It was byxcourtesy of the German government that Lenin arrived at Petrograd on the 16th April, together with some twenty of his supporters! The journey, arranged in the main by the German ambassador in Berne, Count Gisbert von Romberg, was by “a sealed railway carriage”, and it took eight days to reach its destination. Having to cross Germany to reach Petrograd via Sweden and Finland, Lenin had no real alternative but to take up the offer, despite the inherent danger when his “treachery” became widely known. The Germans, of course, were only too willing to take an arch-revolutionary, bent on a peace settlement, back to his homeland. If he brought down the Russian government, and that seemed a real possibility, the war on the Eastern Front would be at an end, and large numbers of German troops could be moved to the Western Front, in good time for the arrival of American forces …. should the U-boat campaign not have already brought the Allies to their knees.

    Lenin received a warm welcome at Finland Station, in Petrograd, where, as one would expect, most of the people were his supporters. His speech, based on his “April Theses”, promised “Peace, Land and Bread”. He took the Provisional Government to task for not ending the “predatory imperialist war”, and promised a complete victory for the proletariat, with the peasant seizing the land and the worker seizing the factories. There would be no compromise with other revolutionary movements, nor with the political bourgeoisie. .... But there were those who regarded this policy as a recipe for anarchism, and in the country as a whole his reception was even less enthusiastic, despite the high regard in which he was personally held. He felt convinced that he could gain control of Petrograd, but he realised that, further afield, there was not a great deal of eagerness for a violent overthrow of what was, in any case, a provisional government, working towards an elected Constitutional Assembly. Bolshevism had, in fact, won some measure of support in the Soviets. These local councils, created by workers, soldiers and peasants and excluding the property classes, were being established in cities, towns and work places across the country, but, at this point, there was no widespread support for the peasant and worker to seize power directly. To gain victory, there was clearly a need to build up a much larger degree of support within the Soviets. Inxaddition, the Bolshevik leaders were living on borrowed time. In little more than two months, as we shall see, news of Lenin’s collusion with the Germans had become common knowledge, and they had become persona non grata. They were blamed for a period of unrest in Petrograd – the so-called “July Days” – and quickly arrested. Leon Trotski, Lenin’s right hand man, was imprisoned, along with many others, and Lenin himself (labelled a German spy), was obliged to flee in disguise to Finland. Not surprisingly, the offices of Pravda, the party’s newspaper, were attacked by a mob, and the printing presses destroyed. Lenin believed that the Russian Revolution was to be the vanguard of a world communist revolution. So it proved to be, but, for the present, Bolshevism was put on hold.

    VladimirxIlyich Ulyanov was born into a middle class family at Simbursk, now Ulyanovsk, 438 miles east of Moscow, in 1870. As a teenager he became politically radicalised by two events in the year 1887: the death of his elder brother in May, executed for plotting to assassinate the Czar, Alexander III; and his own expulsion from Kazan Imperial University in the December for being the ringleader in an illegal student protest. He later finished his law degree, and then immersed himself in political literature. Following, in particular, his reading of The Communist Manifesto of 1848 and Das Kapital, published in 1867 – the works of the German philosopher and social theorist Karl Marx – he declared himself a Marxist, and soon found himself in trouble again. For engaging in Marxist activities, he was arrested in 1896 and imprisoned for over twelve months before being exiled to Siberia for three years. His fiance and future wife joined him there, and, his sentence completed, he moved to Western Europe to continue his revolutionary activities.

    It was at thisxtime, at a Congress held in London in 1903, that he met up with members of a party led by the Russian revolutionary Julius Martov. Like Lenin, he was an ardent Marxist, but there was to be no merger. He sought revolution via democratic means, whilst Lenin, as we have seen, planned a revolution directly from the core roots of society, the peasants and the workers. He wanted nothing to do with the so-called “democracy” of the privileged and the wealthy. The meeting broke up. For convenience, Lenin’s party, the largest group at the congress, took on the name “the Bolsheviks” (the majority), and Martov’s party (slightly smaller in number), was dubbed “the Mensheviks” (the minority). The names proved convenient, and came into general usage. Following the split, Lenin worked in Germany for a time, then moved to Switzerland. It was there, in Geneva, that he established the Bolsheviks on a firm footing. It must be said that, by any standards, his leadership was most impressive. He combined the knowledge of a political theorist with the down-to-earth competence of a practical statesman, a rare combination indeed. And to this he added a never wavering determination – regardless of his own well being or safety – to bring about not only a proletariat revolution within Russia itself, but the very beginning of a worldwide Socialist movement. One could well question the value and, indeed, the practicality of his thesis – as many did – but one could not question the depth of his commitment. That was truly remarkable.

