Party of Revolutionary Communism (in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Партия революционного коммунизма) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

1918–1920. It was formed by a

Narodnik The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

group which broke away from the

Left Socialist-Revolutionaries The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists () was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Russian Pro ...

after the latter's mutiny in July 1918. The party favoured co-operation with 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 ...

(RCP(B)), and pledged support for

soviet 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 ...

power. During its two-year existence the Party of Revolutionary Communism struggled with divisions, as the party sought to assert an independent pole in the midst of

war communism War communism or military communism (, ''Vojenný kommunizm'') was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921. War communism began in June 1918, enforced by the Supreme Economi ...

.Партия и массы
Akademii︠a︡ obshchestvennykh nauk. Мысль, 1966. p. 48

History

Split after the 6–7 July 1918 uprising

Along with another Left Socialist-Revolutionary splinter-group, the

Party of Narodnik Communists Party of Narodnik Communists was a political party in Russia. The party was formed by a section of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who wished to cooperate with the Bolsheviks. '' Znamya Trudovoi Kommuny'' was the central organ of the party. The fo ...

, the group that would form the Party of Revolutionary Communism opposed the actions and decisions taken by the Central Committee of the Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (internationalists) in carrying out the failed 6–7 July uprising. The split originated with the decision of the

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

Party Organization of PLSR(i) on 9 July 1918, to denounce the 6–7 July uprising and called for convening of an All-Russia Conference of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries to held in Saratov on 20 July 1918. The Saratov Party Organization of PLSR(i) supported united front with the Bolsheviks. In its call for an All-Russian Congress of Party Organization Representatives, the Saratov group listed three caveats that participants would have to agree upon – the rejection of disruption of the Brest-Litovsk peace, the rejection of terrorism and the rejection of trying to seize power from the Bolsheviks through violence.Политические партии России: конец XIX – первая треть XX века : энциклопедия
РОССПЭН, 1996. pp. 430–431 The dissidence in Saratov had an echo among some leading figures in the party such as

Andrei Kolegayev Andrei Lukic Kolegayev () (22 March 1887 – 23 March 1937) was a Left Socialist-Revolutionary and later Soviet statesman who advocated an alliance with the Bolsheviks. He was born in Surgut, Tobolsk Governorate in the family of an exiled Narodna ...

Mark Natanson Mark Andreyevich Natanson (; party name: Bobrov; 25 December 1850 ( N.S. 6 January 1851) – 29 July 1919) was a Russian revolutionary who was one of the founders of the Circle of Tchaikovsky, Land and Liberty and the Socialist-Revolutionary P ...

and Novitsky. On 14 September 1918, a publication named ''Volya Truda'' began publishing as a joint organ of the Saratov-based group and the group around Kolegaev, Natanson and Novitsky. ''Volya Truda'' denounced the attempt of the PLSR(i) Central Committee to try to seize power and disrupt the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

through the murder of Count

Wilhelm von Mirbach Wilhelm Maria Theodor Ernst Richard Graf von Mirbach-Harff (2 July 1871 – 6 July 1918) was a German diplomat. He was assassinated while ambassador to Russia. Biography Born on 2 July 1871, in Bad Ischl, to a Catholic Rhenan aristocratic fami ...

on 6 July 1918.Непролетарские партии России: урок истории
Myslʹ, 1984. pp. 389–390 The first issue of ''Volya Truda'' called for the holding of congress of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.

First Party Congress

The ''Volya Truda'' tendency organized a party congress 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 ...

25–30 September 1918.V. M. L avrov.
Партия Спиридоновой: (Мария Спиридонова на левоэсеровских съездах)
'. Российская Акад. Наук, Инст. Российской Истории, 2001. pp. 94–95Vladimir Il'ich Lenin
Избранные произведения в трех томах, Vol. 3
Изд-во полит. лит-ры, 1974. p. 749 The preparatory bureau for the congress had consisted of Kolegaev, (leader of the Saratov group),

Anastasia Bitsenko Anastasia Alekseevna Bitsenko, née Kameristaya (, née Камeристая; 10 November 1875 – 16 June 1938) was a Narodnik-inspired, later Communist, Russian revolutionary. As a member of a Socialist Revolutionary Party, socialist revolutiona ...

, M. N. Dobrokhotov, Vladimir Bezel and A. N. Alexandrov. The congress was held at the premises of the former . Kolegaev, Ustinov, Bitsenko and Evgenia Semenovskaya formed the party congress presidium. Yegoshin, Lukov and Korev formed the Credentials Commission. Sixty delegates with a decisive votes, from 15

governorates A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions o ...

participated in this congress. Out of these sixty voting delegates there were 15 erstwhile members of the PLSR(i) faction in the

All-Russian Central Executive Committee The All-Russian Central Executive Committee () was (June – November 1917) a permanent body formed by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (held from June 16 to July 7, 1917 in Petrograd), then became the ...

