Chapter Eighteen. ‘The russian revolution’ (20 December 1905)

Abstract

In this chapter, the author explains the Marxist analysis of how the Russian revolution was related to European history following the French Revolution of 1789. She shows that a dual revolution in Russia would simultaneously complete the series of bourgeois revolutions inaugurated in 1789 and begin a new round of proletarian revolutions leading to socialism's international triumph. Just as the Great French Revolution affected the entire political history of the nineteenth century, she expected the Russian revolution would have a similar influence on the twentieth century. By conceiving the dual character of permanent revolution in terms of completing one historical project and launching another, she provided a persuasive explanation of Russian events in terms of a coherent Marxist account of Russia's peculiar relation to European history. Keywords: bourgeois society; capitalism; European history; French Revolution; Russian revolution; socialism