The Bolsheviks

The Rise of Lenin

• The Bolsheviks began as a small faction of a Marxist party called the Russian Social Democrats. They were lead by the great Vladimir Ilyich Ulianov, better known to the world as V.I.Lenin.  The Bolsheviks became a party dedicated to violence and chaos. Lenin believed that the only thing that could destroy a capitalist system was violence. A ”vanguard” of activists, must form a small party of well disciplined professional revolutionaries to accomplish the task.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulianov

• In April 1917, German Military leaders, hoping to create disorder in Russia, shipped Lenin back to Russia. Lenin and his associates were in a sealed train to prevent their ideas from infecting Germany. A new stage was opened when Lenin arrived to Russia. He said that soldiers, workers, and peasants were instruments for power. He believed that the Bolsheviks should gain control of these group in order to make the best provisional government. At the end the Bolsheviks promised the distribution of land, transfer of factories and industries, and the transfer of government power from the provisional government to the soviets.Everything summarized in three slogans, ”Peace, Land, and Bread”. 

• The number of party members had grown from 50,000 to 240,000- During the night of November 6, Bolshevik forces seized the Winter Palace, the seat of the provisional government, the government quickly collapsed with little of blood spilled. Outwardly Lenin turned over the power of the provisional government to the Congress of Soviets. On March 3, 1918, Lenin signed the Treaty of BrestLitovsk  with Germany and gave up eastern Poland, Ukraine, Finland, and the Baltic provinces. The country soon sank into civil war.
• The Czar, Anti Leninist socialist, and The Allies sent thousands of troops to various parts of Russia in the hope of bringing Russia back to war. Attacks also came from the Ukranians in the southeast and from the Baltic regions. The Red army was a well disciplined fighting force, due to the organizational genius Leon Trotsky. Furthermre the disunity of the anti communist forces weakened their efforts. By 1921, The Communists were in total command of Russia. In the course of the civil war, The Communist Regime had transformed Russia into a centralized state dominated by a single party.