The most important individual in bringing about the change in influence is Vladimir Lenin, who brought about a sudden sharp rise in the party’s popularity. Following the 1917 October Revolution, Lenin became the leader of the Communist Party and greatly increased the party’s political influence with his ‘one party state’. Lenin’s creation of the Politburo in 1919, which was a group of eight high profile party members who influenced any decision being made, demonstrates the party’s increased political influence by showing their domination of governmental bodies. Public support of the party is obvious in the increase of RCP membership, March 1919 to March 1920, from 250,000 to 612,000. This may have been due mainly to Lenin retaining his power through the 1918 civil war. In 1921, Lenin introduced his New Economic Policy, aimed at gaining peace with the peasant class, which resulted in the ending of armed resistance to the communists. This support increased the Russian Communist Party’s (RCP) public influence greatly, backed in rural areas as well as urban working class districts. Due to all these factors, Lenin is the most important individual in changing the influence of the Russian communist party between 1905 and 1945.…
Over the period from 1855 to 1964, Russia saw various reforms and policies under the Tsars and the Communist leaders that had great impacts on its economy and society both positive and negative. Lenin definitely implanted polices that changed society and the economy for example with war communism. However whether his policies had the greatest impact is debatable and in this essay I will be assessing the view whether Lenin had the greatest impact on Russia’s economy and society than any other ruler between the period from 1855-1964.…
A key factor that allowed Lenin and his party to dominate Russia was how the power was distributed throughout the government. The Bolsheviks created a system that took the form of a ‘pyramid of power’ this meant that the decisions and power sifted through all the political parties involved in the government finally leading up to the central committee; which was subjugated by the Bolsheviks. This meant that no matter what anyone else wanted if the Bolsheviks didn’t want to pass or agree with something, they didn’t have to; resulting in an extremely de facto government. The reason the Bolsheviks created this system how it was, is down to Lenin’s avid disbelief in democracy, Lenin favoured his ideal of democratic centralism, which invariable meant that he was in command and this ‘pyramid of power’ system suited Lenin’s desires. The fact that nobody else had such control of the government would have made it difficult for any change as they couldn’t get any alternative in the public domain as the Bolshevik system wouldn’t allow it, therefore any opposition that did exist wouldn’t be able to express their opinions and so the Bolsheviks were in a pretty secure position, thus able to survive the early days.…
Russia’s industrialisation as a result of the reforms of 1891 proved crucial in the fall of the old order. After Witte’s reforms of the late 1890s the population of Petrograd doubled between 1890 and 1910. With the working population in the cities it gave revolutionary groups the advantage of having a large group of frustrated workers in a confined space. In relation to the events of 1917 February revolution the population density allowed the numbers participating in the violent revolts to reach colossal numbers. With the Tsar on the war front, the masses persuaded the soldiers to join the revolutionary forces and by the time he came back, it was too late. Cities such as Petrograd and Moscow weren’t designed for the population increase, and as such workers were living in crowded dirty, overcrowded apartments. These living conditions lead to the frustrations throughout the revolutionary groups. Witte’s reforms converted a large portion of peasants into proletariat. As the tension raised in 1917 that same industrial working class responded with strikes. The strikes started by the Pulitov Steal workers on the 18th of February 1917 started out with one company, but the frustration with the Tsar wasn’t just in one factory. In exactly 12 days one strike had turned into a revolution the reason was that the reforms of Witte and Stolypin .With the peasants now in factories it ment they lacked farmers and had nobody to farm the good harvests in the war years, in fact the harvests of 1915 and 1916 were the best of the century. Without the food to feed a starving nation, the Russian government was in trouble and with this Wittes reforms that were designed…
In the USSR at the time of Lenin’s death there was no voting system for power. Although the Communists were the party destined to lead the USSR and there was no dangerous rival for their authority, the…
Russia was torn between the world war and the population was threatened as levels of starvation rose whilst industry fell. The provisional government could not do much to stop Russia plummeting as they did not have much power and the people of Russia failed to support them (1). The citizens of Russia were desperately looking for help and the Bolshevik party, created with the help of Lenin and Trotsky in the year 1917, had the answer. Slowly, they had managed to become one of the most powerful parties ever created, but many factors were to cause the consolidation of power. In this essay I will be comparing the significance of Vladimir Lenin in the Bolshevik consolidation of power with another important factor; Leon Trotsky.…
