Sample Response
Vladimir Lenin “Letter to Comrade Smilga” (27 September 1917)
a. / Identify two reasons Lenin gives to explain his anxiety about the political situation in Petrograd in late 1917.2 marks
b. / Identify two measures which Lenin orders Comrade Smilga to undertake in preparation for a seizure of power.
2 marks
c. / By quoting from the extract and using your own knowledge, explain why the power of the Bolshevik party grew in the period April to October 1917.
6 marks
d. / Evaluate the usefulness of this extract in understanding the reasons for the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917.
In your response, quote from the extract and refer to different views of the Bolshevik seizure of power.
10 marks
3a) Identify two reasons Lenin gives to explain his anxiety about the political situation in Petrograd in late 1917. [2 marks]
1 mark for the following:
· The government is “preparing systematically” to act against the Bolsheviks
Plus 1 mark for any one of the following (these responses overlap, so you cannot earn two marks for two of the following):
· The Bolsheviks are “losing time” OR are “only passing resolutions,” instead of preparing to overthrow the government
· The “Bolsheviks are not preparing their own military forces for the overthrow of Kerensky”
· The Bolshevik party is not listening to Lenin’s “proposal…that the party must plan an armed uprising”
3b) Identify two measures which Lenin orders Comrade Smilga to undertake in preparation for a seizure of power. [2 marks]Possible responses (1 mark each):
· “give all your attention to the military preparation of the troops”
· “create a secret committee of absolutely trustworthy military men”
· “collect…data on the composition and location of troops around Petrograd”
· “circulate the following slogan: ‘Transfer power now to the Petrograd Soviet!’”
3c) By quoting from the extract and using your own knowledge, explain why the power of the Bolshevik party grew in the period April to October 1917. [6 marks]To score strongly on this question, you must:
· Clearly answer the question
· Quote from the source
· Provide relevant factual evidence from your own knowledge
To achieve a top score on this question, you must also:
· Discuss a variety of factors from the period April to October 1917
· Demonstrate a complex grasp of Bolshevik actions and policies
Useful quotes / Value to a discussion on growth of Bolshevik popularity“The Petrograd Soviet and the Bolsheviks have declared their opposition to the government” / Lenin first announced the Bolshevik party’s opposition to the Provisional Government in the April Theses, in which he accused the government of representing the “bourgeoisie” and “deceiving” the people. Bolshevik opposition to the government set them apart from all other political parties in Russia, earning them support and power.
“Create a…committee of trustworthy military men” / Lenin alludes here to the method which allowed the Bolsheviks to ultimately seize power – the creation of the Military Revolutionary Committee (Milrevkom) on 16 Oct 1917.
“Why should we tolerate three more weeks of war?” / Here Lenin alludes to the unpopularity of World War 1 and the Bolshevik demand for an immediate peace, captured in the Bolshevik slogan “Peace, Bread, Land!” Many Russian soldiers assumed the February Revolution meant that peace was near at hand, and were disillusioned by the failed June Offensive.
‘Transfer power now to the Petrograd Soviet!’ / Here Lenin alludes to the central Bolshevik demand for “All Power to the Soviets!”
Useful evidence / Discussion value
Lenin’s slogan ‘Peace, Bread, Land!’ / This slogan captures specific Bolshevik promises of immediate solutions to each of the main revolutionary social groups: peace (everyone, especially soldiers), bread (workers in cities, which were suffering supply shortages) and land (peasants)
Lenin’s slogan ‘All Power to the Soviets!’ / This slogan captures the Bolshevik plan to create a new form of government to serve the labouring classes – workers and peasants. The idea of Soviet government became more popular in response to the failure of the Provisional Government to act.
Kornilov Affair (August) / The Bolshevik Military Organisation armed 40,000 Red Guards and organised the city’s defence against attack by General Kornilov. This greatly enhanced the party’s reputation.
Bolshevik majorities in the Soviets (September) / In elections on 2 September 1917, the Bolsheviks achieved a majority in the Moscow Soviet. A week later on 8 September, they took control of the Petrograd Soviet. This enhanced Bolshevik power by turning the Soviets into tools to use against the government.
Party growth from 35,000 (Apr) to 350,000 (Oct) / Factual evidence that proves how quickly and dramatically the Bolshevik party grew.
3c) By quoting from the extract and using your own knowledge, explain why the power of the Bolshevik party grew in the period April to October 1917. [6 marks]
Sample response
The Bolshevik party captured popular support by promising immediate solutions to the problems facing Russia throughout 1917, and by exploiting the weakness of the Provisional Government. Firstly, as Lenin points out in the extract, the Bolsheviks were the only political party in Russia to “declare their opposition to the government,” and demand an immediate withdrawal from what Lenin described in the April Theses (4 April 1917) as the “imperialist war.” Using the slogans “Peace, Bread, Land!” Lenin was able to provide concrete promises of how a Bolshevik-led government would immediately withdraw from WW1, solve the supply crisis, and authorise peasant land seizures. This gave the party popular support, as its ideas permeated through the army and soviets. Secondly, the Bolsheviks were the only party which stood for workers’ power, and endorsed the creation of workers’ militias called Red Guards. 40,000 Red Guards were trained, and armed with rifles distributed by Prime Minister Kerensky during the Kornilov Affair (26 August 1917) giving the Bolsheviks their own military force. Finally, in the extract Lenin tells Comrade Smilga of the importance of creating committees of “absolutely trustworthy military men,” reflecting the methods used to assert control of the Petrograd Garrison after the Military Revolutionary Committee was created on 16 October 1917.
