The Bolshevik revolution started in February 1917 and concluded in October with the seizure of power. There were different aspects that lead to this victory. Bolsheviks had been a minority previously, but after 1917 February they started gaining members rapidly and by 1917 October they had 350, 000 members in the party. To see how they finally were victorious one would have to look at the revolution as a longer phenomenon that took months to reach a final result. The workers were significant to the Bolshevik revolution, especially in comparison to the other classes who contributed, but did not have the same power over the events as the workers did. Looking at the revolutionary period, there were times when if the workers had not supported …show more content…
Therefore, there were many violent uprisings that the government could not put an end to during the summer of 1917. Moreover, at that time soldiers thought that after the fall of the Tsar the war would be over, but with that as well the Provisional Government decided to wait until the Constituent Assembly had been elected. This lead to mass desertions from the trenches and the front. The situation was only improved with Order no. 1 by the Soviet as they took control over the army and created a democratized army that has been criticized by being too weak, but at that time it did settle the soldiers for a while. Furthermore, it gained stronger support from the soldiers to the Soviet power. With the peasantry the Bolsheviks did use the chaos in the countryside for their gain, but other than that they were not a peasant party nor did they think this was the right moment to interact with them. Trotsky believed that Bolsheviks used the peasant situation, but only the workers could win the revolution and only after seizing power could an agrarian reformation be worked into the Bolshevik plan, thus winning over the peasants later. Also, the party leaders were not that closely related to the workers and they certainly were not close to the peasants, none of the leaders understood the peasants and most did not deem them important to the revolutionary
From the initial seizure of power in 1917 until 1924, the Bolsheviks were confronted with a series of crises that threatened their ability to control and govern in Russia. The response and resolutions to these crises included Initial Reforms, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Civil War, Red terror, War Communism and the NEP. Under the leadership of Lenin, the execution of these responses were made possible and the Bolsheviks were able to maintain and expand their power. The Civil War however was the direct consequence of the Bolshevik’s actions as they tried to maintain their grasp on power. The victory in the Civil War was extremely pivotal for the Bolshevik consolidation of power as it brought control and power but more importantly it eliminated
During the 1900’s the Russian Government made it extremely hard for the Bolsheviks to progress which made them revolt against the government making this a prime matter for the start of the Revolution. The Czarist government was ostracized by the common people of Russia so Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Provisional Government, whom later on were overthrown by Lenin and shortly after the Bolsheviks took control over Russia. Russia was hard to develop because of the major leaders who had control; Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privileged and class-divisions were to be eliminated, a new era of socialism
The Success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in October 1917 The Bolshevik seizure of power or coup de’tat of October 25th, 1917 was a culmination of both internal and external failure to satisfy the needs of an oppressed Russian society. In contrast to the spontaneous revolts earlier in 1917, the Bolshevik revolution was ‘a carefully planned plot carried out by ‘professional’ revolutionaries. ’[1] The victory of the Marxist Lenin’s
The Russian Revolution was a series of two revolutions that consisted of the February Revolution and the October Revolution. The February Revolution of March 8th, 1917 was a revolution targeted and successfully removed Czar Nicholas II from power. The February Revolution first began to take place when strikes and public protests between 1916 and early 1917 started occurring. These strikes were created to protest against and to blame Czar Nicholas II for Russia’s poor performance in WWI and severe food shortages that the country facing. Soon, violence between protesters and authorities began to escalate, and on February 24th, 1917 in the city of Petrograd, hundreds of thousands of male and female workers flooded the streets. They all had the same purpose which was to protest against the “Great War” and the monarchy. The protests began to escalate and the vastly outnumbered police were unable to control the crowds. When news of the unrest reached the czar, he ordered the military to put an end to the riots by the next day, and on February 26th, 1917, several troops of a local guard regiment fired upon the crowds, but however many soldiers felt pity and empathy for the protesters than the czar, and on the next day, more than 80,000 soldiers join the protest even directly fighting the police.
Assess the view that it was mainly the tactics of the Bolshevik leadership that made possible the October Revolution.
In 1917 a great revolution would collapse Russia’s monarchy and extend the color of red throughout the world. During this time, Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin were instrumental in causing the grand collapse of the Russian government and the reformation into a communist state. The Russian revolution changed the world when it happened and I believe it changed the people of Europe after it occurred.
The Marxists in Russia divided into two different political parties: The Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. Lenin led the Bolsheviks, they believed that the only way Russia would prevail was if it where to be governed by a small elite core of revolutionaries. February of 1917, workers gave protesting another try and actually had the soldiers side with them. The Tsar finally admitted defeat and stepped down from the throne and a provisional government was put into place. The leader of the provisional government was Andrew Kerensky, and when he decided to continue fighting World War I many soldiers deserted him and everyone turned to the Bolsheviks. The only political party to be completely against the provisional government as well as World War 1.
