionconcerning its indestructibility. Soon afterward he acknowledgedthat economic differentiation was proceeding among the communemembers, that the commune "is being divided into two parts, eachof which is hostile to the other. .. ."23 Yet, he insisted that thecauses of the decline of the commune were external24and that theywould cease to operate if the socialists should succeed in ignitingthe revolution, if they should bring the peasants "from a passiveexpectation of a general redivision" to "an active demand for it."25For the moment, Plekhanov seemed able to reassure himself, but hereported later that Orlov's work "strongly shook" his populist con-victions.26 By raising serious doubts about the stability of the com-

2lPlekhanov, "Stat'i iz 'ChernogoPeredela,' "ibid., p. Io8.22Plekhanov, "Kak i pochemu my razoshlis s redaktsiei 'Vestnika NarodnoiVoli,' "ibid., XIII, 25.23Plekhanov, "Pozemelnaya obshchina i ee veroyatnoe budushchee," ibid., I,102.

24Ibid.,p. 103.25Plekhanov,"Stat'i iz 'ChernogoPeredela,' " ibid., p. 117.26Plekhanov,"Russkii rabochii v revolyutsionnom dvizhenii," ibid., III, p. 197.

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Plekhanovand the Origins of Russian Marxismmune, the book tended to undermine the very foundation of hispopulist outlook.

As uncertainty came to take the place of conviction, Plekhanovbegan to deplore the inadequacy of his knowledge and the difficultyof supplementing it under the repressive conditions of Russian life.27Hence, he was not entirely displeased when, late in 1879, some of hisrevolutionary comrades urged that he and other leaders of "TheGeneral Redivision" go abroad until such time as the situation wasmore auspicious for revolutionary work.28Plekhanov welcomed theopportunity to secure the information which would quiet his doubtsand verify his views. Half in jest, he remarked that he was goingabroad "to study and to attain there the scholarly level of a master'sor a doctor's degree."29In January, I880, Plekhanov made his way to western Europe andimmediately plunged into the study of history, political science, andsocialism.30The works of Marx fascinated him and, in order to gainmore complete access to them, Plekhanov undertook to learn Ger-man.31 Beginning in the fall of I880, he lived in Paris for almost ayear, engaging in intensive study at the BibliothequeNationale and,in his spare time, making the acquaintance of such leaders of West-ern socialism as Jules Guesde. His sojourn in the West made aprofound impression upon Plekhanov. Experience of Western con-ditions and increased familiarity with Western socialist politicaland economic conceptions gave him the perspective for a critique of"Russian socialism." Thus his trip abroad had unexpected results,inasmuch as he did not acquire information that could bolster thepopulist position; on the contrary, for as Plekhanov recalled manyyears afterwards, "the more we became acquainted with the theories

27L.Deutsch, "Kak Plekhanov stal Marksistom," op. cit., p. I17.28Marx ommentedpungently on the appearance n western Europe of the"redivisionists,"hemajorityof whom,hesaid,had"abandonedRussiavoluntarily-in contrastto the terroristswhoseheadswere at stake-to forma propagandaparty. In orderto carryon propagandan Russia, they come to Geneva. How isthat for aquidproquo?"The "redivisionists" ereaccusedof a wholecatalogueofsins. Yakovlev,Iz istoriipoliticheskoior'by 70-kh 8o-khgg. XIX veka,Moscow,I912, p. 470. Thus cordially did Marx, in I880, welcome those who, a few yearslater,wereto inaugurateheMarxianmovement nRussia.29P.B. Akselrod,Perezhitoeperedumannoe,erlin,1923,p. 347.30Hisnotebook for the years I880-I882 is crammed full of titles which he evidentlyconsulted."Zapisnayaknizhka G. V. Plekhanova,"Literaturnoe asledieG. V.Plekhanova,I."3L.Deutsch, "Kak Plekhanov stal Marksistom," op. cit., p. 120.

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The Russian Reviewof scientific socialism, the more doubtful became our populism to us,from the side of both theory and practice."32The changes effectedin his views were soon evident and, indeed, it is possible to trace, inhis writings between I880 and 1882, Plekhanov's rejection, oneafter another, of the fundamental theses of populism. In a period offifteen to eighteen months he renounced the doctrine of a uniquesocial evolution for Russia, abandoned hostility to politics andpolitical struggle, and ceased to identify the peasantry as the massbasis of the Russian socialist revolution.

