''Lessons of October'' (Russian: ''Уроки Октября)'' is a

polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

al essay of about 60 printed pages in length by

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

, first published in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in October 1924 as the preface to the third volume of his ''Collected Works.'' The essay was harshly critical of the purported revolutionary failings of

Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to ...

and

Lev Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. ( Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Kamenev was a leading figure in the early Soviet government and served as a Deputy Premier ...

, two key members of the collective leadership which briefly ruled

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

in the months after the death of V. I. Lenin. Publication of the essay was used as a pretext for the Soviet leadership to isolate and attack Trotsky, whom the leadership mutually perceived as a threat to accede to supreme power. In subsequent years Trotsky's essay was reprinted several times under its own covers by the international

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

movement.

Publication history

Background

Following a series of

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

s, which had incapacitated him for more than a year, Soviet leader

V.I. Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

died on January 21, 1924, at the age of 53. Despite his chronic illness, Lenin's premature death nevertheless came as a shock both to the people of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and to the small circle of individuals who collectively ruled in his stead through the governing Central Committee of the

Russian Communist Party (bolsheviks) The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

KP(b)and its inner executive committee, the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

. A triumvirate wielded effective power from the time of Lenin's second health breakdown in December 1922, which effectively eliminated his participation in day-to-day operational affairs. This trio included

, a close associate of Lenin's for more than two decades who sat as the head of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

; Zinoviev's co-thinker

, acting chair of the formal Soviet state apparatus, the

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

and secretary of the Politburo; and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, secretary of the Organization Bureau of the RKP(b), in charge of party affairs and the assignment of party workers to various tasks. Standing aloof from these was the orator and journalist

, who had returned from North American exile to join the Bolsheviks early in 1917 to be placed in positions of trust at Lenin's right hand. It would ultimately be Trotsky, as the flamboyant chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, who would play a leading role in the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

which brought the Bolshevik Party to power; Stalin would play a lesser and more administrative part. As for Zinoviev and Kamenev, the pair stood aloof from the revolutionary uprising entirely, jointly distancing themselves from a forthcoming Bolshevik seizure of power in the pages of a

Menshevik The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

newspaper. This would prove to be a massive miscalculation that would undercut Zinoviev's and Kamenev's later efforts to achieve leadership of the Russian Communist Party and the Soviet republic. All of these four maintained a desire and made active efforts to win for themselves the mantle of leadership. The three

Old Bolsheviks The Old Bolsheviks (), also called the Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard, were members of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Many Old Bolsheviks became leading politi ...

— Zinoviev, Stalin, and Kamenev — were filled with personal antipathy towards the long-time outsider, Trotsky. Each of the four sought to demonstrate the righteousness of their claims not just through the crass craft of political organization for factional warfare, but also through theoretical acumen. Each began the feverish publication of new works of sociology or

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theory or collected their contemporary journalism in an effort to prove themselves able theoreticians. Trotsky, in an effort to prove his credentials as a theoretician, even launched a multi-volume publishing project for the release of his ''Sochineniia'' (Collected Works) involving the State Publishing House. It would be this publishing effort amidst this highly personalized faction fight that would lead to the publication of the polemical essay "Lessons of October."

Publication

Reaction

On January 18, 1925, a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the RKP(b) was called to address the so-called "Trotsky Question". Feeling isolated and discredited among the top leadership, Trotsky decided to resign his position as People's Commissar of War rather than to attempt to marshal his forces for a hopeless fight at the Central Committee plenum. In a lengthy letter of resignation, Trotsky explicitly denied that "Lessons of October" had been published furtively or that it represented a "platform" for a formal opposition faction, as his detractors contended:

"In so far as a formal pretext for the latest discussion was found in the foreword to my book on ''1917,'' I consider it my duty, first of all, to refute the accusation that I had published the book without the knowledge of the Central Committee. In point of fact, this book was printed during my rest cure in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
, exactly in the same way as all the other books written by me or by any members of the Central Committee or of the party. Of course, it is the business of the Central Committee to establish some form of control over party publications, and I never had cause or inclination to avoid such control.

"The foreword n'The Lessons of October' contains the development of those ideas which I have expressed before and especially during the last year.... It goes without saying that in analyzing the October Revolution in connection with the German events, I never dreamed of creating a separate 'platform' or ever entertained the idea that my work would be interpreted in that sense."Leon Trotsky, quoted in "Trotsky's Downfall," ''Advocate of Peace through Justice,'' vol. 87, no. 3 (March 1925), pg. 141. This article, which features a lengthy extract of Trotsky's "Letter of Defense," i
available through JSTOR

Trotsky's resignation was unanimously accepted by the Central Committee at the January 18 session, which he did not attend.Allen, "Introduction" to Trotsky, ''The Challenge of the Left Opposition (1923-25),'' pg. 45. Efforts there by Zinoviev and Kamenev to remove Trotsky from the Politburo and to expel him from the party were turned aside, however. The resolution passed by the Central Committee on January 18 demanded that Trotsky demonstrate "submission to party discipline, not only in words but also in deeds," to issue an unconditional renunciation of his criticisms, and threatened his removal from Communist Party leadership in the event he made "new attempts to violate, or failed to carry out" party decisions. A campaign to "enlighten" the party and the non-party population about the purported anti-Bolshevik nature of Trotskyism was announced.

Footnotes

English language editions

:Source: Louis Sinclair, ''Trotsky: A Bibliography.'' Aldershot, England: Scolar Press, 1989; vol. 2, pg. 1243. * ''The Lessons of October 1917.'' Translation by Susan Lawrence and I. Olshan. London: Labour Publishing Co., 1925. * ''Lessons of October.'' Translation by John G. Wright. New York: Pioneer Press, 1937. * ''Lessons of October.'' Translation by John G. Wright. London: New Park, Sept. 1971. * ''Lessons of October.'' Colombo, Ceylon: Young Socialist Publication, March 1974. * "The Lessons of October," in Leon Trotsky, ''The Challenge of the Left Opposition (1923-25).'' Translation by John G. Wright. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1975; pp. 199–258.