Was the October Revolution (Bolshevik Revolution) and its results a true representation of the desires and aims of the Russian people or was it a successful attempt by an extremist group to seize power through the use of strong-armed tactics?The question for this week deals not only with the October Revolution, but the rise and rule of a single-party state in the form of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Due to TOK and our schedule for this week, we are definitely going to have to heavily rely on individual research and group discussion in order to advance our understanding of this topic. Before attempting to answer this question, we need to investigate the following questions:1) What were the aims/goals of Lenin and the Bolsheviks as the group began to emerge both before and during the Russian Revolution? You need to focus on Lenin's message to the people of Russia in this question. His April Theses would be a good place to start in regards to what Lenin's aims for Russia actually were. The answer to this question should be pretty extensive.2) What methods were used by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in order to a) Gain power, and b) maintain power, in Russia. Focus on several aspects here:a) Lenin's view on Civil Libertiesb) Lenin's treatment of opposition parties/groupsc) Lenin's use of the Chekad) Lenin's decisions regarding Russia's involvement in World War I e) Lenin's use of propaganda f) Lenin's treatment of the Provisional Government g) Lenin's overall use of totalitarianism as a means of maitaining power. You definitely need to research this information before you go about answering the question. At this point you have the two sources that will provide a jumping off point for you, but outside research is encouraged. Feel free to provide links to any websites that you feel are a reliable source of relevant information. I was very pleased and impressed with the depth of discussion in last week's discussion. Keep that same level of debate in this week's discussion. Although the question does not lead to as much debate, there is still a great amount of discussion to be had over what you think allowed for the October Revolution to succeed, despite the lack of popular support for the Bolsheviks. Remember the deadlines for your posts, as well as the rubric for both the original post as well as your replies to your classmates. You should be practicing the writing that will be asked of you in May, with a great deal of analysis that focuses back to the question, which in our case would be an historical investigation.
Due Dates:
Original Posts Due By Thursday 11/12/09 by Midnight
Two Responses Due By Sunday 11/15/09 by Midnight
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I think that the October Revolution, or Bolshevik Revolution was a very clear and obviously successful attempt by an extremist group to gain and maintain power through use of strong-armed tactics.
ReplyDeleteAs it says in “Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler”, on page 41, “it was the pledge to end the war, more than anything else, that brought them over to the side of the new government. Lenin called on ‘all the belligerent peoples to negotiate a just, democratic peace’ without annexations.” This was what the Russian people wanted. They were tired of fighting in the Great War and of having just more and more Russian soldiers dying in the war and of the never ending hunger. Lenin promised an end to the war and gave the Russian people new hope for the future taking power away from the Bourgoisie and enabling the peasants and lower class to get the food they need. If Lenin and the politicians below him had done those things and the things that he suggested in his April thesis, the vast majority of the nation, the lower class, would likely have been happy since that is what they wanted.
However, ending the war with Germany and the rest of the Central powers would still have likely proved difficult because Germany had already invaded neutral countries like Belgium. But it would not have been as difficult to do if Lenin had not proven to be a monster dictator because he would have had almost the entire country supporting him. He would have had the support and military streingth those millions of Russians who he took the rights from or emprisoned or destroyed because they were against him and his ideals, or at least he thought.
But instead of becoming the “man of the people” communist leader he promised to become, he took away rights from almost all the citizens, like freedom of speech, religion, and press, he emprizoned millions and had many millions of his own people murdered. He did all of these horrendous deeds to individuals and groups of people who he and his followers felt were threats or opponents to his extremist, supposedly communist ideals.
He claimed that he did these things for good of the peasants, so that they would be given what they had been deprived of by the former governments. However, he proved time and time again to only care about those who either supported him or were too terrified to openly oppose him and when there were not enough volunteers for the Red Army, the peasants were forced to “volunteer” by the Communist party, as this quote shows: “Trotsky pushed for universal conscription because there were not enough volunteers for the Red Army… By November the Communist Party itself ‘volunteered’ forty thousand of its own members, many of whom were lost in the war almost immediately. Inevitably, the draft had to be extended into the countryside, a move much resented by peasants.” (“Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler” page 60)