204 words
3d) Evaluate the usefulness of this extract in understanding the reasons for the success of the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917.In your response, quote from the extract and refer to different views of the Bolshevik seizure of power. [10 marks]
To score strongly on this question, you must:
· Show evaluation of the source by identifying strengths and weaknesses
· Show awareness of other views by quoting from historians
To achieve a top score on this question, you must also:
· Make a clear and deliberate evaluation in your first sentence
· Ensure that all of your points are relevant to the Bolshevik seizure of power
· Support all of your evaluations with factual evidence
· Compare and contrast the view expressed in the source to historians’ views
/ Discussion value /Possible Strengths / · This source accurately shows that Lenin sought to seize power from the Provisional Government by force.
· This source provides insight into the methods used the Bolsheviks used to seize power: they subverted the Russian Army, spreading their own influence through it, and using a Military Revolutionary Committee to issue orders to overthrow the government.
Possible Weaknesses / · This source offers a misleading impression of the strength of the Provisional Government; Lenin’s fears as misplaced due to his overestimation of Kerensky’s power. In reality, the Bolsheviks overthrew Kerensky with ease after he tried to close their newspapers on 24 Oct 1917.
· Because this is a private letter, this source provides no direct insight into the way the Bolsheviks appealed to the masses and gained popular support by promising immediate solutions.
· This source provides no insight into the importance of Trotsky, who actually directed the seizure of power between 24-26 October 1917.
Useful historians’ views / · Soviet historians like G.D. Obichkin would argue that this source is proof of “Lenin’s genius,“ arguing he was a “wise and fearless strategist.” However, Obichkin would also point out that the Bolsheviks came to power because of the “valiant struggle and heroism of the workers and soldiers,” and suggest that the revolution was popular.
· Liberal historians like Richard Pipes would argue that this source is conclusive proof that the Bolsheviks were a “tightly organised conspiracy,” and that far from being a popular revolution, the events of October 1917 were a “classic coup d’état…with hardly any mass involvement.”
· Revisionist historians like William Rosenberg would argue that this source is of limited value because it provides no insight into the role of the masses. He claims the Bolsheviks came to power as a result of a “vast social upheaval over which they had…very little control.”
3d) Evaluate the usefulness of this extract in understanding the reasons for the success of the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917.
In your response, quote from the extract and refer to different views of the Bolshevik seizure of power. [10 marks]
Sample response
This extract is partly useful because it allows us to understand the preconditions of the Bolshevik seizure of power, but because it was written in September 1917, before the October revolution occurred, short terms catalysts are not included.
This extract is helpful in understanding circumstances which allowed the Bolsheviks to gain power. The Bolsheviks introduced ‘beautiful resolutions’, as Lenin says in the extract, which addressed the problems that trouble Russians. These slogans ‘All power to the Soviets!’ and ‘Peace, Land, Bread!’ were immensely popular, and encouraged workers, soldiers and peasant to support the Bolsheviks. Historian Robert Service supports this, claiming these slogans ‘neatly corresponded to their wishes’ for immediate solutions, allowing for the Bolsheviks to increase their popularity whilst condemning the Provisional Government for providing no such solutions.
In the extract, Lenin also highlights the fact that the Bolsheviks ‘have completely at [their] disposal’ the troops around the capital. In September 1917, the Bolsheviks gained majority in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets, which later allowed them control of the Petrograd Garrison through the Milrevkom. This provided the Bolsheviks ample force for the overthrow of Kerensky, which was crucial to the seizure of power in October. Historian Michael Lynch agrees that Lenin’s primary strategy for taking power was to ‘create a party capable of seizing power when the opportune moment came.’ With the use of military forces, the power was taken from the Provisional Government and placed in the Bolsheviks’ hands.
However, this source is not useful for comprehending the short-term triggers leading up to the October Revolution. Many crucial events are excluded from this document due to the dating of the source. Kerensky’s order to close down Bolshevik newspapers on the 24th of October allowed Bolsheviks to accuse the government of trying to suppress the Soviet democracy. In retaliation, Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky, leader of the Milrevkom, ordered the seizure of the capital and subsequent arrest of the government. Historian Rex Wade agrees that it was Kerensky’s unwise decisions and ultimately the incompetence of the Provisional Government that allowed the Bolsheviks to take power, arguing that ‘Kerensky, not Lenin, began the October Revolution.’
Consequently, this extract only partially allows us to understand the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917, since while it details the preconditions that allowed this event to occur, it fails to include short-term catalysts due to this document being written a month before the October Revolution took place.
402 words