starter activity

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? starter activity
?
The arrival of Lenin in St Petersburg on 16 April
1917 raised the political tension in the city
enormously. Think about the failings of the
Provisional Government. Now imagine some of the
things Lenin would have said to the crowds in
this picture to win their support.
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How did the Bolsheviks seize power?
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Who was Lenin?

• Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
• Son of school inspector
• Brother executed for assassination of Tsar
  Alexander II
• Studied law at university (expelled)
• Marxism pamphlets, groups
• Arrest exile
• Marriage to Nadezhda Krupskaya
• London, editor of Iskra (The Spark)

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• Lenin exiled in Switzerland, came back with
  German support
• End to co-operation with Provisional Govt.
• Soviet to take power
• Slogans, Bread, Peace, Land, All Power to the
  Soviets
• April Theses

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? Your task

• Work in groups of 3 or 4. Each group has been
  given the responsibility to write Lenins Finland
  Station speech. Nominate a speaker to present the
  speech. The speech which gains the most support
  from the people of St Petersburg (students in H3)
  on the basis of its message and the
  persuasiveness of the argument will be adopted as
  the official one of the communist party.

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? Your task

• Imagine you are a Bolshevik leader in Russia in
  1917. What would you do in the following
  circumstances why?

Click here for a copy of the problem-solving task
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Problem 1.

• Lenin returns from exile in Switzerland
• Finland Station, uses slogans to proclaim Peace,
  Bread, Land! All Power to the Soviets
• April Theses

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Problem 2.

• July Offensive leads to rioting
• Soldiers sailors from Kronstadt march on Prov.
  Govt.
• 500,000 protestors
• 400 killed
• Trotsky arrested, Lenin flees

What is unusual about this photo compared with
the one above?
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Problem 3.

• General Kornilov tries to impose marshal law
• Kerensky turns to Bolsheviks for support
• Bolshevik prisoners released given arms
• Railway workers stopped Kornilovs men entering
  city
• Bolsheviks portrayed as Defenders of the
  Revolution

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Problem 4

• Winter approaching food shortages will get
  worse
• Urgency history will not forgive us if we do
  not assume power now!

Lenin steams back to St Petersburg
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Problem 5.
Trotsky

• Red guards took control of bridges, main
  telegraph office, railways stations power
  stations
• Also seized State Bank
• Shops, offices factories left to function as
  normal

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Problem 6.

• Red Guards seize Winter Palace
• Opposition groups in Soviet walk out in protest
• Members of the Prov. Govt. arrested (Kerensky
  fled)
• Council of the Peoples Commissars set up in name
  of all the soviets of Russia

The storming of the Winter Palace, by a Soviet
artist. How reliable is this painting?