Bronisław Siwik on the beginnings of Bolshevik rule in Russia (1917–1918)

Bronisław Siwik (1876–1933), an outstanding socialist and cooperative activist, an eyewitness of the revolutionary events of 1917, was one of the first Poles who formulated insightful opinions on the beginnings of Bolshevik rule. His conclusions, which were strongly critical of the Leninist party, were not widely accepted in the Polish socialist movement in 1917–1918. Siwik believed that the increased popularity of the Bolsheviks that had enabled them to overthrow Kerensky's government was primarily due to their anti-war slogans and the peasants' awakened hopes of receiving arable land. The Polish socialist considered the Bolsheviks to be a truly revolutionary party, but led by doctrinaires and fanatics detached from reality. Siwik didn’t believe that a socialist revolution in 1917 was possible in a country as backward as Russia. The Polish socialist claimed that the Bolsheviks' previous efforts to rebuild Russia had ended in complete failure. He warned against following the Soviet solutions in the reborn Poland.