By September, I880 (nine months after he had gone abroad),Plekhanov was contending that the next stage for Russia wouldprobably be a bourgeois-constitutional regime.33This judgment,dropped rather casually in an article, revealed the profound changethat had taken place in Plekhanov's outlook in a short time. Itsignified that Russia would not have a unique social development,involving a leap from her contemporary situation to a socialist order,but instead would experience an intervening capitalist stage. ButPlekhanov was not yet prepared to make these affirmations. Thatfor him the situation was not yet entirely crystallized was apparentwhen he indicated that while the agrarian question was still thechief concern of the socialists, "Russian industry is not standingstill." And "along with this, the center of gravity of economicquestions is being transferred to the industrial centers."34 By Jan-uary, 1881, the idea that the next socio-political formation for Russiawould be a bourgeois-constitutional regime had passed from prob-ability to certainty for Plekhanov.35 While the implication was un-avoidable that Russia's economic evolution would therefore parallelthat of the West, it was only at the end of 188I that Plekhanovunequivocally stated that Russia was launched on the capitalistphase of development and that "all other routes are closed to her."36The adoption of the point of view described above meant thatPlekhanov no longer regarded the peasant commune as a basis for adirect transition to socialism; but nothing was said of this, nor weredetailed and reasoned arguments given for his change of front before

32Plekhanov, Kak i pochemumy razoshliss redaktsiei'Vestnika NarodnoiVoli,' "op. cit., p. 26.33Plekhanov,Stat'i z 'Chernogo eredela,'"op. cit.,pp. 124-5.34lbid., . 131.38Ibid., pp. 134-5.a6Plekhanov-Lavrov,nd of I88I, LiteraturnoeasledieG. V. Plekhanova, III,

210.

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Plekhanovand the Origins of Russian Marxismthe publication of his important works of 1883 and I885 respectively,Socialism and Political Struggle and Our Disagreements.3 In thoseworks, and especially in the latter, it became clear that additionalstudy of Russian economic data, on the one hand, and on the other,mastery of Marxian economic theory had led him to formulate hisnew conception of Russian social evolution.Plekhanov's new convictions concerning Russian social develop-ment led to a revision of his views as to the tactics the socialistsmust follow. Although they worked for the destruction of the state,the populists, prior to the formation of "The People's Will," did notregard theirs as a political fight. As anarchists, they were opposed topolitical struggle, since such a struggle signified to them the accept-ance of the state principle. Their aim was not to win political rightswithin the state system, not to reform that system, nor even tocapture the state and utilize it for the implementation of their socialprogram. They sought an end to all states, since the latter were con-sidered instruments of coercion and oppression. The members of"Land and Liberty," and of "The General Redivision" after it,believed that their socialist convictions-for they were anarcho-socialists-obliged them to devote all their energies to agitationamong the masses, revolving around their economicneeds. Only inconsequence of such activity would there be called into being thepopular rising that would destroy the state and permit the develop-ment of the anarcho-socialist order. The populists thought thatpolitical liberty was intimately associated with, and beneficial mainlyto, the bourgeoisie;political freedom and the struggle to attain it hadlittle or no relevance, they thought, to the needs of peasant Russia-needs which were preeminently economic.Plekhanov had shared these views, but in September, I880, hewrote: "We know the value of political liberty . . .; we greet everystruggle for the rights of man."38 If this was a notable departurefrom his earlier views, Plekhanov, as yet, was prepared to accord topolitical struggle and political liberty only a secondary importance.39He still urged that the people everywhere and always were concernedabout economic rather than political questions. Therefore, if thesocialists were to become a power, and if the people were to registergains at the time of a revolution, the socialists must carry on agita-tion among the peasants centered around economic demands. This

38These works are reproducedin Sochineniya, II.38Plekhanov,"Stat'i iz 'ChernogoPeredela,' "op. cit., p. I25.39Ibid.,p. 27.

