3 - THE RUSSIAN IDEA

Summary

AT HOME

After the initial expression of dissatisfaction with the Stalinist regime, coupled with their desire to turn this discontent to good account, the leadership of the Russian Liberation Movement was confronted with the problem of creating a programme with a positive content. It was not sufficient to state that the Russian Liberation Movement aimed to abrogate Stalinist policies; Vlasov and his colleagues had to try and provide a forward-looking plan of action for their adherents. As the leadership worked on this task, they began to realise some of the political and ideological implications of their position. Since the Movement was critical of Stalinism, the question of the genesis of the Stalinist system – the two Revolutions of February and October 1917 – had to be discussed.

An evaluation of these Revolutions has proved to be at the core of debates not only in the Russian Liberation Movement but for all groups and movements opposed to the Soviet regime, both within the Soviet Union and supported by Russians outside the country. Such opposition is faced with the question as to whether the February Revolution of 1917 should be seen as the signal for democratic progress, and whether the achievements of February were subsequently subverted by the Bolshevik coup d'etat in October. If Bolshevism had been imposed from above by an unrepresentative group of revolutionaries who made use of coercion to put their ideas into practice, then Stalinism could be seen as a product of Bolshevik ideology.