Marx and the Agrarian Question

Abstract

THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL REVOLUTION avowedly inspired and guided by the ideology and historical interpretation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels took place in Russia in 1917. Since this event occurred in a mainly agricultural state with a relatively small industrial establishment, it is often listed as one of the ironies of history. This has led some scholars to the conclusion that Lenin, the director of the Bolslhevik forces, gave an unMarxian twist to Marx, deviating from the theories of the master in the process. The theories of Marx and Engels certainly stressed the primary revolutionary role of an industrial proletariat in the more advanced capitalistic states. Marx and Engels in their critiques also depended heavily on the historical experience and the contemporary condition of England in demonstrating the inlherent contradictions and class conflicts that resulted from changing modes of production.' With the expansion of industry and the application of capital, associated as they were with the presence of an ever-growing and more numerous proletariat, the capitalist system produced its own hangmen. The above line of thought also reflected an application of Marxian dialectics, with an emphasis on the clash of opposites, class conflict, and the advance of civilization proceeding from this logic. It must be noted, though, that Marx and Engels were so certain that the course of history pointed toward the ultimate triumph of communism that they were ready to support any revolutionary movement that promised to eliminate a variety of roadblocks (political, economic, and social institutions, and even reactionary nations) that needed to be removed to clear the way for the last climactic confrontation between proletariat and bourgeoisie. A pattern that such upheavals were likely to follow was always sought by Marx in the great French Revolution-a revolution that had