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The Russian Reviewwould guarantee that with the coming of a revolutionary crisis, thesocialists would not constitute a "staff without an army," but in-stead, would have massed forces behind them sufficient to ensureconsideration of the popular needs.40If, on the other hand, thesocialists should be drawninto a political struggle against absolutism,they would lose contact with the economically-minded masses, andthe latter, lacking awareness, unity, and leadership, would gainlittle or nothing from the overthrow of absolutism.41Plekhanov, in common with many other populists, was still in-clined to treat politics and economics as mutually exclusive, un-related spheres; but for Plekhanov, this situation did not last. InJanuary, 1881, advancing another step toward what was to be hislife-long position, he articulated, although yet imperfectly, thatsynthesis of political struggle and socialism which was to be one ofhis major contributions to Russian revolutionary thought.42 In theensuing months, he clarified his thinking further and, in the springof 1882, in his foreword to the second Russian edition of the Com-munist Manifesto, Plekhanov plainly enunciated a social-democraticstrategy.43 It was indeed appropriate that he should have done so atthat time and in that place, for within the Communist Manifestoappeared the formula toward which he had been groping. No longerdid he place "political struggle" (the fight for political rights andpolitical hegemony) in opposition to socialist activity (agitationamong the masses designed immediately to bring the destruction ofthe state and a socio-economic revolution). Plekhanov had come tobelieve that "political struggle" and "socialist activity," so far frombeing mutually exclusive, were intimately inter-related, that neithercould be overlooked in favor of the other, that only byway of politicalstruggle could socialism be attained. Plekhanov commended theManifesto as a corrective to the one-sidedness of those socialists who,like the members of "Land and Liberty" and "The General Redivi-sion," opposed political activity, and of those, like the partisans of"The People's Will," who became so engulfed in the political struggleagainst absolutism as to forget about the creation of a mass move-ment, which alone could ensure the future of the socialist party.44

4OIbid.,p. 125-126.4lIbid.42Ibid.,pp. 135-6.43Plekhanov, "Predislovie k Russkomu izdaniyu 'Manifesta Kommunistiche-skoi Partii,' "ibid., pp. 5o0-5I.44Ibid.

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Plekhanovand the Origins of Russian Marxism 49Plekhanov's premises were these: Even though the coming upheavalbe a bourgeois rather than a socialist revolution, the masses havemuch at stake. With the fall of absolutism, they should win politicalrights which would greatly increase the possibilities for developingthe campaign for economic emancipation, for socialism. The tacticthat Plekhanov recommended to the Russian socialists, therefore,was much the same as that which Marx had urged upon the GermanCommunists in 1848. The socialists must fight alongside of thebourgeoisie to the extent that it is revolutionary in its struggle withabsolute monarchy, but, at the same time, must not for a momentslacken its drive to develop in the minds of the workers the clearestpossible consciousness of the antagonism of the interests of thebourgeoisie and the proletariat.45The Russian socialists must drawthe workers into the struggle against absolutism as allies of thebourgeoisie, but must make plain to the proletariat that its interestsdictated the inauguration of an all-out struggle against the bour-geoisie on the morrowof the overthrow of absolutism.Finally, it followed that, if capitalism was to dominate the eco-nomic life of Russia, the proletariat, that inevitable by-product ofcapitalist development, rather than the peasantry, would providethe mass basis for the socialist revolution. In September, I880,when he first suggested that Russia stood on the eve of a bourgeoisrevolution, Plekhanov advised that propaganda for factory workersbe published.46However, through most of 1881, his uncertainty wasreflected in the continued reference to "the toilers" and "the people"as the chief support of the socialists. But, at the end of 188 , aroundthe same time that he imparted to the venerable Russian revolu-tionary leader, Lavrov, his conviction that Russia could not escapecapitalist development, he designated the city workers as the onlygroup from which something significant could be expected in therevolutionary movement.47 Thus, if earlier he had seen socialismcoming to Russia by way of a peasant revolution, on the basis of thepeasant commune, and without a prior stage of capitalist develop-ment, Plekhanov now argued that the socialist revolution was think-able only after a considerable period of capitalism, which would

45K. Marx and F. Engels, The CommunistManifesto, New York, InternationalPublishers, p. 43.46Plekhanov,"Ob izdanii Russkoi Sotsialno-Revolyutsionnoi Biblioteki," Soch-ineniya, I, I45-6.47Plekhanov-Lavrov, November, i88I, Literaturnoe nasledie Plekhanova, VIII,208.


