Chapter 12: Russia, 1917-1924: Why did the Bolsheviks Succeed - Part 1

**aqalieh95** Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:02 pm

Part 1: Bolsheviks' Rise to Power

The Impact of the War, 1914 to February 1917
1. Entering WWI
  1. Unprepared
    1. Lack of weapons
      - Army required 18 million rifles, government provided 7 million
      - Not enough weapons to go around
  2. Lack of leadership
    1. Too many officers
    2. Duma's attempt to assist in running the war rebuffed
    3. Nicholas II attempt to 'lead' the army
      - Lack of experience
      - Alexandra (empress)'s origin → Germany
2. The Economy
  1. Inflation
    1. Government paid the cost of the war by loans from its allies and partly by printing more paper ruble
      - Worker wages increased, as well as the cost of the goods
  2. Rural areas
    1. Loss of many young men to the army relieved problem of overpopulation
    2. Peasants were not able to spend money on many goods
      - Selling large quantities of grain did not profit them
    3. Government's lack of organization
      - Unable to transport excess grain from rural areas
    4. Food shortage in urban areas
      - Fleeing people came to cities
The Revolution of March 1917
1. Participants
  1. Metal workers and textile operatives in Petrograd
  2. Other revolutionaries at the naval base in Kronstadt and in Moscow
  3. Soldiers ordered to crush the revolutionaries also joined the revolution
  4. No particular leader or a group led the revolution
2. Cause
  1. Culmination of both long-term grievances against the Tsarist government and short-term protests about the effect of the war
3. What happened?
  1. Urban areas
    1. Workers seized control of factories
    2. Revenge against bosses and foremen for rough treatment
  2. Rural areas
    1. Illegally chop down trees
    2. Seized part of noble estates
    3. Demanded land reforms
  3. Minority ethnic groups
    1. Finland, Poland, the Ukraine, and in the Caucasus
      - Declared their independence
4. Response of government
  1. Members of Duma agree to for the provisional government
    1. Elections to produce Constituent Assembly
    2. Democracy
    3. Freedom of speech, association, and religious worship
    4. Freedom of press, a political amnesty, and the freeing of political prisoners
    5. No death penalty
    6. No more discrimination on the basis of class, nationality, or religion
5. 'Dual Power'
  1. All direct action taken by workers, soldiers, and peasant groups resulted in formation of local Soviets or committees
  2. Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies
    1. In the early days, they organized food supplies and guard against a counter-revolutionary attack by Tsarist supporters by forming workers' militia
    2. Quickly joined by revolutionary soldiers, who wanted to extend the responsibilities of the Soviet into military sphere, to prevent the army from being used to crush the revolution
    3. Order Number 1 – 2 March, 1917
      - Set up soldiers' committees in every military unit that takes orders from the Soviet body
Problems facing the Provisional Government
1. The War
  1. Its allies try to convince Russia to continue to fight in the war
  2. Majority of Russians wanted peace with Germany
  3. Risk factors
    1. Loss of territory – economically important areas in Ukraine
    2. Soldiers would lose job and return to rural farming areas
  4. Result (compromise between government and Petrograd Soviet)
    1. Russia should continue fighting to defend its territory rather than seeking territory gain
2. The Land
  1. Redistribution of land
    1. Peasants did not wait until government's decision – Illegally seized estates of wealthy people
3. Factory Committees
  1. Expectation of workers
    1. 8 hour day, higher wages, greater say in the running of factories
  2. Reality
    1. Shortage of fuel and worsened economic conditions forced many factories to close
  3. Role of factory committees
    1. Represent the workers
    2. Workers' control of factories would improve the situation
4. The Army
  1. Soldiers joining the army gave Petrograd Soviets power and authority
  2. Established soldiers' committees in many army units to curtail the power of officers, remove hated officers, and to elect future officers
  3. Undermine the structure of command in army
    1. Breakdown of discipline
  4. Desertion
    1. Wanted to claim their share of land
  5. Need to restore order
    1. Some wanted to bring back death penalty
    2. Provision government torn between:
      - Need to restore order
      - Fear of a strong military
The Return of Lenin
1. The amnesty granted by provisional government
  1. Enabled many political activists to return to Petrograd from exile in Siberia
  2. Lenin and other political activists exiled abroad
    1. Would have been difficult to return to Russia without help from Germany
      - Germans were happy to facilitate Lenin's return → Lenin wanted Russia out of war
2. Situation in Russia
  1. Radical parties were supporting the provisional government and continuation of defensive war
