1. How did the Bolsheviks achieve and consolidate power?
L/O – To analyse how the Bolsheviks consolidated their power from

2. Young Stalin?

3. Why Study Stalin?
The Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 was supposed to produce a worker’s paradise.
By the 1930s the USSR under Josef Stalin was using terror, torture and mass murder on a massive scale.
Stalin was an ally of the West in WW2 which helped disguise the fact that he murdered more people than Hitler.
Studying Stalin raises a number of important questions. Does he prove that ‘power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely?’ Or does he show that communism can never work in practice, or did he corrupt the ideas of Marx and Lenin?

4. The February Revolution 1917
On 26th February 1917 food riots broke out in Petrograd. Tsar Nicholas II ordered the army to fire on protesters but they refused. 25,000 troops mutinied and supported the Duma (parliament).
The Tsar tried to return to Petrograd by train but was stopped by a group of army generals. They forced the Tsar to abdicate (give up power). A provisional government was setup.
The 400 year old Romanov dynasty had ended.

6. The Provisional Government (PG)
The Provisional Government continued the war against Germany but street protests continued. The army still refused to fire on protesters.
An alternative government called the Petrograd Soviet (workers council) was set up. The PG was not in total control.
Peasants had even started to demand more land. Protests grew. The PG wasn’t even elected – people didn’t believe it would hold promised elections.

8. Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
Two communist groups were trying at this time to get the support of the people and take over. Which group would you have supported?
“We need to support our Allies and win the war against Germany.”
“We cannot give the land to the peasants until we have had elections.”
“Food is needed for the soldiers on the front line: we all need to make sacrifices for this.”
“We can promise victory, stability and good government.”
“The war is causing people to starve to death: we must stop it.”
“If you support us in our bid for power we will give land to the peasants.”
“There would be enough food to go round if we weren’t still fighting the war.”
“We promise Peace, Bread and Land.”
If you agreed with most of these you would have been a Menshevik.
If you agreed with most of these you would have been a Bolshevik.

9. All people should be treated equally.
Karl Marx
The Bolshevik Party took control of Russia in October They were a Communist Party.
Wars are fought for rich people to make a profit, they never benefit ordinary people.
All people should be treated equally.
Workers should all share the profits from the things they make, they shouldn’t just go to the factory owners.
The only way to get the ruling classes to give up power is to take it from them by revolution.
All people should be paid the same wage regardless of what job they do.

10. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
The picture below is of Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik (Communist) Party in Russia. He had been in exile in Switzerland because of his revolutionary activities.

11. Lenin and the April Theses
In April 1917 Lenin returned and inspired the workers to rebel. He argued:
The land will be taken away from the landowners and given to the peasants.
The war is an imperialist war. The present government won’t pull out of it. We demand an end to the war.
We will give the people what they want and deserve.
Peace, Bread and Land.
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies are the true government of Russia.
All Power to the Soviets.

12. Kerensky Offensive
Kerensky hopes battlefield victories will reinvigorate plummeting Russian morale
Initial success vs. Austro- Hungarian troops followed by devastating losses when Germans intervene
Massive dissatisfaction, desertion across the front lines – the opposite of what the government intended

13. July Days
Violent demonstrations led by the Bolshevik supporters, later joined by the Kronstadt Sailors
Attempts to get Bolshevik Party support, but Lenin only gives short speech; the Party declines to back the uprising
Violent suppression by government – 100s killed, Trotsky arrested, Lenin forced to flee to Finland
Public opinion turns on Bolsheviks; PG becomes more conservative, institutes harsh measures to enforce discipline and curtail disorder

14. Chaos during the July Days

15. The Kornilov Affair
10-13 September: Army Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov begins marching on Petrograd, intent on ending revolution once and for all
Kerensky suspects this is an attempted coup d’etat, but has no forces left to defend the government
Makes the ultimately self- defeating decision to arm the only group with the numbers and capability to defend the city – the Petrograd Soviet
Bolsheviks enjoy a revival of support; PG frees political prisoners

16. The October Revolution 1917
The Bolsheviks seized control in one night in October 1917.
1. Trotsky got the support of the troops at the Peter & Paul Fortress.
2. Bolshevik Red Guards captured important places such as bridges, the telephone exchange and radio station.
3. At 10 p.m. a group of less than a dozen Red Guards seized the government headquarters. The government had fled and there was no resistance.
4. At about 1 a.m. Lenin stood up at a meeting of the All Russian Congress of Soviets, took off his disguise and announced that the Bolsheviks had now taken control in the name of the Soviets.
No one had voted the Bolsheviks into power, not even the Petrograd Soviet. But now they were the leaders of Russia.

17. “10 Days That Shook the World”