Lenin and the Bolsheviks 1917

Question 1

What did Lenin do on hearing of the Tsar’s abdication?

Answer 1

With the help of the German government 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 (he hadn’t expected the abdication of the Tsar)

Question 2

Why did Lenin’s return in April 1917 mark a turning point in attitudes towards the PG and what was his arrival like?

Answer 2

In March all major Marxist and Socialist parties has 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)
Apart from 6 months 1905-06 Lenin had been in exile for 17 years so wasn’t sure what to expect - he was greeted by cheering crowds at Finland station in Petrograd where he gave a speech

Question 3

What did the abolition of the political police and the guarantee of political rights by the PG mean?

Answer 3

Radical leaders were allowed to return to Russia- in the first few months, key Bolshevik leaders returned

Question 4

When Lenin arrived in Petrograd what did he demand and what did he bring?

Answer 4

Demanded an immediate Social Revolutionary

Brought ‘April Theses’

Question 5

What did the April Theses promise and why?

Answer 5

‘Peace, bread and Land’
Declared ‘All power to the soviets’
Designed to gain Bolshevik support - these slogans appealed to majority of Russians

Question 6

What were Lenin’s promises of Peace, Bread and Land?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

By claiming ‘all power to the soviets’ what did Lenin believe?

Answer 7

February revolution = first step to social revolution (Mensheviks disagreed) - soviets could be new government of Russia

Question 8

Why did Lenin initially have little impact?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is an example of Lenin’s original lack of impact?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

In what ways did Lenin’s leadership skills remain a threat to the PG?

Answer 10

He persuaded the majority of Bolsheviks to oppose PG
His radical alternative became increasingly 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

Question 11

What did Lenin promise upon hid arrival - April Theses?

Answer 11

Worldwide socialist revolution 
End to war
End to cooperation with PG
Soviets to be given power
Land to the peasants

Question 12

How did Lenin justify his April Theses?

Answer 12

Claimed the Bourgeois were too weak in Russia to carry through the democratic revolution and that the proletariat had already taken power of the Soviets and were driving the revolution

Question 13

At the time of the Feb/March Rev how big were the Bolsheviks?

Answer 13

Still only a small party of 23,000 members, had only 40 representatives in the Soviet of 1500 and all their major leaders were in exile. First to reach Petrograd were Kamenev and Stalin who arrived mid march and took control of party newspaper (they accepted the policy of other left-ling socialists to support the PG, Soviet leadership and continuation of war
When Lenin returned they began to take their own path

Question 14

What were Lenin’s letters from afar?

Answer 14

Written between 7th and 26th on March in which he made clear that the party’s job was to lead the people forwards to a second revolution

Question 15

Upon Lenin’s arrival what did the Petrograd Soviet, all Mensheviks and most Bolsheviks believe v what Lenin and Trotsky believed?

Answer 15

They believed in the need for a bourgeois stage of revolution but 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. Lenin believed all of Europe on brink of socialist revolution so no need to confine itself to bourgeois objectives (referred to as permanent revolution)

Question 16

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?

Answer 16

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
Mensheviks feared Lenin would undermine what they had been doing and may provoke a right wing reaction
Some felt Lenin’s call to oppose the PG was unrealistic since the Bolsheviks were still a minority among the Socialists

Question 17

How did Lenin get his way?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What happened when the first All Russian Congress of Soviets met in Petrograd on 3rd June 1917 and were the Bolsheviks popular?

Answer 18

It passed a vote of confidence in the PG by 543 votes to 126 , although the Bolsheviks did well in the city Duma elections in the same month
In massive June demonstrations called by the leaders of the Petrograd Soviet in an attempt to outmanoeuvre the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik banners dominated the march

Question 19

From mid-late September what had Lenin done (from Finland) and did it work?

Answer 19

Begun bombarding the 12 man central committee of the Bolshevik party with letters demanding they prepare for revolution and the seizure of power but on the 15th of September the Committee voted against a coup (even Lenin’s threat to reign failed)

Question 20

Who was particularly against Lenin’s desire?

Answer 20

The committees two most prominent members, Kamenev and Zinoviev (didn’t think Russia was economically ready) even burnt some of Lenin’s letter and didn’t want to act before CA elections

Question 21

What did Trotsky suggest about the uprising?

Answer 21

They should work through the Petrograd Soviet and wait for the Congress of Soviets which was due to be convened on the 26th of October
He believed at the congress they could win the support of all socialist parties for a soviet government without needing to resort to violence

Question 22

When did the key Bolshevik leaders return?

Answer 22

Stalin - March
Lenin, Kamenev, Zinoviev - April
Bukharin- May