What did Lenin do in the revolution of 1917. How Lenin learned about the February Revolution
The October Revolution, unlike the February Revolution, was carefully prepared by the Bolsheviks, whom Lenin, overcoming strong resistance, managed to win over to his side. On October 24–25 (November 6–7), several thousand Red Guards, sailors and soldiers who followed the Bolsheviks take possession of strategically important points in the capital: railway stations, arsenals, warehouses, a telephone exchange, and the State Bank. October 25 (November 7) the headquarters of the uprising - the Military Revolutionary Committee announces the overthrow of the Provisional Government. At the end of the night of October 26 (November 8), after a warning salvo from the cruiser Aurora, the rebels take the Winter Palace with the ministers stationed there, easily crushing the resistance of the junkers and the women's battalion, which constituted the only defense of the impotent government. At the same time, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which was dominated by the influence of the Bolsheviks, being confronted with a fact, affirms the victory of the uprising. Then, at the second meeting, he adopts a resolution on the formation of the Council of People's Commissars, as well as decrees on peace and land. So, within a few days of the almost bloodless "Great October Revolution" there is a complete break with the historical past of the country. However, it will take many years of bitter struggle before the Bolsheviks can finally establish their undivided rule.
Political and state life
29 Sept. (12 Oct.). In the Bolshevik newspaper Rabochy Put, Lenin's article "The Crisis is Ripe" appears. The call contained in it for an immediate armed uprising runs into the disagreement of a significant part of the Bolsheviks.
Lenin secretly returns to Petrograd.
Oct 10 (23) In an atmosphere of secrecy, a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party is taking place. V. Lenin achieves the adoption of a resolution on the uprising with 10 votes in favor and 2 against (L. Kamenev and G. Zinoviev) thanks to Y. Sverdlov's information about the impending military conspiracy in Minsk. A Political Bureau was created, which includes V. Lenin, G. Zinoviev, L. Kamenev, L. Trotsky, G. Sokolnikov and A. Bubnov.
Oct 12 (25) The Petrograd Soviet creates a Military Revolutionary Committee to organize the defense of the city from the Germans. The Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Trotsky, will transform it into a headquarters for the preparation of an armed uprising. The Soviet appeals to the soldiers of the capital's garrison, to the Red Guards and Kronstadt sailors with an appeal to join it.
Oct 16 (29) At an expanded meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, the resolution on the uprising, passed by Lenin, was approved, the technical preparation of which was entrusted to the Military Revolutionary Center, acting on behalf of the party together with the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.
Oct 18 (31) M. Gorky's newspaper Novaya Zhizn published an article by L. Kamenev, where he sharply objects to the impending uprising, which he considers untimely.
Oct 22 (4 Nov.). The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet announces that only orders approved by it are recognized as valid.
Oct 24 (6 Nov.). An open break between the Soviet and the Provisional Government, which orders the printing house of Bolshevik newspapers to be sealed and calls for military reinforcements to Petrograd. The Bolsheviks break the seals and during the day do not allow troops loyal to the government to build bridges. Start of an uprising led from a building Smolny Institute. On the night of 24 to 25 Oct. (November 6-7) Red Guards, sailors and soldiers who sided with the Bolsheviks, without much difficulty occupy the most important points of the city. Lenin comes to Smolny, where the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies is to begin, the ministers gather in the Winter Palace, Kerensky flees the capital for reinforcements.
Oct 25 (November 7) The rebels seize almost the entire capital, except for the Winter Palace. The Military Revolutionary Committee announces the overthrow of the Provisional Government and takes power into its own hands in the name of the Soviet.
Assault on the Winter Palace (with the support of the cruiser Aurora). At 2:30 a.m., the palace is occupied by the rebels.
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets opens in Smolny (out of 650 delegates, 390 Bolsheviks and 150 Left Social Revolutionaries). A new composition of the presidium was elected, in which the Bolsheviks predominate; Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, who opposed the coup, leave the congress; the appeal "To the workers, soldiers and peasants!" Thus the congress affirms the victory of the insurrection.
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). The beginning of the Bolshevik uprising in Moscow, which, after fierce fighting, ends with the capture of the Kremlin.
3 (16) Nov. The Petrograd City Duma is creating a "Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution", which includes Mensheviks and Right Social Revolutionaries who do not accept the actions of the Bolsheviks.
Night from 26 to 27 Oct. (Nov 8–9). The final meeting of the II Congress of Soviets: a resolution was approved on the formation of a new government - the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), which included exclusively the Bolsheviks: Lenin (chairman), Trotsky (People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs), Stalin (People's Commissar for Nationalities), Rykov (People's Commissar for Internal Affairs), Lunacharsky (People's Commissar of Education). The All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) was re-elected, which is also dominated by Bolsheviks and Left SRs. Decrees on peace and land, written by Lenin, were adopted.
Oct 27 (Nov 9). The offensive of the troops of General Krasnov against Petrograd organized by A. Kerensky (stopped near Pulkovo on October 30/November 12).
Oct 29 (Nov 11). In Petrograd, an attempted revolt by the Junkers was suppressed. An ultimatum from the Executive Committee of the Railway Workers' Union (Vikzhel) demanding the formation of a coalition socialist government.
1 (14) Nov. The Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party adopts a resolution that means the breakdown of negotiations that were conducted with representatives of other socialist parties on the formation of a coalition government. The representatives of the Bolsheviks sent to Gatchina manage to win over the troops gathered by Kerensky and Krasnov to the side of the revolution. Kerensky flees, Krasnov is arrested (he will soon be released and join the counter-revolutionary forces on the Don). The Tashkent Council takes power into its own hands. In general, at that time, Soviet power was established in Yaroslavl, Tver, Smolensk, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saratov, Rostov, Ufa.
2 (15) Nov. The "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia" proclaims the equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia and their right to free self-determination up to secession.
4 (17) Nov. In protest against the refusal to form a coalition government, several Bolsheviks (including Kamenev, Zinoviev and Rykov) announced their withdrawal from the Central Committee or from the Council of People's Commissars, however, they soon returned to their posts. The third Universal of the Ukrainian Central Rada, proclaiming the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (without breaking with Russia, the Rada called on it to transform into a federation).
Nov 10–25 (Nov 23-Dec 8). Extraordinary Congress of Peasants' Deputies in Petrograd, dominated by Socialist-Revolutionaries. The congress approves the decree on land and delegates 108 representatives as members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
12 (25) Nov. The beginning of the elections to the Constituent Assembly, during which 58% of the votes will be cast for the Social Revolutionaries, 25% for the Bolsheviks (however, the majority votes for them in Petrograd, Moscow and in the military units of the Northern and Western Fronts), 13% for the Cadets and others " bourgeois parties.
15 (28) Nov. The Transcaucasian Commissariat was formed in Tiflis, organizing resistance to the Bolsheviks in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Nov 19–28 (December 2-11). The First Congress of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who have organized themselves into an independent political party, is taking place in Petrograd.
Nov 20 (December 3). The call of Lenin and Stalin to all Muslims in Russia and the East to begin the struggle for liberation from all forms of oppression. The National Muslim Assembly is gathering in Ufa to prepare the national-cultural autonomy of the Muslims of Russia.
Nov 26 - Dec 10 (December 9-23). I Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies in Petrograd. It is dominated by Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who support the policies of the Bolsheviks.
Nov 28 (11 Dec.). Decree on the arrest of the leadership of the party of the Cadets, accused of preparing a civil war.
Nov. The organization of the first counter-revolutionary military formations: in Novocherkassk, Generals Alekseev and Kornilov create the Volunteer Army, and in December they form a "triumvirate" with the Don ataman A. Kaledin.
