one of the most significant and consequential Bolshevik members and Leaders in Russian history.
one of the most significant and consequential Bolshevik members and Leaders in Russian history.
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.…
Trotsky however was the complete opposite to Stalin. He was popular, an orator and a talented theorist who stirred loyalty in his troops. His radical ideas made him well-liked with the young and idealistic members of the communist party. Lenin in his testament identified Trotsky as a “the most able in the present communist committee” he also remarked on Trotsky’s “too far reaching self-confidence”…
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) How significant was Lenin’s leadership in the Bolshevik consolidation of power in the period to 1924?…
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.…
He fuelled a period of massive industrialisation which ultimately lead to the emergence of a new social group; the urban proletariat. This group, who had little status in Russian society in the period 1854-1894, now played a major role in Russia, meaning a change in an average workers status. By 1914, there were 2.9 million workers employed in Russia working in 24,900 factories. However, this period comes with a degree of continuity in the level of status of workers; in 1910 only half of Russia’s national productivity was industrial. This points in the general direction that, as with the reigns of Alexander the II and III, the peasants were the social class with more power. The provisional government of February 1917 marked a change for the status of workers in Russia. It was formed with the Petrograd soviet, a council of workers and soldiers. They controlled the railway, postal and telegraph services; a level of status in which workers had previously never held. During Lenin’s rule, there were varying degrees of workers status: ‘While the peasantry suffered between 1918 and 1921, the urban workers became better off…The NEP clearly benefited the peasantry at the expense of urban workers’1. This quote from Lee can be challenged, as during war communism 1918 the populations of Moscow dropped by half. This shows that workers…
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.…
On 24th October 1917 the Lenin and the Bolsheviks led a revolution in Russia. The Bolshevik Red Guards led a revolution against the Provisional Government by seizing control of stations, telephone exchanges, post offices, the national bank and the Winter Palace in Petrograd. Now Lenin set about creating the world’s first communist state. Although he was a strong influence, he was not solely responsible for the outbreak of revolution. There are other important causes of the Bolshevik seizure of power, such as the weakness of the Provisional government and Kerensky’s mistakes. Also other important factor was the actions of Trotsky and the timing and luck of the Bolsheviks. However, Lenin was, to a large extent, crucial to the Bolshevik seizure of power because he presented his April thesis, which gave the people of Russia an awakening to the communist aim.…
Trotsky was important in organising and coordinating the actual take over Petrograd in November, but Lenin was even more important because he was a strong leader who guided the Central Committee of the Party and pushed to make the takeover happen. For example, he produced the April Theses, which gave the Bolsheviks clear goals and made them better focused and organized, which was vital if they were going to take over successfully. He also put together the slogan ‘Bread, Peace, Land, and All power to the Soviets!’ which was designed to appeal to a broad range of people and he gave speeches and led rallies to inspire people to join the party. This meant that the Bolsheviks grew in popularity because they were offering people what they wanted – in particular they were the only party who opposed the war and all the other parties were associated with the much-disliked Provisional Government, which seemed to be doing…
Shortly after Lenin’s rule there was a fight for power between Trotsky and Stalin. In the end, Stalin prevailed and earned leadership of the Soviet Union during the mid-1920s. However, once Stalin came to power, the lives of the society changed dramatically. Stalin’s wished to restore society which caused him to reverse Lenin’s previous work. Stalin revoked many laws concerning women’s emancipation because he wanted to strengthen tradition and build up the population.…
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.…
Since the tsar, Lenin has taken the ‘throne’ and along with the Bolsheviks proceeded to turn Russia into a one-party state. It can be argued that Russia has remained almost unchanged in terms of government policies and its traditions this is shown by Lenin's oppressive policies such as censorship. Lenin was not born into power and this shows he is in fact not an "heir" to Russian tradition. Similarly he had as little time for democracy as the tsars had, and as heir to the Russian tradition had followed the oppressive system and provided the continuation of the absolutist tradition in Russian. The Kronstadt revolt (1921) was a clear proof of the absolutism of the Bolshevik control and it is seen that rather than changing- Lenin ultimately replaced one form of state authoritarianism with another.…
Leon Trotsky, born Lev Davidovich Bronstein was one of the most foremost figures in the Russian revolution and civil war. Trotsky holds great significance to Soviet Russia as he provided both drive and organisation and is attributed to saving the Bolshevik revolution of November 1917. Some debate however does exist among historians as to whether Trotsky was a practical idealist or simply a naïve revolutionary. Trotsky’s vast impact and contribution to Soviet Russia is however undisputed and undeniable.…
Lenin’s hardcore Communist policies were a disaster in the USSR: Food production and industrial output virtually collapsed and the county started falling apart. He had to abandon the most extreme Communist practices early on because they just didn’t work in real life.…
The question of this investigation is: “To what extent was Leon trotsky more valuable to the Bolsheviks and the Russian Revolution, rather than Vladimir Lenin, his superior?”…