Question by Georgia: how did the bolsheviks establish a role in the russian empire?
it’s a question for school and i don’t know much about the russian revolution, though i do know Lenin was the head of the bolsheviks which was for communism? (i think) please help.
Answers and Views:
Answer by Spellbound
Russia had a revolution in February 1917 (it may be called the March Revolution in your history book). The parliament, known as the State Duma, expelled a few members, known as deputies, and formed the Provisional Government. This government ruled jointly with the Petrograd Soviet (a Russian word meaning council) of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, this soviet was made up mostly of socialist and other left wing parties.
The Provisional Government was swamped by the the October Revolution because it lacked democratic legitimacy. The Provisional Government was the re-constituted last State Duma. It refused an election to a promised interim government – the Constituent Assembly – saying that Russia would hold elections after the war (Russia was fairing very badly in WWI).
The Petrograd Soviet was seen by many as a genuinely democratic institution, as it’s members were elected to it from the garrisons and factories of the capital.
The Bolshevik slogans “Bread, Land and Peace” and “All Power to the Soviets” sum up the other major factors: The cities were starving as the peasants were now in uniform fighting in the war – they could not plough, sow or harvest the crops. And the food delivery infrastructure had broken down. The peasants wanted the Provisional Government to give them the land they worked on – it didn’t, and the most of the land was still owned by the aristocracy. And Russia was doing badly in the war and most people wanted Russia to withdraw from it.
Soviets were seen as genuinely democratic bodies – they were mostly formed spontaneously and ran everything from factories to city blocks. By demanding All Power to the Soviets the Bolsheviks were tapping into popular democratic demands.
Other factors:
Lenin was a dedicated, determined and capable leader. He motivated his party and, through agitation & propaganda, the Bolsheviks became very popular in the army and in the factories.
Trotsky was an extremely gifted administrator. He was the chairman of the Milrevkom – the Military Revolutionary Committee – this was the organisation that orchestrated the events of October 1917.
The leadership of the party was loyal to Lenin, and they followed his orders with conviction.
The party had a competent propaganda machine, producing newspapers, banners, posters and setting up recruitment drives in the army and factories.
See:
The Bolsheviks in Russian Society – Vladimir Brovkin
The Russian Revolution – Sheila Fitzpatrick
The October Revolution – Roy Medvedev
http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1917october&Year=1917
http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/events/revolution/index.htm
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