The impact of the First World War and the final crisis of autocracy in February/March 1917
“The First World War was the main cause of the 1917 February/March Revolu?on in Russia.” To
what extent do you agree with this statement?
1917 Revolu?ons: February/March Revolu?on, October/November Revolu?on; Bolshevik
Revolu?on; Lenin and Trotsky
Analyse the causes and immediate consequences (up to 1921) of the October 1917 Russian
Revolu?on.
“There were two revolu?ons in Russia because of the weakness of the Provisional
Government.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Compare and contrast the roles of Lenin and Trotsky in the Bolshevik seizure of power in
October 1917.
• Personality Cult & Leadership
• Timing
• Use of coercion and force
• Poli?cal influence
PERSONALITY • Lenin focused on public percep?on of the party, yet Trotsky focused on the inner workings
CULT & • 7 April 1917 - April Thesis - spelt out the future of Bolshevik policy, insis?ng that they were the
LEADERSHIP only truly revolu?onary proletarian party. He coined the slogans 'All Power to the Soviets' and
'Peace, Bread and Land' to summarise the essence of Bolshevism.
• 26 Sep 1917 - Trotsky was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, where he availed his expert
strategies to turn the Soviet into an arm of the Bolshevik Party.
, • Both opposed war
• Addressed in his April Thesis, Lenin's promise of peace reflected his willingness to discon?nue
the war with Germany, greatly contras?ng the PG, who had no wish to end the war. This
demonstrates the similarity of their views, yet both Trotsky and Lenin's ability to capitalise on
this view is exercised differently
• During his membership of the Swiss Socialist Party during his exile in Switzerland, he delineated
his objec?on to war in his book, The War and the Interna?onal.
• Lenin was leader, Trotsky was chairman
• Founded in 1903, Lenin became the leader of the Bolshevik party, and sustained this ?tle
throughout the Revolu?on, up to 1924. Hence, in the October revolu?on, Lenin dominated the
ac?ons of the Bolshevik Party
• 26 Sep 1917 - Trotsky was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, where he availed his expert
strategies to turn the Soviet into an arm of the Bolshevik Party.
• AWtudes towards peasants
• Although Lenin declared that an alliance with the peasantry was improbable during his April
Thesis, his later conscience appreciated that it was impossible to dismiss the anarchic repetoires
of 4/5s of Russia's popula?on, henceforth adapted Marxist theory to add the Russian peasants to
the proletarian cause by promising the division of landed estates
• The land issue raised difficulty for the Bolsheviks; as a Marxist party, they had dismissed the
peasantry and, in fact, Trotsky had described the demographic as 'the pack horse'
Historiography
• Trotsky argues that Lenin led the party in fulfilling the Marxist prophecy of the inevitable triumph
of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. The revolu?on needed Lenin's par?cular dynamism to
make it happen when it did
• This argument was credited by Western sympathisers, such as Bri?sh Marxist Scholar eric
Hobsbawn
TIMING • Lenin was more adamant on ac?ng now, Trotsky goes along w it
• From his exile in Finland, he argued that the Bolsheviks must seize the moment while the PG was
most vulnerable and before the events of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets mee?ng (in late
October) and the Cons?tuent Assembly elec?ons (in Nov).
• As a maher of fact, wrote on 12 September: 'History will not forgive us if we do not assume
power'
• Trotsky was more apprehensive about ac?ng on the Bolsheviks' impa?ence. Ajer receiving
Lenin's lehers to the Bolshevik Central Commihee in Petrograd, Trotsky ini?ally urged that the
Bolsheviks should wait for the second Congress of Soviets
• Both have Bolsheviks ac?ng now
• The vote for immediate ac?on saw ten in favour (including Trotsky and Lenin), with only 2
opposing such ac?on.
• This demonstrates that both Lenin and Trotsky want the same desired outcome, yet this
similarity dismisses that Lenin ini?ated and inflicted this view onto Trotsky, thus accentua?ng the
disparate roles of the two Bolsheviks.
,USE OF • Lenin isn't physically involved in the use of force, yet shares, with Trotsky, the understanding that
COERCION & the use of force is necessary to overthrow the PG.
FORCE • However, during the insurrec?on, Lenin gave a speech to the Petrograd Soviet announcing that
the Provisional Government had been overthrown.
• This reinforces the argument that Lenin had a more public, leading role, yet Trotsky had a more
internal, leading role.
• 9 Oct – Trotsky set up the MRC, which (from 18 Oct onwards) began to gather troops at the
Bolshevik HQs in Smolny Ins?tute.
• Trotsky's figh?ng force was made up of mili?as from the Bolshevik Red Guards, former soldiers
and policemen.
