Why was there a revolution on November 1917?- Unit 2

Question 1

How much control did the PG have?

Answer 1

No control, can be seen through:
- Spread of Soviets.
- Worker control of factories.
- Seizures of land from peasants.
- Creations of national minority govs.

Question 2

What happened in the July Days?

Answer 2

• Kadets learned in June, that PG deputation in Kiev offered independence to Ukraine. Thought only an All-Russian Constituent Assembly could decide this, lead to street demonstrations in Petrograd.
• Easy to quench.
• Seen to be a humiliation for the Bolsheviks, not yet ready to take power.
• Yet, Trotsky referred to it as a ‘semi-insurrection’, inferring that it was work of Bolsheviks.

Question 3

What was the impact of the July Days?

Answer 3

• Kerensky arrested Bolsheviks Trotsky, Kamenev and closed Pravda.
• Lenin fled to England.

Question 4

Land question:

Answer 4

• Land shortages= chronic problem. Chief cause of unrest for peasants since ‘Emancipation of the Serfs’, 1861.
• National peasants revolt- from feb revolution, thought they would have gained land.

Question 5

What did the PG do over the land question?

Answer 5

• Limited.
• Had Land Commission, aimed to redistribute land, did not do much- PG members mainly landowners, didn’t want to hinder own position.

Question 6

What did the Bolsheviks do over the Land question?

Answer 6

• Didn’t have land policy, referred to peasants as ‘packhorse’ of history, no real revolutionary initiative.
• But Lenin could not ignore 4/5 of population, allowed peasants into the proletariat cause as they had acted as revolutionaries.
• Stole SR policy, ‘Land to the Peasants’.

Question 7

Kornilov affair:

Answer 7

• August, Kornilov wanted to destroy the socialist enemies.
• German soldiers advancing further into Russia, so everyone fled to Petrograd, leading Kornilov to believe a socialist insurrection was coming.
• Kornilov said he wanted to bring down opposition in Petrograd, which Kerensky supported until he found he wanted to impose a military rule.

Question 8

Kerensky’s response to Kornilov:

Answer 8

• Ordered Kornilov to surrender, and put Petrograd under Martial law.
• Kerensky called on city to take up arms, released Bolshevik prisoners, giving them weapons.
• Yet railway workers refused to cooperate trains to bring Kornilov’s army into Petrograd.
• Kerensky admitted this was a ‘prelude to the October revolution’.

Question 9

What was the impact of the Kornilov affair?

Answer 9

• Bolsheviks looked like defenders of the country, recovered from humiliation of July Days.
• Revealed PG’s weaknesses.