2 (15) Dec. The Cadets are expelled from the Constituent Assembly. The Volunteer Army enters Rostov.
4 (17) Dec. An ultimatum was presented to the Central Rada demanding to recognize Soviet power in Ukraine.
7 (20) Dec. Creation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Sabotage and Counter-Revolution, chaired by Dzerzhinsky.
9 (22) Dec. The Bolsheviks agree with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries on the entry of the latter into the government (they were given the posts of People's Commissars of Agriculture, Justice, Posts and Telegraphs).
11 (24) Dec. The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets opens in Kharkov (at which the Bolsheviks predominate). 12 (25) Dec. he proclaims the Ukraine a "Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies".
World War and foreign policy
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). Peace Decree: it contains a proposal to all warring parties to immediately begin negotiations for the signing of a just democratic peace without annexations and indemnities.
1 (14) Nov. After the flight of A. Kerensky, General N. Dukhonin became the Supreme Commander.
8 (21) Nov. Note from People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L. Trotsky, in which all belligerents are invited to start peace negotiations.
9 (22) Nov. General N. Dukhonin removed from command (for refusing to start negotiations on a truce with the Germans) and replaced by N. Krylenko. Announced the forthcoming publication of secret treaties related to the war.
Nov 20 (December 3). Armistice talks between Russia and the Central European powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey) are opening in Brest-Litovsk. N. Krylenko takes possession of the Headquarters in Mogilev. N. Dukhonin was brutally killed by soldiers and sailors.
9 (22) Dec. Opening of the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk: Germany is represented by Secretary of State (Minister of Foreign Affairs) von Kuhlmann and General Hoffmann, Austria is represented by Foreign Minister Chernin. The Soviet delegation, headed by A. Ioffe, demands the conclusion of peace without annexations and reparations, while respecting the right of the peoples to decide their own destiny.
Dec 27 (Jan 9). After a ten-day break (arranged at the request of the Soviet side, which is trying - unsuccessfully - to involve the Entente countries in the negotiations), the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk is resumed. The Soviet delegation is now headed by L. Trotsky.
Economy, society and culture
Oct 16-19 (Oct 29-Nov 1). Meeting of proletarian organizations of cultural education in Petrograd (led by A. Lunacharsky); from November they will take the official name "Proletkult".
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). Land Decree; landowner ownership of land is abolished without any redemption, all land is transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies. In many cases, the decree simply consolidates the actual situation. Each peasant family is provided with an additional tithe of land.
5 (18) Nov. Metropolitan Tikhon was elected Patriarch of Moscow (the patriarchate had been restored shortly before by the Council of Orthodox Church).
14 (27) Nov. "Regulations on workers' control" at enterprises where more than 5 wage workers are employed (factory committees are elected at enterprises, supreme body- All-Russian Council of Workers' Control).
Nov 22 (5 Dec.). Reorganization of the judicial system (election of judges, creation of revolutionary tribunals).
2 (15) Dec. Creation of the Supreme Council National economy(VSNKh) to regulate all economic life. Local organs of the Supreme Council of National Economy became the Councils of the National Economy (sovnarkhozes).
18 (31) Dec. Decrees "On civil marriage, on children and the maintenance of books of acts of state" and "On the dissolution of marriage."
Lenin (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924) was born in Simbirsk, in the family of an inspector of public schools. Entering the law faculty of Kazan University, he soon finds himself expelled after student unrest. His older brother Alexander was executed in 1887 as a member of the Narodnaya Volya conspiracy to attempt on the life of Alexander III. Young Vladimir brilliantly passes the exams at St. Petersburg University. Then he became a Marxist, met in Switzerland with Plekhanov, and upon returning to the capital in 1895 founded the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class." He is immediately arrested and, after imprisonment, is exiled to Siberia for three years. There he writes the work "The Development of Capitalism in Russia", published in 1895 and directed against populist theories. After leaving the exile, he left Russia in 1900 and founded the Iskra newspaper in exile, which was called upon to serve as the propaganda of Marxism; at the same time, the distribution of the newspaper allows you to create a fairly extensive network of underground organizations in the territory Russian Empire. Then he takes the pseudonym Lenin and publishes in 1902 the fundamental work What Is to Be Done?, in which he sets out his concept of a party of professional revolutionaries - a small, strictly centralized one, intended to become the vanguard of the working class in its struggle against the bourgeoisie. In 1903, at the First Congress of the RSDLP, a split occurred between the Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) and the Mensheviks, who disagreed with this concept of party organization. During the revolution of 1905, he returned to Russia, but with the beginning of the Stolypin reaction, he was forced to go into exile again, where he continued an uncompromising struggle with everyone who did not accept his views on the revolutionary struggle, accusing even some Bolsheviks of idealism. In 1912 he decisively broke with the Mensheviks and began directing the newspaper Pravda, legally published in Russia, from abroad. Since 1912 he lives in Austria, and after the outbreak of the First World War he moves to Switzerland. At the conferences in Zimmerwald (1915) and in Kienthal (1916), he defends his thesis about the need to transform the imperialist war into a civil war and at the same time asserts that the socialist revolution can win in Russia (“Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism”).
After the February Revolution of 1917, he was allowed to cross Germany by train, and immediately upon his arrival in Russia, taking the Bolshevik Party into his own hands, he raised the question of preparing a second revolution (April Theses). In October, not without some difficulties, he convinces his comrades in the struggle of the need for an armed uprising, after the success of which he passes decrees on peace and land, and then leads the "building of socialism", during which he more than once has to overcome stubborn resistance, as , for example, on the question of the Brest-Litovsk peace or on trade union and national problems. Possessing the ability to make concessions in certain situations, as happened with the adoption of a new economic policy(NEP), inevitable in the conditions of complete devastation in the country, Lenin showed exceptional intransigence in the fight against the opposition, stopping neither before the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in 1918, nor before the expulsion of the "counter-revolutionary" intelligentsia from the country in 1922. Already being seriously ill, he - still tries in late 1922 - early 1923 to participate in decision-making and expresses his fears in notes, later known as "Testament". For about a year, he actually does not live, but survives, paralyzed and speechless, and dies in January 1924.
By the beginning of the twentieth century. Russia was a tangle of unresolved problems and contradictions. These problems were very wide-ranging. Unfortunately, it was impossible to solve these problems without changing the political regime.
The first and most important problem is the economy, which had a depressing appearance. The Russian economy did not develop fast enough for such a large country. Modernization was superficial, or it was not at all. The country, despite attempts to develop industry, remained agrarian; Russia exported mainly agricultural products. Russia economically lagged far behind all the advanced countries of Europe. Naturally, society began to think about the reasons for the failures in the economy. It was logical to blame the current government for this.
At the same time, there were signs that Russia was trying to industrialize. From 1900 to 1914, the number of industries doubled. However, the entire industry was concentrated in several "centers": the center of the country, the northwest, the south, the Urals. The high concentration of factories in some places led to the fact that where they were absent, there was stagnation. There was an abyss between the center and the outskirts.
The share of foreign capital invested in production was very high in the Russian economy. Therefore, a fairly large part of Russian income went abroad, and this money could be used to speed up the modernization and development of the country as a whole, which would lead to an improvement in living standards. All this was very convenient for socialist propaganda to use, accusing domestic entrepreneurs of inaction and disregard for the people.
Due to the high concentration of production and funds, many large monopolies arose, uniting both banks and factories. They belonged either to large industrialists, or (more often) to the state. So-called "state-owned factories" appeared, with which smaller private industries simply could not compete. This reduced competition in the market, and this, in turn, reduced the level of product quality and allowed the state to dictate its prices. Of course, people didn't like it very much.
