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    One Year of History

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    thodorosmoraitis
    Antonio Gramsci summarizes the one year anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 3 sentences: One year had passed since Nicholas II abdicated, but the anniversary was somber as Russia faced economic struggles, foreign occupation by German forces propping up the bourgeois counteroffensive, and the loss of millions of citizens and fertile lands to the revolution. While the socialist ideals resonated with the Russian people, realizing a new social organization proved difficult against the inertia of the past and the exhaustion of years of war. Gramsci argues that though the revolution faces setbacks, its spirit will ultimately triumph as consciousness shapes external forces, and history continues beyond any single anniversary.

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    One Year of History

    Uploaded by

    thodorosmoraitis
    15 views2 pages
    Antonio Gramsci summarizes the one year anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 3 sentences: One year had passed since Nicholas II abdicated, but the anniversary was somber as Russia faced economic struggles, foreign occupation by German forces propping up the bourgeois counteroffensive, and the loss of millions of citizens and fertile lands to the revolution. While the socialist ideals resonated with the Russian people, realizing a new social organization proved difficult against the inertia of the past and the exhaustion of years of war. Gramsci argues that though the revolution faces setbacks, its spirit will ultimately triumph as consciousness shapes external forces, and history continues beyond any single anniversary.

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    Antonio Gramsci summarizes the one year anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 3 sentences: One year had passed since Nicholas II abdicated, but the anniversary was somber as Russia faced economic struggles, foreign occupation by German forces propping up the bourgeois counteroffensive, and the loss of millions of citizens and fertile lands to the revolution. While the socialist ideals resonated with the Russian people, realizing a new social organization proved difficult against the inertia of the past and the exhaustion of years of war. Gramsci argues that though the revolution faces setbacks, its spirit will ultimately triumph as consciousness shapes external forces, and history continues beyond any single anniversary.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    15 views2 pages

    One Year of History

    Uploaded by

    thodorosmoraitis
    Antonio Gramsci summarizes the one year anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 3 sentences: One year had passed since Nicholas II abdicated, but the anniversary was somber as Russia faced economic struggles, foreign occupation by German forces propping up the bourgeois counteroffensive, and the loss of millions of citizens and fertile lands to the revolution. While the socialist ideals resonated with the Russian people, realizing a new social organization proved difficult against the inertia of the past and the exhaustion of years of war. Gramsci argues that though the revolution faces setbacks, its spirit will ultimately triumph as consciousness shapes external forces, and history continues beyond any single anniversary.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    Antonio Gramsci

