The October Revolution
- Created by: Tori
- Created on: 05-06-20 10:39
View mindmap
- The October Revolution
- Lenin's influence on the Central Committee
- In August, the PG announced that elections would take place for a new Constituent Assembly in November.
- Lenin knew that the Socialist Revolutionaries would win, and the Constituent Assembly would have a mandate to democratic government.
- Thus, Lenin was determined to seize power before the election of the Constituent Assembly in November.
- Lenin knew that the Socialist Revolutionaries would win, and the Constituent Assembly would have a mandate to democratic government.
- Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd on 10th October in order to persuade the Bolshevik Central Committee to support an armed seizure of power in Petrograd.
- Divisions in the Central Committee
- Lenin's plan didn't have the support of the whole Central Committee.
- Lenin wanted to seize power immediately prior to the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets.
- He hoped that the Congress of Soviets would authorise the creation of a Bolshevik government.
- Trotksy argued that Bolshevik action should be authorised by the Congress of Soviets.
- Lenin rejected the plan, saying that that this would rob the Bolsheviks of the element of suprise.
- Zinoviev and Kamenev, usually two of Lenin's strongest supporters, opposed any uprising.
- They argued that the Bolsheviks should join a coalition government with radical Mensheviks and SRs.
- Lenin wanted to seize power immediately prior to the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets.
- In spite of bitter divisions on the Bolshevik Central Committee, Lenin persuaded the majority to back his plan.
- Trotsky was given the role of planning the uprising in detail.
- Lenin's plan didn't have the support of the whole Central Committee.
- In August, the PG announced that elections would take place for a new Constituent Assembly in November.
- The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets
- The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was due to meet in Petrograd at the end of October.
- It brought together representatives of workers, soldiers and peasants from across Russia.
- The First Congress had supported the PG.
- However, due to growing problems in Russia, Lenin anticipated the Second Congress would back a new government that was committed to radical change.
- Problems Eg, growing economic problems, military failure, the desire for land reform and the Kornilov Affair
- However, due to growing problems in Russia, Lenin anticipated the Second Congress would back a new government that was committed to radical change.
- Trotsky and the Military Revolutionary Committee
- Trotsky played a key role in the October Revolution.
- Trotsky was chair of the Petrograd Soviet, therefore he could organise the uprising through the Soviet (sort of camouflauge)
- He could make the uprising look like the Soviet was seizing power, rather than the Bolsheviks.
- Trotsky was chair of the Petrograd Soviet, therefore he could organise the uprising through the Soviet (sort of camouflauge)
- The Military Revolutionary Committee
- The Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) was crucial to Trotsky's plan.
- The MRC was formed by the Mensheviks after the Kornilov Affair.
- It was an armed group, organised along military lines, formed to protect Petrograd from an attempted military takeover.
- By mid-October, the MRC was under Bolshevik control.
- It was headed by Trotsky, Stalin and Felix Dzerzhinsky.
- Pretext for Action
- In mid-October, the PG announced that Petrograd's troops were being moved away from the city.
- The Soviet were horrified by this.
- The Soviet assumed that the news meant that troops loyal to the Soviet were being moved out of the city, so the government could take control of the Soviet.
- The Soviet were horrified by this.
- Trotsky used fears about Kerensky's orders as a pretext to ready the MRC for 'defensive action'.
- Trotsky, speaking on behalf of the Soviet, ordered that no troops should be moved out of Petrograd without the authorisation of the MRC.
- In mid-October, the PG announced that Petrograd's troops were being moved away from the city.
- The MRC and Petrograd's soldiers
- The MRC had great authority within Petrograd.
- The city's soldiers and sailors respected the MRC as a true guardian of the revolution.
- In mid-October Trotsky made sure that the MRC fromed close links with all of the units of soldiers in Petrograd.
- The city's soldiers and sailors respected the MRC as a true guardian of the revolution.
- The MRC had great authority within Petrograd.
- Trotsky played a key role in the October Revolution.
- Lenin's influence on the Central Committee
Comments
No comments have yet been made