Consider agriculture, a field that has always been important to Russia because of its large area. The land was divided between the landlords and peasants, and the peasants owned a smaller part, and even were forced to cultivate the landowner's land. All this inflamed the age-old strife between the landowners and peasants. The latter looked with envy at the vast lands of the landowners and recalled their tiny allotments, which were not always enough just to feed the family. In addition, the community sowed enmity between the peasants themselves and prevented the emergence of wealthy peasants who would develop trade, bringing the city and countryside closer. P.A. tried to correct this situation. Stolypin, carrying out a number of reforms, but without much success. According to his idea, peasants began to be settled in free lands: Siberia, Kazakhstan, etc. Most of the settlers could not get used to the new conditions and returned, joining the ranks of the unemployed. As a result, social tension increased both in the countryside and in the city.
The second global problem of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. its social composition.
The entire population of Russia can be divided into four large, very different social classes:
- 1. Higher ranks, large and medium-sized entrepreneurs, landowners, bishops of the Orthodox Church, academicians, professors, doctors, etc. - 3%
- 2. Small entrepreneurs, townspeople, artisans, teachers, officers, priests, petty officials, etc. - 8%
- 3. Peasantry - 69%
Including: prosperous - 19%; average - 25%; poor - 25%.
4. Proletarian poor, beggars, vagabonds - 20%
It can be seen that more than half of society was made up of the poor (peasants and proletarians), who were dissatisfied with their position. Given the socialist propaganda, which the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks did not skimp on, it becomes clear that these people were ready to revolt at any moment.
In addition to these problems, there was another circumstance that aggravated the situation: the First World War. It can be regarded as a "powerful accelerator" of the revolution. Defeats in the war led to the fall of the authority of the tsarist regime. The war sucked out of Russia the last money and human resources; put the economy on a war footing, which led to a sharp deterioration in the living conditions of civilians.
Due to the war, the army increased, and the importance of its position increased. The Bolsheviks quickly managed to convert most of the soldiers to their side, given the high mortality, disgusting conditions, lack of weapons and equipment in the Russian troops.
Social opposition grew. The number of lumpen has increased. The population was more and more easily influenced by rumors and cleverly spread propaganda. The authority of the government was finally undermined. The last barriers holding back the revolution collapsed.
From February to October.
In February 1917 the revolution finally took place. Despite the huge number of obvious prerequisites, it came as a surprise to the ruling elites. The result of the revolution was: the abdication of the tsar from the throne, the destruction of the monarchy, the transition to a republic, the formation of such bodies as the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet (or simply Soviets). The presence of these two bodies resulted in dual power.
The Provisional Government took a course to continue the war, which caused discontent among the people. And although reforms were carried out that were supposed to significantly improve the lives of ordinary people, the situation only worsened. Democracy was only an illusion; global problems were not solved. The February Revolution deepened the contradictions and awakened the forces of destruction.
The state of the economy continued to deteriorate, prices rose, and crime increased. The population continued to suffer. Chaos and disorder increased. The Provisional Government preferred to lie low and wait for the revelry to calm down. Instability was in the air, society was inclined to continue the political struggle, in which the Bolsheviks, who supported the Soviets, were in the lead. The entire period from February to October, the Bolsheviks were engaged in active agitation, thanks to which their party became the most numerous and influential in the country.
The reasons for the failure of the Provisional Government are very simple:
- 1) The course to continue the war, from which the country is tired;
- 2) Failures of the economy, which could be corrected only by cardinal reforms, which the EaP was afraid to do;
- 3) Inability to cope with difficulties and making decisions that provoke criticism from milestones in society. The consequence of this was the crises of the Provisional Government;
- 4) The growth of the influence of the Bolsheviks.
- April 3, 1917 V.I. Lenin arrived in Petrograd in a "sealed carriage". A whole crowd came to meet him. In their welcoming speech, the Soviets expressed their hope that the revolution would rally around Lenin. In response, he directly addressed the people: "Long live the world socialist revolution!" The enthusiastic crowd lifted their idol to the armored car.
The next day, Lenin published his famous "April Theses". With them, Vladimir Ilyich began the transition to a new, socialist tactic of the revolution, which consisted in relying on the workers and the poorest peasantry. Lenin proposed radical measures: the destruction of the VP, the immediate cessation of the war, the transfer of land to the peasants, and control over the factories to the workers, an equal division of property. Most of the Bolsheviks supported Lenin at the next party congress.
These new slogans were enthusiastically received by the people. The influence of the Bolsheviks grew every day. In June and July, the Bolsheviks carried out demonstrations and even armed uprisings against the Provisional Government with the involvement of the masses.
By the autumn of 1917, the Provisional Government, weakened by constant crises and rebellions, surrendered under the pressure of the Bolsheviks and on September 1, 1917, proclaimed Russia a republic. On September 14, the Democratic Conference opened, the organ government controlled, created by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, which were supposed to include all parties. Lenin, like almost all Bolsheviks, wanted to boycott the Democratic Conference and continue to Bolshevize the Soviets, since it was obvious that this new body (the Democratic Conference) did not play a key role and would not make important decisions.
Meanwhile, the country was on the brink of disaster. During the war, lands rich in bread were lost. Factories collapsed because of the striking workers. Peasant uprisings broke out in the villages. The number of unemployed increased; prices have risen sharply. All this clearly showed the inability of the Provisional Government to govern the state.
By October, the Bolsheviks, led by L.D. Trotsky firmly set a course for an armed uprising, the overthrow of the VP and the transfer of all power to the Soviets. They finally broke off relations with other parties, leaving the Democratic Conference on October 7, having previously read out their declaration. Meanwhile, Lenin returned illegally to Petrograd. At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party on October 10, 1917, Lenin and Trotsky decided on direct preparations for the uprising.
V. I. Lenin arrived in Petrograd late in the evening on April 3, 1917. The exposition shows the route by which he returned to Russia, a questionnaire filled out on April 2, 1917 when crossing the border point of Tornio (Finland), as well as a telegram sent by M. I. Ulyanova and A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova: We are arriving Monday night, 11. Report the Truth. Ulyanov.
At 11:10 p.m., the train stopped at the platform of the Finland Station, where Petrograd workers had gathered by that time. A guard of honor was lined up on the platform. V. I. Lenin, climbing onto an armored car, delivered a speech, which he ended with an appeal: Long live the socialist revolution! This moment is reflected in the sculpture by M. Manizer (1925), installed in the center of the hall.
On an armored car, surrounded by people, Lenin went to the mansion, which in 1917 housed the Central and Petrograd Committees of the Bolshevik Party. Military organization of the Bolsheviks and other organizations. From the balcony of the mansion, Lenin spoke several times that night to the workers, soldiers and sailors. Only in the morning he, together with N. K. Krupskaya, went to the apartment of his sister A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova and her husband M. T. Elizarov (Shirokaya St., 48/9, apt. 24, now Lenin St. , A. 52).
In an apartment on st. Shirokoy Lenin lived from April 4 to July 5, 1917. All this time, he carried out gigantic propaganda and organizational work to rally the revolutionary forces around the Soviets. He directly headed the Central Committee of the party and the editorial office of the newspaper Pravda.
April theses. On the tasks of the proletariat in the present revolution.
An enormous role in preparing the masses for the socialist revolution was played by the April Theses, formulated by V. I. Lenin back in March 1917 and published in Pravda on April 7, 1917 as theses On the tasks of the proletariat in this revolution. The manuscript The initial draft of the April theses and the issue of Pravda of April 7 are exhibited in a special design on the wall to the left of the entrance to the hall.
The April Theses are a scientifically substantiated plan of struggle for the transition from the bourgeois-democratic revolution, which gave power to the bourgeoisie, to the socialist revolution, which should transfer power into the hands of the working class and the poorest peasantry. Having set such a task, V. I. Lenin theoretically substantiated the meaning, the essence of the Republic of Soviets as a political form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a new, higher form of democracy.
