“Im Anfang war die Tat”: Anarchist Ideology in the Russian Revolution

Abstract

This paper explores the often overlooked role that anarchist ideology played in the success of the Bolshevik Party leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. As Russia’s Provisional Government, instituted after the fall of its oppressive monarchy, grew increasingly more controlling, radical and socialist ideas pervaded Russia’s political landscape. The communist Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, would utilize this atmosphere of change to kickstart a revolution and create a communist state that would later be known as the Soviet Union. However, there was another forgotten faction that played a significant role in the revolution: the anarchists. Like the Bolsheviks, the anarchists too believed in the necessity of revolution, and in hopes of achieving their shared revolutionary goals, the communists and anarchists formed alliances; however, the anarchists took a far more impulsive, instinctual, and proactive approach than the Bolsheviks. This impulsive mentality manifested in acts of domestic terrorism and armed riots, which were unsupported by the Bolsheviks, yet furthered their goal of revolution. Furthermore, anarchist doctrine influenced the course of the revolution through its impact on Lenin. Lenin praised the Paris Commune, a hallmark of anarchist doctrine, and exemplified anarchist values in his infamous April Theses. Through analysis of primary and secondary sources, this paper explores the little known yet crucial role that both the actions and ideology of the anarchists played in spurring along the Bolshevik Revolution.