Return of Lenin and the April Theses Flashcards
What position on the Provisional Government did Stalin and Kamenev take in March 1917?
Accommodationism: co-operation with the Provisional Government and other parties
How did Lenin try to influence the Bolshevik position on the First World War from outside of Russia in March 1917?
Wrote ‘Letters from Afar’ - urged Bolsheviks to infiltrate the other countries’ armies to overthrow their officers and their governments
In March 1917, what position did Kamenev take on Bolshevik-Menshevik relations?
It was ‘possible and desirable’ for the Bolsheviks to restore links with the Mensheviks
Why did Germany give Lenin permission to return to Russia via a sealed train in March-April 1917?
They thought a successful Bolshevik revolution would lead to Russia’s withdrawal from the war
What did Lenin declare when he arrived back in Petrograd at 11pm on 3 April 1917?
The February Revolution had not solved the problems facing the proletariat - it was time for a proletarian, socialist revolution
What did Lenin declare in his April Theses of 4 April 1917?
- Bolsheviks should abandon co-operation (accommodationism) with other parties and work for a true revolution by themselves
- Bolsheviks should overthrow the Provisional Government and transfer power to the workers/Soviets
What slogan did Lenin adopt in the April Theses and why?
“All Power to the Soviets!” - he calculated that the Petrograd Soviet would give the Bolsheviks the best chance to obtain power in the name of the proletariat
How did the Bolshevik Petersburg Committee vote initially on the April Theses on 8 April 1917?
Rejected them - 13 votes to 2
Who were the only two Bolsheviks to vote in favour of the April Theses at first?
Lenin and Kollontai
What did Pravda say about the April Theses when it first published them?
They were Lenin’s personal ideas, not those of the party
How had the Bolshevik position on the April Theses changed by the end of April?
They had been adopted as the party programme at the Seventh All-Russian Conference
How did Lenin win support for the April Theses after the first rejection?
Campaigned energetically
Won over new Bolshevik recruits who weren’t particularly Marxist (30,000 new members, February-July)
Won the support of Bolshevik veterans who were returning from exile
What did Lenin say at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, in front of the Mensheviks and SRs?
The Bolsheviks were “ready to take over full power at any moment”