    One Year of History


    1918
    Source: Il Grido del Popolo, March 16, 1918;
    Translated: b Mitchell Abidor;
    !op"e#t: !reati$e !ommons %Attribute & ShareAli'e( mar)ists*or+ ,--8*
    .ne ear has passed since the da /hen the 0ussian people #orced Tsar 1icholas to abdicate
    and ta'e the road o# e)ile* The commemoration o# the anni$ersar is hardl merr* Sorro/,
    ruin, the appearance o# collapse, the bour+eois counter2o##ensi$e /ith German baonets and
    +uns*
    Is the 0ussian 0e$olution #inished3 4as the proletariat in 0ussia #ailed in the +reatest
    e)periment in histor3 The loo' o# thin+s doesn5t +i$e com#ort: the German +enerals ha$e
    arri$ed in .dessa, the 6apanese are said to be read to inter$ene, #i#t million citi7ens are ha$e
    been torn #rom the re$olution, and /ith them the most #ertile lands, the /as to the seas, the
    roads o# ci$ili7ation and economic li#e* The 0e$olution /as born in pain and despair, and
    continues in pain and su##erin+, +ripped in a rin+ o# enem po/er, immersed in an economic
    /orld re#ractor to its ideal, to its +oals*
    In March 1918 the tele+raphs announced that a /orld had collapsed in 0ussia, a /orld alread
    ephemeral, the inanimate shado/ o# a po/er that /as sur+in+ up, /hich /as +ro/in+ stron+er,
    /hich dra++ed itsel# alon+ /ith blood $iolence, /ith the repression o# spirits, /ith the torture
    o# #lesh torn to pieces* This po/er +a$e li#e to a hu+e state machine* 18- million human
    creatures /ere #orced to #or+et their humanit, their spiritualit in order to ser$e* To ser$e
    /hat3 The idea o# the 0ussian 9mpire, o# the Great 0ussian State /hich had to reach the /arm
    and open seas in order to secure an outlet #or its economic acti$it #rom e$er si7e o#
    competitor, #rom the surprise o# /ar* The 0ussian 9mpire /as a monstrous necessit o# the
    modern /orld* In order to li$e, to de$elop, to ensure a li#e o# acti$it ten races, 18- million
    men had to submit to a #erocious state discipline; had to renounce their humanit and be pure
    instruments o# po/er*
    In March 1918 the monstrous machine collapsed, rotted, decomposed b its con+enital
    impotence* Men rose up, loo'ed each other in the ee* 4uman $alues too' the upper hand*
    9)teriorit no lon+er had an $alue: too much /ron+ had been done, too much pain had been
    caused, too much blood had been spilled* 4istor, true histor had be+un* 9$erone /ants to
    be the master o# his o/n destin, /ants societ to be molded in obedience to the spirit, and not
    $ice $ersa* The or+ani7ation o# li#e in common in societ should be the e)pression o# humanit,
    should respect autonom and libert* The ne/ histor o# humanit had be+un; a ne/
    e)periment in the histor o# the human spirit had be+un* These coincided /ith the e)pressions
    that the socialist ideal had +i$en to man5s elementar needs* The socialists as a political class
    reached po/er /ithout too much e##ort; the /ords o# their #aith coincided /ith the con#used
    and $a+ue aspirations o# the 0ussian people*
    The had to ma'e the ne/ or+ani7ation a realit, had to pass ne/ la/s, stabili7e the ne/
    re+ulations* The past continued to e)ist, but it /as #allin+ apart* It +a$e the appearance o#
    collapse, disorder, con#usion* It seemed as i# the /ere returnin+ to barbarian societ, that is, to
    non2societ* The past continued to li$e beond the land o# libert and sou+ht $en+eance*
    The ne/ order /as slo/ in bein+ reali7ed* Slo/3 . s'eptical /ic'ed men, it /asn5t slo/, #or
    one doesn5t rema'e societ b #iat, because the e$il o# the past is not an edi#ice o# papier2
    m:ch; that is brou+ht do/n in an instant* "i#e is a pain#ul e##ort, a tenacious stru++le a+ainst
    habits, a+ainst bestialit and the coarse instincts that continuousl ma'e themsel$es 'no/n* A
    ne/ human societ isn5t created in si) months /hen three ears o# /ar ha$e e)hausted a
    countr, ha$e depri$ed it o# the mechanical means needed #or ci$il li#e* Millions and millions
    o# men aren5t or+ani7ed in #reedom <ust li'e that, /hen e$erthin+ is a+ainst it and all that is
    le#t is the indomitable spirit* The histor o# the 0ussian 0e$olution hasn5t been closed and /ill
    not close /ith the anni$ersar o# its be+innin+*
    In the same /a that a canto e)ists in the ima+ination o# the poet be#ore it does on the printed
    pa+e, the arri$al o# a ne/ social or+ani7ation e)ists in consciousnesses and /ills* The are
    chan+ed men; this is /hat is important* The /ant e)teriorit, the /ords on the pa+e* The cr
    out at e$er #ailure, at e$er apparent re$erse*
    4istorians as' o# the 0ussians /hat has ne$er been as'ed o# past re$olutions: the immediate
    creation o# a ne/ order* The de$ise plans that ha$e ne$er e)isted, hopes that ha$e ne$er been
    dreamed o#* And these plans, these hopes con#ront a current realit to end in #ailure, in
    collapse* =ith a realit /hich is said to issue #rom a ear o# ne/ histor, but /hich issues #rom
    centuries o# the most bestial repression in human histor* The impossible is as'ed o# them,
    /hich has ne$er as'ed o# the men o# the past*
    4o/ man times did the >rench 0e$olution see Paris occupied b the enem3 And the
    occupation came a#ter 1apoleon had dictatoriall or+ani7ed the re$olutionar #orces and led
    the >rench armies #rom $ictor to $ictor* And >rance /as a small thin+ compared to the
    e)terminated 0ussia*
    1o, mechanical #orce has ne$er pre$ailed in histor; it is men, it is consciousness and the spirit
    that molds e)ternal appearances and al/as triumphs in the end* A ear o# histor has closed,
    but histor continues* %The next six lines were censored*(

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