Ce-Ce Jones
The October Revolution starts off uses the representation of the peoples need and desires, but later uses the representation of an extremist group to seize power.
The starting point of Lenin’s success took place when he saw that the Provisional Government over Russia was not satisfying the people. Lenin took the opportunity of the provisional government fall, in order to gain power. Lenin saw that the people of Russia were not happy with what was taking place in the county. The people were suffering from starvation, and wanted to get out of the war. When Lenin notice these things occurring he created the April Thesis, which was a list of ten ideas which Lenin believe would make the country better and also satisfying the people but mainly himself I believe.(2)
Lenin was taking advantage of the peoples needs and desires to become in power. He addressed the top two things the citizens of the country wanted and needed, which was food and pulling out of the war. (2) Due to the Provisional Governments stance, Russia was still in the war in order to get its pride back up, but Russia was not equipped to fight in the war.(3) Lenin would pull Russia out of the war, which would satisfy the people’s desires an also bring food back into Russia which would stop the starvation.
When Lenin did this he was getting the people good side, so that they would have a little more trust in him and follow his plans for the country. Lenin gave the people freedom of press, but limited the amount of press the high class or the Bourgeoisie possessed, which would make the lower class feel as if they had to same equality of the Bourgeoisie, and that the power was with the people.(2)
So the people believe that Lenin was giving them more power but in reality he was paving away for a dictatorship. Lenin was ahead of the game after he provided the Russian people freedom of press. Lenin set up an organization called Cheka, which were the Soviets. The Cheka was establish to limit the amount of freedom of speech the people would express, due to having fear of what might happen if the individual went too far with his or her freedom of speech. Also the Cheka help prevent the establishment of other groups. (3) This shows how Lenin used strong-armed tactics to keep the power he obtained.
The October Revolution was a representation of both. Lenin gain the peoples trust by giving them what they wanted to hear and what they wanted. He addressed the people’s desires and wants to start gaining his power, but as he took control and gain his power he started using strong armed tactics to ensure that he would stay in power.
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Ce-Ce "35" Jones.....
ReplyDeleteI agree with your blog post. Altogether, I think Lenin knew excat way to appeal to the poeples desires and needs. But...I do not think that once Lenin said what his plans were and that was giving the "power to the Soviets" that the peasants put all their trust in him. They have had previous experience with promises that remained unfulfilled, so I think the people once again gave another Leader the benefit of the doubt. It may have been easier for the peasants to be more accepting of Lenin's ideas because he seemed a bit more organized than the PRovisional Government. When I say organized I mean that Lenin came up with the April THeses to gain the support of the peasants because he wanted to give them the power. And also propaganda was used to gain the people's support. The PRovisional Gov't was not as organzied but yet and still the people were left on a cliff with promises remaining unfulfilled in both cases.
Well, CeCe i will admit your argument is very good and i agree with you argument as a whole, however, I am going to have to disagreee totally with what brittney said. She said "I mean that Lenin came up with the April THeses to gain the support of the peasants because he wanted to give them the power." I totally diagree with this statement. That was not his intentions!!! Just like what Cece said in his post and myself in my own post, Lenin only created the April Thesis to make them believe that he was giving them what they wanted, to make them believe that they were going to see a better change. The real reason was to gain the support of the workers and peasants so that he can obtain the power. CeCe said it easy for everyone to understand, "Lenin was taking advantage of the peoples needs and desires to become in power." So, Brittney, I'm not sure if i misunderstood you,because your argument was similar to mines at the beginning and end of your statment, but towards the middle was where i got lost... I got the intentions that you are saying that lenin created the April Thesis to gain the support, which is right and give them power!! No, he did not want to give them power because according to the results of the October Revolution, who took control?? Who worked to gain the power, to be in control? Lenin and the Bolsheviks. The peasants never gained anything!!
ReplyDeletesorry for the confusing middle part Toya, I was agreeing with Ce-Ce. Lenin needed to show the people that he could do a better jon than the Provisional Gov't. By creating the April Theses. he was able to show the people what could be theirs prospectively. That was his way of bribing the people and then going against his word.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the concept discussed between all of ya’ll, that Lenin used the needs of the people to trick them into following him. Lenin did use the April Thesis in order to get the people wrapped around his finger. Like Brittney said, “the people once again gave another leader the benefit of the doubt,” Lenin knew that if he appealed to the people they would be all for him. The people were backed into a corner because they were already under a crappy leadership and Lenin did what he could to seem like the stable leader the country needed.