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The Russian Reviewproduce both the productive system requisite for a socialist economyand the proletariat, the class which would overthrow the capitalistsystem and inaugurate the socialist order.Plekhanov's evolution had brought him to a position which repre-sented an innovation in Russian'revolutionary thought; at the sametime, it represented a triumph for the Western statement of thesocialist problem. He was now convinced that "in Russian history,there is no essential difference from the history of Western Europe."48Consequently, he maintained that the problems of the Russiansocialists could best be illuminated by the study of west Europeansocial development and Western socialist teachings. Plekhanov thustook his place in the tradition of the Russian "Westernizers." AsPeter the Great had applied military and administrative techniquesto Russia, as the Decembrists and the men of the thirties and fortieshad hoped to "westernize" Russia in the political sense, now Plek-hanov adopted a Western version of socialism and set out to makeit the ruling socialist tendency. As Peter had fought the tradition-bound clergy and boyars, as the "Westernizers" of the time ofNicholas I had done battle with the Slavophiles, now Plekhanovundertook to demolish Russian, populist socialism. Now he de-clared that he was ready to make of Marx's Capital "a Procrusteanbed" for the leaders of the revolutionary movement.49In early I88I, as a result of an apparent convergence of views ofthe "redivisionists" and the terrorists, collaboration between thetwo factions had been suggested by Plekhanov.50 Some monthslater, when collaboration had in fact been established, Plekhanov'sviews once again diverged from those of the terrorists as he movedtoward Marxism. Although for two years the factions were in un-easy association, it was apparent that each was trying to use theother. The "redivisionists" (now become Marxists) wished to cap-italize on the popularity of "The People's Will," while trying toinfuse that organization with a new social-democratic content.51The terrorists intended to turn the well-known names and theexperience and talents of the former "redivisionists" to their ad-vantage without, however, allowing the social democrats to gain apredominant voice in the organization.52The differences between

48Plekhanov-Lavrov,arlyI882, Ibid.,p. 21 .49Plekhanov-LavrovProbablyearlyspring,I882),Dela i Dni, 192I, Vol. II, 9I.50Plekhanov,Stat'i z 'Chernogo eredela,'"op.cit.,p. I36.5lDeutsch-Akselrod, June I5, I883, Gruppa"Osvobozhdenie ruda,"I, I65, I68-9.52Thisnference s basedon Iochelson'setter in Gruppa"Osvobozhdenieruda"v

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Plekhanovand the Origins of Russian Marxism SIthe two factionswereso greatthat they couldnot live in connubialbliss;nordid one succeedin assimilating he other. Plekhanovandhis comradesprovedunwillingto sacrifice their principlesfor thesake of unity, while the terroristsshowed themselvesunwillingtoaccommodate themselves to Plekhanov's "Procrustean bed."53But if Plekhanov'scircle had failedin its attempt to win over therevolutionarymovementfromwithin, its members hen resolved tocreatea new revolutionaryorganization or the propaganda f theirideas. When,in September,1883,they foundedthe "Emancipationof Labor"Group, t was in orderto take over the leadershipof therevolutionarymovement and thus, in the end, to stampthe imprintof Marx's hinkingdeepinto Russian ife.Period z883-1894 gg. ed. V. I. Nevsky (Istoriko-revoliutsionnyi sbornik, II, Lenin-grad, I924) pp. 402-3; Plekhanov, "Kak i pochemu my razoshlis s redaktsiei 'Vest-nika Narodnoi Voli,' " op. cit., p. 33; Tikhomirov-Lavrov, August 6, 1883, Gruppa"Osvobozhdenie ruda,"I, 250.63Materialsrelative to the relations between "redivisionists" and terrorists maybe found in Gruppa "OsvobozhdenieTruda," I, III; "Pisma G. V. Plekhanova kP. L. Lavrovu," Dela i Dni, Vol. II, 192I; Deutsch, "O sblizhenii i razryve s Naro-dovoltsami," op. cit.; Plekhanov, "Pochemu i kak my razoshlis s redaktsiei 'Vest-nika Narodnoi Voli,'" op. cit.; L. Tikhomirov, Vospominaniya Lva Tikhomirova,Moscow-Leningrad, I927.

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