Even though this solved all the immediate needs of the communist state, the majority of the peasants were unhappy about the new policies and rebelled against the Bolsheviks. This, in turn, forced Lenin to change policies and introduce the New Economic Policy. The NEP was seen, in the Bolsheviks’ eyes, as a return to capitalism as it allowed small businesses to open and people to sell goods in the market, even though major industries, such as steel and iron were still under government control. Lenin had a huge impact on Russia. He made Russia a strong state and consolidated her
Historians such as Steven Main argue, “WWI had given birth to the USSR1”. Which is what the Bolsheviks and Lenin would later turn Russia into. Like most wars, the First World War had a massive impact on Russia as a country and its people. The war like most took a toll on the economy and due to the fact that Russia was less industrially developed than its allies, France and Britain, this meant that they had to work harder to keep up with ammunition production as well as normal amenities such as food. As there was a shortage of supplies, standard “supply and demand” went up and inflation occurred and because 80% of Russian people were peasants and already poor this meant that many people went without causing famine.
Most of the peasants wanted change and the way they could do was to get the Tsar out and they could achieve that through the Social Revolutionaries and other opposition parties. Talking on the subject for the want and need for change, throughout the years between 1905 and 1914 there were still moderates and radicals who desired change and for the Tsarist regime to be extinguished. Even with the army at the Tsar’s side he still couldn’t stop all the thousands of strikes and riots that occurred during this period. Most of these strikes were caused by the Bolsheviks. The problem was, however, that there were no real leaders present in Russia to take control of all the separate groups of revolutionaries as they were either exiled or in a different country at the time, such as Lenin, who was in London trying to run the Bolshevik party from there.
Lenin’s skilled use of propaganda and the importance of the cause of ‘mother Russia’ harnessed the support of the peasants and working class in the face of another revolution. Trotsky’s inspirational oratory skills and successful reorganisation of the Red army ensured an effective, unified fighting force that was kept loyal and strong by Trotsky’s firm and ruthless discipline. However another factor responsible for the success of the Bolshevik’s in the Civil War was the ineffective organisation and leadership of the White Army which was the result of various personal and political rivalries between the parties which made unity and coordination impossible to achieve and victory on the side of the Whites incredibly difficult. It is to a critical extent that the leadership of the Bolsheviks was the reason for their victory in the Civil War from 1918-1921 in Russia as Lenin’s introduction of the sever policies under war communism dealt with the disastrous economic and military situation that the Bolsheviks were facing. The onset of Civil War required new and firmer policies for efficient industrial production and
Thesis: Many factors contributed to the survival of the tsarist regime in the 1905 Revolution and its downfall in the 1917 Revolution. The factors that helped its survival in the 1905 Revolution included political and economic advantages, while the factors that contributed to its downfall during the 1917 Revolution included the political and economic struggles. Direct Comparison: While the Russian Population was not seeking to overthrow the Tsarist autocracy during the 1905 Revolution, there only thought was to do so during the Revolution of 1917 when the men hit the street. Analysis: Perhaps the foremost factor contributing towards the failure of the 1905 revolution was that the peasants and the liberals were both to easily appeased by what the Tsar had to offer. The Tsar was not overthrown in the 1905 revolution because nobody imperatively wanted him to be overthrown even though he had made many faults, they rather wanted him to change the way he ruled the country, this made him pass the October Manifesto that installed the Duma, which was the lower houses of parliament that could pass laws but be vetoed by the Tsar, and grant civil liberties such as freedom of speech, religion, and press.
As the sailors were heroes of the 1917 revolution against the PG, their uprising came as a shock to the Bolsheviks, especially to Lenin. Nevertheless, Trotsky ordered the Red Guard to put down the uprising and Marshal Tukhachevshy rounded up the sailors, who shot them without a trial. Lenin realised that the peasants and some measure of economic liberalisation were essential for the regime to survive. Discontent could no longer be suppressed. Lenin said that the Kronstadt revolt was “the flash that lit up reality more than anything else”.
This proves that the Bolsheviks were brutal because they used force to keep themselves in power. For example, the cheka would execute or exile villagers who were against the government and this would prevent opposition because people would be too scared of what would happen to them if they openly critical of the government. This supports my line of argument because a fear of the government, provided by the cheka, would cause very few people to openly oppose the government, creating a very weak, broken opposition. Trotsky created and introduced the red army at the beginning of the civil war to fight again the various white armies. He decided to recruit ex-tsarist army soldiers so that he would have
This was why it was crucial for Lenin to show strong leadership which he did. However, I don’t think that the October/November revolution would have taken place without other factors which contributed to it. Lenin was a key factor in the revolution. His return to Russia in April 1917 was a key reason that the Bolsheviks succeeded. He issued his famous April Thesis, which had his promise of ‘Peace, Land and Bread’ which was cleverly aimed at the majority of Russia (peasants wanted land, everyone wanted peace and there was a bread shortage which made problems for most people).
Was bloody Sunday significant? Was Bloody Sunday the main cause for the Russian Revolution? (2nd attempt) I think that the Russian revolution 1905 was largely influenced by the events of Bloody Sunday. There were a lot of reasons for why the revolution had happened such as food shortages and financial problems but the Bloody Sunday brought all of the problems together and angered people even more which then lead to the revolution in 1917. The Bloody Sunday was a very important event in Russia which leads to the Russian revolution.
One of the main reasons why Stalin emerged as sole leader was because of how he used pragmatism to manipulate Lenin’s opinion of him to suggest that he was the most favorable leader to carry on Marxism throughout Russia. This key event that secured Stalin’s public support was around the time of Lenin’s funeral. His role as general secretary gave him the ‘grey blur’ title because of his reputation of being invisible, focusing his time on important paperwork. When Lenin released his testament, Stalin used his reputation to change it, which had previously had influential and opinionated views on Stalin, and if seen by the public, would inevitably have changed the success of Stalin’s emergence to a failure at becoming leader. Lenin’s real opinion of Stalin was highly negative.