Bolsheviks

 Bolsheviks 



 The Bolsheviks were a political party in communist Russia.

 In 1917 the Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and a new government was formed. The remaining members of the Duma led this. This government was also known as the Provisional government located in St. Petersburg consisting of parties like the Mensheviks, the socialists, the right wing party and other political parties.



 The Bolsheviks were a Marxist party founded by Lenin and Bogdanov. The party disagreed on how the provisional government was handled by the right wing and therefore they overthrew it in October 1917, also known as the October revolution.



 Their slogan “Peace! Bread! Land!” summed up their main goals and supports the communist regime of everyone being equal. The slogan shows that what they wanted was equality, decent working and living conditions and an empire. The party became more and more popular over time leading to 240’000 members by the summer of 1917.

 The Bolsheviks had a very disciplined and strong army, which also led to more citizens joining. Under the strong leadership of Lenin slogans like “All power to the Soviets” defined the party and people recognized the strength and power they created. Other political parties like the Mensheviks therefore lost popularity and were already sensing a Bolsheviks takeover.



 The October revolution was probably the most important event in the Russian history throughout the first world war. The aim of the revolution was that the Bolsheviks wanted to seize power from the provisional government because their ideas of the Mensheviks for example were right wing while the Bolsheviks were left wing. Under the leadership of Lenin, the party voted for a revolution on October the 23rd. Trotsky, who just came out of prison, supported the revolution and returned to the Bolsheviks as the president. They were successful and had control over everything. They were in control of things like railway stations or telephones and soon seized control of Russians’ capital. Other groups like the Mensheviks were in the minority, which is why they couldn’t oppose the Bolsheviks of taking over. Shortly after the October revolution they founded the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.



 However, the government had some disagreements and problems. When Lenin and Trotsky (another Bolshevik) signed the Brest Letovsk, which was a peace treaty with Germany, many supporters of the Bolsheviks didn’t approve and formed many anti-communist parties. In other words the Bolsheviks lost popularity.



 In conclusion, the Bolsheviks were a very strong communist party with a few problems and were successful at overthrowing the provisional government in the October revolution of 1917.



<p class="MsoNormal"> Bibilography: 

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<p class="MsoNormal"> History for the IB Diploma, Causes Practices and Effects of wars, by Mike Wells, Cambridge University Press 2011

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<p class="MsoNormal"> Russia: a modern history, by David Warnes