Developments between the revolutions including: the return of Lenin; Lenin’s
ideology and the April Theses; the July Days; the Kornilov coup and the roles of both
the Provisional Government and Trotsky; Lenin and the Central Committee of the
Bolshevik Party
-Between February and July 586 factories closed in Petrograd due to fuel and raw material
shortages.
-Lenin’s ideology changed the traditional Marxist ideology that the Petrograd Soviet followed.
- ‘Peace, bread and land’ and ‘All power to the soviets!’. Lenin’s April Thesis and views of
Revolutionary defeatism was considered so radical that Pravda refused to publish it.
-Lenin claimed credit for social changes such as the peasant land seizures. Before Lenin, there
were only 40 Bolshevik’s in the Petrograd Soviet.
-Trotsky returned after Lenin and left the Mensheviks after the April Thesis
-April Thesis one of causes of the April Crisis (anti-gov't protests against war)
-Sailors from Kronstadt naval base organised an armed demonstration with mass support in
Petrograd due to rising unemployment and prices (July Days)
-The Provisional Gov’t could not resolve food crisis and increased the price it paid for grain by
100% but it did not incentivise peasants to sell grain to cities. The Provisional Gov’t sent
punishment brigades into the countryside to requisition grain but it only made peasants more
hostile.
-Grain prices doubled between February-June and continued to rise by October and workers
strikes began to increase.
-The Bolsheviks were blamed for the July days and their newspapers were shut down so Lenin
and Stalin fled Russia and Trotsky was arrested
-June Offensive led to a significant increase in desertions and the army was disintegrating and
commandeering trains.
-Kerensky allowed Bolsheviks out to arm them to halt Kornilov’s advance
-Membership in Bolshevik party increased from 23,000 in February to 200,000 by October
-Provisional Gov’t failed to improve food supplies to cities and prices were higher than wages.
They also delayed land distribution for the peasants until a Constituent Assembly.
-Kornilov coup had led to fears that the revolution was under threat by the Right-wing, so the
Petrograd Soviet allowed Trotsky to create a Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) to protect
Petrograd. It also meant the Bolshevik’s had a Red Guard of 10,000.
-Kerensky’s authority was weakened by the Kornilov coup. So
me cartoons began associating him with Napoleon. He could not control the increasing
lawlessness and violence in the cities and countryside where country houses were being burned
down.
-Kamenev and Zinoviev, two leading members of the Bolshevik Central Committee disagreed
with Lenin when he returned to pressure an armed revolution, fearing Russia was not
economically ready. Trotsky tried to delay revolution until after All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
-Trotsky’s strong organisational skills made Lenin put him in charge of organising the seizure of
power.
ideology and the April Theses; the July Days; the Kornilov coup and the roles of both
the Provisional Government and Trotsky; Lenin and the Central Committee of the
Bolshevik Party
-Between February and July 586 factories closed in Petrograd due to fuel and raw material
shortages.
-Lenin’s ideology changed the traditional Marxist ideology that the Petrograd Soviet followed.
- ‘Peace, bread and land’ and ‘All power to the soviets!’. Lenin’s April Thesis and views of
Revolutionary defeatism was considered so radical that Pravda refused to publish it.
-Lenin claimed credit for social changes such as the peasant land seizures. Before Lenin, there
were only 40 Bolshevik’s in the Petrograd Soviet.
-Trotsky returned after Lenin and left the Mensheviks after the April Thesis
-April Thesis one of causes of the April Crisis (anti-gov't protests against war)
-Sailors from Kronstadt naval base organised an armed demonstration with mass support in
Petrograd due to rising unemployment and prices (July Days)
-The Provisional Gov’t could not resolve food crisis and increased the price it paid for grain by
100% but it did not incentivise peasants to sell grain to cities. The Provisional Gov’t sent
punishment brigades into the countryside to requisition grain but it only made peasants more
hostile.
-Grain prices doubled between February-June and continued to rise by October and workers
strikes began to increase.
-The Bolsheviks were blamed for the July days and their newspapers were shut down so Lenin
and Stalin fled Russia and Trotsky was arrested
-June Offensive led to a significant increase in desertions and the army was disintegrating and
commandeering trains.
-Kerensky allowed Bolsheviks out to arm them to halt Kornilov’s advance
-Membership in Bolshevik party increased from 23,000 in February to 200,000 by October
-Provisional Gov’t failed to improve food supplies to cities and prices were higher than wages.
They also delayed land distribution for the peasants until a Constituent Assembly.
-Kornilov coup had led to fears that the revolution was under threat by the Right-wing, so the
Petrograd Soviet allowed Trotsky to create a Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) to protect
Petrograd. It also meant the Bolshevik’s had a Red Guard of 10,000.
-Kerensky’s authority was weakened by the Kornilov coup. So
me cartoons began associating him with Napoleon. He could not control the increasing
lawlessness and violence in the cities and countryside where country houses were being burned
down.
-Kamenev and Zinoviev, two leading members of the Bolshevik Central Committee disagreed
with Lenin when he returned to pressure an armed revolution, fearing Russia was not
economically ready. Trotsky tried to delay revolution until after All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
-Trotsky’s strong organisational skills made Lenin put him in charge of organising the seizure of
power.
