Lesson 2-Who were the Bolsheviks and what did they believe? Flashcards
When was the Bolshevik Party established and following what?
1903
Following a split in the Social Democratic Party
When did the Tsarist regime collapse?
February 1914
Who was the last Tsar?
Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1918)
what did the Bolsheviks believe Capitalism should be replaced with?
Socialism
What was the Bolsheviks aims?
-Get rid of Tsarist regime
-Get rid of the upper and middle classes who exploited the workers and peasants under the capitalist system that had developed with the Industrial Revolution
Why did the Bolsheviks believe that capitalism should be replaced by socialism?
They thought that a government representing the workers would improve the living and working conditions of the people.
After socialism, what did the Bolsheviks hope to eventually establish?
Communism-when the people would have control over their own lives.
What was Marx’s view of historical change?
He believed a process of historical change from capitalism to communist was inevitable (would happen)
Primitive communism-feudalism-capitalism-socialism-communism
Define proletariat
The “lower” or “working” classes, the members of which must under capitalism sell their labor in order to earn a living.
What process did Lenin believe should happen?
-a highly centralised and disciplined party should seize power on behalf of the proletariat
-Power then be taken away from bourgeoisie and placed in hands of Bolshevik Party.
-The Bolshevik Party would then act as a dictatorship of the Proletariat to promote socialism by government control over the economy in the interests of the workers.
Define Dictatorship of the Proletariat
A government which rules on behalf of the working class.
Define exile
The state of being barred from one’s native country, typically for political or punitive (for punishment) reasons
Define Marxism
The idea that the concept of class struggle plays a central role in understanding society’s allegedly inevitable development form the bourgeois oppression under capitalism to a socialist and ultimately classless society.
Define socialism
a political and economic system in which property and the means of production are owned in common, typically controlled by the state or government. Socialism is based on the idea that common or public ownership of resources and means of production leads to a more equal society
Define capitalist
an investor of capital in business, especially one having a major financial interest in an important enterprise.
