Arthur Ransome's short pamphlet, The Truth About Russia, is an extremely sympathetic firsthand account of the author's short sojourn in Russia in the wake of revolutionary upheaval. In the immediate aftermath of the revolutionary moment, Ransome, a journalist (and later fantastically successful children's author) who was fluent in the Russian language, analyzes events, interviews revolutionary protagonists, and observes heroic (if sometimes antidemocratic or even authoritarian) attempts to stabilize the new revolutionary government in Russia. At first glance, the book strikes one as one of the more biased descriptions of the fledgling government. For Ransome seems to be willing to forgive Lenin, Trotsky, and other Bolshevik leaders, for everything. The Bolshevik's willingness to employ terror to pursue political goals is almost entirely ignored, or even defended. The ruthlessness of revolutionary leaders is downplayed. The socialist experiment is applauded. However, the overt bias only temporarily deflects the readers' attention from the author's ability to depict the contingent, vertiginous, and makeshift aspects of the post-revolutionary moment. Thus, although readers know that government by Soviet turned out to be profoundly authoritarian, Ransome allows us to see that nobody at that time could have been certain that the new government (i.e., Stalinism, which eventually succeeded Lenininsm) would have been so much worse than the old one. So while Ransome unfairly downplays the importance of the Constituent Assembly, his belief that the Russian Revolution was making things up as it went along is substantively correct. In 1919, the future still seemed open-ended. What should each basic government function look like in a revolutionary era? No one knew for certain. Marx and Engels' written guidance only took one so far. Indeed, Ransome's journal reminds us that the revolutionary readers were still waiting for the rest of Europe to follow their example. To quote Ransome: "The first aim of the Bolsheviks was, as it always will be, a universal revolution."
Arthur Ransome's more extended essay on revolutionary events, Six Weeks in Russia, follows the Russian Revolution into Civil War. At this point, Ransome seems more willing to admit that the Revolution has its downside. From the start, he tells readers that he will defend neither the White Terror nor the Red Terror. Of course, Ransome remains firmly on the side of the revolutionary project as a whole. That is to say, he prefers the "dictatorship of the proletariat" to the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie." But he's now more interested in examining how the Bolsheviks are implementing communism than in why they implemented it. He follows the government's approach to housing and food distribution (e.g., public feeding houses). He tracks the government's approach to futurist art (i.e., large paintings depicting the Revolution and sculptures celebrating its anniversary). He notices the government's attempts to come to terms with transport shortages and industrial disorder. As he notes, "The political excitement of the revolution has passed and today there were no more spectators than are usually to be found in the gallery of the House of Commons."
In general, Six Weeks in Russia demonstrates that the Bolsheviks were actually debating many policies at this early stage of consolidation. What is more, they were starting to think about concrete problems of food distribution in addition to finding new ways to underwrite global revolution. Some former enthusiasts were noticing cracks in the facade of communism, and Ransome doesn't ignore this disillusionment altogether. Nevertheless, Ransom retained his sense of enthusiasm about the early stages of a grand experiment. Indeed, Ransome was almost starstruck by Lenin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Chicherin, Kollontai, and other socialist luminaries. Generally, Ransome was optimistic about the future of Russian communism. However, his short memoir does betray a continual anxiety among Soviet leaders about conspiracies, social enemies, and external foes. While it's difficult to see how early Soviet government converted to full-scale Terror, the signs of paranoia are not altogether absent from Ransome's portrayal of early Soviet thinking. The peasants, for instance, are not yet tamed. As Bukarin admits,
Quotations from The Truth About Russia
Those whom the gods love take the youth of their hearts and throw themselves gladly on that side, even if, clear-sighted, they perceive that the fires of revolution will burn up perhaps the very things that, for themselves they hold most dear.
I think it possible that the revolution will fail. If so, then its failure will not mean that it loses its importance.
Revolutions are not definite political acts carried out by the majority in a nation who are unanimous in desiring a single definite object.
...revolution is a kind of speeding up of the political flux...
...revolution is not an act of political life but a state of political life.
...there was not a single class in the nation that was not dissatisfied with the Tsar. The tsar, accordingly, left the stage as politely as he could, as painlessly as a person in a play.
....they having forgotten that they were fighting for a democracy, and that the enfranchisment of 180 million souls was in itself a greater victory than they had set out to gain...
The point that I wish to make is this that from the first moment of the revolution to the present day, the real authority of the Soviets has been unshaken.
Every workman, every peasant in Russia has the right to vote in the election of deputies to his local Soviet...
No one contends that the Bolsheviks are angels.
Quotations from Six Weeks in Russia
"the greatest convulsion in the history of our civilization"
"appeal of the revolution"
"the creative effort of the revolution"
I asked her how she liked the revolution. She said there was not a lot to eat, but she felt freer.
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