, 5 representatives of governorate-level PLSR(i) party organizations and 40 representatives from

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the R ...

-level PLSR(i) party organizations. In addition to the delegates with decisive votes there were also 29 delegates with consultative votes present, including 8 members of the

and 3 members of the

Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries-Maximalists Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries-Maximalists () was a political party in the Russian Empire, a radical wing expelled from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party in 1906. The Union united agrarian terrorists, the 'Moscow Opposition' and other radic ...

. At the congress there was a proposal to participate in the upcoming Fourth All-Russian Congress of the Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (internationalists).Е. Е. Фунтов
РАСКОЛ В РЯДАХ ЛЕВЫХ ЭСЕРОВ: ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ НЕОНАРОДНИЧЕСКИХ КОММУНИСТИЧЕСКИХ ПАРТИЙ ВО 2-й ПОЛОВИНЕ 1918 ГОДА
/ref> The proposal was voted down, and 15 people (out of whom 8 were delegates with decisive votes) left the venue in protest. Instead, the congress majority voted to declare their separation from the PLSR(i) and the formation of the Party of Revolutionary Communism as an independent party. The congress affirmed that whilst they were breaking organizationally with the PLSR(i) over tactics, they remained committed to the Left Socialist-Revolutionary programme. The party congress listened to reports from the different governorate-level and uyezd-level party organizations present. Political, social and economic issues were debated. The congress adopted the slogan 'All to the Soviets and through the Soviets' (Все в Советах и Советы). Dobrokhotov presented the economic programme of the party, which included calls for abolishing of money relations, nationalization of trade, naturalization of wages and universal labour conscription. The congress declared the Party of Revolutionary Communism as the party for the 'broad revolutionary masses of town and country'. The congress voted to give significant autonomy for local party organizations, but with party congress decisions being binding for all party organizations. The congress instructed party organizations to form factions in soviets. The Central Committee of the Party of Revolutionary Communism consisted of Kolegaev, Bitsenko, Ustinov, A. N. Alexandrov, M. A. Dobrokhotov, G. N. Maksimov and V. N. Cherny as members and Evgenia Semenovskaya as candidate member.Память, Issue 3
Khronika Press, 1980. p. 384

Between the First and Second Party Congresses

By mid-November 1918 the first split in the new party had occurred as Central Committee members Kolegayev, Bitsenko, Alexandrov, Dobrokhotov and Cherny joined the RCP(B).Alter L. Litvin
Крестьянство Среднего Поволжья в годы гражданской войны: учебное пособие к спецкурсу. Материалы
Kazanskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ pedagogicheskiĭ institut, 1972. p. 163 They argued that the RCP(B) and the Party of Revolutionary Communism shared common goals and that thus the existence of two separate parties was not justified. In the wake of the split the Volga-Urals Conference of Revolutionary Communists was held on 15 November 1918, was held in Saratov. The conference announced support for the socialization of land. It reaffirmed the opposition to Bolshevik food policy and the

Committees of Poor Peasants A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. As of December 1918 the party committees in Volga-Urals were located in

Simbirsk Ulyanovsk,, , known as Simbirsk until 1924, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Ulyanovsk has been the only Russian UNESCO City of Literature since 2015. The city wa ...

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Penza Penza (, ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura (river), Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Russian census, 2010 Census, Penza had ...

, Kerensk and

Pugachyov Pugachyov ( rus, Пугачёв, p=pʊgɐˈtɕɵf) is a town in Saratov Oblast, Russia, located on the Bolshoy Irgiz River (Volga's tributary), northeast of Saratov, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History It was founded ...

Second Party Congress

The party held a Second Party Congress, beginning on 2 December 1918. At the party congress there were 28 delegates with decisive votes and 3 delegates with consultative votes representing some 2,800 party members and 1,500 sympathizers. The delegates represented 15 governorate-level and 50 uyezd-level party organizations. The congress discussed economic issues and the relationship with the Bolsheviks. At the Second Party Congress Semenovskaya, as the main theoretician of the party, presented the political line of the party – calling for rapprochement with the Bolsheviks not on an Orthodox Marxist platform but based on 'integral socialism'. Arguing for 'integral socialism' Semenovskaya denounced the 'one-sided dictatorship of the proletariat' and called instead for the 'dictatorship of the entire toiling class' (диктатурой всего класса трудящихся). Vladimir Zitta was elected to the Central Committee at the party congress, and was made the Secretary of the Central Committee.Я. В Леонтьев
"Скифы" русской революции: партия левых эсеров и её литературные попутчики
АИРО-XXI, 2007. p. 125

