Bolshevik early successes

Question 1

Why did the Soviet not take power (3)

Answer 1

1) The Mensheviks wanted a bourgeois revolution first
2) Wanted to avoid civil war and counter revolution
3) Leaders weren’t sure they could control the masses

Question 2

Lenin’s April Thesis

Answer 2

Called for:
- worldwide socialist revolution
- end to the war
- end co-operation with provisional government
- the Soviet to take power
These ideas were thought to be out of touch

Question 3

Issues facing the Provisional Government

Answer 3

Summer offensive 1917:
- Kerensky lead a disinterested army on 16th June
- Led to an armed uprising - the July Days
Land:
- By May 1917 there was unrest in the countryside as peasants wanted land

Question 4

Who was Kerensky

Answer 4

He was a skilled orator
The link man between the Provisional Government and the Soviet
Became Prime Minister in 1917

Question 5

Issues facing Kerensky at the end of Aug 1917 (4)

Answer 5

1) The army was disintegrating
2) Support for Bolsheviks increasing
3) Increasing lawlessness
4) Poor economic situation

Question 6

The July Days

Answer 6

Sparked by the failure of the summer offensive

Soldiers from the Kronstadt naval base demanded the Soviet take power

Question 7

Kornilov affair

Answer 7

Kornilov sent troops to Petrograd in an attempt to establish military control
Consequences:
- Kerensky’s reputation was irretrievably damaged
- Mensheviks and SRs were discredited
- Bolsheviks rode on a wave of popular support