Revolutionary Social Democracy

Eric Blanc is a doctoral student in sociology at New York University and the author of Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics (Verso 2019).

“Eric Blanc's remarkable new book should revolutionize the way scholars and activists think about the Russian Revolution. By looking not just at Petrograd or Russia but at the entire Russian Empire—including Finland, Ukraine, and Poland—Blanc's pathbreaking comparative analysis examines how and why revolutionary processes diverge under parliamentary and autocratic regimes. Drawing on far-flung sources in eight languages, Blanc breaks with the Russocentrism of earlier accounts and effectively deprovincializes the revolution. Among other things, he demonstrates that Lenin and the Bolsheviks were not nearly as exceptional as is often thought. This book is an extraordinary achievement.”—Jeff Goodwin, New York University”Anyone interested in the Russian Revolution will need to read this outstanding contribution. Puncturing myths, cliches, and unsupported interpretations, Eric Blanc explores a forgotten historical reality—revolutionary social democracy—by vividly documenting the actual strategic outlooks and local practices of Second International Marxists across the Russian Empire, as well as Germany, the homeland of this political current. An impressively wide reading in sources from many languages allows Blanc to demonstrate the importance of borderland socialists in the revolutionary drama, bringing to life activists at all levels of party organizations throughout imperial Russia and challenging us to rethink long-held assumptions about major figures such as Lenin and Kautsky.”—Lars T. Lih, author Lenin Rediscovered“Through impressive research and erudite argumentation, this monumental study of the broad array of 'revolutionary social democratic' parties that operated in the non-Russian borderlands of the Tsarist Empire in the decades leading to 1917 definitively shows why there was no 'one-size-fits-all' revolutionary practice and why there is no reason to overgeneralize the international relevance of the form taken by the October Revolution. A tour de force which provides strong historical foundations for all those today working to develop an anticapitalist, democratic socialist political strategy for renewed working-class formation and state transformation.”—Leo Panitch, former editor Socialist Register

• AcknowledgementsList of TablesIntroduction1  Bringing in the Borderlands2  Strategic Continuities and Ruptures3  Method, Structure, Sources1 The Social Context1  The Workers’ Movement2  The Unique Impact of Orthodox Marxism3  Socialist Political Cultures2 Revolutionary Social Democracy: An Overview1  The ABC s of Revolutionary Social Democracy2  Strategy and Tactics in Germany and Russia3 Intellectuals and Workers1  Intellectuals and the Tensions of Class Formation2  Intellectuals and Workers (1905–17)4 Organisation, Mass Action, and Electoral Work1  Socialist Organisation in Finland2  Illegal Organising in Tsarist Russia3  The Bolshevik-Menshevik Split4  The First Mass Strike Debates (1903–04)5  Mass Action and Organisation in 19056  Party Organisation and Mass Action (1906–14)7  War and Revolution8  Mass Organisation and Action in Finland: 1917–185 Working-Class Hegemony1  Analysing Liberalism2  Tactics Towards Liberals3  The Bund versus Zionism (1897–1904)4  The PPS and the National Democrats Before 19055  Class Independence in Finland6  Early Russian Marxism and Liberals7  Working-Class Hegemony (1905–16)8  Proletarian Hegemony and Liberals (1906–16)6 Working-Class Unity1  United Front Practices Before 19052  Workers’ Unity and the 1905 Revolution3  Implementing the United Front (1906–18)4  Disunity in Europe and Poland7 The Party Question1  The German SPD Model2  Finland’s Social Democracy3  The Normalcy of Splits in Underground Russia4  The Split of Polish Socialism5  The Bolshevik-Menshevik Split8 Democracy, the State, and the Finnish Revolution1  Critique of Bourgeois Democracy2  The Socialist Revolution3  The State and Revolution in Finland (1917–18)9 The Autocratic State and Revolution: 19051  State Power and Marxist Strategy in 19052  The Practice of Revolutionary Government in 19053  Socialist Transformation in Russia4  International Revolution10 The State and Revolution in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland: 1917–191  Moderate Socialists and Dual Power in 19172  Moderates Join the Government3  Russian Moderate Socialists in the October Revolution4  Moderate Socialists in Ukraine: 1917–185  Moderate Socialism in Poland: 1918–196  Bolsheviks and State Power: February–March 19177  Breaking with the Bourgeoisie: April–OctoberEpilogue: An International Revolution Defeated1  Civil War and Authoritarianism2  International Revolution3  Impasse in the Imperial PeripheryBibliographyIndex