The Bolshevik Party's Success in the USSR 1917-1924 "A small, unpopular party whose success was due solely to the determination of the leader to seize power"
This assessment of the party is based around one of many views on how the Bolsheviks gained power and consolidated their rule. This particular assessment focuses on the "brutalisation" of the party and Lenin's constant concessions in the face of danger despite contending his ideology.
The Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917, after the capture of the Winter Palace;
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By 1924 Lenin alone was extremely popular, as shown in the Daily Herald
"For 'Ilyitch' was loved of his own Russian people-whom he understood and loved
so well"
Seemingly the popularity of the party grew and decline in relation to its participation in political affairs.
The Bolshevik party's "success" is based on the fact they managed to, by 1924, gain control of basically the whole of Russia. To take control of the country they had to gain the support of the people, and fight of the threat from the "whites." If we look at the basic course of history, the Bolshevik legacy carries on with the rise of Stalin, and Lenin gained control of Russia before his death.
However there are ways in which he can be viewed as a failure. Millions died at the hands of the secret police and the famine caused by War communism. The "world revolution" that Lenin used to justify his release of national minorities and land losses due to the Brest-Litovsk, never happened. Most importantly Lenin left behind is political ideology, introducing capitalist systems to warm
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Finally the reason why he succeeded can also be discussed. The statement bases the "success" on Lenin's determination to gain power. We can support this view with a particular source from Michael Lynch
"…objectives…to defend the Red army's internal lines of communication, to deny
Whites the opportunity to concentrate large forces in any one location,"
This shows the determination of Lenin, to defeat opposition and maintain power, if we link this to the Constituent Assembly, we could say some sides in the "Whites" were better suited to govern the country, in particular the Social Democratic Party.
Other views are also considerable, the Soviet view sees the events of October as a popular rising, which contends the view of unpopularity, and also contends the need to "seize power" as, in this view,
The Seizure of Power by the Bolsheviks in 1917. How did the Bolsheviks seize power of the Russian Empire in 1917? They were able to do this as a result of taking advantage of the current political and social situations in the country at the time. Through such decisions as disbanding the army and siding with the majority. the peasants, through such promises as land, food, equality and peace.
In order to establish whether Lenin did, indeed lay the foundation for Stalinism, two questions need to be answered; what were Lenin’s plans for the future of Russia and what exactly gave rise to Stalinism? Official Soviet historians of the time at which Stalin was in power would have argued that each one answers the other. Similarly, Western historians saw Lenin as an important figure in the establishment of Stalin’s socialist state. This can be partly attributed to the prevailing current of pro-Stalin anti-Hitler sentiments amongst westerners until the outbreak of the cold war.
The Failure of the Provisional Government and the Rise of the Bolsheviks i. Subject of investigation. How did the failure of the Provisional Government allow for the rise of the Bolsheviks? ii. Methods to be used.
Trotsky was hugely significant in the build up to and during the October Revolution. The first reason was his ability to convince many of the Social Democrats that the revolution was a real possibility, not just a theoretical concept. This is evident through much of Trotsky’s work as the leader of the Petrograd Soviet in September 1917, which saw Trotsky re-invent the Bolshevik plan to seize power, curbing Lenin’s ruthless ambition as he aimed for the swift overthrow of Kerensky . ‘The provisional government was brought down with barely a shot fired… they looked to undermine his government through those of the Petrograd Soviet.’ This passage suggests Trotsky was hugel...
The accumulation of these factors centred on Lenin's leadership helped stamp Bolshevik power across the Soviet Union. Lenin’s pragmatic leadership was the most considerable factor in helping to fortify Bolshevik power. His willingness to take power in October/November 1917 and the successes of the move, through his right-hand man, Trotsky, was critical as it helped give him unquestioned authority within the party despite members of the Central Committee i.e. Zinoviev and Kamenev suggested industrialisation needed to occur first. This highlighted Lenin’s communist ideology, which was essential to the Bolsheviks maintaining power. Following the failure of the Provisional Government, Lenin recognised that it was the Bolshevik’s priority to legitimise their government.
