The October Revolution was a successful attempt by an extremist group to seize power through the use of strong-aim tatics. I believe this because Lenin fooled the people into believing that he could create a better government , when he was just possed by the idea of having power.His ideal goverment was no where nearthe representation of the desires or the aims of the Russia people, although he wanted them to believe this. He used three tatics to do this :Stamping out civil liberties, creating signs of resistance, and repression.
Lenin's first major mistake was taking away civil liberities from the Russian people. On October 27 he closed the press of the middle class, saying that he was keeping his promise. The only problem with that is he shut out the only voice that the people had to tell there opinion. People deserve the right to the freedom of press,especially when they already were overlooked." This new censorship appalled supporters of the revoultion, who correctly saw it as a portent of worse to come"(source 3). Not only was Lenin holding the people back , he was losin the support of people who had began to trust in him. This was a very strong-aim tatic to the people because they had gained hope seeing how Tsar Nicholas left them alone , but it was only a slap in the face making them lose all confidence.
Next Lenin creation of resistance many people began to see that the democratic government they wanted was turning into a dictatorship. Many workers began to strike leading to another revoultion. "Lenin and other leaders tried to keep this threat at bay by promising include other party's of government"(source 3) By this time people were tired of the lies that were being told, Lenin just like Tsar Nicholas II promised anything to gain back trust and order when things went wrong. He stated "Dictatorship of the proletariat represented a higher form of democratic institution ."(source 3) There again he went against the peoples will. All they asked for was equality, yet could not succeed due to the resistance placed upon them . It was if they were trying to build up a wall that kept getting knocked over constantly.
Lastly was repression. Lenin established the Cheka a.ka the secret police .Violence was becoming a big issue due the problems in which he caused.Lenin's only worry was the the state employees would strike , yet he showed his ways of wanting to take on radical measures against the wealthy. The state employees and the wealthy were two groups in which he knew could create controversary amongst a lot of people, which contributed to his worry.Also the establishment of the Cheka was a not only a repression , but a depression to the people. The Cheka was a police force that planned to use extreme violence to contain order, yet this reminded the people of "Bloody Sunday. Force was used that day which left many of there love ones dead , due to there want for equality.
Lenin could remain in power if he only tried to find ways the please the people , then his power would increase because they would trust him. Lenin should have understood that he was entering a suffering country that didnt have much to depend on except themselves ,so by taking away their civil liberties he took away there voice. Creating resistance only cause them to fight against it ,creating strikes and revolutions. And forming the Cheka only lead them back to there pass. Lenin destroyed himself and his gainage of power , you have to understand that you can only have power if the people allow it to take place. Lenin could not cooperate with the people so his chances of success were shot. :)
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hey....DeAndrea....!
ReplyDeleteI like your post but... In the beginning you began by stated that"His ideal goverment was no where nearthe representation of the desires or the aims of the Russia people, although he wanted them to believe this". Well in order for Lenin to try and again any power he first had to appeal to the people(Proletariat. He needed to prove that he could do a better job than the Provisional Government, so he wrote the April Theses. In the April Theses, it talks about who has power vs. who needs power and that shows that he is willing (in the beginning) to give the peasants the power (4). Although this plan was accepted by the people but later on the people then began to realize his signs of resistance."Much more trouble would flare up in the countrysided once the peasants began to learn what was in store for them". THis begins Lenins turning point. Question for you: Do you think that Lenin just jumped into using his strong-armed tatics or was it a series of events that lead up to the use of his strong armed-tatics?
Both Brittney and DeAndrea make excellent points. On one hand i do see where Brittney is coming from in questioning Lenin's attempt at representation but i do feel what DeAndrea is saying about his falseness. I am more or less caught in between on this one because i can understand both of their points. Lenin did write the April Theses in order to appeal to the Proletariat and prove he was more suitable than the Provisional Government but in doing so he wanted to appeal to the soviets as well as the bolsheviks. He wanted the Soviets to be on his side because they were the voice of the people and he wanted a direct connection in order to hear the problems of those under him, unlike the Tsar(2). From DeAndrea's point, on this topic, Lenin was falsly portraying his dealing of power. He stated that he wanted to give power to the Proletariats but in reality he was handing the power to the Soviets(3). Yes they were the voice of the people but they werent truly 'the people.'
ReplyDeleteIm a little confused though when DeAndrea says "Lenin's only worry was the the state employees would strike , yet he showed his ways of wanting to take on radical measures against the wealthy." It doesnt really make sense, or atleast it doesnt in my mind. Are you trying to say that Lenin was worried about the employees striking whilie at the same time he was trying to provoke the wealthy to have an uprise? Cause if so i dont think he was trying to get an uprise out of the wealthy, i just think he was trying to make them upset to the point that they would be unrestful. Through his April Theses Lenin made changes to the social status in order to have the majority on his side.
In terms of Brittney's question at the end, i believe his strong-armed tactics were planned out to be a series of events in order to gain control, slowly and steadily while at the same time decieving those of which he wanted to rule. I mean he definitely didnt just come to power over night, he analyzed the situation and came up with a game plan in order to come out as top dog!
Well first off I like you post. But I believe that Lenin did in fact represent what the people wanted instead of just trying to fool them. The people in the country wanted Russia to get out of the war and that’s what Lenin did in order to satisfy the people’s desires. Also I believe when Lenin was shutting out the press of the middle class that it wasn’t a mistake after all. I like the fact that Lenin was actually trying to give the working class some in put in what was going on. To me it seemed as if he was trying to even out the power that was mainly given to the bourgeoisie. (3) Yes I agree with you about the Ceka issue, I believe that the only way to stay in power is if the people let you stay in power. You can not force the people to trust you, and by creating the Ceka it kind of turn the people against him in my opinion. Lenin could have did other things and stayed in power longer then what he did.
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