Developments between the revolutions of 1917

what was the nature of the bolsheviks at the time of the February revolution?

-they were a small party of 23,000 members. they only had 40 representatives in the soviet and all their major leaders were in exile

how, why and when did lenin return?

-lenin returned to russia from Switzerland on 3rd april 1917.

-the turn of events in February had caused him to do this

-the germans saw the advantage of allowing bolsheviks to enter russia and stir up trouble - they allowed him to travel from exile in switzerland through German to sweden then to finland then to petrograd.

-why did the soviets not take power? (3 reasons)

soviet did not believe time was right for revolution. Mensheviks and the sr believed that Russia had to go through a bourgeois revolution before the workers could assume power. there had to be a long period of capitalism.

-they wanted to avoid a civil war and counter revolution. they needed the middle class and army commanders on their side (the russian high command kept trops outside the city because they were reassured that hte duma politicans were in control of the situtaition. oif a socialist government took power, they would send in troops.

-they were scared that they could not control the masses.

what were the key policies of lenins april thesis?

-the war should be brought to an immediate end

-the power should be transferred to the soviets

-all land should be taken over by the state and re allocated to the peasants.

this was summed up as "peace, bread and land”, supported by the motto “all power to the soviets”

how did lenin justify his april thesis?

-he believed that a worldwide revolution would start, however, he thought it would begin in a backwards country like Russia rather than a developed country as Marx hinted to. Trotsky and Lenin thought that the “weakest link” of capitalism would break first and once there was a revolution it would begin spreading the revolution to the rest of Europe and the world.

what was the failed summer offensive that harmed the provisional government?

-the summer offensive starting 16th of June lasted for around 3 days, and was a disaster. the rate of desertion was high. soldiers killed their officers rather than fight. 100s of 1000s of soldiers were killed and territory was lost.

what was the land issue?

-peasants demanded land redistribution.

liberals in prov gov postponed land redistribution until constituent assembly elections were held. also aimed to compensate landowners.

-also scared that soldiers would flee war to seizel and.

How did the peasants react to the provisional governments stance on the land issue?

-they began taking more land, livestock, tools and timber.

-257 cases of land seizures were reported in july.

what was the issue of national minority demands?

-as the tsarist state collapsed, finns and the poles demanded independence.

-the biggest problem arose in ukraine (a valuable area containing farmland) they demanded self government and the moderate socialists in the prov gov made concessions to them. this outraged the liberals, who saw it as the first step towards the breakup of russia

how many factories closed in petrograd and between what months?

-how many jobs were lost?

538 factories closed in petrograd between February and july with the loss of 100,000 jobs

what was the grain situation?

-harvest of 1917 was very poor.

-peasants were unwilling to sell grain due to the lack of goods they clould buy width the money.

-the government sent out brigades to requisitions grain, which led to increased antagonism.

what were the july days?

-at the kronstadt naval base, sailors organised armed demonstrations in july using bolshevik slogans.

-on july 4th, 20,000 armed sailors from the base arrived in petrograd.

-the bolsheviks tried tot urn the protests into a peaceful demonstration, however, shots were fired at the protestors which led to chaos and rioting, limiting lenin’s credibility.

how did the july days effect bolshevik popularity?

-pravada newspaper shutdown.
-trotsky/kamenev arrested, lenin and stalin flee.

-even the bolshevik newspaper “izvestis” denounced the leaders due to the july days.

why did kerensky appoint Kornilov, and what did he do?

following the summer offensive, anti war sentiment grew so strong that in july kerensky appointed general larv kornilov as commander in cheif to resotre discipline. he introduced unpopular measures such as bringing back the death penalty.

SR’s and Mensheviks spoke out.

what was the kornilov affair?

in late august 1917, kornilov ordered 6 regiments of troops to march to petrograd to establish a military dictatorship.
-in response, kerensky released jailed bolsheviks and armed them with weapons to halt kornilov.
-tactic proved successful, coup leaders arrested.

-how did the kornlov affair effect kerensky?

-his reputation was highly damaged. his wife wrote “the prestige of kerensky and the provisional government was completely destroyed by the kornilov affair”

how did the kornilov affair effect the army?

-soldiers, infuriated by what they thought was an “officers plot”murdered 100s of officers

-it became clear that generals could not rely on troops to carry out their orders.

-officers felt that Kerensky betrayed Kornilov and were not prepared to fight for him in the coming revolution.

how did the kornilov affair effect the bolsheviks?

-bolsheviks gained a burst in popularity.

-membership, which was at 23,000 in february, reached 200,000 by the beginning of october.

-they were producing 41 newspapers and commanded a force of 10,000 red guards.

-bolsheviks won a majority in petrograd/moscow soviets in september

-on the 26th september trotsky became chairman of the executive committee of the petrograd soviet.

how did lenin attempt to convince bolsheviks for a revolution?

-in mid september he begun bombarding the 12-man central committee of the bolshevik party with letters demanding a preparation of revolution.

-on 12th september he stated that “history will not forgive us if we do not assume power now”

what are examples of the bolsheviks not actually wanting a revolution?

-3 days following lenin’s call for revolution, the committee voted against a coup.

-lenin’s threat of resignation did nothing

-kamenev/zinoviev believed that they should wait for constituent assembly elections, and even burnt some of lenins lettters

how did lenin finally convince the bolsheviks?

-on october 10th he haraguned the central committee, as they finally sided with him in a vote of 10-2. Kamenev/zinoviev voted against him.

how did trotsky prepare for revolution?

-he sent bolshevik speakers around factories to gather support

-he set up a military revolution committee on 16th october

-commissars were sent to all of petrograd garrison units and15/18 of them declared loyalty to the soviet rather than the provisional government.

what were the numbers of the bolsheviks military power?

-200,000 red guards

-60,000 baltic sailors

150,000 petrograd garrison soldiers