When Lenin arrived back in Russia in 1917, (after being in exile and coming from Germany) he caused an immediate stir, on his arrival he made a demanding speech, he stated that: there should be no cooperation with the Provisional Government, the war should be ended immediately, land should be given to the peasants, and that the Soviet should take power, the points made in his speech were written up and called the 'April Theses' One non-Bolshevik Socialist described Lenin's speech:
"...Suddenly, before the eyes of all of us, completely swallowed up
by the routine drudgery of the Revolution, there was presented a bright
blinding, exotic beacon...Lenin's voice heard straight from the train, was
a 'voice from outside'."
Lenin was making an impression, on the non-Bolsheviks, as well as the Bolsheviks, as well as making a contribution to the Bolsheviks by helping them with ideas, he was convincing non-Bolsheviks about his beliefs about what should happen to Russia. The April Theses show a very big contribution made by Lenin to the development of the party, as Lenin's ideas were the basis for the Bolshevik Party's new slogans, 'Bread, Peace, Land' and 'All power to the soviets' were the messages Russian public wanted to hear, especially as shortages were not getting any less. Lenin encouraged the Bolsheviks to put the message out that the Bolsheviks would give people what they wanted most, the message had not changed, but people were now ready to hear it, they wanted the end of the war.
A Bolshevik supporter commented on Lenin's speech in his book 'From Lenin to Stalin':
"Hardly off the train, Lenin asked the party comrades, 'Why didn't you seize
power?' And at once he comes out with his April Theses...He is called mad
and delirious...But suddenly it becomes apparent that he has the ear of the
man in the street, and of the man in the factory and barracks! His whole genius
consists of his ability to say what these people want to say, but do not know
how to say"
Although this man, V. Serge, was a Bolshevik supporter, he seems to doubt Lenin makes much of a good contribution, except for his ability to catch anyones attention, and gain their support. Whilst this may have been what Serge thought in April 1917, his opinions may have changed after a second revolution was succeeded. Another way in which Lenin did not make such a good contribution was that he was trying to persuade the Bolsheviks to start a second revolution too early. Many members of the party thought that he was wrong, but followed him anyway, as he was their leader, and a good one. Before long the Bolsheviks who had thought that the time was wrong were proved right. This contribution of Lenin's to the Bolshevik party was not a good one, although eventually Lenin helped in the second successful revolution, it would have been better to wait, and not so many Bolsheviks would have been lost in the first attempt. This was a bad contribution of Lenin's.
Based on my research into Lenin and the Bolsheviks I have come to the conclusion that Lenin played a large part in helping the development of the Bolshevik party, he helped them along, although for much of the time up to 1917 he was not even in Russia, he did what he could and was a great help, even in exile. Lenin did have some ideas which even his supporters did not appreciate, and it would have been better if he had not rushed starting a second revolution, and failed. Overall I think that Lenin has made a large, and good contribution to the contribution to the Bolshevik party up to and including April 1917, with a few minor faults.
