Nenad Stefanovski
Ms Fleming
IB1 History
18 March 2013
“Left Wing single party states achieve power as the result of a revolutionary process against tradition.” Does this adequately explain how any one single party state that you have studied acquired power? In 1917, a revolution took place in Russia that overthrew the traditional Tsarist regime and brought a single party state, the Bolshevik Party, into power. The Bolshevik party harnessed the revolutionary spirit from the overthrow of the Tsarist regime in order to overthrow the Provisional government and eventually seize power. There are several reasons that the Bolshevik Party went against tradition including the failure of the Tsarist regime and the failure of the Provisional
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One of the main reasons that the Bolsheviks gained support in 1917 was due to the fact that Lenin rejected any compromise with the propertied classes, and insisted that the power should be held by the proletariat and the peasants, which was the majority of Russia’s population. Another reason for the Bolshevik’s growing support was because the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries continued to support the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government had failed to enact land reforms demanded by the peasantry and had failed to keep the military from falling apart. As previously mentioned, the Bolsheviks had harnessed the revolutionary mood of the workers and garrison soldiers in order to successfully go through with the October Revolution (Connor 1). The Petrograd Soviets and the Red Guards also supported the overthrow of the Provisional Government as they did not feel it represented their interests. This gave even more support to the Bolsheviks as they promised the overthrow of the traditional order. Lenin created the Sovnarkom, which would be the new type of government in Russia, and would replace the Provisional Government (Provisional Government). The Sovnarkom’s initial objectives represented a revolt against tradition. This is because the objectives included land collectivization, where land is taken from the nobles, church, and tsar and given to the peasants, and to empower workers to set up factory committees to take control of factories.
After the
In October 1917, there was enough opposition for Lenin to take power as leader of the Bolsheviks. The Provisional Government provided him with no majority support, with the Bolsheviks winning 24% and the SRs gaining 54% of votes. The Liberal period consisting of keeping workers and peasants happy left them with little power. Decree on land gives noble land to peasantry so that they have legal title to it, did it to stop rebellion and get peasant support in the civil war. 2. War Communism- Summer 1918 (civil war)- more authoritarian. 3. 1921- New Economic freedom for peasantry Economic policy- less authoritarian.
The Bolshevik Revolution exemplified the complexities and contradictions inherent in revolutionary transformation. From the 1830s to the 1920s, countries all over Europe were setting up revolutions to recreate European politics and society. Oppositions from without and divisions from within all set back and blunted these revolutions. Despite efforts put forth by monarchies, intellectual thinkers and even peasants, achieving a successful revolution was not an easy
Bolsheviks' Seizure of Power in 1917 There are many factors that help explain how and why the Bolsheviks managed to seize power in 1917. It was a combination of long and short term causes that together, created a revolution. The political system itself was long overdue for reform, but with a weak Tsar, the economic and social conditions became worse and worse. In 23 years, Nicholas II dropped from the glorious ‘Little Father of Russia’ to prisoners of his own country, hatred and despised by the majority, for the suffering and unhappiness he had helped create.
In 1917, in the midst of the Great War, Russia faced one of the biggest political shifts that the Tsarist-ruled country had ever known-the Bolshevik Revolution. There are two significant time frames associated with the Bolshevik Revolution. In the February revolution Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne and a Provisional Government took control. In the October revolution the Bolsheviks took power by overthrowing the Provisional Government. How did the October revolution become a reality? What factors facilitated the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917? Two important factors were the July event at Taurida Palace, and the Kornilov Affair. Richard Pipes describes in detail how Lenin influenced the Bolshevik party throughout the
The Bolsheviks, commonly known as the Reds, had one aim: to take over the current government and create a
During the 1900’s the Russian Government made it extremely hard for the Bolsheviks to progress which made them revolt against the government making this a prime matter for the start of the Revolution. The Czarist government was ostracized by the common people of Russia so Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Provisional Government, whom later on were overthrown by Lenin and shortly after the Bolsheviks took control over Russia. Russia was hard to develop because of the major leaders who had control; Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privileged and class-divisions were to be eliminated, a new era of socialism
There were many different equally important reasons why Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to hold on to their power. For Lenin, and the Bolsheviks, winning political power was relatively easy, compared with retaining it. They had many different objects to overcome, such as; Russia was in chaos, politically and economically, and normal government had broken down in large areas, yet despite all these problems Lenin was able to consolidate his power – and create the world’s first communist state.
After overthrowing the Provisional Government and forming the Sovnarkom socialist government in the October Revolution (1917), the Bolsheviks were hampered by problems that arose over social, political and economic factors, however to consolidate their power, they used means of sabotage and appeasing the population. Many decrees were published to placate the masses, such as the Decree on land and the Decree on Workers’ Control, to control the economic situation. Politically, the Bolsheviks formed the Cheka to expose and investigate all counter-revolutionary and criminal activities. What sparked the consolidation of power was the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.
The Bolsheviks (lit. “one for the majority”) were a Russian political party that was founded in 1903 by Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov, when they split away from the Menshevik (lit. “one for the minority”) faction under the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. By 1905, the Bolsheviks were no longer a minor faction, but one that had over 8,400 members. This number increased to 46,000 by 1910, a time where the Mensheviks had only 38,000. The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks continued to both gain and lose the majority in their parent party, and in 1910, they were forced to band together due to their loss of numbers and pressure from the Tzar, even though Lenin was strongly against the idea. Then, in 1912, the Bolsheviks broke away
The Russian Revolutions of 1917 There were two revolutions that occurred in Russia in 1917. The first one, in February, overthrew the Russian monarchy. The second one, in October, created the world’s first Communist state. The Russian revolutions of 1917 involved a series of uprisings by workers and peasants throughout the country and by soldiers, who were predominantly of peasant origin, in the Russian army.
At the start of the 20th century, the ruling Tsar of Russia had absolute power and his Government was corrupt, hence, the majority of the people were against him. Vladimir Ilich Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks Socialist Party wanted a revolution to overthrow the Government. Relative to these times, it was Lenin who directed the course of the oncoming Russian October Revolution.
The Success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in October 1917 The Bolshevik seizure of power or coup de’tat of October 25th, 1917 was a culmination of both internal and external failure to satisfy the needs of an oppressed Russian society. In contrast to the spontaneous revolts earlier in 1917, the Bolshevik revolution was ‘a carefully planned plot carried out by ‘professional’ revolutionaries. ’[1] The victory of the Marxist Lenin’s
Account For the Success of the Bolsheviks in October 1917 At the beginning of 1917 most of the Bolsheviks were in exile but by the end of 1917 the Bolshevik party had not only consolidated control of Moscow and Petrograd, but they were also advancing on the rest of the country. This success was due to several linked factors; the Bolshevik policy of non-cooperation, weakness of the Provisional Government, division of alternative opposition, Lenin's leadership skills, the power of the Petrograd Soviet and Trotsky as its leader, failure on deliver of land reform and the oppressed, armed workers in Petrograd. Bolshevik success is dictated by whether they met their aims; these included the
The revolution was an event that was constructed on a small scale of people that were made up of the Bolshevik party, for overturning the Provisional government into the Soviet Union. The revolution was a voluntarist revolution, as it explored the idea of individual agencies and the concept that the cause of an event is based on the actions of those participating themselves. For instance, in the October revolution, the uprising of the political change was due to the action of Lenin and the Bolshevik party. Without the participation of the party and the leadership of Lenin, the revolution would not have been executed in such magnitude. The October revolution is a voluntarist revolution for the following reasons, first, the leadership from Lenin, proved to be more progressive, compared to the traditional leaders at that time. Lenin instructed the affairs of the revolution in public, after writing the April These a speech that criticized the Provisional government and promoted that the Russian government falls under the Soviet Union. Lenin’s charismatic traits are essentially the reason behind the large amount of support that the Bolshevik party and the Soviet Union received, a famous line from the April These: “All Power to the Soviets”, was used in propaganda during the time of the revolution, it was a phrase that changed the course of
According to Andrew Janos, “the price of economic progress has been political turmoil”. (Janos, pg. 21) If the Modernization Theory holds that countries tend to become more democratic the more they modernize, then political turmoil is to be expected in democracies. Certainly this can occur in both parliamentary and presidential systems: as Linz argues, the presidential system concentrates too much power on the president, resulting in “winner-take-all” politics (Linz, pg. 56) and the polarization of political parties. This is evident in the United States, where the president is elected separately and Congress is divided between the opposing Democrats and Republicans. Conversely, the parliamentary system in Britain, as well as that adapted by the former British colonies of Sri Lanka and Nigeria, has had its fair share of single-party hegemony and political abuse. (Horowitz, pg. 78) Democracy is therefore not a perfect form of government when put in practice, and much of its