Developments Between The 1917 Revolutions

Question 1

Who were the first Bolshevik leaders to return to Petrograd?

Answer 1

Lev Kamenev and Stalin mid-March

Adopted policy by other left-wing socialists to support provisional government

Question 2

When did Lenin return?

Answer 2

3rd April 1917

Sealed German train with 31 comrades

Question 3

When was Lenin’s April Theses published?

Answer 3

7th April 1917 in Pravda

Question 4

What were the demands of the April Theses?

Answer 4

Immediate end to war
Power transferred to soviets
Nationalisation of land

“Peace, bread and land”
“All power to the soviets”

Question 5

What was Lenin’s ideology in the April theses?

Answer 5

No support for provisional government

Bolsheviks only truly revolutionary party

Question 6

How did the social democrats respond to Lenin’s April theses initially?

Answer 6

Bols - Lenin out of touch after 17yrs exile

Allegations Lenin in pay of Germans

Mensheviks- Lenin would provoke right wing reaction, undermining what they had already done

Some though calls to oppose Prov Gov unrealistic as bols still a minority

Question 7

How did Lenin win support from bols by end of April?

Answer 7

Threats of resignation

Skills of persuasion, tactful retreat and compromise

Sought converts at factory meetings wearing workers hat

Claimed personal credit for much already happening e.g. peasants seizures of land and mass anti war demo in PG in April

Question 8

What happened at the first ‘All Russian Congress of Soviet’s’ on June 3rd?

Answer 8

Passed vote in confidence of provisional government