Provisional Government and the Bolshevik Revolution » Lenin Returns: The April Theses and the July Days

Lenin returns to Petrograd

When the Tsar fell in March 1917, Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, was in exile in Switzerland. The Bolsheviks were the revolutionary socialist party he had led since the party split in 1903. In 1917 they were still a small party, much smaller than the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries who led the Petrograd Soviet. Remember, the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet were sharing power in Petrograd at this time.

Lenin was desperate to get home, but Russia was at war with Germany and the route was blocked. The German government agreed to let him cross Germany in a sealed train. The Germans hoped that Lenin's calls to end the war would weaken Russia. He reached Petrograd's Finland Station on 3 April 1917. (Dates in this lesson are in the Russian calendar, which ran 13 days behind the one used in Western Europe.) A crowd of Bolsheviks and soldiers met him, and he made a speech straight away attacking the Provisional Government.

Key terms:

• April Theses: a list of demands that Lenin wrote soon after returning, published in the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda on 7 April 1917
• July Days: days of armed protests in Petrograd, 3-6 July 1917, against the Provisional Government
• Thesis: a statement of a view or demand (the plural is theses)

The April Theses

Many Bolsheviks in Petrograd had been taking a cautious line, willing to give the Provisional Government some support while the war went on. Lenin did not agree. His April Theses made clear that the Bolsheviks should offer no support at all. The main demands were:

These ideas were turned into a slogan that anyone could remember: 'Peace, Bread, Land'. Together with 'All power to the Soviets' it became the Bolsheviks' main message. The slogan worked because it promised what the Provisional Government had not delivered: an end to the war, food for the cities and land for the peasants.

At first the Theses shocked even Lenin's own party. Some leading Bolsheviks thought they were too extreme, and Pravda said they were only Lenin's personal views. But Lenin used his authority and his skill at persuading to win the argument, and the party's line became the one set out in the Theses. The message also began to attract members. The party grew many times over during 1917, especially among factory workers and soldiers.

The July Days

By the summer of 1917 many workers and soldiers in Petrograd were angry. Food was short, prices were rising, and the June offensive against Germany was going badly. Soldiers in Petrograd, including the 1st Machine Gun Regiment, feared they would be sent to the front, and sailors from the Kronstadt naval base also joined in.

From 3 July thousands of soldiers, sailors and workers marched through Petrograd with weapons and banners reading 'All power to the Soviets'. They surrounded the Tauride Palace, where the Soviet met, and demanded that it take power. Bolshevik activists had helped stir up the protest, but the Bolshevik leaders were not ready to seize power and hesitated over whether to back it. The Soviet leaders refused to take power, and the Government called in troops it could trust. The protest was put down and by 6 July it was over.

Results of the July Days

• The Bolsheviks were blamed. The Government claimed that Lenin was a German agent and published documents to try to prove it. Many people believed it, and the Bolsheviks lost support for a while.
• The Bolshevik leaders were hit hard. Pravda was shut down and Bolshevik offices were raided. Lenin went into hiding, later fleeing to Finland, and some other leaders, including Trotsky, were arrested.
• Kerensky gained power. Prince Lvov resigned in July and Alexander Kerensky became prime minister.
• The Government stayed weak. It had won only because a few loyal troops had obeyed it, and the crowds had shown how many soldiers and workers were ready to turn against it.

So for the Bolsheviks the July Days were a setback, but not the end. They had not been broken as a party, and Lenin's slogans were still popular.

Exam-style question

This is a Paper 2 Section A (a) question. You choose one option and give two features, each with supporting detail. One feature alone can score no more than 3 marks.

Describe TWO features of EITHER the April Theses of 1917 OR the July Days of 1917. [6 marks]

What lifts this to the top level: each feature is clearly named and backed with specific facts, and the second paragraph shows why the Theses mattered.