Lenin and the Bolsheviks - Assignment Example

Lenin and the Bolsheviks Vladimir Lenin is a renowned revolutionist and an intellect that sponsored and was the main founder of the Bolshevik Party in Russia. Initially he was in exile in Switzerland, returned to Russia in 1917 to advocate for rebellion against the army, and later established the communist state in Russia. The German government during the spring season facilitated his return home. The German government did this to destabilize the Russia economy. The Bolshevik party received support from the Germany government. His arrival in 1917 was appreciated and he later condemned the current leaders including the Petrograd Soviet and the provisional government for their reluctance in aiding the struggle for power. After his arrival, Lenin advocated for the government overthrow through his speeches. The Bolshevik newspaper referred to Lenin’s speeches as the April theses. After his return, he yearned to replace the Bolshevik rule in Russia. Other socialists in the city were after his immediacy in controlling the Bolshevik rule. Lenin was termed a quack that could not make his radical move. He later pulled his supporters to furnish his plans within the shortest time possible. His movement was regarded as ‘all power to the soviet’ and he hoped to agitate the masses to avoid the provisional government (William 19). His strategy focused on the coming up with a new revolution in Russia. Lenin decided to manipulate the Meshevic who were a group of the soviet. He had the plan to manipulate them to satisfy his own wish (William 38). Lenin tried all means to pull the Bolshevik out of power after his return to Russia. On 1 April, he took his first attempt after there was disagreement between the Petrograd and the provisional government. The two groups disagreed due to unstated means of pulling Russia out of the First World War. The attempted coup was in vain after the Bolshevik who was determined to throw the government failed in their mission. There were demonstrations in the streets and this caused a lot of chaos. The Bolshevik tried other attacks and to incite the masses and this was a strong hold to Lenin as he learned from the failures of the Bolshevik. Lenin learned that the slow nature by which the provisional government was acting on Russia’s withdrawal from the war was a major weakness. Lenin knew that the four years that the government had received the treat from the Bolshevik was a thorough way for his army to revolt and come back home. Lenin maintained that Russia vacates the war very fast and this was not on condition whether Russia could lose its boundary or not. Thereby, Lenin received a lot of support from the armed forces. This to Lenin was a turning point towards seizing the federal government’s power. He therefore launched a campaign that was full of propaganda to the Russian troops who held high posts in the army. The Russian government had hoped that the return of Lenin could unite them than divide them. He thus came in at a point of confusion in Russia. Lenin was more concerned with defaming the provisional government and taking over power. This was his trick throughout his struggle for power (William 54-56). Good planning and the preparation by the Bolsheviks was a key factor for their success. The Bolshevik had a strong military foundation in the lower level. The troop was also promised peace from the German government. In addition, the group had a huge sum of money, which came from abroad, and partly from robbing of the local banks. The group referred to the mass as propaganda as the group’s name meant that it had the majority. This helped most of them to gather a lot of votes and fame from the locals who supported their mission to oust the government. This tainted the minds of the public as being the most popular group. Lenin and Trotsky, who were the troop leaders, were smarter than their competitors were. The Kerensky government received pressure from outer sources to leave power (William 88). The government had also lacked trust from many Russians. With the greatest determination that the group had, it was reflected in the way they tackled the war. The group was also favored by the time as most Russians were yearning for change. In Russian history, 1917 is the year of revolution due to the February and the October revolutions that took place in the same year. The two revolutions had little in common. In February, there was spontaneous collapse from within of the stardom while the other revolution was due to power seizing from the provisional government by the Bolshevik. Thus, the nature of these revolts is similar in terms of scale and preparation but the cause of the war is analogous. There are alleged reasons that caused the Tsardom to collapse. There were both economic reasons, social, war and the attitude that the army had on the government. The October revolt was planned and executed by the Bolshevik group, which made the war a success. Furthermore, the workers in Russia were sad about the situation in the government. In addition, the masses, and the peasants attitude was more radical but less than the February revolution (William 90-91). The Tsarist government failed to collapse after the Mensheviks tried all their efforts to overthrow it. It took the government more than ten months to collapse which was championed by Lenin. The government collapsed in 1917 due to the life that the royal families in Russia lived. They lived lavishly while majority of the Russians suffered from many social problems. The Russian armies suffered numerous injuries during the World War 1. Furthermore, the war consumed most of the Russian resources, which fueled the war against the government in power for taking part in World War 1. Their natural resource such as food, money and other manufactured goods became scarce because of the war. The state made the work of the socialist easy as they took power with ease from the provisional government and the royal family. The overthrow was done in February and later repeated in October to come up with a soviet union. The First World War in 1914 had a lot of impact on Russia. The beginning of the First World War was given the support from Nicholas 11. The Russian army was weakened by the military disasters that occurred at the Tannenburg and the Masurian lakes. The royal family was destroyed by the influence of Gregory