The End of the Democratic Dream: Russia 1917-1921

Professor Chris Read, one of the top experts in Russian history, delivered a fascinating lecture on one of the most tragic period Russian history, to our Sixth Formers and Godalming College students.

The lecture focused on the rise of the Bolsheviks and their idealism of creating a post-revolutionary state that initially was naive and utopian: “All shall govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing” (Lenin). His aim was to implement the ideology of Marx and Engels and that the state needed to be abolished and replaced by a classless society. But by 1921, at the 10^th party congress, the opposite became the reality.

Professor Read talked about how the state became overwhelming, crushing civil society. He looked into the rise of the Cheka, how censorship was ubiquitous, and that internal party discipline was controlled by the so-called ‘democratic centralism’.

His lecture was summed up by the premise that this was a premature revolution and as Engels stated: “whoever puts himself in this awkward position is irrevocably lost.”

Thank you to Professor Read for coming in to share his expertise with us on this topic.