Volume 3, Number 9 · December 17, 1964
From the Finland Station
By George Lichtheim
A Short History of the Russian Revolution
by Joel Carmichael
Basic Books, 240 pp., $4.95
Marxism and Freedom (second edition)
by Raya Dunayevskaya
Twayne, 363 pp., $1.98
Let us try a mental experiment. Suppose Lenin had not got to Petersburg in 1917, had arrived too late, or had been jailed by the Provisional Government. Would there have been a Bolshevik seizure of power? It seems most unlikely. Lenin himself in October (old style) insisted that it was now or never: the fleeting chance might not return; the Government would somehow extricate itself from the war, satisfy some of the peasants, and disarm the workers; then the opportunity would be gone. Lenin's opponents agreed: this was indeed what they were working for. Most of his colleagues were against an armed rising and followed him with the greatest unwillingness. No other leader had either the ability or the will to act in his manner. Trotsky indeed was willing, but he lacked an organization. The others were for a coalition with the Mensheviks and the Populists. None dreamed of dictatorship. In February (March) they had been ready to support liberal democracy and the Provisional Government.
Review, 2604 words
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