Rasputin. Romanov was not in power when the Kerensky took over from the provisional government (William 130). Rasputin had alloy of influence on Romanov. Raputin believed in autocracy and this affected his position within the Russian social hierarchy. The war devastated Russia badly as had been predicted by Rasputin. Rasputin who had more influence on the Russian government, clashed with Duma as his position threatened the monarchy. According to William, Lenin and Trotsky had influence on the revolutionary movements that occurred in Russia (180). The two supported the staging of the second revolution and managed its time. They both faced opposition from the party but they gave Bolshevik much supports after the revolts were successful. The success arose after the general assembly was dismissed. Furthermore, they both wanted to end the participation of Russia in the First World War, which they saw as consuming Russia’s resources. They had treaty with the Germany, they supported the idea of labor duties conscription for those who did not participate in the army, and they both participated in making the red successful in the civil war. The two principals had some differences and these were that Trotsky was a participant in and an organizer in the October/November revolution while Lenin was the director of the war. Lenin was the driving force and the party leader in driving and controlling the Bolshevik to control the assembly and Russia. Lenin gave Trotsky orders the latter was in charge the foreign affairs commissioner whose role was to negotiate for peace with the Germans. He insisted that his friend agrees to the terms that he was against and this led to the resignation of Trotsky. Trotsky was appointed by Lenin to be the commissioner of the war. Lenin did not take part in the fight but proposed that there was to be war communism plus other measures in order to be successful. On the other hand, Trotsky came out with the red army and directed its operations. In the same way, Lenin was opposed to NEP but Trotsky was the founder (William 203). Despite their differences in opinions, the two are also similar in terms of their personality that is Trotsky was favored by Lenin to be his successor. There were two revolutions in Russia because; the February revolution was meant to overthrow the monarch in 1917. The revolution succeeded in ousting Tzar Nicholas 11from power and there was no one who knew who would take over the rule of the country. At this moment, there was a period of double dual power in that the interim government was in control of national network of soviets and the state power. The socialists who had allegedly been controlled by the lower in the class and politics led this. In this regard, the second revolution was called the October revolution (William 254). This revolution occurred at the time when Lenin was the leader of Bolshevik party. Lenin also headed the workers soviet, which worked hard to overthrow the provisional government. This later changed the Russian social structure that paved way for the introduction of the USSR. During this revolution, many riots occurred at Petersburg and Moscow. The revolution led to unstable movement of people in both the rural and the urban areas. The Bolshevik party was formed in 1903 and its formation caused many tensions from London conference. The conference was after the retention of the Menshevik party. Lenin was the chief strategist in the plans and programs of the Bolshevik party. The revolution was meant to bring a communist society in Russia. In 1905, Bolshevik was dormant and the final split in the two definite groups was in 1912. The Bolshevik was very active in the First World War and in 1917; it promoted programs that were radical (William 287-288). These were aimed at expanding the revolution to become socialist through establishing the workers and soldiers’ in Soviet. The group became dominant and strong which made it to seize power from the rulers in 1917. Many factors have been brought out as to why the reds had an advantage in the Russian civil war in 1918-1921 than the other groups that took part in the war. The group involved in the Russian civil war was determined to create a socialist government and take over the government. The whites on the other hand, had many opponents from the reds. The whites knew that some Reds wanted the old system of the Tzar and the old form of government back in power. As such, some wanted the return of military dictatorship employed. The liberals wanted to ape the Great Britain’s monarch kin of rule (William 299). Thus, the group was determined to defeat Bolsheviks plans. The reds had more organization and this made them deal well with attacks from their opponents. Another factor that was examined by the reds was the geography. The vast climate and the land that Russia covered was of advantage as the reds controlled the railway line and the main industrial parts. This favored them as compared to the whites who were scattered all over Russia. The provisional government existed for only eight months. This was because; the government needed a parliament since it had large number of middle class politicians. They enjoyed the political freedom and were not revolutionists. The government did not provide enough food in town. The government was opposed by the Soviet as the workers and the labors were to obey the government’s decisions, which were harsh. The government was opposed by Bolshevik, which promised land, and peace that the people wanted. This made the Bolsheviks to have more glimpse of the masses than the government. To worsen the situation the government started to fall apart due to numerous deaths resulting from their engagement in war, which made many soldiers to depart the army (Williams 302). Lenin is the greatest Russia revolutionist who advocated for Soviet Union in Russia. He shaped the western world of the twentieth century. He was behind the 1917 revolution and he radically changed the social and the political structure of Russia. He also participated in balancing power in Russia and the whole world. To the Russian, he is a very strong, courageous and a wise man. His words pervaded through the whole world in the normal daily life due to his infallible character. Work Cited Williams, Robert. The Other Bolsheviks: Lenin and His Critics, 1904-1914. New York: Indiana University Press, 1986. Print. Read More