This concept means the struggle of a social group, the purpose of which is either a struggle against the growing revolution, or the overthrow of the newly established revolutionary and, as a result, the restoration of the old social and state system.
Concept in science
K. Marx noted that by its very development, revolution gives rise to counter-revolution. In modern science, counter-revolution is considered as the inevitable second stage of the entire revolutionary process. One of the most striking examples is the White Guard movement in post-revolutionary Russia.
Counterrevolutionaries use different forms of struggle:
- open ones, such as armed uprisings, riots, foreign intervention, civil wars;
- hidden, such as conspiracies, blockades, sabotage, acts of sabotage.
Hidden, secret methods of struggle begin to be used in the event of a complete victory of the new social system.
What is counterrevolution? According to Karl Marx’s definition, this is the resistance of the “eliminated” classes and the desire of the new exploiting class to “stop” the revolution on its achievements [Volume 20, p. 206].
Any changes give rise to opposition, therefore there are no revolutions without counter-revolutions.
Civil war of 1918-1922
What is a contra? The most understandable and closest revolution for the population of our country, of course, is the October Socialist Revolution of 1917. Dramatic changes caused fierce opposition from representatives of the abolished classes. Representatives of the nobility, officers, and intelligentsia united under the banners of the struggle. In the revolutionary milieu they called precisely these people who did not want to put up with change.
One of the most famous armed uprisings was the rebellion of the Czechoslovak military corps in 1918, the result of which was the creation of the Provisional All-Russian Government and the beginning of a large-scale military operation that grew into a civil war.
In August 1918, the Entente Allied forces (Great Britain, France, Italy) entered the north of the country. The actions of the allied forces by modern historians are seen as intervention.
Contra - what is it?
After the defeat in World War I, the Allied states changed their direct military presence in Russia to economic assistance. This is an example of covert counter-revolutionary actions. The United States provided financial assistance, issued loans; France and England sent weapons and ammunition. Among the people, the allies of the White Guard movement received the name "counter".
History knows examples of the temporary return of former regimes caused by counter-revolutionary actions, for example, the Restoration of the Stuarts in England of the 17th century and the Bourbons in France of the 18th century.
Some current representatives of the communist as well as socialist movements and parties consider the reforms of the 90s of the XX century, which led to the change of a totalitarian political regime with a planned economy to a democratic one with a market economy, as a counter-revolution and restoration of the old, pre-revolutionary state system. But this, of course, is their subjective opinion that has not passed the test of time.