How were the Bolsheviks successful?

Answer 1

WHY WERE THE BOLSHEVIKS SUCCESSFUL IN OCTOBER 1917? INTRODUCTION. 1.In August 1903 the Marxist-Russian S.D.L.P's second Congress in Brussels and London was marked by disagreements between two formerly close colleagues, Lenin and Martov. At the time,generally thought to have been inspired by personal conflicts, these disagreements were to have far reaching consequences. The crucial issue was party membership. Lenin demanded that it be limited to a small cadre of professional revolutionaries, Martov that it should be wider and open to sympathisers. Neither of them had a majority even amongst existing members or at the Congress, but on this point Martov narrowly defeated Lenin. Shortly afterwards, on a vote as to the composition of the editorial board of the party newspaper "Iskra"("Spark") Lenin's supporters won and from then on cleverly took the name "Bolshevik" meaning "majority". Martov's supporters inevitably became known as " Mensheviks" after "men'shinstvo' " meaning "minority". At first the boundary between the factions was porous with members changing sides, and there were several unsuccessful attempts to unite the party, the last being as late as 1910. But, the rift between them slowly widened. In January 1912, the factions broke off relations, the Bolsheviks organised a conference of their own members in Prague, expelled the Mensheviks and declared themselves in an independent party,the RSDLP(Bolshevik). Their political philosophy was uncompromising; unlike the Mensheviks they refused to co-operate with other groups whether liberal or socialist, though latterly they were prepared to enter into temporary alliances for tactical advantage. Their organising principle was " democratic centralism" which required unswerving loyalty to the leadership and unquestioning acceptance of decisions. The immediate political programme was the assumption of complete power by the party in the name of people by whatever means, including violent. 2. It was the war that gave the Bolsheviks their chance. The consequences of defeat: low morale, economic difficulties, including inflation and shortages, led to popular unrest, which the Czar's government was unable to suppress. When the Duma Chairman suggested giving more power to the people's representatives, the Czar attempted to dissolve the assembly. The Duma members refused to separate and remained in the Tauride Palace where they usually met. They agreed it was impossible to work with the Czar even as a constitutional monarch and set about forming a provisional government without him. The army high command withdrew its support from the Czar who abdicated in February1917 . For a variety of reasons the new government was weak and over the coming months made numerous mistakes, while the Bolsheviks, whose leadership was now back inside Russia with the connivance of the Germans, grew in strength, opposed the provisional government and urged its overthrow and seized power in October 1917. In August 1914 the Bolsheviks, by choice, were few in number, but they also had limited support and their leaders, Lenin, Zinoviev and Kamanev were in exile living and working in Western Europe, receiving financial support from Social Democratic, comrades. The prospect of obtaining power seemed slim: Lenin himself thought the revolution unlikely in his lifetime. But within a little over three years, by winning power in both St Petersburg and Moscow and becoming the effective government of Russia they had attained their primary political goals. This blog examines why the Bolsheviks were successful and it does so by attempting to answer two questions. Why was their a revolution in 1917 at all? And ,why were the Bolsheviks able to wrest control from the provisional government? It is arguable that all successful popular revolutions, as opposed to coup d' etat ,require four preconditions: discontent with the government, probably widespread ; an inability or failure on the part of the government to address its causes; an effective opposition, capable not only of articulating discontent, but organising resistance to the existing regime, taking control and forming an alternative government; an exceptional factual nexus, usually violent, which allows the opposition to bid for power, and an ability on the part of the government, at the critical moment, to suppress it. I will answer both questions within this framework. (to be continued)(answer is developing on hhtp://learninghistoryman.blogspot.com/

Answer 2

The Bolsheviks became a majority in the next few months. In November, Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik party easily took over. The take over was a result of years of unrest in the social, economic, and political arenas. Similar unrest in Germany in the early 1930s created a similar situation which led to the Nazi take over of Germany.