Marxist theory and the October Revolution

Abstract

The theoretical basis of the October Revolution lay, not surprisingly, in a development of Marxism, but this development occurred through three successive rounds of theoretical debate, each stimulated by the specific Russian reality but each having a relevance far wider than the Russian context itself, and a relevance that abides to this day. While these three rounds of debate appear to be on three very different themes, each of them is concerned with the same question, namely, must a transition to socialism in any society await the ‘completion’ in some sense of the development of capitalism in that society? And if so, then what does the term ‘completion’ mean in this context? This essay seeks to provide answers to the question of what sort of revolutionary strategy is necessary to achieve the transition to socialism by considering the debates that took place at the time of the October revolution.