The Establishment of Bolshevik Government

Question 1

What date did Lenin return to Russia?

Answer 1

3 April 1917

Question 2

Why did the German’s aid Lenin in his return to Russia?

Answer 2

They thought he would take power and make peace.

Question 3

What date did Trotsky join the Bolsheviks?

Answer 3

2 July 1917

Question 4

What did Lenin’s April Theses demand?

Answer 4

Power should be transferred to the Soviets,
the war should be brought to an immediate end,
all land should be taken over by the state and re-allocated to the peasants by local soviets.

Question 5

What slogan did people use to sum up Lenin’s April Theses?

Answer 5

Peace, bread and land.

Question 6

Why did Lenin oppose the Provisional government?

Answer 6

He believed Russia’s middle class was too weak to carry through a full ‘bourgeois revolution.’ Thus, supporting the Provisional Government would hold the revolution back.

Question 7

What opposition did Lenin face to his April Theses and plans for the revolution?

Answer 7

Some feared he had grown out of touch,
some feared he was in the pay of the Germans,
The Mensheviks feared Lenin would undermine what they had been doing.

Question 8

At the point of Lenin’s return, how did the Bolsheviks feel about the Provisional Government?

Answer 8

They were divided as to whether or not to cooperate. (Stalin and Kamenev supported the PG)

Question 9

How did Lenin gather support?

Answer 9

In speeches, taking credit for much that was already happening.

Question 10

What date was a vote of confidence in the Provisional Government passed?

Answer 10

3 June

Question 11

After July 3, when did Lenin begin to win support?

Answer 11

When Trotsky began to put his full weight into the Bolshevik cause.

Question 12

What put the Bolsheviks at an advantage against Kerensky?

Answer 12

Kerensky wanted to continue the war.

Question 13

What date(s) were the July Days?

Answer 13

3-5 July

Question 14

How many job losses stimulated the July Days?

Answer 14

100,000

Question 15

How many armed sailors joined the protesting workers and soldiers in the streets?

Answer 15

20,000

Question 16

How did the July Days aid Bolshevik advancements?

Answer 16

They shouted Bolshevik slogans such as ‘all power to the soviets.’

Question 17

How did the Dual Power react to the July Days?

Answer 17

warrants surfaced for the Bolshevik’s arrest

Question 18

How did Lenin react to the July Days?

Answer 18

He fled in disguise to Finland.

Question 19

What affect did Lenin’s flee have on his reputation?

Answer 19

It fell due to his fleeting rather than leading. Other leaders languished in gaol.

Question 20

What date did Kerensky replace Prince Lvov as Prime Minister?

Answer 20

8 July

Question 21

What impact did the Kornilov Coup have on the Bolshevik cause?

Answer 21

It saved them because the Bolshevik prisoners were released.
Bolsheviks could bask in being the only party to coherently oppose Kornilov.

Question 22

What percentage did Bolshevik support increase between June and December?

Answer 22

164%

Question 23

What month did the Bolshevik’s win a majority in the election?

Answer 23

September.

Question 24

What did Lenin demand the Bolsheviks do with their building success late 1917?

Answer 24

to stage a revolution and seize power.

Question 25

How did Zinoviev and Kamenev react to Lenin’s demands to stage a revolution and seize power?

Answer 25

They urged restraint and sometimes burned Lenin’s letters.

Question 26

What month did the Bolsheviks seize power?

Answer 26

October 1917

Question 27

What date was the Bolshevik-led revolution agreed?

Answer 27

October 10

Question 28

What date were the key buildings and communications centres in petrograd taken over?

Answer 28

24-25th October

Question 29

When was the Cheka established?

Answer 29

December

Question 30

How many sailors/soldiers marched into Petrograd to seize the Winter Palace?

Answer 30

5000

Question 31

What key positions were seized during the October Revolution?

Answer 31

the telephone exchange, the post office, railway stations, the news agency, the state bank, bridges and power stations.

Question 32

How many troops arrived the morning after the seizure of key positions?

Answer 32

3000

Question 33

How many did Lenin claim were involved in the October Revolution?

Answer 33

25,000-30,000

Question 34

What date was the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets?

Answer 34

26th October 1917

Question 35

How many delegates turned up to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets?

Answer 35

670

Question 36

Which famous Bolsheviks spoke out against the actions of the previous night at the Second All-Russian Congress of the Soviets?

Answer 36

Zinoviev & Kamenev

Question 37

Why did the Mensheviks and right wing SRs walk out of the SA-RCOTS?

Answer 37

the Majority of seats had gone to the Bolsheviks and left wing SRs.

Question 38

What name was given to the new Government?

Answer 38

The Sovnarkom

Question 39

What did all the members of the Sovnarkom have in common?

Answer 39

They were all exclusively Bolsheviks.

Question 40

What opposition did Lenin face after setting up the Sovnarkom?

Answer 40

Kerensky’s 18 Cossack regiments: 10 days of fighting in Moscow.

Question 41

What methods did Lenin use to combat opposition?

Answer 41

Propaganda, closure of anti-Bolshevik newspapers, a purge of the civil service, Establishment of the Cheka, imprisoning Kadets, Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.

Question 42

What date did the Constituent Assembly meet?

Answer 42

5 Jan 1918

Question 43

What happened to the Constituent Assembly after it’s first meeting?

Answer 43

Lenin dissolved it.

Question 44

Why was the Constituent Assembly dissolved?

Answer 44

Social Revolutionaries won the most seats.