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88-602: The House of Ketteler (also Kettler ) is the name of an old and distinguished Baltic German noble family that originated in Westphalia . The family appeared in 1233 when Conrad von Hüsten was mentioned in the written documents as the Châtelain of Haus Hüsten . His descendant Conrad III von Hüsten genannt Ketteler (1285–1364) was a Knight and Châtelain of Rüthen . Goswin Ketteler zu Assen (c. 1400 – c. 1471) divided

176-467: A dictatorship of the bourgeoisie by definition because the bourgeoisie, by the very condition of their class and its interests, would promote and implement policies in their class interests and thus in defense of capitalism. There was a difference, though; Lenin, after the failures of the world revolutions , argued that this did not necessarily have to change under the dictatorship of the proletariat. The reasoning came from wholly practical considerations:

264-576: A Soviet ally naturally did so via a legitimate voluntary desire, even if the requesters needed Soviet help to accomplish it. The principal examples were the Soviet invasion of Finland yielding the annexation of Finnish parts of Karelia , the Soviet invasion of Poland , the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states , and the postwar de facto dominance over the satellite states of the Eastern Bloc under

352-474: A pretense of total independence. In the post-Soviet era even many Ukrainians, Georgians, and Armenians feel that their countries were forcibly annexed by the Bolsheviks, but this has been a problematic view because the pro-Soviet factions in these societies were once sizable as well. Each faction felt that the other did not represent the true national interest. This civil war –like paradox has been seen in

440-573: A stage in which the "correlations of forces" were moving towards socialism. Also, with the establishment of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and Asia, Soviet foreign policy-planners believed that capitalism had lost its dominance as an economic system. The concept of "socialism in one country" was conceived by Stalin in his struggle against Leon Trotsky and his concept of permanent revolution . In 1924, Trotsky published his pamphlet Lessons of October in which he stated that socialism in

528-402: Is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, focused on overthrowing the existing capitalist state system, seizing power and establishing the " dictatorship of the proletariat ". Bolshevism originated at

616-540: Is completely possible and probable". Stalin held the view common amongst most Bolsheviks at the time; there was possibility of real success for socialism in the Soviet Union despite the country's backwardness and international isolation. While Grigoriy Zinoviev , Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Bukharin , together with Stalin, opposed Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution, they diverged on how socialism could be built. According to Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kamenev supported

704-424: Is indispensable, democracy is not", further arguing that "we do not promise any democracy or any freedom". Imperialism is capitalism at a stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance-capital is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun; in which the divisions of all territories of

792-437: Is toward even greater changes in the correlation of forces in the world arena in favour of socialism." — Nikolay Inozemtsev , a Soviet foreign policy analyst, referring to series of events (which he believed) would lead to the ultimate victory of socialism. "Peaceful coexistence" was an ideological concept introduced under Khrushchev's rule. While the concept has been interpreted by fellow communists as proposing an end to

880-866: The All–Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) . At the 19th Congress in October 1952, the All–Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . In 1990, at the last, 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , during the legalization of political platforms within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Bolshevik Platform was formed, giving rise to several modern political parties and social movements. Realizing

968-1026: The Estonian Knighthood in Reval , the Couronian Knighthood  [ de ; lv ] in Mitau , the Livonian Knighthood in Riga , and the Oesel Knighthood  [ de ; et ] in Arensburg . Viborg also had an institution to register rolls of nobles in accordance with Baltic models in the 18th century. In the Baltic German nobility, the titles are Duke, Count, Baron, Knight and noble. Bolshevism Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik )

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1056-654: The February Revolution . It subsequently organized the October Revolution , which overthrew the Provisional Government and replaced it with a state power under the control of the soviets , led by the Bolsheviks along with other left-wing socialists. Some researchers attribute to Bolshevik theory the program of Joseph Stalin, who headed the All–Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and at the same time possessed full state power in

1144-663: The Governorate of Estonia in 1816, in the Courland Governorate in 1817 and in the Governorate of Livonia in 1819 (and in the rest of the Russian Empire in 1861). Still, the nobility continued to dominate the rural parts of Estonia and Latvia via manorial estates throughout the 19th century. However, almost immediately following the declaration of independence of Estonia and Latvia, both countries enacted far-reaching land reforms which in one stroke ended

1232-793: The Livonian War when Gotthard Kettler , the master of the Teutonic Order , created and inherited the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia from the Treaty of Vilnius (1561) as a vassal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1561 to 1569. It later became a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1726, and it was incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Sejm in 1726. His family ruled