According to History.com Staff, “The provisional government had created a group of leaders from Russia’s bourgeois capitalist class. Lenin would alternatively call for a Soviet state that would be controlled directly by councils of workers, peasants, and soldiers.” (“Russian Revolution”). Both decided that the Soviets was going to be a useful instrument in the next revolution. They didn't want the Soviets to have all the power until they could control them. In the book, Rise and fall of Communism 2009, Archie Brown shows us that, “On 12 October, according to the old calendar, Trotsky took command of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet and on 25 October...the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd” (Brown 51). Insurrection was to start, but there were complications with the date set. In the book, The History of the Russian Revolution 1960, Leon Trotsky says, “At a session of the Petrograd Soviet on the 18th, Trotsky, in answer to a question raised by the enemy, declared that the Soviet had not set a date for an insurrection, in the coming days, but that if it became necessary to set one, the workers and soldiers would come out as one man” (Trotsky 162). There were forty thousand workers in the army of Petrograd.
In 1917 Russia was the most populous country and also the largest in the entire world yet, Russia's government was facing many problems that needed to be resolved such as a shortage of food and fuel.At this time, Russia was also only starting the process of industrialization when it had entered into World War One, both of these and demand some kind of change from it. The Tsarist government started to collapse and the entire country was ready for some kind of change. The Russian government could not fix any of these problems and this made the people want change.Two causes of the Bolshevik revolution were, food and fuel shortages coupled with World War One going very poorly for Russia
In 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, there were two revolutions that took place to ensure good change in Russia. The first of the revolutions was the March revolution, the purpose of it was to overtake the imperial government and the second named the November revolution; which placed the Bolsheviks in power. The Russian Revolution took place during a difficult time in Russia. These distresses began before World War I and lasted up until the 1930's. Russia's population was built up of mostly poor, starving, unfortunate peasants at this point; caused by the prevalent and growing civil unrest, as well as dramatic food shortages which led to a huge rebellion against the present government. “World War I provided the catalyst for revolution in Russia .” Although at first it raised national pride
One of the first significant causes of the 1917 Revolution is the notorious day in 1905 on Sunday the 22nd of January, later known as “Bloody Sunday”. In the year prior, in 1904, Russia had gone to war with Japan. The Tsar went in thinking that he could win the war quickly. But, the Russian’s underwent defeat right from the beginning. The war caused working conditions in Russia to get worse factories stopped, resulting in “…angry, hungry and unemployed workers…” So, on the 22nd January, 200,000 workers marched through St Petersburg wearing their best clothes, and carrying a petition addressed to the Tsar, hoping to make the protest a peaceful one. The petition simply stated that the people wanted “…better working and living conditions, a shorter working day, an end to the war with Japan and other reforms” The workers were led by a priest by the name of Father Gapon, who led them to the Winter Palace, where they were met by the palace guards. As soon as they
The Measures of the Bolsheviks to Maintain Power and Address the Problems of Russia Before the Outbreak of Civil War
1.Lenin and Stalin were in control of the Bolsheviks party. The beginning of the Bolsheviks’ Revolution Lenin’s words were yelled throughout the streets, “ All power to the soviets, Peace, Land, and Bread.” With the support of many city soviets, Lenin began to take power. The first thing Lenin does while in charge was distributing all farmland amongst the peasants. He let factories be controlled by the workers. The Bolsheviks party was all about helping the lower class. When people want to kill the czar, Lenin sees his opportunity to seize all power. The Russian Civil War ensues and the Bolsheviks take over. Lenine enforces the New Economic Policy which allows peasants to sell their surplus crop instead of handing it over to the government. When the Bolsheviks party was renamed the Communist Party, Lenin declared established a dictatorship. Lenin led the Communist party very successful, but as he got older he retired his position to Joseph Stalin. By 1924 Joseph Stalin received total control of the Communist Party. Stalin turned Russia into a police state, and turned against the Communist Party members. He concealed total control Soviet government. Lenin and Stalin transform Communist Party and Russia completely during their rule.
Following this uprising, various socialist groups surfaced, with political views rooted in Marxist views – the main two being the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were led by Vladimir Lenin, a radical who had spent most of his life abroad, studying socialist ideals and building a following. The Mensheviks, with a majority of workers and intellectuals, favored an electoral system with European-style reforms. When Lenin returned to Russia in 1917, the Bolsheviks were bolstered, in both quantity and motivation. The war was dragging on and the Russian public was frustrated and desperate. A power struggle developed between the provincial government and the Bolshevik party. This lasted for several months until Lenin and his supporters overthrew the government in Petrograd, capturing the Winter Palace, former home of the Russian monarchs.
The Success of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 Part 1 Karl Marks was not Russian and he died 34 years before the Russian revolution, he was a German who spent most his life in England. He worked as a journalist but wrote books on history, religion, economics, society, and philosophy. Marx hated the system of capitalism because he thought that it was capitalism that had produced the problems of industry, poor living conditions and the social gap of the rich and poor. He thought that the system destroyed people and made them greedy and that people only wanted something if it was worth money. Karl Marx realised that there was not enough money to make everyone rich but he did thin k the world