In the theses, Lenin considered the most burning question of those times - about the attitude towards the war, which on the part of Russia and under the Provisional Government remained predatory, predatory due to the bourgeois nature, goals and policies of this government. Only that power could give the peoples peace, bread and freedom, which would turn the country onto the path of socialism. Hence the Bolshevik slogans: No support for the Provisional Government! , All power to the Soviets!
In the April Theses, Lenin formulated the economic platform of the proletarian party: the nationalization of the entire land fund of the country with the confiscation of landowners' lands, that is, the liquidation of private ownership of land and its transfer to the local Soviets of laborers and peasants' deputies, as well as the immediate merger of all the country's banks into one nationwide bank and the establishment of control over it by the Soviets of Workers' Deputies; the establishment of workers' control over the production and distribution of products.
Touching upon internal Party questions, Lenin proposed that a Party Congress be convened, that the Party Program be amended, where, in particular, the task of creating Soviet Republic, rename the party to the Communist. As a practical task for all revolutionary Marxists, Lenin put forward the task of creating the Third, Communist International.
The stand contains materials and documents of the VII (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b), the first legal conference of the Bolsheviks in Russia. All her work was carried out under the direct supervision of V. I. Lenin. He delivered reports on the current situation, on the agrarian question, and on the revision of the Party Program. in fact, the conference played the role of a congress. She elected the Central Committee of the party headed by Lenin.
After the April Conference, the task of the Bolshevik Party was to merge into one powerful revolutionary stream the general democratic movement for peace, the peasant struggle for land, the national liberation movement of the oppressed peoples for national independence.
The Bolsheviks had to explain to the proletariat and all working people their program and slogans, the anti-people character of the Provisional Government, and the compromising position of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries.
The entire wall to the right of the entrance is occupied by a painting by the artist I. Brodsky V. I. Lenin's speech at a rally of workers of the Putilov factory on May 12 (25), 1917 (1929), which conveys the atmosphere of that time. According to the recollections of the rally participants, Lenin spoke so simply and clearly that all doubts and hesitations disappeared from people, and a readiness to overcome any difficulties appeared.
From the memoirs of the old Putilov worker P. A. Danilov: ... what Ilyich said captured and ignited. Fear disappeared, fatigue disappeared. And it seemed that not only Ilyich was speaking, but all forty thousand workers were speaking, sitting, standing, holding on to weight, uttering their cherished thoughts. It seemed that everything that was in the worker spoke with one voice of Lenin. Everything that everyone thought, experienced to himself, but did not find a chance and words to fully and clearly state to a comrade - all this suddenly took shape and spoke ... This meeting gave an enormous amount to history. He moved the Putilov masses, and the Putilov masses moved into the revolution.
In the exposition of the hall there is a transcript of V. I. Lenin's speech on his attitude towards the Provisional Government, which he delivered at the 1st All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which met in early June 1917. Declaring that the Bolshevik Party was ready to take full power, Lenin explained the main slogans of the party: all power to the Soviets, bread to the working people, land to the peasants, peace to the peoples. On the stand there is an issue of the newspaper Pravda dated July 2, 1917 with the second speech of V. I. Lenin at the congress - about the war.
The hall presents a diagram of the Bolshevik press by July 1917. It shows that the party at that time had about 55 newspapers and magazines, the daily circulation of which exceeded 500,000 copies. Especially popular was Pravda, in which Lenin's articles were published almost daily. From the moment he arrived in Russia until July 1917, he wrote more than 170 articles for the newspaper.
The exposition materials tell about the powerful demonstrations of the working people against the continuation of the imperialist war, against the policy of the bourgeois government. One of the photographs shows the execution of the July peaceful demonstration of workers and soldiers in Petrograd. Mass searches began at the workers' homes, the revolutionary regiments were being disarmed, and soldiers were being arrested. The Bolshevik Party and workers' organizations were severely repressed.
On the morning of July 5, the Junkers ransacked the premises of the editorial office of Pravda; on July 7, the Provisional Government published a decree on the arrest and prosecution of Lenin and other Bolsheviks. The Central Committee of the Party decided to hide Lenin in the underground, in the vicinity of Petrograd. The village of Sestroretsk was chosen, where mainly the workers of the arms factory lived. There, not far from the Razliv railway station, in the house of the Bolshevik worker N. A. Yemelyanov, V. I. Lenin was settled. In the turnstile there is a photograph of a barn with an attic near the house of N.A. Emelyanov at the station. Spill, where in July 1917. V. I. Lenin was hiding.
The new situation that developed after the July days required a revision of the party's tactics and its slogans. On July 10, V. I. Lenin wrote the theses Political position, the manuscript of which is exhibited at the stand. All hopes for the peaceful development of the Russian revolution, - wrote V. I. Lenin, - disappeared completely. Thus, in the post-July period, the question arose of developing new tactics and new methods of struggle. It was necessary to convene a party congress.
At the stand that completes the exposition of the hall, there are documents and materials of the VI Congress of the Party. It took place in late July - early August 1917 in Petrograd, in a difficult situation, semi-legally. The overwhelming majority of the congress delegates were revolutionaries, hardened in the struggle against tsarism and the bourgeoisie. In the turnstile are materials on the election of V. I. Lenin as a delegate to the VI Congress of the RSDLP (b) from the Yekaterinburg (now the city of Sverdlovsk) organization of the Bolsheviks.
During the preparation and holding of the congress, V. I. Lenin was underground. From there, he maintained close contact with the Central Committee of the Party. His works - the theses "The Political Situation", the pamphlet To the Slogans, the article Lessons of the Revolution and others - formed the basis of the decisions of the VI Congress of the Bolshevik Party.
The exposition contains a resolution on the political situation. It advances the slogan of struggle for the complete liquidation of the dictatorship of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie and for the conquest of power by the proletariat and the poorest peasantry by means of an armed uprising.
The exposition (to the right of the entrance to the hall) also presents other resolutions of the congress: On the economic situation, Tasks of the trade union movement, On youth unions, On propaganda, as well as the Party Charter with the amendments adopted at the congress.
The VI Congress of the RSDLP (b) elected the Central Committee of the party, headed by V. I. Lenin. At the top of the exposition, above the stand with resolutions, there are photographs of members of the Central Committee, active participants in the revolution.
The manifesto of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) issued after the congress and exhibited in the hall called on the masses of workers, soldiers and peasants to prepare for decisive clashes with the bourgeoisie. In particular, it said: Our Party is marching into this fight with unfurled banners.
Exhibits in the 10th hall reveal Lenin's plan for an armed uprising, show the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, its world-historical significance.
The exposition begins with the work of V. I. Lenin State and Revolution, completed in August-September 1917. It gives the most complete and systematic exposition of the Marxist doctrine of the state. The subtitle of the book The Teaching of Marxism on the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution defines its theme. In the conditions of the maturing of the socialist revolution in Russia and in a number of other countries, the question of the origin and role of the state, the prospects for its development arose in all its scientific and practical significance ... as a question of immediate action and, moreover, action on a massive scale, ... as a question about explaining to the masses what they will have to do to free themselves from the yoke of capital in the near future.
On display is a manuscript of preparatory materials for the book State and Revolution - the so-called blue (because of the color of the cover) notebook, known as the work Marxism about the State. It consists of 48 pages, written in characteristic Lenin's small, compact handwriting. On the cover, where the title is, Lenin lists the works of Marx and Engels, which he referred to in the course of the work. The manuscript provides an opportunity to get acquainted with Lenin's methods of working on sources and has an independent meaning.
