mayli-ga,
In November 1917, following Marx’s revolution, the Bolsheviks
came to power, lead by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. However, the sudden
political upheaval caused many problems and it was not an easy
transition. The Bolsheviks faced many challenges from both inside and
outside the new country called the Soviet Union. These problems will
be broken down:
Seizure of Power
Beginning in March 1917 (more accurately, the end of February)
workers in Moscow were rioting, demanding higher food rations. Many
of the government soldiers refused to cooperate, allowing the workers
to continue to strike. After Nicholas II tried (ineffectually) to
dissolve the Duma, he was forced to resign and a provisional
government was appointed, ending autocracy in Russia. However, the
power of the provisional government was extremely limited and had
little support. In April 1917, Lenin returned to Russia and
galvanized the small party of Bolsheviks into action using simple, yet
powerful slogans. The group attempted an all out military offensive
in July, which failed, increasing tension between the party and the
provisional government, whose power was weakening. However, the
Bolsheviks continued to gain power and support and in November 6,
staged a coup capturing many government buildings and the Winter
Palace in Petrograd. Later, Moscow and many other Russian towns were
captured, beginning the Bolsheviks rule.
Industrialization
Lenin believed that the only way for the Soviet Union to survive
was to become a strong industrial nation. However, this was not an
easy task as the Soviet Union was not a particularly advanced country.
The problem was there were very few factories and many of the Russian
were peasants who made their living farming. To forward his plan of
creating a successful industrial economy, Lenin forced the peasants of
the land and into factories. However, they had problems learning how
to use the machinery and they were frequently absent from work. The
difficulty of adjusting caused many to turn to drink to numb the
hatred of factory work. The results, obviously, were disastrous. The
products were poor and did nothing to improve the economy. To solve
this, the government hired managers for the factories who had certain
benefits that the workers did not have (think Animal Farm, everybody
is equal, but some are more equal then others). This contradicted
Lenin’s promise of equality for all, and many claimed nothing had
changed from the old system.
Civil War
Even with the Bolsheviks seizure of power, opposition still
remained and the war the resulted ravaged Russia until about 1920.
The Bolsheviks achieved victory partly due to the lack of cooperation
among the various White commanders and partly to the remarkable
reorganization of the Red forces after Trotsky became commissar for
war. It was won, however, only at the price of immense sacrifice;
Russia by 1920 was ruined and devastated. Atrocities were committed
throughout the civil war by both sides.
Sources
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0842739.html
http://www.essaybank.co.uk/free_coursework/2906.html
http://rwor.org/a/v19/930-39/933/bol3.htm
://www.google.ca/search?q=bolsheviks+seizure+of+power+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshevik
http://www.swishweb.com/History/history11.htm
http://www.rispubs.com/article.cfm?Number=664
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/basics1917.html
Hope that helps.
-Tox-ga |
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