Third Party Congress

A Third Party Congress was held in April 1919. At the time the party was estimated to have some 3,300 members and sympathizers. There were 30 delegates with decisive votes and 7 delegates with consultative votes, representing six governorates and ten uyezds. But there were clear discrepancies in the size of the party organizations represented; the

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

delegate at the party congress represented only five party members whilst the Moscow delegate represented a hundred party members. The Third Party Congress called for support to soviet power and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. Key leaders of the party at this point included Ustinov and .Гражданская война в Поволжье, 1918–1920
Татарское кн. изд-во, 1974. p. 291 On 26 April 1919, the Saratov Governorate Committee of the RCP(B) decided to include members of the Party of Revolutionary Communism in the Executive Committees of the governorate and city soviets.

Fourth Party Congress

A group within the party leadership sought unity with other populist sectors. In August 1919 a conference took place in Moscow with the participation of the Party of Revolutionary Communism, the Borbists and the Maximalists. This conference adopted a resolution calling for unity of socialist-revolutionary forces and formed a Unification Organizing Committee with Zitta and Semenovskayas as its members.Валентин Валентинович Шелохаев
Партия левых социалистов-революционеров: Июль 1917 г.-май 1918 г
РОССПЭН, 2000. pp. 786, 824Григорий Николаевич Севостьянов
Политические партии в российских революциях в начале ХХ века
Наука, 2005. pp. 367–368 On 8 September 1918, Zitta and Semenovskaya signed the joint declaration 'To all revolutionary populists'. But these moves towards unity with other populist sectors were opposed within the party by Ustinov, Andreev, Shnurovsky and others. The Fourth Party Congress, meeting in October 1919, recognized that the party had 'difficulties in working with the masses', gaps in communication between the Central Committee and Party Organizations and a decline in party membership. By October 1919 the party had 2,297 members and sympathizers. In the debates at the congress the opponents to unification with other populists (led by Ustinov) prevailed. Subsequently the Central Committee majority decided to expel Zitta, Maksimov, Semenovskaya and Bezel from the party for 'violation of party discipline' and for seeking unity with populist sectors (including groups such as the PLSR(i) or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries). As the political situation became increasingly harsh in the midst of the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, the Party of Revolutionary Communism moved increasingly closer to the RCP(B). After the Fourth Party Congress the party moved closer to Bolshevism. In January 1920 the Central Committee issued a directive to party members to join the war at the Western Front, that 5% of party funds would be assigned to the Red Army and that party organizations cooperate with RCP(B) locally for building agricultural cooperatives.

Fifth Party Congress

A Fifth Party Congress was held in from 28 April to 2 May 1920. Around this time the party had organizations in 16 governorates, with 126 party cells and 1,151 members. The Fifth Party Congress abandoned the categorical rejection of the dictatorship of the proletariat, thus removing the major barrier for unity with the Bolsheviks.
Novoe v zhizni, nauke, tekhnike: Serii︠a︡: Istorii︠a︡
'. Izdatelʹstvo "Znanie"., 1974. p. 59 The Fifth Party Congress affirmed support for economic measures of soviet power, such as the militarization of labour and the formation of labour armies, as necessary to deal with the current extraordinary conditions.
Sot͡sialʹnye i gumanitarnye nauki: otechestvennai͡a literatura. Istorii͡a, Issues 1–4
'. RAN INION, 1993. p. 59 The Fifth Party Congress declared that it was an obligation of all party members to support soviet power.

Disintegration

Two representatives of the Party of Revolutionary Communism (Ustinov and Sapozhnikov) were allowed to attend the July 1920 Second Congress of the

Comintern 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 Internatio ...

in a deliberative capacity, with consultative votes. Ustinov and Sapozhnikov handed over a declaration from the Central Committee of the Party of Revolutionary Communism to the Congress Presidium, which expressed that the party was ready to adhere to the decisions of the Comintern Congress and raised the question of joining the RCP(B). Local party organizations did not oppose this move by the Central Committee. The Sixth Party Congress of the Party of Revolutionary Communism held in Moscow on 21–22 September 1920 decided, in line with the 2nd Comintern Congress decision that there must only exist one single Communist Party in each country, to self-dissolve and appealed to its followers to join the RCP(B).Борьба Коммунистической партии Советского Союза против оппортунизма и национализма
Изд-во ЛГУ, 1978. p. 78 Only one resolution was adopted by the Sixth Party Congress, titled 'On the Unified Communist Party'. There were 39 delegates with decisive votes and 12 delegates with consultative votes taking part in the congress. At the time of its dissolution the party had 1,625 members and sympathizers. There were negotiations between the erstwhile leadership of the Party of Revolutionary Communism and the RCP(B) Central Committee. In October 1918, the RCP(B) Central Committee permitted Party organizations to enroll members of the former Party of Revolutionary Communism into the RCP(B), and issued a circular instructing the party organizations not to discriminate against former members of the Party of Revolutionary Communism when appointing cadres for roles in the party or soviets.