In the work State and Revolution, the pages of the manuscript of which are displayed in showcases and on stands, Lenin developed the views of Marx and Engels on the state, emphasizing: The state is a product and manifestation of the irreconcilability of class contradictions. The state arises there, then and to the extent where, when and insofar as class contradictions objectively cannot be reconciled. Lenin further pointed out that as a result of the victory of the socialist revolution, the bourgeois state must be replaced by the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the social basis of which is the alliance of the working class with the many millions of working peasants.
V. I. Lenin showed the decisive role of the Communist Party not only in conquering but also in strengthening the dictatorship of the proletariat, in building socialism and communism, and gave a comprehensive treatment of the question of proletarian democracy - democracy of the highest type.
In the book, Lenin develops the Marxist doctrine of socialism and communism as two phases of communist society, about the conditions for the withering away of the state.
In the extensive exposition dedicated to the book State and Revolution, one can see its first edition, as well as editions in the languages of the peoples of the USSR and foreign countries.
As already mentioned, the Central Committee of the party sheltered Lenin from the persecution of the Provisional Government in the house of N. A. Emelyanov not far from the Razliv station, which was located near the border with Finland. However, the situation there was also alarming, and therefore soon Lenin, under the guise of a Finn mower, was moved to a hut on the shore of Lake Sestroretsky Razliv. The hall contains exhibits that tell about the last underground of V. I. Lenin: photographs of the places where he was hiding, as well as things that he used while living on the lake. The hut was his home, the area cleared of bushes - a green study, as Lenin jokingly called it. Vladimir Ilyich worked very hard, although the conditions for life and work were not easy. In the underground, Lenin maintained regular contact with the Central Committee of the party through G. K. Ordzhonikidze, A. V. Shotman, E. Rakhia, and others specially assigned for this purpose.
Autumn was coming, the hay season was over, it became dangerous to hide under the guise of a scythe. In addition, police agents with dogs appeared in the vicinity of Sestroretsk. Under these conditions, it was necessary to find a more reliable place for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The Central Committee decided to hide its leader in Finland, and in early August 1917, under the guise of a stoker, Lenin moved to Finland on a steam locomotive.
V. I. Lenin in a wig and a cap. The picture was taken for identification in the name of the worker K. P. Ivanov, according to which Lenin illegally left for Finland, hiding from the persecution of the Provisional Government. August 1917
In the exposition - things (coat, wig) that Lenin used. There are also photographs of the Finnish Social Democrats A. Blomkvist, J. Latukka, G. Rovio, G. Yalava, who helped Lenin in the underground, as well as a map-scheme of V. I. Lenin's last underground and a painting by the artist D. Nalbandyan V. I Lenin in the Underground.
Further along the exposition tells about the national crisis in Russia. In the fourth year of the imperialist war economic situation countries deteriorated rapidly. Rail transport worked intermittently. The supply of raw materials, coal and metal to plants and factories was steadily reduced. Coal mining, production of pig iron, steel, consumer goods decreased. The country was threatened with famine and mass unemployment. In this situation, Lenin wrote the pamphlet Impending catastrophe and how to deal with it, which outlined a program to prevent a catastrophe and the economic renewal of the country, substantiated measures by which the country could be saved from devastation and hunger: the nationalization of banks, insurance companies, enterprises of capitalist monopolies; land nationalization; abolition of trade secrets; forced association of disparate capitalist enterprises into syndicates; association in consumer societies (with the aim of evenly distributing the hardships of war and controlling the consumption of the rich by the poor classes). Control, supervision, accounting - this is the first word in the fight against catastrophe and hunger. In his work, V. I. Lenin put forward the task of immediately ending the war, emphasizing that the war accelerated the development of monopoly capitalism into state-monopoly capitalism, which brought humanity closer to socialism. Die or rush forward at full speed. This is how the question is posed by history. The manuscript of the pamphlet is on display.
In Work Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power? , placed on the stand, V. I. Lenin emphasizes that in Russia there are both economic and political prerequisites for the victory of the socialist revolution, develops the doctrine of the Soviets as a form of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the center of the stand is a facsimile of Lenin's words: Only when the lower classes do not want the old and when the upper classes cannot continue in the old way, only then can the revolution win.
The exposition includes photographs, documents, diagrams that characterize the growing national crisis in the country: a powerful revolutionary movement of the working class, the growth of the peasant movement, the strengthening of the revolutionary movement of the oppressed peoples, the revolutionary upsurge in the army. The most obvious sign of the growing national crisis is the growing influence and authority of the Bolshevik Party among the broad masses of the people. On the stand is a diagram of the alignment of party forces by regions of the country on the eve of October (by this time there were 350,000 members in the party).
The Bolshevik Party led by Lenin had a clear program revolutionary transformation society, united the struggle of the workers for socialism, the general democratic struggle for peace, the struggle of the peasants for land, the national liberation movement into one revolutionary stream, and led the masses to a victorious socialist revolution.
Under these conditions, V. I. Lenin's ability to assess the real situation, his political wisdom, manifested itself especially clearly. He concentrated all his knowledge, all his colossal political experience, all his will and energy on the preparation of an armed uprising. In the works exhibited in the hall, Marxism and the uprising, the Soviets of an outsider, the Bolsheviks must take power and others V. I. Lenin sets out his approximate plan for organizing the uprising, naming it in the current specific conditions special kind political struggle.
In connection with the growing revolutionary crisis in the country, Lenin turned to the Central Committee of the Party with a request to allow him to return to Petrograd. On the stand is an extract from the minutes of the meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) dated October 3, 1917: ... suggest Ilyich to move to St. Petersburg so that constant and close communication is possible. In early October, V. I. Lenin illegally returned to Petrograd. He settled in the apartment of M.V. Fofanova (Serdobolskaya St., 1, apt. 41) - this was his last secret apartment.
In Petrograd, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, with the greatest energy and perseverance, directly directs the preparations for an armed uprising. In the exposition is the resolution of the meeting of the Central Committee of the party of October 10. It emphasizes that an armed uprising is inevitable and fully ripe, that all the work of the Party must be subordinated to the tasks of organizing and carrying out an armed uprising. For the political leadership of the uprising, the Politburo of the Central Committee headed by Lenin was created.
On October 16, at an enlarged meeting of the Central Committee of the party, the Military Revolutionary Center was elected. Preparations for an armed uprising unfolded throughout the country.
On the stand is a letter from V. I. Lenin to the members of the Central Committee, written on the evening of October 24: I am writing these lines on the evening of the 24th, the situation is utterly critical. It is clearer than clear that now, truly, delay in the uprising is like death.
I try with all my might to convince my comrades that now everything hangs in the balance, that the next step is questions that are not decided by conferences, not by congresses (even if only by a Congress of Soviets), but exclusively by the peoples, by the masses, by the struggle of the armed masses... no matter what, tonight, tonight, to arrest the government, disarming (defeating if they resist) the junkers, etc. History will not forgive delay for revolutionaries who could win today (and will certainly win today), risking losing a lot tomorrow risking losing everything. Late in the evening of October 24, V. I. Lenin came to the headquarters of the revolution - Smolny, to take direct leadership of the entire course of the armed uprising into his own hands. The model of Smolny can be seen in the hall.
The exposition presents an electrified map-scheme of the armed uprising in Petrograd on October 24-25, photo montage Bolsheviks - active participants in October in Petrograd, photographs. One of them depicts pickets of soldiers and sailors checking passes at the entrance to Smolny, which in those days became the focus, the center of turbulent events.