  2. Bolsheviks (Lenin's party) did not establish any strategies on how to advance socialist phase of revolution
3. April Theses
  1. Outline of main policies which Bolsheviks must pursue
    1. The Bolsheviks must oppose the continuation of the war, which was an imperialist war, benefiting only capitalists and not workers
    2. The party should not support Provisional Government
    3. Power should pass to the Soviets. Members of these Soviets should be encouraged to withdraw their support of Provisional Government and take control of affairs in their own localities
4. Response to April Theses
  1. Shocked members of other socialists as well as members of the Bolsheviks
    1. The Theses proposed that working class was strong enough to contemplate taking power alone, but most socialists did not believe this was the case
      - They believed Russia was only embarking on its capitalist stage
    2. Provisional Government promised to call a Constituent Assembly
    3. Peace with Germany will deprive Russia of much of its territory and economic resources
  2. Immediate response
    1. Isolated Bolshevik party
    2. Pitied Lenin for being out of touch with current situation of Russia
  3. Later response
    1. As situation facing urban workers became more desperate, many realized “peace, bread, and land” could only be achieved by advancing to the socialist phase of revolution
The July Days and the Kornilov Uprising
1. Soviets' cooperation with Provisional Government under certain agreements
  1. Speedy peace
  2. Further democratization of the army
  3. Imposition of state control over the economy
  4. Preparation of plans for land reform
2. All-Russian Congress of Soviet met in June
  1. Passed a sizable vote of confidence in the coalition government, by 543 to 126
3. Severe military setback in June
  1. Collapse of the coalition government
  2. Demonstration in Petrograd by workers, soldiers, and sailors – July Days
  3. July Days were supported by the Bolsheviks
  4. Other party members were prevailed upon by the demonstrators to march at the helm of the protests under the slogan 'All power to the Soviets'
4. Response of Provisional Government
  1. Able to crush the demonstrations, with the help of loyal troops
  2. Leaked information to the newspaper saying Lenin was linked to German General Staff and was being financed by the Germans
    1. Discredit the Bolsheviks
    2. Bolsheviks were already unpopular among other socialist groups for trying to overthrow the Provisional Government
  3. PG ordered to arrest leaders of the Bolshevik party
    1. Lenin escapes
    2. Other leaders, such as Trotsky, are captured and imprisoned
5. Kornilov Uprising
  1. Prime minister Alexander Kerensky appointed Kornilov to be Supreme Command-in Chief of Russian armies
  2. Steps were taken to curb the powers of soldiers' committees and restore military discipline
    1. Asked PG to restore death penalty for military and civilian personnel
    2. Authority of army officers
    3. Use of courts martial for disruptive soldiers to be restored
    4. Revolutionary minded regiments to be disbanded and held in concentration camps
    5. Tough discipline on workers producing war materials
      - Workers fail to fulfill the quotas were to be sent to the front
      - Banning strikes and factory meetings
    6. Railway under military control
  3. Response of PG
    1. Hesitated – undoubted need to halt the lawlessness vs anarchy
    2. Riga fell to Germany
  4. Kornilov's demand and Kerensky's Response
    1. Kornilov
      - Wanted civilian and military authority place in his hands and resignation of PG
      - Proclaiming martial law in Petrograd
      - Send troops to Petrograd to crush the Bolsheviks to protect the PG
    2. Kerensky
      - Interpreted Kornilov's proposal as stage of a plot to overthrow the PG
      - Sent back the troops
    3. Soviet's response
      - Support for the Bolsheviks grew
The Bolshevik's Seizure of Power
1. Leadership
  1. Lenin
    1. Seize power immediately
  2. Zinoviev and Kamenev
    1. Wanted to wait to see the result of the Constituent Assembly elections
      - They believed Russia was economically and socially unready for successful socialist uprising
  3. Trotsky
    1. Work through the Petrograd Soviet and use the Second Congress of Soviets to launch Socialist revolution
  4. Vote of the Bolshevik Central Committee
    1. 10 to 2 agreed that “an armed rising is inevitable and that the time for it has come”
2. Overthrow of PG
  1. Between 24 and 25 October
    1. Support of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee and in the name of the Second Congress of Soviets, Bolsheviks overthrew the PG
    2. Kerensky escapes attempts to gather supporters of PG → fails
3. The Council of People's Commissars
  1. Peace be immediately concluded by all belligerent nations
  2. Landed estates be abolished and the land be handed over forthwith to peasant communes
  3. Exercise power on behalf of the Congress of Soviets
    1. Chairman → Lenin
    2. Commissar of Foreign Affairs → Trotsky
    3. Commissar for Nationalities → Stalin

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