October, 2017 - The 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution

Pieter Lagrou, Research Centre on Modern and Contemporary Worlds

Pieter Lagrou, why do you think the Russian Revolution still resonates today? What made it so important?

The Russian Revolution is important because it is directly tied to how World War I progressed, and there have been a number of World War I commemorations in the past months. The popular uprising resulted in Russia's withdrawal from the conflict, but it also would never have happened had it not been for the war. In addition, the Russian Revolution involved an entirely new regime, with new ideas and ideals. In fact, many parallels can be drawn between the Russian and French revolutions. The October Revolution and the February Revolution involved changes in terms of human rights, such as the abolition of corporal punishment, universal voting rights, etc. History, however, has shown that things did not go as planned, and an authoritarian communist regime was eventually put into place; still, the Russian Revolution remains among the most important events in the 20th century.

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With the revolution in October, 1917, the Bolsheviks and their communist ideals came to power. What is left of these ideas a century later?

Initially, the Bolsheviks had promised that power would be given to the ‘Soviets’, i.e. people's assemblies. This is fundamentally a democratic idea, and it can still appeal to us today, even though things turned sour in Russia. Another thing to note is that the Soviet Union was based on the idea of citizenship, as a separate concept from nationality or territory: Soviet citizens had access to all rights that this entailed, plus a certain cultural autonomy related to their nationality or region of origin. In Western and Central Europe, on the other hand, our approach is more that of nation-states, where self-determination is a combination of citizenship, nationality, and territory -this can result in a majority legally abusing minorities. History has shown that neither system has truly worked out, and that conflicts still arise throughout Europe: recent examples include Brexit and Catalonia's independence. The European Union could provide a solution to the conflicts between citizenship, nationality, and territory, provided it can move beyond the notion of nation-state, as the Soviet Union has done in the past. We can draw from alternative ways of thinking, including ones that did not turn out well.

In 2018, presidential elections will be held in Russia, with Vladimir Putin the expected front-runner. Real democracy has yet to be implemented in the country…

Russia is confronted with a lack of democratic experience: it has always responded to demands for justice and equality by resorting to violence and authoritarianism. This is still very present in Russia's political life today: the regime does not allow contradiction, and resorts to violence, including by intimidating or even assassinating journalists who criticise the regime. Russia is also still dealing with the frustration of losing territory when it withdrew from the front in 1917: the return to the 1914 borders was a central part of the pact between Stalin and Hitler in 1939, then between Stalin and the allies in the Yalta agreement of 1941. Putin's strategy, like Stalin's before him, is to present himself as a hero for the Russian-speaking minorities in these countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, etc.). During the conflict with Crimea, the European Union's approach was not compatible with the complex geometry of nationalities -and minorities- in the area, unlike the Soviet constitution. This is a failure on Europe's part, and one that allowed Russia to extend its influence. Vladimir Putin is following in the footsteps of his predecessors, whose values are the opposite of those of the Russian Revolution.

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