    As noted above, Lenin’s urgent return to Russia in April 1917 did not bring about the revolution he sought. Come July, many of his members were in prison, and he himself was forced to go into hiding in Finland. The Bolsheviks did not carry much weight at this time. But, as it so happened, the Provisional Government came to their unintentional rescue in the same month of Lenin’s departure. The newly appointed Minister of War, Alexander Kerensky, convinced at this stage – somewhat surprisingly one might feel – that a decisive Russian victory on the battlefield was possible, and that it would unite the nation and inspire its leadership (politically as well as militarily), launched a highly ambitious onslaught, the so-called “Kerensky Offensive”, in Galicia. As we shall see, this proved a complete disaster, and was followed by “the July Days”, a spontaneous demonstration by soldiers, sailors and industrial workers in Petrograd against the war and the state of the country. There were calls for the Soviets to seize power. The uprising – blamed upon the Bolsheviks – was eventually put down, and a re-organised provisional government survived, but it was becoming clear that its days were numbered, and that the growing strength of the Soviets, countrywide, could well provide the Bolsheviks with a very useful springboard from which to launch its burning quest for power. Lenin was to have much to play for in the coming months.

     Incidentally, Lenin adopted the name Lenin in December 1903. At that particular time it was possibly used to confound the authorities, hide his identity, or serve as the author’s name for his many publications. However, it soon became the name by which he is best known. It’s derivation is not certain, but it is generally held that it was taken from the name of the River Leno, known to him during his exile in Siberia.

THE EASTERN FRONT

VLADIMIR LENIN ARRIVES IN PETROGRAD:  16TH APRIL 1917

THE FAILURE OF THE BOLSHEVIKS: JULY 1917

    Asxwe have seen, the “February Revolution” brought about the abdication of the Czar on March 2nd, and the formation of a non-elected Provisional Government. This was made up of self-appointed members of the Duma, led in the first instance, by the politician and landowner Prince George Lvov. As one would expect, it continued to represent the interests of the rich and the privileged, and it was for this very reason that the Petrograd Soviet, a body of social revolutionaries, took on a rival role – seen by some as part of a “Dual Authority” – constantly criticising government policy and pressing for more radical changes, including an immediate withdrawal from the war. At times this, together with other Soviets (“councils”) in cities and towns across Russia, posed a serious threat to government policy, but, as a body, it was prepared to await the outcome of a new, more liberal constitution.

    In the first few days, predictably, the government introduced a number of liberal reforms, including universal suffrage, freedom of speech, and the right to strike, but, at this juncture, this was little more than window dressing. However, where their programme did have an immediate and lasting effect was the decision to continue the war against the Central Powers. This was a fundamental issue. The need to take Russia out of the war had been one of the main demands of the February Revolution, if not the major one. Yet, despite such vociferous opposition against the conflict, the appalling bloodshed was to continue, alongside the desperate need for food and the abject poverty of the masses. If there was a time to rise up and overthrow the government, this was it! But of the four revolutionary movements current at this time, three objected but – closely involved as they were in the work of the Provisional Government – made no serious move. The Mensheviks, led by Julius Martov, held a number of cabinet posts; the prime minister, George Lvov, was, in fact, a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party (a so-called Kadet); and the leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Victor Chernov, was appointed Minister of Agriculture in May 1917. All three movements were too involved in the support of a government that, in the true interests of its people, needed to be overthrown! The exception was the Bolsheviks, led by the revolutionary Marxist Vladimir Lenin. Having lived in Zurich, Switzerland, over the past twelve years, he was eager to return to Russia as soon as possible, overthrow the government, and give power to the people. If revolution was in the air, then he needed to be in the midst of it.

Acknowledgements

Provisional Government: alphahistory.com Mensheviks: quora.com Demoratic Party: Wikipedia Socialist Revolutionay Party: micronations.wiki On the Train: spartacys-educational.com by Russian artist Pyotr Vasiliev Arrival at Petrograd: new yorker.com Lenin: history.com Lenin re. Democracy: notable-quotes.com The Split: alphahistory.com On the Offensive: historica.fandom.com

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