Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire (1882-1917)

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).

Listen to Lay Led Unions' episode on Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire (1882-1917) featuring Eric Blanc.Also, listen to a panel discussion of Eric Blanc's groundbreaking new book, here."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, McGill University“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, York University

• 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