11.1 Why the Russian Revolution Failed: When Rich Kids do all the Socialism
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Socialism and the Peasant Revolution
The first generation of Russian Marxists was led by Geordi Plakhanov, whose parents had own serfs and who was an OG disillusioned going to the people reject extraordinaire. They were also inspired by Marx and Engels' confident belief that the peasants backwards and idiotic way of life was doomed to be swept away from history by the progressive forces of advanced capitalism. And they loved the idea that the disappearance of the peasant class was the only path forward towards socialism. It wasn't just populist, it was anarchists and blunches and nihilists and all sorts of other frustrated intellectuals. The authorities at first were quite comfortable with it versus the rabble-rousing populist socialism
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