By the morning of October 25, all the strategic centers of the capital - bridges across the Neva, the central telephone exchange, telegraph, power stations, train stations, etc. - were in the hands of the rebels. The Military Revolutionary Committee published an appeal written by Lenin to the citizens of Russia! - the exposition presents Lenin's manuscript and a leaflet with the text of the appeal, which spoke about the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the transfer of power into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee - an organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
In the afternoon, at 2:35, speaking at an emergency meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, V. I. Lenin said: The workers' and peasants' revolution, the necessity of which the Bolsheviks have been talking about all the time, has taken place.
On the evening of October 25, a historical shot was fired from the cruiser Aurora (the model of the cruiser is presented in the hall). That was the signal to storm the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government had taken refuge. A few hours later, the assault ended with the complete victory of the insurgent workers, soldiers and sailors.
At four o'clock in the morning on October 26, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted an appeal written by Lenin to the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants! exhibited at the booth. It proclaimed the transfer of all power in the center and in the regions to the Soviets.
On the central wall of the hall is a painting by the artist V. Serov, which captures the moment of V. I. Lenin's speech at the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Below, in a special format, are the first decrees of the Soviet state adopted by the congress: The Decree on Peace. Decree on land, as well as the Decree on the formation of a workers' and peasants' government - the Council of People's Commissars - headed by Lenin. Here is the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia, adopted by the Soviet government on November 2, 1917. She proclaimed the basic principles of the Leninist national policy Soviet state- equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia, their right to free self-determination, up to secession, the abolition of all national and national-religious privileges and restrictions.
The gains of the revolution were enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, adopted by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918. Lenin's manuscript of this program document, the basis of the first Soviet constitution, is presented in the hall.
Lenin (real name Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich - an outstanding Russian political and statesman; founder of the communist party and the Soviet state; one of the leaders of the international communist movement, was born on April 10 (22 according to the new style), 1870, in the city of Simbirsk - died on January 21, 1924
Lenin was the greatest revolutionary of the twentieth century, a man with a strong pragmatic mind and great determination and will. In some political spheres, he was able to achieve results that were crucial for the entire history of the century: the formation of the Russian Marxist Party, the formation of the international communist movement, the creation of the world's first socialist state
Mountains of books have been written about Lenin, but to this day he remains an incomparably greater mystery than another Russian political leader of the twentieth century. For many decades he has served as an icon for millions, and still remains so for so many.
Lenin's generation entered public life in a period of disappointment and deceived hopes. After the assassination of Alexander II (March 1, 1881), the liberal-reformist activities of the authorities turned into a deep rollback to the foundations of the autocratic regime. But trampled hopes rarely disappear without a trace. In strong characters, they only strengthen the thirst for struggle. Many then went into opposition, into revolution, into terror.
From the very beginning, Lenin stood out for his decisiveness, self-confidence, firmness and sharpness in polemics - all that, as a rule, the majority of revolutionary intellectuals lacked. Lenin formulated his credo for life: Give us an organization of revolutionaries and we will turn Russia over" for the sake of democracy and socialism. It was a struggle, with all forces and means, a struggle to the end, without doubts and hesitation, without retreats and compromises.
The tsar left Petrograd on February 22, 1917, and on the 23rd riots began there: rallies and demonstrations, which on February 24 turned into strikes, taking on an even larger scale (they became more crowded, there were clashes with the police and the troops supporting it.
On February 25, the movement began to develop into a general political strike, which practically paralyzed the life of the city. Red flags and banners with the slogans “Down with the tsar!”, “Bread, peace, freedom!”, “Long live the republic!” were raised above the strikers and demonstrators. This is how political groups and organizations declared themselves.
As early as February 25, at the initiative of some members of the "Union of Workers' Cooperatives of Petrograd", the Social Democratic faction of the IV State Duma, the Working Group of the Central Military Industrial. Defense direction, the idea arose to create a Council of Workers' Deputies. However, this idea was realized only on the 27th, when the leaders of the working group of the TsVPK, who had just been released from the "crosses", came to the Taurida Palace and, together with a group of Duma Social Democrats and representatives of the left intelligentsia, announced the creation of the Provisional Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.
On February 27, almost simultaneously with the creation of the Petrograd Soviet, the leaders of the "Progressive Bloc" of the IV State Duma formed the so-called Provisional Committee, the head of which M. Rodzianko had already made attempts to enter into negotiations with Nicholas II in order to persuade him to constitutional concessions.
On March 2, Guchkov and Shulgin arrived in Pskov, where Nicholas II was staying. In the presence of the Minister of the Court B. Frederiks, the head of the military office, General K. Naryshkin, Generals Ruzsky and Danilov, they presented their version of the abdication (in favor of Alexei) to the Tsar. In response, Nicholas II announced that he had decided to abdicate in favor of his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich.
By the time of the abdication of Nicholas II, the Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd. The program and composition of the government were largely the result of an agreement between the Duma Provisional Committee and the SR-Menshevik Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.
On March 3, Mikhail abdicates the throne until the final decision on the state system of the Russian Constituent Assembly, which was to be convened by the Provisional Government.
When the first information about what had happened in Russia reached Zurich, where Lenin lived from the end of January 1916, Lenin did not believe them. But then he began to actively work on his political program. In Petrograd, local Bolshevik leaders were arguing about the subtleties of political formulations, about working out party tactics in relation to the Provisional Government, and Lenin had already decided everything. He has already formed the foundations of the political line that the Bolshevik Party will pursue under his leadership.
On April 3, Lenin arrived in Petrograd through enemy German territory in a sealed carriage. Immediately upon his arrival, he published his now famous "April Theses". They weren't a surprise. As early as March 13, at a meeting of the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee and the Executive Committee of the Central Committee, Lenin's telegram was read out, in which the tactics of complete distrust of the Provisional Government and a categorical ban on rapprochement with other parties were prescribed. The theses did not contain a call for violent, armed actions in the struggle for power. They were a program of struggle for the peaceful "growing" of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist revolution.
With the arrival of Lenin in the party, they felt and understood: the undisputed leader, the leader, appeared. Complete "immersion" of Lenin in the idea of revolution, the power of his extraordinary energy, self-confidence, almost complete absence internal hesitation, intransigence towards political opponents, the ability to discern his weaknesses and use them in the struggle, bringing it to the end - all this raised Lenin high above other competitors as a political leader.
At the First Congress of Soviets in June 1917, where only 10% of the delegates supported Lenin, he declared: "There is such a party ready to take power - this is the Bolshevik Party." By this time, the Leninist arithmetic of the revolution came down to the fact that the soldiers were the same peasants; like soldiers they want peace, like peasants they want land. But besides the promises of peace, land and free bread taken from the rich, a political slogan was needed, and Lenin puts forward a simple and accessible slogan: "All power to the Soviets!" He does not get tired of explaining at rallies and meetings the content of the April theses and the slogan calling to stand under the banner of the Soviets.
Back in December 1916 - January 1917, the tsarist government, in agreement with its Entente allies, decided to launch an offensive in the spring of 1917 on the Russian-German front. In combination with the actions of the Allied forces in the West, it should have and most likely would have led to the defeat of Germany. Nicholas II hoped that a successful offensive, victory in the war, raising a wave of patriotism, would improve the situation in the country. The February explosion upset those hopes. However, as events unfolded, the idea of an offensive, capable of realizing not only strategic, but also political calculations, came to life again, this time in the mouths of representatives of the new government. Cadet member V. Maklakov formed plans for the offensive in the following way: “If we really succeed in advancing ... and waging the war as seriously as we waged it before, then Russia will quickly recover fully. Then our power will be justified and strengthened ... ".
According to the plan developed by the Headquarters, the offensive will be scheduled for July. The main blow should be delivered on the Southwestern Front (comm. - General A. Gutor), supported by the Northern, Western and Romanian fronts.
