A Year of Revolutions

The Provisional GVMT March to October 1917

Key Questions – Why couldn’t the PG survive?  Why did Lenin and the Bolsheviks take over?  How significant was Lenin?

*         Problems facing PG

High Expectations

‘Provisional’ and not elected – elections not carried out

Dual Power – role of Petrograd Soviet and Order No 1

Necessity of continuing War  – All parties in favour apart from Bolsheviks though

Economic Problems caused by war

Failure of June Offensive, Mass desertions

Unrest in countryside – demand for land reform

*         Mistakes of PG, especially Kerensky

Failure to solve above problems

June Offensive – leads to July Days

Kornilov Coup – Kerensky arms Bolsheviks


Kerensky brings in repressive measures to oppress Bolsheviks – unpopular

Kerensky escapes

*         Role of Lenin and Bolsheviks

April Theses – Peace, Bread, Land, All Power to Soviets, only party promising an end to war


Armed by Kerensky, set up military HQ and Red Guard

Propaganda and increased support in cities

Lenin persuades Bolshevik Central Committee (Zinoviev and Kamenev) time is right for revolution

Coup planned and executed – take over key installations, storm winter Palace

How realistic was Eisenstein’s film?

*         Many Historians feel that Bolsheviks met little opposition because people believed that Soviets would take power and a left wing coalition would be formed.

Advertisements
Leave a comment
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

  • RSS Chapati Mystery

    • Who was Eqbal Ahmad?
      I gave these comments at an AAAW event at Museo El Barrio some years back I. I miss that which refused to become a commodity. I want that which cannot be assimilated in the histories of “Left” or “Dissent”. I seek that which dissented from participation in our purchasing power. Eqbal Ahmad is one such … Continue reading "Who was Eqbal Ahmad?" […]
    • Past Pleasant
      The practice of publishing old texts is common in Pakistan; British-era district gazetteers and other colonial texts are routinely reprinted as de facto introductions to the history of the Subcontinent. The unwholesome after-effect of this is that colonial biases and frameworks remain uncontested and widely popular. There is neither any attempt to decolonise […]
    • CM Roundtable II: Religious Difference in a Secular Age
      [We are excited to host this conversation on a very important book, Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report, by Professor Saba Mahmood.  The CM Roundtable is a series that presents multiple, in-depth reviews of an exciting new book. We thank each of our distinguished panelists for engaging in this public dialogue. We aim to have each … Conti […]

  • RSS British Library Untold Lives

    • Bevin Indian Trainees during the Second World War
      The exhibition Connecting Stories: Our British Asian Heritage includes a number of items relating to the Bevin Trainees during the Second World War. The Bevin Training Scheme was established in 1941... Untold Lives draws out from the shadows little-known stories of individuals or groups of people. It showcases the richness and diversity of the British Librar […]
    • 'I have made resolutions to be good': letters of Princess Charlotte to her tutor
      Can you imagine the 19th century without Queen Victoria? If the young Princess Charlotte, only legitimate daughter of the Prince of Wales, had not died in childbirth in 1817, aged 21, she could have... Untold Lives draws out from the shadows little-known stories of individuals or groups of people. It showcases the richness and diversity of the British Librar […]
    • Political and criminal convictions in Birmingham
      How would you feel if you discovered that a member of your family had attended the first annual meeting of the Birmingham Political Union in 1830 chaired by Radical MP Sir Francis Burdett? Would you... Untold Lives draws out from the shadows little-known stories of individuals or groups of people. It showcases the richness and diversity of the British Librar […]

  • RSS London Socialist Historians

    • GROUP DISCOUNT OFFER For LSHG and friends : Philosophy Football's 1917 Centenary Night Out
      From Mark at Philosophy Football...Our 1917 centenary show at Rich Mix ‘Art out of Revolution’ is on Saturday 21st October, we've put a lot of thought into it and come up with something truly special. And there's a special tickets deal too, 5 for the price of 4, or 10 for price of 7 for LSHG, friends and SWP comrades to take up.  Hope so!   The eve […]
    • LSHG Autumn term 2017 seminars
      London Socialist Historians SeminarsAutumn 2017Seminars are held on alternate Mondays, 5.30pm at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, London, WC1. They are free to attend without ticket.Monday October 16th - John Rees, 'The Leveller Revolution'Monday October 30th  Merilyn Moos, 'Neglected histories of the diverse victi […]
    • Marikana Miners Solidarity Campaign Picket and Vigil
      Wednesday 16th August5th ANNIVERSARY DEMONSTRATIONAGAINST THE BRUTAL MARIKANA MASSACRE1-2pm Picket Lonmin HQ, 1-3 Mount Street, London W1K 3NB4.30-7pm Remembrance VigilSOUTH AFRICA HOUSE, TRAFALGAR SQUAREBring yellow flowersMarikana Miners Solidarity CampaignOn 16th August 2012, the South African Police shot dead 34 striking platinum rock drillers, while the […]
%d bloggers like this: