Lenin's ideology and the April Theses (3) Flashcards
What did Lenin map out?
Mapped out a programme in the “Letters from Afar”, written between 7th and 26th of March; in these, he made it clear that the Party’s job was to lead the people forward to a second revolution.
What did Lenin believe?
That the Russian middle class was too weak to carry through a full “bourgeois revolution” and that to allow the middle classes to continue in power was to hold the inevitable proletarian revolution back.
What belief is referred to as the theory of “permanent revolution”?
Lenin believed that the whole of Europe was on the brink of socialist revolution anyway, he felt the Russian revolution had no need to confine itself to bourgeois democratic objectives.
What was Lenin’s political programme reissued as?
The April Theses
What did the demands of the April Theses say? (3)
1) The war should be brought to an immediate end
2) Power should be transferred to the Soviets
3) All land should be taken over by the state and re-allocated to peasants by local soviets.
What were the 3 demands of the April Theses summed up as in a phrase?
Peace, bread and land.
What did some Bolsheviks fear about Lenin’s April Theses?
That perhaps Lenin had grown out of touch during his years of exile and that his radical proposals would do more harm that good.
What did the Mensheviks fear for Lenin?
Fear that Lenin would undermine what they had been doing and, by stirring up discontent, would provoke a right-wing reaction.
What did some think about Lenin’s call to oppose the Provisional Government?
Some thought it was unrealistic since the Bolsheviks were still in a minority among the socialists.
What was it due to that Lenin got his own way?
It was due to his skills of persuasion, tactful retreat, and compromise, threats of resignation and appeals to the rank and file.
What did Lenin abandon to do with the Provisional Government and why?
An immediate overthrow of the Provisional Government, thus winning over those who had feared civil war.
What did Lenin claim credit for?
The massive anti-war demonstration in Petrograd in April, which led to Milyukov and Guchkov’s resignations from the Provisional Government in May and a move to the left with the inclusion of four socialists in the cabinet.
Where did Lenin stand by April with his persuasions?
He had won over the majority of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party by sheer force of personality.
What happened on the 3rd of June when the first “All Russian Congress of Soviets” met in Petrograd?
It passed a vote of confidence in the Provisional Government by 543 votes to 126.
What were the Bolsheviks like during the June demonstartions?
Dominating the crowds with their banners as they marched.