1320-574: The Northern Crusades and the medieval foundation of Terra Mariana . Most of the nobility consisted of Baltic Germans , but with the changing political landscape over the centuries, Polish , Swedish and Russian families also became part of the nobility, just as Baltic German families re-settled in locations such as the Swedish and Russian Empires . The nobility of Lithuania is for historical, social and ethnic reasons separated from

1408-536: The Soviet Union . However, others (both Stalin's contemporaries and later) do not confuse "Bolshevism" and " Stalinism " proper, considering them to be multidirectional (revolutionary and thermidorian ) phenomena. The expression "Bolshevism", and later "Communism", has become established in Western historiography in the sense of a certain set of features of Soviet power in a certain political period. At present,

1496-490: The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation , as pro-Russian Crimeans have been viewed as illegitimate by pro-Ukrainian Crimeans, and vice versa. The loss by imperialism of its dominating role in world affairs and the utmost expansion of the sphere in which the laws of socialist foreign policy operate are a distinctive feature of the present stage of social development. The main direction of this development

1584-489: The duchy until 1737, and the family became Polonized and married other members of the Szlachta . The family became increasingly powerful and had a chance of becoming one of the biggest magnates when Frederick William, Duke of Courland married Empress Anna of Russia . The family hoped that all their descendants would become emperors and that the duchy would become more powerful. Unfortunately, Frederick died soon after

1672-842: The soviets were now given to the Council of People's Commissars ; the central government was in turn to be governed by "an army of steeled revolutionary Communists [by Communists he referred to the Party]". In a letter to Gavril Myasnikov , Lenin in late 1920 explained his new reinterpretation of the term "dictatorship of the proletariat"; Dictatorship means nothing more nor less than authority untrammelled by any laws, absolutely unrestricted by any rules whatever, and based directly on force. The term 'dictatorship' has no other meaning but this . Lenin justified these policies by claiming that all states were class states by nature, and that these states were maintained through class struggle . This meant that

1760-441: The 1940s the growing polarization which was occurring in the capitalist and socialist systems. Khrushchev's peaceful coexistence was based on practical changes which had occurred; he accused the old "two camp" theory of neglecting the non-aligned movement and the national liberation movements . Khrushchev considered these "grey areas", in which the conflict between capitalism and socialism would be fought. He still stressed that

1848-512: The 19th century. According to Lenin, imperialism was a specific stage of development of capitalism; a stage he referred to as state monopoly capitalism . The Marxist movement was split on how to solve capitalism's resurgence and revitalisation after the great depression of the late-19th century. Eduard Bernstein , from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP), considered capitalism' revitalisation as proof that capitalism

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1936-450: The Baltic governments on their behalf, especially in relation to compensation for their ruination. Of the 84,000 German Balts, some 20,000 emigrated to Germany during the course of 1920-21. More followed during the inter-war years. Nowadays, it is possible to find the descendants of the Baltic nobility all around the world. Rural Estonia and Latvia were to a large extent dominated by a manorial estate system , established and sustained by

2024-494: The Baltic nobility, up until the declaration of independence of Latvia and Estonia following the upheavals after World War I . Broadly speaking, the system was built on a sharp division between the landowning, German-speaking nobility and the Estonian- or Latvian-speaking peasantry. Serfdom was for a long time a defining characteristic of the Baltic countryside and underscored a long-lasting feudal system, until its abolishment in

2112-642: The Bolshevik organizations of the party. At the Sixth (Prague) Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party , held on January 18–30, 1912, which constituted itself as the all–party conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party and the supreme organ of the party, almost exclusively Lenin's supporters were represented. By this time, the central committee of the party had virtually ceased to exist (its last plenum

2200-584: The Bolshevik party was decisive but the October insurrection was carried out according to Trotsky’s, not to Lenin’s plan. According to the British historian Orlando Figes , the opinion that the Bolsheviks were raised to the top of power by massive popular support for their party was not true. According to Figes, the October Uprising in Petrograd was a coup d'état supported by only a small part of

2288-550: The Bolshevik party – the April Theses – in which he put on the agenda the demand for the transfer of all power to the Soviets in the interests of the proletariat and the poorest peasantry. Faced with resistance even among the representatives of "theoretical", "scientific" Bolshevism, Lenin managed to overcome it, relying on the support of the lower classes – local party organizations, adherents of immediate practical action. In

