E. A. Preobrazhensky and an alternative to "war communism"

The article covers the issue of «homogenous socialist government» offered by the majority of the Russian revolutionary democracy, including some Bolshevist leaders, in October-November, 1917. Based primarily on the offers of E.A. Preobrazhensky, later a co-author of N.I. Bukharin in «AzbukaKommunizma» («ABC of Communism») and a proponent of the «primitive socialist accumulation» concept, the author outlines a possible social, economic and ideological content which was implied by the political form of the «homogenous socialist government». He notes that such an alternative was feasible, and in the case of its implementation Russia could have escaped a large-scale civil war. But the implemented model of the «proletarian dictatorship» («war communism») was not inevitable, as it was declared by the Soviet historiography. On the basis of examining the works by S.A. Pavlyuchenkov, the author criticizes the key aspects of the «inevitable war communism» concept.