Lenin was important to the Bolshevik seizure of power as he was able to manipulate public opinion using slogans and propaganda. This was also shown early in the year, before Lenin's return to Russia from Switzerland. The Bolsheviks in Russia had printed in 'Pravda' (their newspaper) that their members and followers should support the Provisional Government, and also that they had given serious thought to the idea of combining with the Mensheviks. This was all very contrary to what Lenin wrote in his 'April Theses' which clearly laid out his views and beliefs on the subject. A key point of his 'April Theses' was "No Support for the Provisional Government", yet without him his party were proposing just that. Lenin as an individual was able to force the Bolsheviks to follow his beliefs and goals and without him they may never have chosen this course of action at all. Through his April thesis, particularly the slogans “Peace, Bread, Land” and “All Power to the Soviets”, he was able to harness the support of the Russian people.…
In 1917, the Bolsheviks gained power of Russia and were able to hold onto this growing power until 1924 and later. There are several factors that could be considered to be the reason as to why they were able to seize control. It could be said that Lenin was a significant factor due to his pragmatism and his use of terror, however it also could be said that other members of the Bolshevik party such as Leon Trotsky were responsible and perhaps even the Civil War for the Bolsheviks’ hold on power.…
In this essay I will analyse a combination of reasons on how the Bolsheviks came to power and discuss events such as the February and October revolutions, the fall of the Tsarist rule and the Provisional government.…
Karl Marx and his developed theory of Marxism played a vital role in influencing Lenin’s efforts to overthrow the Provisional Government eventually leading to the Russian Revolution of 1917.…
Under many aspects it is arguable that the 1905 Revolution and the March 1917 Revolution in Russia were very similar. Both years found the country still struggling from a war (one bringing humiliation and the other incomprehension and outrage); both found hostility from the streets directed against perceived governmental incompetence. Yet something had changed from 1905 to 1917 for Tsarism not to be able to survive the second revolution like it did the first. The reasons are to be researched in the impact that World War 1 had on the country, the October Manifesto issued by Nicholas II on 1905, and the loyalty that the population and the Armed Forces were not willing to give the Tsar anymore.…
During 1917 the political system of Russia, and the political opinions of its public, began to change. The First World War was deeply taking its toll, with the casualties running into millions, and food shortages were reaching crisis levels across Russia. Presided over by the Provisional Government, who had little support and even less real power, the people of Russia became restless. In October, the animosity between Government and populace came to a head, and a revolution put Lenin’s socialist Bolshevik party in power. This essay will show that, while the Bolshevik party was dedicated and driven in the values they believed in, it was only the seizing of opportunity, and a lot of luck, that they succeeded in taking power.…
The Russian Revolution was one of the most important revolutions in history. Just like the French people, Russians got tired of being treated unfairly by the Higher classes, and so decided to revolt against them. However unlike the French, they could not be satisfied, or entertained for long by a single revolution, reason why they did many revolts. Each time retreating at its middle, until they finally were annoyed and determined enough to overthrow the Government and change their lives as they knew it. Even so, that wasn’t the only cause of the Russian Revolution, along the many revolts came various relevant causes and events, but only few of them stood out, with such importance to today’s history of the causes for the Russian…
In March of 1917 in Russia, The Tsar, Nicholas II had little choice. The Great War (as it was known as at that time) had turned into a disaster, conditions at home were horrible, and the Menshevik government had forced Nicholas to abdicate He did this for himself and his son and gave the power to his brother. His brother gave up the power the next day because the country was in such disarray. After that, the Provisional Government took power. By November of 1917 in Russia, the Provisional Government was in complete collapse. In the meantime, the Bolshevik party, which was helped by German money, had built up an efficient party organisation, had a brilliant propaganda machine, and a powerful private army know as the Red Guards.…
The Russian Revolution was a key turning point in Russian history and in many ways is responsible for shaping the country into what it stands as now. At the helm of the revolutionary group, the Bolsheviks, was Vladimir Lenin and directly beneath him stood Leon Trotsky. It is important to make the distinction between the importance of rankings, and the amount of influence these two leaders had, when making the distinction between which of the two was more essential in the Russian Revolution. The main argument presented…