• Trotsky's role involved the direct overthrow of the PG as he garnered the allegiance of 15/18
garrisons at the Winter Palace
• When Lenin gave the order for the uprising to begin, it was Trotsky who directed the Red Guards
in their seizure of the key vantage points in Petrograd (such as the bridges and the telegraph
offices)
• Historiography
• The non-determinist approach (by historians such as Richard Pipes and Robert Service) stresses
that lihle ahen?on was given to ideology and theory but, in fact, Lenin acted prac?cally.
• Richard Pipes argued that Lenin headed a minority-party coup in October that violently
wrenched the revolu?on away from its popular roots
• Stalin - "the party owes the rapid coming over of the garrison into the camp of the Soviets and
the skilful work of the Revolu?onary Military Commihee above all, and par?cularly to Comrade
Trotsky."
POLITICAL • 10 Oct 1917 - 5 members of the Bolshevik Party (Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Bubnov and Zinoviev)
INFLUENCE were elected members of the poli?cal Bureau of the Central Commihee.
• This commihee acted as the highest func?oning body in the party, and henceforth directed all
party and governmental ac?vi?es.
• Although Trotsky was not the leader of the central commihee (unlike Lenin), he s?ll deployed an
influen?al role in the commihee.
• For example, the politburo collec?vely decided to pursue the October Revolu?on, in which
Trotsky himself garnered the adequate military support to do so.
CONCLUSION • While it was Lenin who was indubitably the great influence behind the October rising, it was
Trotsky who actually organised it.
• Although their fundamental belief and inten?ons are the same and response to context has the
same driving force behind it, the ques?on asks to analyse the roles - not the inten?ons -
henceforth their roles are more different than similar in the October Revolu?on of 1917.
Compare and contrast the causes and nature of the two 1917 Russian Revolu?ons.
“Strong poli?cal and military leaders were the main factors in Bolshevik victory in the Russian
Civil War” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
“The poli?cal and military weakness of the Whites led to Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil
War” Discuss (2016 used)
, Provisional Government and dual power (Soviets)
Compare and contrast the role of the Soviets in the February and October revolu?ons of 1917 in
Russia.
Examine the view that the October / November Bolshevik Revolu?on was caused by the poor
decisions of the Provisional Government.
Lenin’s Russia/Soviet Union; consolida?on of new Soviet state; Civil War; War Communism;
New Economic Policy (NEP); terror and coercion; foreign policy
"Lenin abandoned ideology in order to gain and consolidate power.” To what extent do you
agree with this statement?
“Lenin was able to consolidate Bolshevik rule in Russia by combining popular policies and
repression.” To what extent do you agree with this statement about Bolshevik rule up to 1924?
Evaluate the factors that enabled Lenin to ensure the survival of the Soviet State
Evaluate the successes and failures of Lenin’s foreign policy between 1917 and 1924.
2017 specimen paper: Examine the reasons for Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War
May 2017: Evaluate the role of coercion and terror in the consolida?on of the Soviet state
between 1917 and 1924.
Candidates will appraise the contribu?on made by coercion and terror in consolida?ng the
Soviet state between 1917 and 1924. Evidence of coercion may include the closing of the
Cons?tuent Assembly and/or the forcing of ex-tsarist officers to serve in the Red Army. There
may also be reference to levels of censorship and the promo?on of Communist ideology. When
evalua?ng the use of terror, candidates may refer to the Cheka and the Red Terror, the
assassina?on of the Romanovs and the crushing of the Kronstadt Mu?ny. Some candidate may
elect to weigh the importance of coercion and terror against other factors. These may include:
the popularity of the Bolsheviks, their victory in the civil war and Bolshevik policies such as
the New Economic Policy (NEP). Candidates may discuss the fate of other poli?cal par?es such
as the Mensheviks and the Social Revolu?onaries and the role of the one-party state policy.
COERCION & • Jamie Bisher - "integral element of Bolshevik policy"
TERROR • Leon Trotsky - "in?mida?on is a powerful weapon of policy”
• The forcing of ex-tsarist officers to serve in the Red Army
• Ajer the end of the civil war, looking back, Trotsky explained the crucial role of former Tsarist
officers:
-“We needed them as representa?ves of their craj, as men who were familiar with
military rou?ne, and without whom we should have to start from scratch.”
• The overwhelming majority of commanders in the Red Army were former Tsarist officers.
• During the period of civil war 48,409 former Tsarist officers were taken into the Red Army, and
10,339 into the military-administra?ve staff; 13,949 army doctors and 26,767 lower medical
and veterinary personnel were taken over from the Tsarist army.
• In addi?on 214,717 former non-commissioned officers (NCOs) were recruited from the Tsar’s
army (314,181 altogether)
