For Lenin, the party was to be a group prepared to seize power as soon as possible yet on the other hand, for Martov, the main purpose of the party was to spread propaganda and raise the level of consciousness of the proletariat. This was because he did not believe that Russia was ready for a Marxist revolution for many years. Lenin believed that is the Mensheviks had their way, it would take years to start the revolution; they would just waste time on useless discussion and argument. Martov, replied that the revolution would fail if it did not have the support of the whole working class. The social democratic party remained spilt on the issue.
In the case of the Provisional Government they changed it from autocratic to democratic and Lenin changed it to a one party state; although the result was different the basis was the same. In some cases all of the rulers passed reforms that they had no choice whether to or not, it was simply necessary. All of the Tsars wanted to uphold their autocratic position, Alexander III most of all due to what happened to his father, so keeping absolute control was essential. Nicholas II was the only tsar to make any major political reforms due to the Tsar’s wanted to keep their power. However, Nicholas II had no choice to create the Duma because of the 1905 revolution; so he reluctantly did so he did not completely lose his position.
For example this caused divide within the populists leading to the formation of the Land and Liberty (1876) and the Black Repartition and the radical terrorist group People’s Will (1879). Eventually the Social Revolutionaries formed (1901) they believed that Russia’s future lay with the peasantry and so they wanted to give peasants their own land and improve living conditions for working classes. They used tactics such as terrorism and assassinations. However, the Liberals (Octobrists and Kadets- 1905), who also wanted to establish some sort of democracy did not
During the civil war, he was consistent in disobeying orders made from Lenin and Trotsky, as they were the main organisers. However, after Lenin’s death, he was elected politburo, in which now he had central power over the Bolshevik party. Trotsky was expected to take power on the death of Lenin but was not as
This led to the taking over of railway stations, and post and telegraph offices, meaning that the PG was left totally defenseless, allowing the Bolsheviks to seize control. The most crucial factor, however, was timing, where the Bolsheviks were able to take this power behind the veneer of Soviet control, minimizing chance of opposition. It is arguable, nonetheless, that even without this planning, seizure would still be within easy reach, due to the infamy of the Provisional Government and the other political parties, such as the Kadets, Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, failing to act. But nevertheless, this organizational brilliance from Trotsky was an assured way for secure control, as the Bolsheviks were only relatively known in the cities, compared to most of rural Russia, where their support dwindled in the wake of more popular
How far were divisions amongst its opponents responsible for the survival of Tsarist rule in the years 1881-1905? The autocratic rule of the Tsar had been tradition within Russia for many generations, but its popularity was often debated between the masses. Therefore, opposition to the Tsar and his autocratic rule was common, so the survival of a Tsarist reign was difficult to obtain, but after the 1905 revolution Nicholas was still in power. This is down to many factors, the first and what I consider the most important of which is the division amongst the opponents, but other factors did contribute such as the influence of the Okhrana, police and army, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Law. Despite opposition to the tsarist rule being illegal in Russia at this time, there were 3 significant parties which had one thing in common which was wanting to change the Tsarist regime.
What this shows is that without Lenin at their front haranguing them, the other Bolsheviks weren't so keen to rise up and take power. 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 preposing just that; tentative support for the Provisional Government.
During this revolution, Lenin didn’t play any important role, however, just as well as the 1905 Revolution, he was using this experiences to make something more carefully planned. In the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin wrote and announced what is known as the April Thesis, in which he attacked Bolsheviks for supporting the Provisional Government. Lenin accused those Bolsheviks who were still supporting the Provisional Government of betraying socialism and suggested that they should leave the party. Some people took Lenin`s advice, arguing that any attempt at revolution was certainly going to fail and would lead to another repressive, authoritarian Russian government. Because of his April Theses, the October Revolution and the July Days would have never sparked up.
However, Lenin had accepted that this was due to the slogan which he had adopted which was ‘Land to the Peasants.’ The ‘Decree on Workers’ Control’:- During 1917, there were a large number of factories which had been taken over by the workers. The decree accepted the takeover of the workers but did also instruct the workers committees to maintain ‘the strictest order and discipline’ within the workplace. Vesenkha:- Body to oversee economic development Creation of the Cheka, 1917:- Lenin was determined to impose absolute Bolshevik rule by suppressing of all political opposition. The October coup of the Cheka enables the Bolsheviks to deal with their opponents. Attitudes amongst Bolsheviks towards the war:- Some wanted the continuation of a revolutionary war against Germany whereas on the other hand, other people wanted an immediate peace to lessen the strains that were upon Russia.
Trotsky and Lenin were both massive key players in Russian history as Lenin being head of the Bolsheviks and Trotsky being his right-hand man. Now to say which of the two is better is a hard task, nonetheless looking at what was key to consolidate the Bolshevik power in the period 1918-1924 is quite simple as both did major things and the biggest of Trotsky’s, the Civil War. Although originally identifying himself with the Menshevik party, he was formally admitted to the Bolshevik party in August 1917, while still in jail (following a ‘crackdown’ on Bolshevik leadership and revolutionaries by the Provisional Government). Following the November revolution in which he had played a significant role in the organisation and commanding of the military support for the Bolsheviks, Trotsky continued to command the army when Kerensky (ex-prime minister of the Provisional Government) threatened to take back Petrograd with an entourage of loyal soldiers on November 13th. As foreign minister, Trotsky saw the importance of establishing peace, and so took steps towards this in order to fulfil the Bolshevik promise (‘Bread, Peace, Land’).