John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World

Review: John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World

Barney Doherty

thing but a detailed account’ of the revolution, amongst its pages are counters to the common criticism of the revolution as well as several important lessons for revolutionaries today. Immediately in Ten Days That Shook the World, Reed reveals how Russian society was in a flux. Ideas were being debated on street corners and in large halls, all of Russia, he writes, ‘was learning to read politics, eco- nomics, history because people wanted to know.’ The masses were not passive spec- tators of the political discussion but were energetic participants. Reed commented that by October the period of the February Revolution seemed conservative by comparison. Russian poli- John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World tics ‘swung bodily to the Left’ as the masses grew in confidence and changed the param- eters of political discourse, ‘until the Cadets The centenary of the Russian Revolution were outlawed as ‘enemies of the people’, in 1917 is obviously significant for Marxists. Kerensky became a ‘counter-revolutionist’, This year will see attempts to misrepresent the ‘middle’ Socialist leaders... were too re- the revolution or questions its democratic actionary for their following’. (p. 36) nature or political necessity. Revolutionary socialists, therefore, must The revolution in October was part of a study the event themselves and understand wider process of human liberation, as people how it happened and what its significance were actively involved in conciously shap- was. A good place to start is with John ing their society. The levels of engagement Reed’s Ten Days That Shook the World. In were so high in fact Reed asked, with ‘such a this book, Reed gives a first-hand journalis- deluge of high and hot thoughts that surely tic account of the revolution as it unfolded Russia would never again be dumb!’ (p.137) around him. Lenin described revolutions as ‘festivals of Reed was a socialist activist and jour- the oppressed and the exploited’ and this de- nalist from the US who was covering the scription certainly matches the events from October Revolution for the magazine ‘The Reed’s account. Masses’. From his collection of primary The mass participation involved contra- documents and transcripts of speeches and dicts the most common criticism of the rev- debates he attended, Reed constructs an olution, that it was an undemocratic coup overview of the developing political land- orchestrated by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. scape and brings the reader through the This critique usually contends that the Pro- rapidly moving events with impressive clar- visional Government led by Kerensky had ity. the only democratic mandate. From reading Reed’s powerful writing style brilliantly Ten Days That Shook the World, however, captures the excitement and spirit of the one understands the flourishing of democ- revolutionary period from the streets of St. racy that had taken place. Petersburg to the rapturous halls of the The revolution gave power to the Sovi- Congress of Soviets. While he maintained ets which were ‘the direct representatives that the book ‘does not pretend to be any- of millions on millions of common workers,

79 soldiers, peasants’. (p. 36) The Bolshevik was their battle, for their world; the offi- call for ‘all power to the Soviets’ was not cers in command were elected by them... the a negation but an extension of democracy, anonymous hordes of the people... rose like as it gave direct authority to the masses in a tide and poured over the enemy’ claiming both the political and crucially the economic power for themselves. (p. 201) sphere. Class interests are magnified in a revolu- Reed’s account is filled with descriptions tion. Many who were active in the Febru- of this radical democracy or ‘people power’ ary Revolution, turned against the move- in action. ‘Everywhere the same thing hap- ment and sided with reactionary forces as pened. The common soldiers and the indus- the workers got closer to gaining power. trial workers supported the Soviets by a vast These lessons are vital for future struggles, majority.’ (p. 147) The existence of sovi- it is important to know the limits of political ets in factories and barracks meant that the ideologies. masses were truly involved in the organising The revolution shown in Ten Days That their lives. The revolution grew from the Shook the World is not an idealised repre- immediate and ‘moderate’ demands of the sentation. It was not created by the Bolshe- masses for land, bread and peace. viks, as Reed wrote it ‘had not come as they Reed’s sympathies were with the pro- expected it would come, nor as the intelli- letariat; nevertheless his book recognises gentsia desired it; but it had come – rough, the deep divide in the society and bril- strong, impatient of formulas, contemptuous liantly demonstrates the effect that counter- of sentimentalism; real’ (p. 134) revolutionary forces can have at the pivotal This ‘real’ revolution threw everything in times. New formations such as the Commit- the air. It was certainly not guaranteed that tee of Salvation were set up to confront the the Bolsheviks would win the majority to influence of the Soviets. their side. From the collapse of the status quo emerged various ideological positions. Nothing could be more striking Workers could be pulled by many competing than the contrast between this ideas. As Reed eloquently explained ‘Old [Committee of Salvation] and the Russia was no more; human society flowed Congress of Soviets. There, molten in primal heat, and from the tossing great masses of shabby sol- sea of flame was emerging the class struggle.’ diers, grimy workmen, peasants (p. 147) - poor men, bent and scarred The strength of the Bolsheviks was their in the brute struggle for exis- ability to react to the revolutionary moment tence; here the Menshevik and and offer a leadership which was critical. Af- Socialist Revolutionary leaders... ter months of struggle and principled cam- rubbed shoulders with Cadets... paigning the popular call for ‘land, bread with journalists, students, intel- and peace’ and ‘All power to the Soviets’ lectuals. This Duma crowd was culminated in support for the revolution and well fed, well dressed; I did not the Bolsheviks. The revolutionary period see more than three proletarians was a learning process in which the masses among them all. (p. 123) developed a new consciousness and fought These class contradictions explain the for a new type of society, a socialist one. The reason why most other political parties were Bolsheviks remained principled in their cam- not supportive of the October Revolution. paign to support the emancipation of the Reed quotes Trotsky who pointed out that working class. these ‘parties which march against us... are isolated, and for ever cut off from the prole- So plunged the Bolsheviks tariat!’ (p. 141) ahead, irresistible, overring hes- This is at the core of the book, Reed itation and opposition – the points out that the revolution was not won only people in Russia who had by the Bolsheviks but by the people. ‘This a definite programme of action

80 while others talked for eight long tion the old Government mecha- months. (p. 137) nism, did the Bolsheviki conquer the power. Nor by the organ- As Irish revolutionaries in 2017 it is ob- ised violence of a small clique. If vious that the conditions we organise in are the masses all over Russia had vastly different to those of Russia in 1917. not been ready for insurrection it This does not mean though that we should must have failed. The only rea- ignore the lessons that were hard-learned son for Bolshevik success lay in through struggle by the Russian revolution- their accomplishing the vast and aries. simple desires of the most pro- Ten Days That Shook the World cap- found strata of the people, call- tures vividly that in times of revolutionary ing them to the work of tear- movements society is in huge fluctuation and ing down and destroying the old from this breeds a multitude of ideas. The and afterwards, in the smoke of book demonstrated the need for a revolu- falling ruins, cooperating with tionary party to offer leadership. That party them to erect the framework of though, like the Bolsheviks, must be rooted the new. (p.254) in movements and struggle to build the confidence of the working class. The simple and most powerful lesson from Ten Days That Shook the World is Not by compromise with the that it is only through the revolutionary self- propertied classes, or with the emancipation of the working class that a political leaders; not by concilia- true socialist alternative can emerge.