The "April Theses" and the Armenian Bolsheviks
Armenian Bolsheviks, as members of the Russian organisation, loyally followed the dictates of the party's Central Committee. Accordingly, during the initial days of Provisional Government rule, they were reserved in their criticism of the Petrograd administration. Assessing the March Revolution as the bourgeois-democratic interlude that, according to Marxist precepts, was to precede the proletarian victory, the Bolsheviks often collaborated or united into a single organisation with their fellow Social Democrat Mensheviks. Most of the Bolshevik Central Committee, including I. V. Stalin, believed that the second stage of the revolution, the proletarian rising, was not imminent. 24 Such an appraisal was bitterly denounced by Lenin (Vladimir Ulianov) soon after his return from Swiss exile. In his famed "April Theses," Lenin condemned the duality in the administration shared by the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet, rejected the coalition tactic, mocked collaboration with the Mensheviks, demanded the creation of a true revolutionary socialist coordinating body, the Third International, lashed out against continuation of the capitalistic-imperialistic war, and insisted that the time was at hand to progress to the second stage of the revolution – dictatorship of the proletariat. "All Power to the Soviets" was the slogan that best expressed Lenin's "Theses". 25 Despite opposition from many Bolshevik leaders who considered the program untimely and unorthodox, Lenin skilfully manoeuvred into adoption by the All-Russian Bolshevik Conference at Petrograd in May, 1917. 26
The Armenian Bolsheviks, led by Shahoumian, Anastas Mikoyan, Askanaz Mravian, Sargis Khanoyan, and others, 27 adapted their activities to the "Theses". But because the Mensheviks were the masters of Social Democrat politics in the Caucasus, it was the Bolsheviks who were compelled to withdraw from the already established party committees and editorial boards. Among the Bolshevik membership considerable indecision developed, for in some areas their numbers were so few that separation from the Mensheviks seemed thoroughly impractical. Nevertheless, even in local organisations such as in Kars, where there were only four Bolsheviks, the division was finally effected. 28 When Shahoumian learned that the "April Theses" had been adopted, he introduced in the Baku Soviet a motion of no confidence in the Provisional Government, but the non-Bolshevik majority balked. It was Shahoumian who received the no-confidence vote, resulting in his being replaced as chairman of the Soviet. 29 Undaunted, he engrossed himself in ceaseless party activity. With Mikoyan, he edited "Sotsial-Demokrat", an Armenian-language Bolshevik newspaper with a reported circulation of four thousand. 30 In June, Shahoumian was in Petrograd to participate in the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets. 31 On his return to Caucasus, he encouraged his comrades in Tiflis, the den of Menshevism, to withdraw from the staff of "Paikar" (Struggle) and publish their own journal "Banvori krive" (The Worker's Battle). In Alexandropol, Shahoumian assisted the editors of "Nor kiank" (New Life), the first Bolshevik-oriented newspaper to appear in Yerevan guberniia. 32 The Armenian Bolshevik press attacked the nationalistic policies of Dashnaktsoutiun, demanded assumption of power by the soviets, and defamed those who supported continuation of the war. The Russian soldier, impatient to return home, was exhorted to rise against his commanders. 33
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