CCALS: Russia 1917-1922

Prof Chris Corin gave a fascinating lecture on the tragedy of the Provisional government in Russia and explained how its life, of a mere 6 months, ended with the brutal Bolshevik takeover.

He said that whilst the triumph of a liberal democracy would have been unlikely to emerge, no one expected the Communists to triumph. It was a combination of Russian autocratic tradition, civil war, leadership and ideology that meant the Constituent assembly was shut down at gunpoint in January 1918, consigning it to ‘the rubbish tip of history’ as Trotsky had said.

Chris then expanded on Lenin’s terrifying early years in power from 1918-1921, quoting: ‘for ruthless inhumanity the Bolsheviks were unbeatable.’  He detailed the terror state that ensued and how even the loyal socialist Kronstadt sailors mutinied, as they looked on in horror at the Leninist Marxist government, which then came to be dominated by an even more despotic character: Stalin.