# Bolshevists — Essays character guide

> Bolshevists in Essays by Errico Malatesta.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Bolshevists

**First appearance:** 0003-a-bit-of-theory

## Snapshot

The Russian revolutionaries Malatesta respects for sincerity and energy yet cannot follow, because their dictatorship of the proletariat looks to him like a new privileged class in waiting.

## Who they are

Malatesta treats the Bolshevists with unusual care: he admires their energy, grants their sincerity, and refuses to echo reactionary calumnies against them. Yet he reads their method as a warning — a party dictatorship with decrees, penal laws, and armed force that defends the revolution today and will arrest it tomorrow. Lenin and Trotsky, he suspects, will not betray the revolution as they understand it, but they are preparing the governmental methods that will let others kill it. Their chapter is the book's sharpest meditation on means and ends.

## Relationships

### [the masters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se/characters/the_masters)

_rivalry_

Bolshevists seek to overthrow the masters through centralized revolution, creating a tense adversarial dynamic.

## In the story

### [Anarchists and the Situation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se/chapters/anarchists-and-the-situation)

Not directly referenced in the excerpts; omitted.

### [Anarchists Have Forgotten Their Principles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se/chapters/anarchists-have-forgotten-their-principles)

Not directly mentioned but referenced implicitly through revolutionary context; not a primary focus.

### [Italy Also!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se/chapters/italy-also)

Not directly mentioned; omitted as no clear reference.

### [The Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Anarchy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se/chapters/the-dictatorship-of-the-proletariat-and-anarchy)

Criticized for confusing revolution with new government and for being Marxists who impose party dictatorship.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se/characters/bolshevists
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/essays_se/characters