7. Revolutionary Movements and Ideas

Question 1

Lenin

Answer 1

Leader of the Bolshevik Party who overthrew the Provisional Government
Got Russia out of World War One
Won the Bolsheviks the Civil War
Introduced War Communism to Russia
Brought the Proletariat to the top of the hierarchy
Followed through on his April 1917 Thesis
Assassination Attempt August 1918
Inspired the Bolshevik Party; an excellent motivator
Simultaneously an authoritarian and communist
Advocated for violence in the name of socialism

Question 2

Leon Trotsky and Bolsheviks

Answer 2

First Hand Quotes:
Trotsky - “…[the] engine driver of the revolution”

Historian Interpretations:
Ponomarev - “…well directed by Lenin”
Pipes - “…hopeless vacillator”
Greenwood - “…[Trotsky was an] organiser of extraordinary capacity”
Greenwood - “…Lenin [was a leader of] great strength and astuteness”

Question 3

April Theses

Answer 3

Lenin’s speech addressing the assembly of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks at Tauride Palace (4thApril 1917) became known as the April Theses. Outlined a range of proposals and ideas.
Denounced “capitalist nature” of the Provisional Government, and its continued commitment to the “predatory imperialist” war. According to Lenin, the Bolsheviks should offer “no support for the provisional government; the utterly falsity of all it’s promises should be made clear”
Argued for a second revolution that would place power in the hands of the workers
Bolshevik immediate task was to “patiently and systematically explain the new party program to the masses”

Question 4

April Theses - General Ideas

Answer 4

Provisional government are “parliamentary bourgeoise” who shouldn’t be cooperated with
WW1 is an imperialist war and Russia should cease involvement
“Peace, Bread, Land” given to all Russian’s
“All power to the soviets” and Petrograd Soviet should form the basis of a new revolutionary movement
Power should be transferred from the bourgeoise to the proletariat.