Assess the Role of Lenin in the Success of the Bolshevik Revolutuion
Essay 1:
1. Assess the role of Lenin in the success of the Bolshevik revolution.
Lenin’s political role in the success of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution was to a critical extent due to his thirst for power. However, to a reduced extent, the feebleness of the Provisional Government and the support/work of Trotsky guaranteed political accomplishment. Lenin’s strength within the political sphere was most accentuated by his April Theses – 7 April 1917. Lenin was a described by post-revisionist historian Robert Service as a ‘political warrior’ and a ‘power hungry politician’. Lenin aspired to achieve power and superiority over others, thus he founded a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party – The Bolsheviks in an attempt to overthrow the Provisional Government and gain rule over Russia “winning was everything for Lenin”– ‘Lenin: a biography’, Robert Service. Lenin postulated that “by offering a democratic peace straight away, by giving land to the peasants straight away, by restoring the democratic institutions and freedoms trampled on and crushed by Kerensky, the Bolsheviks will form a government that no one will overthrow…” – this was the basis of the Bolshevik series of directives the April Theses, of which Lenin was the mastermind. Lenin’s April theses influenced the July Days and October revolution in 1917 and also allowed political amnesty for exiles. The attainment of the April Theses was aided by the growing dislike of the Provisional Government for it could not and was unwilling to offer the directives. Post revisionist McCauley claims that it was a combination of Lenin’s skill as well as conditions in Russia at the time that enabled the Bolshevik to gain power. The momentum of the Bolsheviks was highly influenced by Lenin’s hunger and determination for power, Service asserts “he was a sinuous politician in pursuit of his ideological goals” The Bolsheviks would not have apprehended rule if Lenin did not call for them to seize
1. Assess the role of Lenin in the success of the Bolshevik revolution.
Lenin’s political role in the success of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution was to a critical extent due to his thirst for power. However, to a reduced extent, the feebleness of the Provisional Government and the support/work of Trotsky guaranteed political accomplishment. Lenin’s strength within the political sphere was most accentuated by his April Theses – 7 April 1917. Lenin was a described by post-revisionist historian Robert Service as a ‘political warrior’ and a ‘power hungry politician’. Lenin aspired to achieve power and superiority over others, thus he founded a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party – The Bolsheviks in an attempt to overthrow the Provisional Government and gain rule over Russia “winning was everything for Lenin”– ‘Lenin: a biography’, Robert Service. Lenin postulated that “by offering a democratic peace straight away, by giving land to the peasants straight away, by restoring the democratic institutions and freedoms trampled on and crushed by Kerensky, the Bolsheviks will form a government that no one will overthrow…” – this was the basis of the Bolshevik series of directives the April Theses, of which Lenin was the mastermind. Lenin’s April theses influenced the July Days and October revolution in 1917 and also allowed political amnesty for exiles. The attainment of the April Theses was aided by the growing dislike of the Provisional Government for it could not and was unwilling to offer the directives. Post revisionist McCauley claims that it was a combination of Lenin’s skill as well as conditions in Russia at the time that enabled the Bolshevik to gain power. The momentum of the Bolsheviks was highly influenced by Lenin’s hunger and determination for power, Service asserts “he was a sinuous politician in pursuit of his ideological goals” The Bolsheviks would not have apprehended rule if Lenin did not call for them to seize