How Did Lenin Say Bolsheviks

In Sheila Fitzpatrick’s essay, The Bolshevik Invention of Class: Marxist Theory and the Making of “Class Consciousness” in Soviet Society, she discusses the Bolsheviks view and struggle with class. It seems as though the thesis for this paper is stated right away, when the author notes that

A power struggle within the Soviet Communist Party was triggered by Vladimir Lenin’s death in 1924, and shortly after, Joseph Stalin seized control of the party, quashing all potential opposition to his leadership. Thereafter, the late 1920’s and early 1930’s saw fundamental changes to the Soviet Union. It was during this period that Joseph Stalin consolidated his authority and was allowed to rule without opposition, becoming the clear ‘vozhd’ and introducing his “revolution from above” (McKay 903) on the Soviet population. In 1931, with the first 5 year plan well underway, Stalin made a pivotal speech to the First Conference of Soviet Industrial Managers titled ‘No Slowdown in Tempo!’, speaking to them “in terms of hard-line Russian nationalism”

In the beginning of the twentieth century, Russia was overtaken by the clash of two ideologies that represented a social, political and economic world order; one that at the time was the capitalist system and the other of revolutionary socialism. After the February Revolution 1917, Vladimir Lenin returned from exile and published a series of directives in an effort to channel the revolutionary energy to an uncompromised movement; prominently known as the “April Theses.” Moreover, later on December 1917, Lenin’s argument, shift from justifying the involvement in the war and the cooperation with liberals in the Provisional Government, such shift it is noticeable in “The Thesis on the Constituent Assembly,” thus showing that Lenin’s writing gave the Bolsheviks a strategic advantage, justified their extreme actions and impacted the course of Russian history.

• April 4: Lenin gives a speech known as the April Thesis, which asks for power to all the soviets and promises peace, bread, land, worker control and an end to the war.

The most important individual in bringing about the change in influence is Vladimir Lenin, who brought about a sudden sharp rise in the party’s popularity. Following the 1917 October Revolution, Lenin became the leader of the Communist Party and greatly increased the party’s political influence with his ‘one

The Revolution did not meet its goals in that it was supposed to not be similar to the Tzar, yet Lenin found himself in an extremely similar position. “‘What enviable blindness…what propertied classes when they’ve long been abolished by the sense of previous decrees?’”(Pasternak 453). Lenin came to have total power, with no one

more ‘consciousness’, discipline or order.  Elemental forces raged.” (Page 430)  Although the people said that they were going against the petty bourgeoisie there was no attacks made against the Capitalist Ministers.

With the destruction of the Tsarist regime, Russia stood at a crossroads no state had ever been at. For the first time ever, a Socialist nation advocating Communism had managed to create a functioning state. The works of Marx and Engels, pushed forth as the cure for the oppression of the proletariat, had fallen successfully on the ears of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who, with his theory of the Vanguard party, pushed the Russian Empire into the Soviet era. Leninism became the central tenant of the Soviet system, being advocated and admired by every successive Soviet leader, and by many in modern Russia to this day. The modernity of the issue leads many in modern Russia to justify certain actions, harkening back to Lenin himself, still displayed in

The fight for communism began “in the early evening of October 24, [the Military Revolutionary Committee] used small bands of troops loyal to their cause or the Red Guards… to take control of the railway station, telephone exchange, electricity plants, post offices, the state bank, and key bridges” (Gellately 37). Although there were a small amount of revolutionaries, the Russian government was without proper defense and they quickly took control of key areas in the state (Gellately 37). Lenin had to convince his Bolshevik constituents that a quick revolution was the proper course of action, he was met with much resistance at first, but his persistence convinced his comrades. Through his leadership a small revolutionary army was able to secure the majority of Russia. Subsequent to the revolution, an election was held in which Lenin and his Bolshevik party “managed only 24 percent of the vote” while the social revolutionaries won the election with “40 percent of the ballots” (Gellately 39). However, Lenin had expected an electoral defeat and “had no intention of letting the Constituent Assembly meet”(Gellately 39). Despite his previous promises, Lenin believed that he was the one who would lead Russia to prosperity through Marxism and “In December 1917, Lenin made the case for forcing through a vanguard dictatorship, in full defiance of the

As Lenin was forced to live in Switzerland, He had time on his hands to think about and grow his belief on the communist theory. After reading the Marx, Lenin’s mind was all over the place thinking about the Communist ideology, Lenin’s thoughts about the ideology was that the workers and peasants of Russia would never be ready to start a revolution. In one of Lenin’s writtens he described the Russian workers as “reactionary” (which means the opposite of revolutionary).

    Karl Marx felt that his government’s capitalistic rule was unfair to the working class. When a group of communist supporters that called themselves “The Communist League,” asked him to write a guide to improve life, Marx looked back on history and created “The Communist Manifesto.” This writing is a piece of literature which heavily influenced Russian history. The article suggested workers revolt and later the

Lenin used many different means to attempt to make his Communist ideal work in Russia. He, effectively, utilised propaganda, pragmatism and a certain amount of good luck to keep his reign secure, and also to make sure that it was likely to stay secure for a good many years to come. His pragmatism was shown in his quick change of economic policy after the Kronstadt mutiny, even though it meant him turning away from the basic tenets of the Communist idea. The fact that Communism actually lasted until the late 1980s show that his initial work in establishing it was, by definition, successful.

Ten years in exile had not swayed Lenin?s determination to create and direct a powerful revolution. Lenin returned to Russia from exclusion in February 1917, believing that the time was ripe to seize power. The Russian economy was in ruin after the army was nearly defeated and the people exhausted as a result of the First World War. The country was in an unstable state, suitable for a revolution (Levinthal 119). Around October 20, Lenin, in disguise and at considerable personal risk, slipped into Petrograd and attended a secret meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee held on the evening of October 23. Not until after a heated 10-hour debate did he finally win a majority in favour of preparing an armed takeover. Now steps to enlist the support of soldiers and sailors and to train the Red Guards, the Bolshevik-led workers' militia, for an armed takeover proceeded openly under the guise of self-defense of the Petrograd Soviet. Even at great personal risk, Lenin was adamant in spurring a successful revolution.

The Success of the Bolsheviks in Gaining Power in Russia by 1922 In February 1917, the Bolshevik party was small and irrelevant. The leadership was abroad and there was little consistency of purpose among the party in Russia. However, by the summer of 1922, the Bolsheviks had become the dominant force, and a new communist state had emerged from their success. The purpose of this essay is to explain this transformation.

only had the firm support of 15 of 25 members on the 15th of October.