Lenin and the Bolsheviks 1917 Flashcards
Why was Lenin able to return to Russia easily following the Tsar’s abdication?
With the help of the German government, he returned to Russia from Switzerland.
Germans wanted him to cause trouble in Russia and hinder the war effort so he went on a one carriage sealed train with no passport or luggage inspection carried out.
How did Lenin’s opinion about a revolution differ from other parties?
What was did Lenin greeted with in April 1917 after he returned?
In March all major Marxist and Socialist parties had accepted Russia wasn’t ready for revolution.
When Lenin returned he argued it was essential, wanting soviets to take over government (replacing undemocratic bourgeois PG with radical proletariat democracy).
He was greeted by cheering crowds at Finland station in Petrograd where he gave a speech.
What did the abolition of the political police and the guarantee of political rights mean?
Radical leaders were allowed to return to Russia- in the first few months, key Bolshevik leaders returned
When Lenin arrived in Petrograd what did he demand and what did he announce?
Demanded an immediate Social Revolutionary
Brought ‘April Theses’
What did the April Theses promise and why?
‘Peace, bread and Land’
Declared ‘All power to the soviets’
Designed to gain Bolshevik support - these slogans appealed to majority of Russians
What were Lenin’s promises of Peace, Bread and Land?
Peace - his promise to end Russia’s involvement in the war (appealed to war-weary soldiers + workers and peasants who had suffered due to war
Bread- his promise to end the hardship of the war (starvation)
Land - promise to redistribute land (appealed to peasants who wanted revolution to lead to land reform and were frustrated at PG’s unwillingness to redistribute land
By claiming ‘all power to the soviets’ what did Lenin believe?
February revolution = first step to social revolution (Mensheviks disagreed) - soviets could be new government of Russia.
Ending cooperation with the PG.
Why did Lenin initially have little impact?
Marxists such as Tsereteli who had been in Petrograd since March believed he was out of touch with Russia’s situation
Initially his Theses didn’t win popular support
What is an example of Lenin’s original lack of impact?
On 21st of April Lenin sent Bolsheviks into factories to gain support for strikes (attempt to remove PG from power) however it had little impact and there were no mass strikes
In what ways did Lenin and the Bolsheviks gain popularity?
He persuaded the majority of Bolsheviks to oppose PG.
He became popular as PG policies failed to address concerns of Russian workers.
His April Theses attracted support of revolutionaries who previously opposed Lenin and the Bolsheviks
At the time of the Feb/March Rev how big were the Bolsheviks?
Small party = 40 representatives in the Soviet of 1500.
Major leaders were in exile.
How did Lenin and Trotsky justify the April Thesis compared to the views of the Petrograd soviet, Mensheviks and most Bolsheviks?
The Petrograd Soviet believed in the need for a bourgeois stage of revolution.
Lenin and Trotsky believed the middle class was too weak to carry through a full bourgeois revolution and that allowing the middle class to remain in power held back proletarian revolution.
What happened when Lenin’s proposals were first put to a meeting of the Social democrats (convened in an attempt to reconcile Mensheviks and Bolsheviks) and why?
What allegations had Lenin been accused of?
They caused uproar.
Some Bolsheviks feared Lenin had grown out of touch during exile so his radical proposals would do more harm than good.
Allegations that Lenin was in the pay of the Germans.
How did Lenin get his way?
Through skills of persuasion and compromise and threats of resignation.
He sort converts at party and factory meetings, and abandoned his call for immediate overthrow of PG, winning over those who feared civil war and claiming credit for the anti-war demonstration in Petrograd in April (following announcement of war continuation).
By end of April, Lenin had won over the majority of the Central committee of the Bolshevik Party by force pf personality.
How was the Bolsheviks popularity shown in June?
In massive June demonstrations called by the leaders of the Petrograd Soviet in an attempt to outmanoeuvre the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik banners dominated the march
