The Bolshevik revolution

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 The Bolshevik revolution occurred in November of 1917, its aim was to create a workers paradise and a dictatorship of the proletariat. By 1930, the Bolsheviks had imposed a totalitarian rule over Russia. This period can be divided into two distinct eras. Firstly, there was the period from 1917-1924, which included the decision to seize power, the civil war and a consolidation of power under the new economic policy. The second period occurred after Lenin's death, where opposing factions emerged in the party, and a leadership struggle occurred. Out of this, Stalin emerged as an authoritarian leader and used various forms of terror and economic policy to gain complete control by 1930. When examining the period between 1917 and 1924, an important theme question is developed by Russell Cowie, he asks, "how were the Bolsheviks, a subdivision of the Russian Social Democrat Party, able to impose their will upon the whole of the former Russian Empire by 1923? " Certainly, the Bolsheviks were an obscure and radical political party before the revolution of March 1917, and played little part in the overthrow of the Tsar. They did however see it as a step towards the dictatorship of the proletariat. "The Marxists found themselves in the paradoxical position of welcoming the revolution as bourgeois, liberal and capitalist and deferring the idea of socialism to some time in the future. " Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik party returned from exile in April 1917, while a member of the intelligentsia, he also appeared to read the general mood of the people acknowledging that they were more interested in food rather than the decrees of the Provisional Government such as freedom of speech. He developed simplistic slogans such as "Peace, bread, land," and "All power to the Soviets" to appeal to the Russian proletariat. According to V. Serge, Lenin has the "ear of the man in the street, and of the man in the factory and in the barracks! His whole genius consists only in his ability to say what these people want to say but don't know how to say. " Lenin's genius combined with the harsh conditions suffered in the cities during the first world war, and the failure of the provisional government meant that the Bolsheviks were able to gain a majority of in both the Petrograd and Moscow soviets by October 1917. The Provisional Government became increasingly separate from mainstream society, because it continued the war and misread the mood of the people who "said that all the party had managed to do during its term of office was put up tram fares. " Consequently, Lenin demanded that the Bolsheviks seize power because, "the Bolsheviks, having obtained a majority in the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' deputies of both capitals can and must take state power into their own hands."
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After threatening to resign, the party reluctantly gave in to Lenin, who claimed that "History will not forgive us if we don't take power now." On November 7, red guards raided the winter palace, headquarters of the Kerensky Government and arrested the members of the Provisional Government. That evening, at the Second All Russian Congress of Soviets, Lenin announced that the Bolsheviks had taken power and the November revolution was complete. According to Simon Welfare, "it had been a virtually bloodless coup, and it was over very quickly. " The Bolshevik revolution was from above, it was not a spontaneous ...

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