2376-656: The Estonians: "German Balts are their pet aversion, more so really than the Bolsheviks". His comment conveys the extreme position of the Baltic peoples on the subject of the Baltic Barons. The dispossessed Germans drifted to the cities and towns. The new left-wing government in Berlin was unsympathetic to their kin in the Baltic States and was criticized by Baron Wrangel, who from March 1919 had increasingly assumed

2464-604: The German-dominated nobility of Estonia and Latvia. This nobility was a source of officers and other servants to Swedish kings in the 16th and particularly 17th centuries, when Couronian , Estonian , Livonian and the Oeselian lands belonged to them. Subsequently, the Russian tsars used Baltic nobles in all parts of local and national government. Latvia in particular was noted for its followers of Bolshevism and

2552-489: The Leninist slogan "plunder the loot", the Bolsheviks en masse carried out a complete confiscation (expropriation) from the owners of private property, which they considered acquired through the exploitation of the working people, that is, the robbery of the workers. At the same time, the Bolsheviks never found out whether private property was obtained through their own labor, or through the exploitation of other people, whether

2640-548: The Provisional Government. From the very beginning, while still abroad, Lenin insisted on the immediate break of the Petrograd Soviet with the Provisional Government in order to actively prepare for the transition from the bourgeois–democratic to the next, "proletarian" stage of the revolution, the seizure of power and the end of the war. Returning to Russia, he came up with a new program of action for

2728-442: The Soviet Union without a world revolution. Bukharin, by now, began arguing for the creation of an autarkic economic model, while Trotsky, in contrast, claimed that the Soviet Union had to participate in the international division of labour to develop. In contrast to Trotsky and Bukharin, Stalin did not believe a world revolution was possible, claiming in 1938 that a world revolution was in fact impossible, and claiming that Engels

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2816-419: The Soviet Union would fail because of the backward state of economic development unless a world revolution began. Stalin responded to Trotsky's pamphlet with his article, " October and Comrade Trotsky's Theory of Permanent Revolution ". In it, Stalin stated, that he did not believe an inevitable conflict between the working class and the peasants would take place, further adding that "socialism in one country

2904-534: The basis of the policy of the entire party. The Bolshevik faction became known as the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks). The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was renamed the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) at the 7th (April) Conference in 1917. In March 1918, the party adopted the name of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) , and in December 1925,

2992-610: The beginning of the 20th century in Russia and was associated with the activities of the Bolshevik faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party led by Vladimir Lenin , Bolshevism's main theorist. Other theoreticians included Joseph Stalin , Leon Trotsky , Nikolai Bukharin and Yevgeni Preobrazhensky . While Bolshevism was based on Marxist philosophy, it also absorbed elements of

3080-399: The capitalist and socialist worlds, just not one based on armed conflict. Khrushchev believed that the conflict, in its current phase, was mainly economical. The emphasis on peaceful coexistence did not mean that the Soviet Union accepted a static world, with clear lines. They continued to uphold the creed that socialism was inevitable, and they sincerely believed that the world had reached

3168-618: The capitalist blockade of the country. After the conference, Stalin wrote " Concerning the Results of the XIV Conference of the RCP(b) ", in which he stated that the peasantry would not turn against the socialist system because he believed they had a self-interest in preserving. The contradictions which would arise with the peasantry during the socialist transition, Stalin surmised, could "be overcome by our own efforts". He concluded that

3256-532: The class struggle". By the beginning of the February Revolution, the leading figures of the Bolshevik faction were mainly in exile or in emigration, and therefore the Bolsheviks did not take an organized part in it. The Bolshevik leaders who returned from exile, who, along with the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, became members of the Petrograd Soviet, at first tended to cooperate with

3344-479: The concentration of industry and banking, which led to the transformation of the finance capital connection to industry into the monopoly of large banks." In Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism , Lenin wrote; "the twentieth century marks the turning-point from the old capitalism to the new, from the domination of capital in general to the domination of finance capital." Lenin's defines imperialism as

3432-424: The conditions of an uneven, abrupt development of the capitalist countries." From 1925 onwards, Bukharin began writing extensively on the subject, and in 1926, Stalin wrote On Questions of Leninism , which contained his best-known writings on the subject. Trotsky, with the publishing of Leninism , began countering Bukharin's and Stalin's arguments, claiming that socialism in one country was possible, but only in