V. I. Lenin believed that with all possible outcomes of the offensive, it would mean "strengthening the main positions of the counter-revolution." Naturally, the Bolsheviks were against the offensive. This meant the deployment of a political struggle to prevent it, up to and including fraternization with the enemy. Under the influence of Bolshevik propaganda and agitation, under their slogans, anarchist sentiments appeared in some military units both during the preparation period and during the offensive itself. Political opponents of the Bolsheviks directly accused them of a treacherous stab in the back.
The whole grand plan of the offensive turned into a real disaster. A disorderly, sometimes panicky retreat of the Russian troops began. This coincided with the exit of the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison (1st machine-gun regiment, 1st reserve infantry regiment), sailors and other military units who arrived from Kronstadt, to the streets of the city from July 3 to 5. Demands were raised to eliminate the Provisional Government and to transfer all power into the hands of the Soviets. Petrograd was shocked. Until now, the source of such a speech, which was almost immediately suppressed, is not completely clear. After the investigation of this case by the Petrograd Court of Justice, headed by N. Karinsky and investigator P. Alexandrov, it was decided that this uprising was provoked by the Bolshevik leadership, which acted in order to undermine Russia's military efforts in the interests of Germany and its allies. In accordance with this decision of the commission of inquiry, the interrogation of a wide range of persons, one way or another involved in the events, began. This investigation was never completed: the Bolshevik coup put an end to it.
Because of the above events, Lenin urgently returned to Petrograd, interrupting his short rest in Neivol. G. Zinoviev wrote in his memoirs; for Lenin, "the question of the need for the seizure of power by the proletariat was decided from the first moment of the present revolution, and it was only a matter of choosing the right moment." Zinoviev further asserted: “In the July days our entire Central Committee was against the immediate seizure of power. Lenin thought the same way. But when the wave of popular indignation rose high on July 3, Comrade Lenin started up. And here, probably in the buffet of the Tauride Palace, a small meeting was held, at which Trotsky, Lenin and I were present. And Lenin, laughing, told us, why not try now? But he immediately added: no, it’s impossible to take power now, it won’t work now, because the front-line soldiers are not still ours ... ”
Nevertheless, the 1st test to some extent nevertheless took place. The Bolsheviks actually supported the action, including the armed one, of the soldiers and workers. Then Lenin argued that evading our support would be a direct betrayal of the proletariat, and the Bolsheviks should have gone and went to the masses in order to give the uprising an allegedly peaceful, organized character, to avoid provocation.
Repression fell upon the Bolsheviks. Arrest warrants were issued for Lenin and some other Bolshevik leaders, but no one came to arrest the leader. In various parts of the city, demonstrations were subjected to armed attacks and fire was opened on them. In the meantime, the collection of data continued, incriminating some Bolshevik leaders (and primarily Lenin) in financial ties with the Germans. Documents published by Germany after the Second World War provide an indirect basis for the conclusion that certain German subsidies ended up in the Bolshevik treasury. But if this is so, then this does not mean at all that Lenin and other Bolsheviks were German agents and carried out their instructions. Lenin was a personality of such a magnitude that could hardly be compatible with the activity on someone's assignment.
Not even 2 months will pass and, it seemed, the already defeated, disgraced Bolshevism will again attract the sympathy and support of those masses who rejected it in July.
After these events, Lenin was secretly transported to Finland. Lenin reoriented the political course of the Bolsheviks. What was proclaimed in the "April Theses" - the struggle for power through the political struggle against the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries within the Soviets - was in fact discarded. Now Lenin came to the conclusion that "these Soviets have failed, suffered a complete collapse", that the Soviets are now powerless and helpless before the victorious and victorious counter-revolution. From this categorical statement, Lenin took a logical step further. He stated that there was no longer any dual power, that the power of the Provisional Government was the power of the "military clique of Cavaignacs (Kerensky, certain generals, officers, etc.)", that the new government was "only a screen to cover up the counter-revolution of the Cadets and the military clique who have power in hand". But if the power actually ended up in the hands of a military clique, only hiding behind the screen of the government, then Lenin's logic dictated the final conclusion: “... no constitutional and republican illusions, no more illusions of a peaceful path .... Only a clear awareness of the situation, endurance, steadfastness of the workers' vanguard, preparation of forces for an armed uprising. The frequent change of basic slogans, which no serious political party could afford, became Lenin's habitual tool in the struggle for power.
The purpose of the armed uprising is the transfer of power into the hands of the proletariat, supported by the poorest peasantry, in order to implement the program of the Bolshevik Party.
As a result, Lenin proposed to change the methods of the party's activity: "without abandoning legality ... to establish illegal organizations and cells everywhere and in everything ... to combine legal work with illegal work." This means that while working openly, the party had to covertly prepare to attack at the right, favorable moment.
Politically, Lenin's turn had huge, far-reaching ideas: he accelerated the movement of the Bolshevik party, and therefore those radical forces from the bottom that followed it, to the left, even to the extreme left political front of the country. At the end of July, the VI Congress of the Bolshevik Party was actually legally held, at which new Leninist guidelines were adopted, although they did not give them a concrete, practical content. Important organizational moment in the work of the congress was the admission to the party of a group of "mezhraiontsy" headed by L. Trotsky. (His long struggle with Lenin and Bolshevism was well known, but now, in these hot revolutionary days, they found ways to reconcile with each other). The union of these two people, who possessed a great will and fully mastered the art of political struggle in the revolution, gave Bolshevism such a powerful impetus, which largely determined the victory of October ...
At the end of August 1917, the monarchist General Kornilov moved troops against Petrograd, against whom the Bolsheviks also opposed. Thus they rehabilitated themselves in the eyes of the socialist parties. Subsequently, Kerensky, who saved Lenin from trial and arrest, because he believed that the German money of the Bolsheviks could stain the whole democracy, wrote about the Bolshevik leader: "Without the Kornilov rebellion, there would be no Lenin." From the beginning of the autumn of 1917, the revolution more and more degenerated into a revolt. The provisional government, headed by the Socialist-Revolutionary Kerensky, was turning from a capitalist into a socialist, shifting all the time to the left, but no longer had time to catch up with Lenin.
Being "underground" in everything about the Kornilov putsch, when the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries hesitated on the main question (the idea of coalition power), Lenin showed a cautious readiness to compromise with them. As explained in his article "On Compromise", this compromise could consist in the fact that the Bolsheviks would abandon their demand for the immediate transfer of power to the proletariat and the poorest peasants, and the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries would agree to form a government wholly and completely responsible to the Soviets.
V. I. Lenin believed that the creation of such a government should mean a significant step in the further democratization of the country, such a democratization that would allow the Bolsheviks to quite freely agitate for their views. This was a fairly accurate calculation: the Bolshevization of the lower classes was growing rapidly, and, having received unlimited freedom of agitation, the Bolsheviks could reasonably count on pushing back and even ousting their socialist opponents on the right, playing with revolutionary, populist slogans should have given advantages to the Bolsheviks.
For about another 10-12 first days of September, Lenin continued to vary the idea in his articles by a politically beneficial combination of the Bolsheviks with the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. The majority in the Central Committee took this course well and were ready to put it into practice.
The Central Committee of the Bolsheviks, guided by Lenin's articles, supported the convening of the Democratic Conference, designed to create a new coalition power - the power represented by the socialist parties. The Democratic Conference opened on September 14 at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. It seemed to everyone that this meeting gave a chance for the reorganization of power, for its shift to the left, by forming a new coalition - democratic, uniformly socialist. And this chance was missed due to internal disagreements in the revolutionary-democratic environment.
This meeting confirmed Lenin's worst assumptions, and in mid-September Lenin's position changed dramatically. Not a trace remains of the recent discussion about the usefulness of seeking an agreement with the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries within the framework of the Soviets. Now he simply branded the possibility of all kinds of parliamentary negotiations and agreements with an energy of incredible force.
