Chapter 13 (3) Flashcards
Gregory Zinoviev
-Old Bolshevik
-Worked closely with Lenin and was on the train with him as he came back into Petrograd’s Finland station in 1917
-He opposed the October uprising
-He fell out with Lenin over the construction of the new government
-He was not given a major post in the Sovnarkon but was made Party Secretary in Leningrad
-1919 he was made Chairman of the Comintern
-1921 became a member of the Politburo
-Good orator but not an intellectual
-Seen as vain, incompetent and cowardly
-E.H.Carr said he was ‘weak, vain, ambitious (and) only too eager to occupy the empty throne’
Lev Kamenev
-Active Bolshevik and full-time revolutionary from 1905
-Close collaborator with Lenin abroad between 1907 and 1917
-Major contributor to the party doctrine and had heated debates with Lenin
-Known as ‘Able and reliable’ by Lenin
-1917 opposed Lenin’s April Thesis on ideological grounds
-Also opposed the October armed uprisings
-He wanted a socialist coalition government
-He lost influence but later was made Party Secretary and then Commissar for foreign trade
-Came into the Politburo with a good position to challenge leadership
-He was a moderate and well liked however he was too soft to actually become a leader
-E.H.Carr describes him as ‘Intellectually superior to Stalin and Zinoviev but by far the least effective of the three’
Nikolai Bukharin
-One of the younger generation of Bolsheviks
-Joined the Bolshevik party in 1906
-He was arrested in 1912 and fled to Germany
-Became a major figure in the party pre 1917
-He argued with Lenin about political strategy
-Took a leading role in Pravda
-Led the left wing opposition to the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
-Between 1920 and 1921 criticised Trotsky and Lenin in the ‘trade union’ controversy
-Did not become a full member of the Politburo until 1922
-Intellectually inquisitive
-Loved to enjoy life through art and poetry and was very popular
-Called the ‘Golden Boy’ of the Bolshevik party by Lenin
-He could argue his points fiercely especially on the NEP
-Did not have the skills and political cunning of Stalin
-Lenin called him ‘The biggest and most valuable theoretician in the party’ and the ‘Favourite of the whole party’
Route to Communism
By Karl Marx
1) Primitive Communism
2) Slavery
3) Feudalism
4) Capitalism
5) Socialism
6) Communism
Lenin’s Ideology
-What is to be done? (1902)
Argued that he needed a revolutionary party. They needed to be highly centralised and a small, conspirational organisation made up of professional dedicated revolutionaries. Believed that the working class would not gain a revolutionary consciousness without guidance
-Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
Claimed that capitalism was a bankrupt system