3520-493: The conflict between the systems of capitalism and socialism, Khrushchev saw it instead as a continuation of the conflict in every area with the exception in the military field. The concept claimed that the two systems were developed "by way of diametrically opposed laws", which led to "opposite principles in foreign policy." The concept was steeped in Leninist and Stalinist thought. Lenin believed that international politics were dominated by class struggle , and Stalin stressed in

3608-461: The course of the unfolding controversy about the possibility of socialism in Russia, Lenin rejected all the critical arguments of the Mensheviks, socialist revolutionaries and other political opponents about the country's unpreparedness for a socialist revolution due to its economic backwardness, weakness, lack of culture and organization of the working masses, including the proletariat, about the danger

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3696-433: The degenerate forces of capitalism". The Russian Revolution of 1917 was already a failure according to its original aim, which was to act as an inspiration for a world revolution. As a result, the initial anti-statist posture and the active campaigning for direct democracy was replaced with dictatorship. From the perspective of the Bolsheviks, the rationale for this change was Russia's lack of development, its status as

3784-461: The dictatorship of the proletariat in the Soviet Union could only be "won and maintained by the use of violence against the bourgeoisie". The main problem with this analysis is that the Party came to view anyone opposing or holding alternate views of the party as bourgeoisie. The worst enemy remained the moderates, however, which were "objectively" considered to be "the real agents of the bourgeoisie in

3872-414: The epoch of imperialism was expressed and theoretically grounded, which leads to the conclusion about the possibility of the victory of socialism initially in a few or in one single country, which is not yet economically developed enough – such as Russia – provided that the head of the revolutionary movement will be a disciplined avant–garde, ready to go all the way to the establishment of the dictatorship of

3960-940: The estates and early industrial complexes such as breweries. Parks, chapels and even burial grounds for the noble families were also frequently found on the grounds. Today, these complexes form an important cultural and architectural heritage of Estonia and Latvia. Baltic German nobles not only shaped the agricultural landscape but also significantly contributed to the region's cultural and architectural heritage. Their manor houses, often elaborate in design, incorporated elements of contemporary architectural styles and served as centers of cultural life, with some even housing collections of art and hosting musical performances. For an overview of manorial estates in Estonia and Latvia, see List of palaces and manor houses in Estonia and List of palaces and manor houses in Latvia . They were organized in

4048-471: The form of government which had existed in the Paris Commune . With the ensuing Russian Civil War and the social and material devastation that followed, however, its meaning was transformed from communal democracy to disciplined totalitarian rule. By now, Lenin had concluded that only a proletarian regime as oppressive as its opponents could survive in this world. The powers previously bestowed upon

4136-588: The formation of a Soviet government. At the same time, the authors of the resolutions understood "the power of the Soviets" as the All–Russian Council with the participation of all socialist parties. Meanwhile, the commitment of the Bolsheviks to the principle of Soviet power was not at all so unconditional. In July 1917, when the Bolshevik Party was unable to obtain a majority in the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, it "temporarily removed"

4224-458: The former dominance of the Baltic nobility on the countryside. The manorial system gave rise to a rich establishment of manorial estates all over present-day Estonia and Latvia, and numerous manor houses were built by the nobility. The manorial estates were agricultural centres and often incorporated, apart from the often architecturally and artistically accomplished main buildings, whole ranges of outbuildings, homes for peasants and other workers at

4312-577: The globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed. —Lenin, citing the main features of capitalism in the age of imperialism in Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism . The Marxist theory on imperialism was conceived by Lenin in his book, Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism (published in 1917). It was written in response to the theoretical crisis within Marxist thought, which occurred due to capitalism's recovery in

4400-455: The ideology and practice of the socialist revolutionaries of the second half of the 19th century ( Sergey Nechaev , Pyotr Tkachev , Nikolay Chernyshevsky ) and was influenced by Russian agrarian socialist movements like the Narodniks . In October 1917, the Bolshevik Party won a majority in the revolutionary workers' councils ( soviets ) which had been formed throughout Russia following

4488-416: The intermediate stage to communism, with the latter being the final stage which follows after socialism. By now, the party leaders believed that universal mass participation and true democracy could only take form in the last stage, if only because of Russia's current conditions at the time. [Because] the proletariat is still so divided, so degraded, so corrupted in parts [...] that an organization taking in

