From Marxism to Idealism. But whereas in Germany, Bernstein, all differences of opinion notwithstanding, desired and was able to remain in the party, the Russian revisionists cut themselves adrift from the social democracy.
In addition to revisionism, another independent trend known as "economism" found expression both tactically and in writing; this economism gives expression in Russia to the same opposition as exists in Europe between the political parties and the trade unions. The relationships between economism and revisionism remain obscure in respect of chronology no less than in respect of other matters.[1]
In 1898 the first Russian social democratic congress took place, being held abroad. An organising central committee was appointed, and a program was elaborated, wherein the social democrats declared themselves to be a proletarian party (Russian Social Democratic Labour Party). The Jewish Bund joined the organisation.
The growth of the labour movement continued. In 1899 the reorganised Group for the Liberation of Labour set to work afresh, and there was great activity in all radical and liberal organisations. For both these trends, the year 1901 was rich in notable events. During this year there took place no less than 120 strikes. Among these the strike at Obuhov was of peculiar significance, since here for the first time barricades were erected by the workers. By this time the labour movement had become definitely political as well as economic.
Since 1899 the movement among the students had been markedly on the increase. At Kiev in 1901 there occurred an unprecedented academic revolution and a students' strike. The progressive professors, the men of letters, and all the advanced section of the intelligentsia, espoused the cause of the young people against the educational policy of the nagaika (the Cossack whip). Bogolěpov, minister for education, was shot by a student named Karpovič; in the following year another student, Balmašev, shot Sypjagin, the new minister for education.
From 1901 onwards terrorism and outrage again became dominant political forces. The traditions of the Narodnaja
- ↑ I may take this opportunity of giving a concrete example to show how the theorists and historians of social democracy differ in their accounts of important events. Plehanov declares that economism originated in 1897; the date given by Dr. Ida Akselrod is 1899; Akimov tells us that economism came to an end in 1897, the movement having begun in 1895.