There are many people who have lived through and within the Bolshevik Revolution, so there are a multitudinous variety of perspectives, thoughts, and insights about the revolution. The Bolshevik Revolution is known for many things; some say that the revolution helped women become free of control, and others proclaim that it did nothing but continue to hold women captive of their desired rights. The Bolshevik Revolution article states the side of a history professor Richard Stites, who argues yes the revolution benefited the women whilst the other side is declared no the revolution did no justice for women at all, which was argued by a Russian scholar, Lesly A. Rimmel. The opposing arguments both create an effective view on the revolution, and
Part II of this chapter mainly focuses on how the Bolsheviks moved forward, obtained and revolutionised the way in which the world was in the times of revolution. For some the times of revolution was a time of grave concern, however the Bolsheviks had not this issue. As proven by Hobsbawm, stating that the Bolsheviks ‘grew from a small troop of a few thousand in March 1917 to a quarter of a million members by the early summer of that year’ (Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 61). The way they thrived in such a time was that they were not only efficient at recognising what the people wanted, but they were convincing in how they would give it to them, this is a main reason tha...
Stalin continued even once he was successful in accomplishing those goals, as he did not stop hurting people, but if anything it gave him more power to hurt people even more. But, at the end of the day, although Lenin ruled for only a very short time, he did raise the standard of living, though there maintained a large amount of hardship. Stalin, however, transformed the USSR from a peasantry to an industrialized nation in less than a decade, he did it on the backs of his millions of victims, who died because of his harsh policies and many purges. Lenin made a series of policies throughout the beginning of the Revolution and through his short time in public office that came to be collectively known as ‘Leninism’. There were many things that influenced Leninism, such as Karl Marx.
Deplorable working conditions, strong ethnic divide, political repression and an autocratic rule where the underlying conditions that made the people of Russia desire a Bolshevik revolution. During the late 19th century everyone including the nobles were deep in debt because of the failed attempts of land reform. The final straw that really made the citizens of Russia to side with the Bolsheviks would be during World War I where even with their suffering economy they decided to go to war.
Economics, austerity, and political corruption have been the common causes of popular uprisings across the world, and whether the revolutions have been peaceful or violent, the result has nearly always been a change in the political structure and the redrawing of boundary lines. The continued presence of Russian-backed revolutions combined with the cries of the European people for independence and security reflect the ongoing influence of the Russian Revolution on the whole of Europe and, possibly, the world.
The resignation of Nicholas II March 1917, in union with the organization of a temporary government in Russia built on western values of constitutional moderation, and the capture of control by the Bolsheviks in October is the political crucial opinions of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The actions of that historic year must also be viewed more broadly, however: as aburst of social strains associated with quick development; as a disaster of political modernization, in relations of the tensions sited on old-fashioned traditions by the burdens of Westernization; and as a social disruption in the widest sense, concerning a massive, unprompted expropriation of upper class land by fuming peasants, the devastation of outmoded social patterns and morals, and the scuffle for a new, democratic society.
Over the next few years, Russia went through a traumatic time of civil war and turmoil. The Bolsheviks’ Red Army fought the white army of farmers, etc. against Lenin and his ways. Lenin and the Bolsheviks won and began to wean Russia of non-conforming parties eventually banning all non-communist as well as removing an assembly elected shortly after the Bolshevik’s gain of power. Lenin’s strict government, however, was about to get a lot stricter with his death in 1924.
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
Exploring the October revolution and the establishment of communism, Richard Pipes concludes that the origin of communism can be traced back to the distant past in Russia’s history. Pipes states that Russia had entered a period of crisis after the governments of the 19th century undertook a limited attempt at capitalisation, not trying to change the underlying patrimonial structures of Russian society. (Pipes, 1964)
Lenin's Economic Policies in 1924 When the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917 they inherited many of the problems faced by the old Tsarist regime as well as those of the Provisional Government after the Tsars abdication. Lenin, as leader of the Bolsheviks took many measures to try and solve these problems, each with varying degrees of success. This essay will, therefore, go on to look at and discuss the various measures that Lenin and the Bolshevik party took, and, whether these measures created more problems for Russia in the end or in fact made significant progress towards the communist society that Lenin had prophesised for Russia. In the early days of Bolshevik rule, there were many problems facing Lenin.