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4576-653: The landed estate owners, the rural Mittelstand dependent upon the old estates was severely affected. The expropriation of agrarian banks by the State also hit the Baltic Germans, who controlled/owned them. Paul Schiemann's later polemic against the Bank of Latvia came to the conclusion that 90% of Baltic Germans wealth had gone into the coffers of the Latvian State. The USA Commissioner to the Baltic in 1919 wrote of

4664-574: The latter were engaged throughout 1919 in a war against the German landed aristocracy and the German Freikorps . With independence the government was firmly Left. In 1918 in Estonia 90% of the large landed estates had been owned by Baltic Barons and Germans and about 58% of all agricultural estates had been in the hands of the big landowners. In Latvia approximately 57% of agricultural land was under Baltic German ownership. The Baltic Germans lost

4752-421: The main contradiction in international relations were those of capitalism and socialism. The Soviet Government under Khrushchev stressed the importance of peaceful coexistence, claiming it had to form the basis of Soviet foreign policy. Failure to do, they believed, would lead to nuclear conflict . Despite this, Soviet theorists still considered peaceful coexistence as a continuation of the class struggle between

4840-410: The majority of the country's inhabitants were not communists and the party could not introduce parliamentary democracy since that was inconsistent with their ideology and would lead to the party losing power. He therefore concluded that "[t]he form of government has absolutely nothing to do with" the nature of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Bukharin and Trotsky agreed with Lenin, both claiming that

4928-471: The minority, they were assigned the politically advantageous name "Bolsheviks". As Lenin's biographer Robert Service points out, the division of the newly created party into two factions "plunged Russian Marxists into a state of shock". All but the extreme left Petersburg Marxists disagreed with Lenin's party policy. At the Fourth Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1906,

5016-687: The monopoly stage of capitalism. Despite radical anti-imperialism being an original core value of Bolshevism, the Soviet Union from 1939 onward was widely viewed as a de facto imperial power whose ideology could not allow it to admit its own imperialism. Through the Soviet ideological viewpoint, pro-Soviet factions in each country were the only legitimate voice of "the people" regardless of whether they were minority factions. All other factions were simply class enemies of "the people", inherently illegitimate rulers regardless of whether they were majority factions. Thus, in this view, any country that became Soviet or

5104-461: The most land in left-wing and nationalist agrarian reform, as in the new Czechoslovakia . The agrarian legislation introduced in Estonia on 10 October 1919 and in Latvia on 16 September 1920 reflected above all a determination to break the disproportionate political and economic power of the German element. In Estonia 96.6% of all the estates belonging to the Baltic Germans were taken over, together with farms and villas. The question of fair compensation

5192-489: The name "Bolsheviks" is actively used by various groups of Marxist–Leninists and Trotskyists . Either the dictatorship of the landowners and capitalists, or the dictatorship of the proletariat [...] There is no middle course [...] There is no middle course anywhere in the world, nor can there be. —Lenin, claiming that people had only two choices; a choice between two different, but distinct class dictatorships. Lenin, according to his interpretation of Marx's theory of

5280-489: The only viable threat to socialism in the Soviet Union was a military intervention. In late 1925, Stalin received a letter from a party official which stated that his position of "Socialism in One Country" was in contradiction with Friedrich Engels own writings on the subject. Stalin countered, stating that Engels' writings 'reflected' "the era of pre-monopoly capitalism, the pre-imperialist era when there were not yet

5368-665: The organizational unity of the party was temporarily restored. At the Fifth Congress , the Central Committee was elected, which, due to disagreements between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, turned out to be unworkable, and the Bolshevik Center , headed by Vladimir Lenin, which was created during the Congress by Bolshevik delegates at one of its factional meetings, arbitrarily took over the leadership of

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5456-498: The owners adequately paid for hired labor, what part of the confiscated private property the owner created with his own labor. During and before the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks and their ideology led up to the formation of the Communist Party. Vladimir Lenin and his ideas for "a workers' socialist state" heavily dominated the movement. This is how the famous Social Democrat Alexander Parvus wrote about

5544-447: The party organizations. Martov suggested limiting the charter to the first two requirements. During the elections to the central organs of the party, the majority was won by supporters of the Leninist formulation, after which Lenin began to call his faction "Bolsheviks", while Martov called his supporters "Mensheviks". Although in the subsequent history of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, Lenin's supporters often found themselves in