ReplyDeleteBut don’t ya’ll think that Lenin used the people to get what he wanted, so originally the October Revolution was caused by the desires and aims of the people. They just united under him to have some organization in order to make the revolution happen. Not to mention if things did not turn out the way the people wanted, and then Lenin would be the fall guy. So the people used him too in order to protect themselves.
Ok Brittney, and Woooh Lexie!!! Girl you made a good point! I agree the cause of the October Revolution was the desire and aims of the people. However since the question was asking about the october revolution as a whole and its results, and not it's causes, the answer s an extremist group. I never thought of its causes though. if that was the question, you would be totally right. It was the desires and aims that caused the October Revolution..
ReplyDeleteI agree with you CeCe, in that Lenin preyed on the wants of the people and the failures of the Provisional Government to form his power base. Lenin had to tell “them what they wanted to hear” and appear to be giving them “what they wanted.”(CeCe) This follow through method was an important part of Lenin’s plan to gain power. To add to what you said, Lenin also promised the Russian people that the new government would be a democracy and they would hold elections. Lenin allowed those elections to happen but then claimed they results were “unrepresentative of the people’s will”(3). By saying the resulted didn’t represent the people; Lenin appeared to be on the people’s side, when really all he wanted so for the election not to be a success. This would leave him able to more easily be a dictator. Lenin’s deception of the people was key to his successful attempt using extreme measures to seize power. He was kind of saying watch this hand while the other one hits you!! It was important that Lenin distract the people from actually analyzing what he was doing, and if any one did he had measures in place to keep them from standing up against him.(3)
ReplyDeleteCece, I agree with your post in that Lenin first gained the people's trust then used vicious tactics in order to remain in power. However, I slightly disagree on your point about Lenin allowing the people freedom of press. You said, "Lenin was ahead of the game after he provided the Russian people freedom of press" (Cece). But Lenin didn't really allow the people freedom of press. Yes he gave the lower class more access to the press but he limited it by having, "any newspaper that incited (broadly defined) resistance to Sovnarkom could be shut down" (3). Lenin gave the peasants the press but did not allow complete freedom. They were allowed to publish whatever they pleased in the paper as long as it was not bashing him or the Sovnarkoms. This shows that Lenin had already proceeded in his process of ruling Russia under a complete dictator government. He wasn't giving the people power at all but only the illusion that he was when really he was just gaining their trust, not caring if the people's wants and needs were fulfilled or not.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't even that Lenin preyed on the people, so much as the people let him prey on them. They were so focused on hate and allowed themselves to be manipulated, to the point that they were -for- the removal of certain civil liberties (1). Lenin got the people so wrapped up in their own greed (offering them land and food) (1) that they blindly did what he said. This is needed, no radical group can succeed without radicals to fight for it. By appealing to the greedy and those open to radical change, he ensured he had plenty of people willing to fight for his cause. Remember, for a dictatorship to succeed you have to have a strong military. This is evidenced by him being able to stop the army's coup, and by his Red Army defeating the White Army. This buildup requires troops, and to get troops you have to have a few radicals hanging around...so his appeal to the greed of people and his appeal to people's hatred shows his true colors as a dictator.
ReplyDeleteCece !!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post, I LOVED your point. But I really think that Lenin never started off pleasing the people,it was just a bribe like giving people land without payment.Source 3 states "The peasants had their reservations, but they were a vast body with numerous and conflicting interests who could hardly vote as one." This shows that he never really fulfilled the peoples main issues ,as for the peasants a way to come to an agreement.Lenin was overly possed by bribing the people to trust him, when he really had no interest in them at all. I do agree with you when you said," People believe that Lenin was giving them more power but in reality he was paving away for a dictatorship." Because he really was giving them an inch, while he took a mile. The people during this era needed someone to depend on ,yet Lenin was not the one. He follwed the path of Czar NicholasII, but made it 100% worst. Just as you stated the people were on their way to a dictatorship, without them even noticing it.
Cece! (we goin to state)
ReplyDeleteI agreee with several of the point you made in your post. I agree when you said that his initial attention to the peoples desires was only to gain their support at the beginning. But then as he gained power he used those strong armed tactics to keep power and take complete control. But do you think that these tactics could have been benefical to the people? yes the red army and the cheka were forceful groups that took away peoples right and eliminated Lenin's opposition but had he not had these groups there could have been another revolution. I mean the provisional government had no force to back it up which is how Lenin was able to overthrow them. So could it be possible that by these tactics Lenin actually benefitted the people by keeping the cycle from continuing because the people were impatient and had oppositon remained without fear they might have revolted against Lenin if changes didnt occur quickly