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 ...

.
No Compromises?
'. 1920

Ideological line and political positions

The Party of Revolutionary Communism retained the Left Socialist-Revolutionary programme, but differed with the PLSR(i) on tactics. It upheld the theoretical legacy of

Nikolay Mikhaylovsky Nikolay Konstantinovich Mikhaylovsky (; – ) was a Russian literary critic, sociologist, writer on public affairs, and one of the theoreticians of the Narodniki movement. Biography The school of thinkers he belonged to became famous in the ...

and

Pyotr Lavrov Pyotr Lavrovich Lavrov (14 June O.S. 2 June">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 2 June1823 – 6 February .S. 25 January1900) was a prominent Russians, Russian theorist of narodism, philos ...

Vladimir 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 ...

perceived the programme of the Party of Revolutionary Communism as "remaining on the platform of Narodnik utopianism" and "muddled and eclectic". Per Lenin, " ile recognising that Soviet rule created preconditions for the establishment of a socialist system, the party denied the necessity of the proletarian dictatorship during the transitional period from capitalism to socialism". The party spoke of a single class of 'toiling people' (трудящихся) that would encompass both urban industrial and rural agricultural workers. The Party of Revolutionary Communism aligned with the Bolsheviks calling for the victory of

world revolution World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class. For theorists, these revolutions will not necessarily occur simultaneously, but whe ...

and supported universal labour conscription, red terror and abolishing of commodity-money relations. But they differed with the Bolsheviks on agrarian issues, and opposed the

. Whilst the party supported the campaign against

kulak Kulak ( ; rus, кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈɫak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned over ...

s, it opposed perceived excesses committed in the name of fighting kulaks. The party called for socialization of land, as a voluntary and gradual process.

Social base

Whilst the Party of Revolutionary Communism defined itself as a party for toiling masses the party membership became largely limited to intellectuals, sectors that retained ambitions for a 'third way'. For example, the delegate from Kazan at the Third Party Congress stated that among 40 members there were 36 intellectuals, 3 workers and a single peasant. Those that remained in the Party of Revolutionary Communism after the different splits often suffered repression linked to their opposition towards the Bolshevik food policy.

Party organ

The central party organ was ''Volya Truda'' (''Воля Труда'', 'Will of Labour'), which was published as a daily newspaper from 14 September to 4 December 1918. From 29 December 1918, the daily newspaper was replaced by a periodical with the same title.Владимир Ильич Ленин
Полное собрание сочинений, Vol. 50
Гос. изд-во полит. лит-ры, 1978. p. 450 Per Fleishman (1990) ''Volya Truda'' had an mediocre editorial team at its onset, but that on the eve of the First Party Congress the editorial board began publishing a cultural and literary section which would include texts from writers like

Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (, ; 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century. One of his narratives was "lyrical evocations ...

Andrei Bely Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (, ; – 8 January 1934), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely, was a Russian novelist, Symbolist poet, theorist and literary critic. He was a committed anthroposophist and follower of Rudolf Steiner. Hi ...

Velimir Khlebnikov Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, better known by the pen name ( rus, Велими́р Хле́бников, p=vʲɪlʲɪˈmʲir ˈxlʲɛbnʲɪkəf; – 28 June 1922), was a Russian poet and playwright, a central part of the Russian Futurist ...

Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (, ; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school. Osip Mandelstam was arrested during the repressions of the 1930s and sent into internal exile wi ...

Vadim Shershenevich Vadim Gabrielevich Shershenevich (; 25 January 1893 – 18 May 1942) was a Russian poet. He was highly prolific, working in more than one genre, moving from Symbolism to Futurism after meeting Marinetti in Moscow. Later he pioneered the post-revo ...

and

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...

.Lazarʹ Fleĭshman.
Boris Pasternak: The Poet and His Politics
'. Harvard University Press, 1990. p. 100

External links

Archives of the Petrograd branch of the party

References

{{Defunct Russian political parties 1918 establishments in Russia 1920 disestablishments in Russia Defunct communist parties in Russia Narodniks Political parties in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Political parties of the Russian Revolution Political parties established in 1918 Political parties disestablished in 1920