5632-424: The period of 1920–1921 that Soviet leaders and ideologists began differentiating between socialism and communism; hitherto the two terms had been used to describe similar conditions. From then, the two terms developed separate meanings. According to Soviet ideology, Russia was in the transition from capitalism to socialism (referred to interchangeably under Lenin as the dictatorship of the proletariat), socialism being

5720-416: The population. Figes explains the success of the Bolsheviks by the fact that the latter were the only political party that uncompromisingly advocated the slogan "all power to the Soviets", which gained great popularity in 1917 after the unsuccessful Revolt of General Kornilov . As Figes points out, in the fall of 1917, there was a stream of resolutions from factories, from villages, from army units, calling for

5808-513: The proletariat . Immediately after the outbreak of the World War , Lenin and his supporters advanced the slogan of the defeat of tsarism in the war and the transformation of the imperialist war into a civil war. It was with this that Lenin's criticism of the so–called " social–chauvinists ", who supported their governments in the world war, was connected. Lenin viewed the civil war as "an inevitable continuation, development and intensification of

5896-403: The property with his younger brother Röttger around 1440. He built a new house on his part of the ground and called himself since then Kettler Neu Assen . He changed the background of his coat of arms from silver to gold – the so-called golden line. The silver line still spells Ketteler and is called the silver line Ketteler Alt Assen . The Polish branch of the family rose to prominence during

5984-403: The resolution of the 14th Conference (held in 1925) which stated that "we cannot complete the building of socialism due to our technological backwardness." Despite the rather cynical attitude, Zinoviev and Kamenev did believe that a defective form of socialism could be constructed. At the 14th Conference, Stalin reiterated his position, claiming that socialism in one country was feasible despite

6072-414: The rest. One of the main reasons for the split was the question of a party of a new type. In the course of work on the Charter of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, Vladimir Lenin and Yuliy Martov proposed two different wordings of the clause on party membership. According to Lenin's wording, a party member is a citizen who recognizes the program and charter, pays membership fees and works in one of

6160-403: The revolution had only destroyed the old, but failing completely in creating anything sort of new. Lenin had now concluded that the dictatorship of the proletariat would not alter the relationship of power between persons, but rather "transform their productive relations so that, in the long run, the realm of necessity could be overcome and, with that, genuine social freedom realised". It was in

6248-408: The role of spokesman for the German Balts at the German Foreign Ministry (Auswartiges Amt) and argued that the internationally recognised Treaty of Nystad guaranteed the position of the German minority in the Baltic. The Baltic Barons and the Baltic Germans in general were given the new and lasting label of Auslandsdeutsch by the Auswärtiges Amt who now grudgingly entered into negotiations with

6336-402: The short-run, and claimed that without a world revolution it would be impossible to safeguard the Soviet Union from the "restoration of bourgeoisie relations". Zinoviev on the other hand, disagreed with both Trotsky and Bukharin and Stalin, holding instead steadfast to Lenin's own position from 1917 to 1922, and continued to claim that only a defecting form of socialism could be constructed in

6424-467: The situation, the party believed it had to use the same powers as the bourgeoisie to transform Russia, for there was no other alternative. Lenin began arguing that the proletariat, similar to the bourgeoisie, did not have a single preference for a form of government, and because of that dictatorship was acceptable to both the party and the proletariat. In a meeting with party officials, Lenin stated—in line with his economist view of socialism—that "[i]ndustry

6512-585: The slogan "all Power to the Soviets!". After the October coup, during the so–called " triumphal march of Soviet power " in those cases when individual Soviets did not agree to become the organs of the dictatorship of the Russian Social–Democratic Workers' Party (Bolsheviks), the Bolsheviks did not hesitate to disperse them and replace them by emergency bodies – revolutionary committees , military revolutionary committees, etc. Alexander Parvus wrote in 1918: The present Soviets terrorize not only

6600-501: The sole socialist state in the world, its encirclement by imperialist powers, and its internal encirclement by the peasantry. Marx, similar to Lenin, considered it fundamentally irrelevant whether a bourgeois state was ruled according to a republican , parliamentarian , or constitutionally monarchic political system because this did not change the mode of production itself. These systems, regardless of whether they are ruled by an oligarchy or by mass participation, were ultimately all

6688-475: The split of the revolutionary democratic forces and the inevitability of a civil war. In April 1917, the split of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was finalized. During a heated discussion at the 7th All–Russian (April) Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) ( April 24–29), the April Theses received the support of the majority of delegates from the localities and formed

