A joke of Plekhanov's as a what-if seed

What-if seed: "In the late 1880s there was [besides Populism--DT] no other radical movement of any size in Russia. Although Marxism, under the influence of George Plekhanov (1856–1918), was separating itself out from populism, its influence was still very small and largely confined to Russians living abroad. After all, *it was Plekhanov himself who joked, when he and Pavel Axel’rod and other founders of Russian Marxism went for a boat trip on Lake Geneva, that if they were to drown it would be the end of Russian Marxism* [emphasis added--DT]...." https://books.google.com/books?id=UNkev4PJX5AC&pg=PA11

OK, let's say it happens...
 
What-if seed: "In the late 1880s there was [besides Populism--DT] no other radical movement of any size in Russia. Although Marxism, under the influence of George Plekhanov (1856–1918), was separating itself out from populism, its influence was still very small and largely confined to Russians living abroad. After all, *it was Plekhanov himself who joked, when he and Pavel Axel’rod and other founders of Russian Marxism went for a boat trip on Lake Geneva, that if they were to drown it would be the end of Russian Marxism* [emphasis added--DT]...." https://books.google.com/books?id=UNkev4PJX5AC&pg=PA11

OK, let's say it happens...

To clarify the question a little: Of course, many of the Populists were influenced by Marx. But it was Plekhanov and his disciples who originated the idea that "Marxism" was something distinct from "Populism," that Russia would have to go through a capitalist stage of development, and that the proletarian--not the peasant--was the key to a future socialist revolution in Russia. On these matters, Plekhanov and his fellow Russian Marxists were more dogmatic than Marx himself. How widespread would these ideas have become in Russia if we get the Lake Geneva drowning accident Plekhanov joked about?
 
To me, it seems likely that a party similar to the Social Revolutionaries would end up filling the same role and become the leading radical party in Russia. Although the SR's started out as a more agrarian revolutionary party, they saw the potential of urban workers and adopted Marxist ideas and rhetoric to attract those people. It seems to me that a similar process would occur here.
 
BTW, in 1914 Plekhanov told Angelica Balabanoff (who was arguing for an "internationalist" anti-war position) "if I were not old and sick I would join the army. To bayonet your German comrades would give me great
pleasure..." https://books.google.com/books?id=XlHoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA211

Maybe there's another what-if here: Sure, Plekhanov is too old and sick to do any real fighting, but the Tsar decides to give him an officer's commission, anyway, to show that even Marxists are fighting for the Motherland...

(With better health, the violently anti-German anarchist Kropotkin can sign up, too!)
 
Top