Lenin and Great October HST 332: Age of Dictators, Europe 1850-1914

Suggested reading Richard Pipes, Russia under the Bolshevik Regime. Dmitri Volkogonov, Lenin. Martin E. Malia, The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Russia, 1917-1991.

The young radical 1870 22 April Born 1886 24 January Ilya Ulyanov dies 1887 20 May Alexander Ulyanov is hanged 25 August Lenin enters Kazan University 17 December Arrested in student protest 1891 November Passes law exam at St. Petersburg University 1892 Defense lawyer in Samara 1895 May-Sept. Visits Plekhanov abroad 21 December Arrested in St. Petersburg 1897 10 February Exiled for 3 years to Siberia 1898 March RSDLP founded in Minsk 22 July Lenin marries Nadezhda Krupskaya

Lenin in exile 1900 10 February Siberian exile ends 29 July Leaves Russia for western Europe 1902 March Publishes “What is to be Done” April-May Lenin in London 1903 August Second congress of RSDLP in Brussels & London, formation of Bolshevik faction 1904 9 February Russo-Japanese War begins 14 March Lenin resigns from RSDLP central committee 1905 22 January “Bloody Sunday” Third congress of RSDLP in London 26 October St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers’ Deputies formed by Trotsky. 21 November Lenin arrives in St. Petersburg 16 December St. Petersburg Soviet arrested 21 December Bolshevik uprising in Moscow crushed by army

What Lenin learned from 1905 soviets were effective as an alternate governing body and source of legitimacy. workers and urbanites alone could not overthrow autocracy. It would be necessary to enlist the peasantry in the Revolution.

Creating the Bolshevik Party 1906 April-May Fourth congress of RSDLP in Stockholm 1907 January-April Lenin resides in Finland April-June Fifth Congress of RSDLP in London December Lenin takes up residence in Switzerland 1908 Lenin moves to Paris 1912 June Lenin moves to Cracow, Austrian Poland 1914 30 July Russia mobilizes 8 August Lenin arrested in Cracow as Russian spy September Lenin leaves Austria for Zurich, Switzerland 1915 Zimmerwald Conference of anti-war socialists

The October Revolution Conflict among Lenin’s followers. The coup. Where was Stalin?

The Constituent Assembly \

How did Lenin win? Small, tightly organized party Popular program Land, Bread, Peace Absolute ruthlessness