6776-418: The state , believed democracy to be unattainable anywhere in the world before the proletariat seized power. According to Marxist theory, the state is a vehicle for oppression and is headed by a ruling class , an "organ of class rule". He believed that during his lifetime, the only viable solution was dictatorship since the war was heading into a final conflict between the "progressive forces of socialism and

6864-452: The topic in 1918: The essence of Bolshevism is simple – to ignite the revolution everywhere, not choosing the time, regardless of the political situation and other historical realities. Whoever is against is the enemy, and the conversation with the enemies is short – they are subject to urgent and unconditional destruction. Bolshevik figures such as Anatoly Lunacharsky , Moisei Uritsky and Dmitry Manuilsky agreed that Lenin’s influence on

6952-456: The wedding and this dream was crushed. Empress Anna never married again. After Fredrick died, his uncle inherited the duchy, and when he died childless, his line became extinct. However, German branch of the family which is named Ketteler zu Harkotten still has descendants. When the reigning branch became extinct in Poland , Empress Anna's lover, Ernst Johann von Biron , became the new duke. He

7040-399: The whole proletariat cannot directly exercise proletarian dictatorship. It can be exercised only by a vanguard that has absorbed the revolutionary energy of the class. — Lenin, explaining the increasingly dictatorial nature of the regime. In early Bolshevik discourse, the term "dictatorship of the proletariat" was of little significance; the few times it was mentioned, it was likened to

7128-552: The working class movement, the labour lieutenants of the capitalist class". Consequently, "bourgeoisie" became synonymous with "opponent" and with people who disagreed with the party in general. These oppressive measures led to another reinterpretation of the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism in general; it was now defined as a purely economic system. Slogans and theoretical works about democratic mass participation and collective decision-making were now replaced with texts which supported authoritarian management. Considering

7216-515: Was evolving into a more humane system, further adding that the basic aims of socialists were not to overthrow the state, but rather to take power through elections. On the other hand, Karl Kautsky , from the SDP, held a highly dogmatic view, claiming that there was no crisis within Marxist theory. Both of them, however, denied or belittled the role of class contradictions in society after the crisis. In contrast, Lenin believed that capitalism' resurgence

7304-574: Was held in January 1910), and the party found itself without an official leading center. In this regard, a Bolshevik Central Committee was elected at the Prague Conference. In 1916, Lenin wrote his work Imperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism , which was a major contribution to the development of classical Marxism in the new conditions. In this work the thesis about the unevenness of economic and political development of capitalism in

7392-536: Was left open for later. In Latvia, in contrast to the implied promise in Estonia, nominal remainders usually made up of about 50 hectares and in a few cases 100 hectares, were left to the dispossessed estate owners, as well as an appropriate amount of stock and equipment. These concessions were seen by most Baltic Germans as forcing them to accept the lifestyle of a peasant farmer. Again, fair compensation would be considered later. The Baltic Germans thus lost most of their inherited wealth built up over 700 years. Apart from

7480-492: Was only possible in a large country like the Soviet Union, and that the other states, in order to survive, had to follow the Soviet line. Bolshevism has existed as a current of political thought and as a political party since 1903. The concept of Bolshevism arose at the Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (1903) as a result of the split of the party into two factions: supporters of Lenin and

7568-580: Was succeeded by his son Peter von Biron , but he abdicated under pressure. During the Partitions of Poland , Catherine the Great succeeded the Biron family and merged the duchy with Russia . The duchy is now part of present-day Latvia . Baltic nobility The Baltic German nobility was a privileged social class in the territories of modern-day Estonia and Latvia . It existed continuously from

7656-504: Was the beginning of a new phase of capitalism; this stage being created because of a strengthening of class contradiction, not because of its reduction. Lenin did not know when the imperialist stage of capitalism began, and claimed it would be foolish to look for a specific year, however he did assert it began at the beginning of the 20th century (at least in Europe). Lenin believed that the economic crisis of 1900 accelerated and intensified

7744-461: Was wrong on the matter. At the 18th Congress , Stalin took the theory to its inevitable conclusion, claiming that the communist mode of production could be conceived in one country. He rationalised this by claiming that the state could exist in a communist society, as long as the Soviet Union was encircled by capitalism. However, surprisingly, with the establishment of satellite states in Eastern Europe , Stalin claimed that socialism in one country

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