Lenin demanded that the Bolsheviks resolutely put an end to all illusions about the Democratic Assembly and Parliament, because they do not want to create a government capable of leading the country out of the impasse, sending the threatening catastrophe through radical transformation, satisfying the vital interests of the lower working classes - workers, peasants, soldiers. He called for no more wasting time on empty verbiage, but to concentrate efforts on work among the workers and soldiers, since they are the source of salvation for the revolution. In the 20th of September, Lenin generally came to the conclusion that the participation of the Bolsheviks in the Democratic Assembly was a mistake. Any suggestion of the possibility of some kind of compromise and agreement with the other party was unconditionally discarded.
And Lenin concluded: the party must begin preparations for a military uprising.
Lenin's sharp turn did not immediately find understanding and support in the Bolshevik leadership. The hopes and calculations associated with the Democratic Assembly, the forthcoming Second Congress of Soviets continued to live.
Lenin's letters about the need for an uprising sometimes went unanswered at all, so Lenin faced another fight against at least part of his own party leadership, much like it happened in April when he "punched" his "April Theses". And he, without hesitation, was ready to start this fight.
At the end of September, Lenin announced the possibility of his leaving the Central Committee, while reserving the right to agitate for his point of view in the ranks of the party and at the party congress. The harshness and categoricalness of his position were determined by the conviction that cooperation in the pre-parliament and the expectation of a congress of Soviets was fatal to the revolution.
In late September - early October, Lenin illegally returned to Petrograd. He knew the value of his personal presence and was not mistaken this time either. On October 7, the Bolshevik Central Committee published a notice of withdrawal from the Pre-Parliament. This was Lenin's first success, but not yet the final one.
On October 10, illegally assembled members of the Bolshevik Central Committee for the first time (since July), with the participation of V. I. Lenin, discussed the question of an armed uprising.
Lenin argued his position by saying that Europe was about to be resolved by revolution; The Entente and the Germans are ready to come to an agreement in order to stifle the revolution in Russia; the people are in favor of the Bolsheviks; a new Kornilovshchina is being prepared; Kerensky decided to surrender Petrograd to the Germans. Despite the fact that Lenin's arguments were, to put it mildly, unconvincing, he turned out to be right in the main thing - the power lay on the pavement, no one wanted to defend the Provisional Government. Moreover, Lenin understood that it was imperative to overthrow the Provisional Government before the Second Congress of Soviets in order to put him before the fact. Only then is it possible to establish a purely Bolshevik government, Leninist.
Lenin bluntly rejected all arguments, pointing out that absenteeism and indifference were the result of part of the masses being tired of mere words, that the majority firmly followed the Bolsheviks, and that it was the Bolsheviks who could and should take the initiative from the international point of view. He concluded that the political cause was ripe for the transfer of power to the Soviets, and the facts revived and intensified the counter-revolutionary forces, forced them to take decisive action.
The Central Committee adopted the Lenin Resolution, which stated that the meeting "calls on all organs and all workers and soldiers to comprehensive and intensified preparations for an armed uprising, to support the center created for this by the Central Committee, and expressed complete confidence that the Central Committee and the Soviets will timely indicate the favorable moment and expedient methods offensive."
Lenin's political line won just as it won at other sharp turns between February and October.
From October 20 to October 24, the Central Committee actually did not allow Lenin to enter Smolny, he appeared there without prior approval on the evening of October 24. From that moment on, Lenin's energy, will, and efficiency become truly titanic. His articles (“The Bolsheviks must take power”, “Marxism and the uprising”, “Advice from an outsider”), written during this hot time, are directly tactical leadership to seize power.
In his “Letter to the District Committees,” through which he wanted to put pressure on the still wavering Central Committee through the district committees, Lenin insisted on decisive action: “The government is wavering. You have to get him no matter what! Procrastination is like death.” The performance was successful, power was in the hands of the Bolsheviks, and the capture of the Winter Palace did not present any difficulties.
On the morning of October 25, Lenin writes an appeal “To the Citizens of Russia”: “The Provisional Government has been deposed,” despite the fact that the Provisional Government was still in session in the Winter Palace. Lenin writes decrees on peace, on land (borrowing the program of the Socialist-Revolutionaries), on the formation of the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), at the same time ordering the Military Revolutionary Committee: "The Provisional Government must be arrested tonight, otherwise the MRC will be shot." A new era has begun - “a miracle happened. “If there weren’t Lenin, there wouldn’t be October” (Trotsky).
As Lenin in Russia grows into a central figure on a world scale, fierce disputes are being waged around his name.
For the bourgeoisie seized with fear, Lenin is a bolt from the blue, some kind of delusion, a world plague.
For mystical minds, Lenin is the great "Mongol-Slav" mentioned in that rather strange prophecy that appeared even before the war. “I see,” this prophecy said, “all of Europe bleeding and lit up with fires. I hear the groans of millions of people in gigantic battles. But around 1915, a hitherto unknown person will appear in the north, who will later become world famous. This is a man without a military education, a writer or a journalist, but until 1925, most of Europe will be in his hands.
For the reactionary church, Lenin is the Antichrist. The priests are trying to gather the peasants under their sacred banners and icons and lead them against the Red Army. But the peasants say: “Maybe Lenin really is the Antichrist, but he gives us land and freedom. Why should we fight against him?
For ordinary Russian citizens, the name of Lenin has an almost superhuman meaning. He is the creator of the Russian revolution, the founder Soviet power, everything that represents today's Russia is connected with his name.
To argue in this way is to look at history as the result of the activities of great men, as if great events and great epochs were determined by great leaders. True, a whole era and a huge mass movement can be displayed in one person.
Undoubtedly, any interpretation of history that connects the Russian revolution with only one individual, or with a group of individuals, is erroneous. Lenin would be the first to laugh at the idea that the fate of the Russian revolution is in his hands or in the hands of his associates.
The fate of the Russian revolution is in the hands of those who made it, in the hands and hearts of the masses. It lies in those economic forces under the pressure of which the masses of the people were set in motion. For centuries, the working people of Russia endured and suffered. In all the boundless expanses of Russia, on the Moscow plains, in the steppes of Ukraine, along the banks of the great Siberian rivers, spurred on by need, shackled by superstition, people worked from dawn to dusk, and their standard of living was extremely low. But everything comes to an end - even the patience of the poor.
In February 1917, with a roar that shook the whole world, the working class threw off the chains that bound it. The soldiers followed suit and rebelled. Then the revolution took over the countryside, penetrating deeper and deeper, igniting the most backward sections of the people with revolutionary fire, until the whole nation of 160 million people - seven times more than during the French revolution - was drawn into its maelstrom.
Embraced by a great idea, the whole nation gets down to business and proceeds to create a new order. This is the greatest social movement in the ages. Based on the economic interests of the people, it represents the most resolute action in the name of justice in history. A great nation sets out on a campaign and, true to the idea of a new world, marches forward, regardless of hunger, war, blockade and death. She rushed forward, casting aside those who betray her, and following those who satisfy the people's needs and aspirations.
The fate of the Russian revolution lies in the masses, in the Russian masses themselves, in their discipline and devotion to the common cause. And I must say that happiness smiled at them. The wise helmsman and spokesman of their thoughts was a man with a gigantic mind and iron will, a man with extensive knowledge and resolute in action, a man with the highest ideals and the most sober, most practical mind. That person was Lenin.
Albert Rhys Williams. From the book "Lenin. Man and his work.
REFERENCE: Albert Rhys Williams (1883-1962) was an American writer and publicist. He was an eyewitness to the October Revolution, met with V. I. Lenin; a friend of our country, he later repeatedly came to the USSR.