The Importance of Agency in Capitalism

The ability of the socialists to act first was the result of this unique circumstances of Russia in crisis. The big cities of Russia were filled with demobilized but still armed former peasant soldiers who could be yoked to a disciplined central party organization. It was also the urban middle class that formed the backbone of the republic, which means that they were the most impotent of every group. They were forced to very quickly give over control of the war effort and the state increasingly to the communists because they were organized and knew what the fuck they wanted. That is in capitalism, in any capitalist structure. That is where agency rests.