The October Revolution, unlike the February Revolution, was carefully prepared by the Bolsheviks, whom Lenin, overcoming strong resistance, managed to win over to his side. On October 24–25 (November 6–7), several thousand Red Guards, sailors and soldiers who followed the Bolsheviks take possession of strategically important points in the capital: railway stations, arsenals, warehouses, a telephone exchange, and the State Bank. October 25 (November 7) the headquarters of the uprising - the Military Revolutionary Committee announces the overthrow of the Provisional Government. At the end of the night of October 26 (November 8), after a warning salvo from the cruiser Aurora, the rebels take the Winter Palace with the ministers stationed there, easily crushing the resistance of the junkers and the women's battalion, which constituted the only defense of the impotent government. At the same time, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which was dominated by the influence of the Bolsheviks, being confronted with a fact, affirms the victory of the uprising. Then, at the second meeting, he adopts a resolution on the formation of the Council of People's Commissars, as well as decrees on peace and land. So, for several days of almost bloodless "Great October revolution» there is a complete break with the historical past of the country. However, you will need long years fierce struggle before the Bolsheviks succeeded at last in establishing their undivided dominance.
Political and state life
29 Sept. (12 Oct.). In the Bolshevik newspaper Rabochy Put, Lenin's article "The Crisis is Ripe" appears. The call contained in it for an immediate armed uprising runs into the disagreement of a significant part of the Bolsheviks.
Lenin secretly returns to Petrograd.
Oct 10 (23) In an atmosphere of secrecy, a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party is taking place. V. Lenin achieves the adoption of a resolution on the uprising with 10 votes in favor and 2 against (L. Kamenev and G. Zinoviev) thanks to Y. Sverdlov's information about the impending military conspiracy in Minsk. A Political Bureau was created, which includes V. Lenin, G. Zinoviev, L. Kamenev, L. Trotsky, G. Sokolnikov and A. Bubnov.
Oct 12 (25) The Petrograd Soviet creates a Military Revolutionary Committee to organize the defense of the city from the Germans. The Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Trotsky, will transform it into a headquarters for the preparation of an armed uprising. The Soviet appeals to the soldiers of the capital's garrison, to the Red Guards and Kronstadt sailors with an appeal to join it.
Oct 16 (29) At an expanded meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, the resolution on the uprising, passed by Lenin, was approved, the technical preparation of which was entrusted to the Military Revolutionary Center, acting on behalf of the party together with the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.
Oct 18 (31) In the newspaper M. Gorky " New life”an article by L. Kamenev was published, where he sharply objects to the impending uprising, which he considers untimely.
Oct 22 (4 Nov.). The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet announces that only orders approved by it are recognized as valid.
Oct 24 (6 Nov.). An open break between the Soviet and the Provisional Government, which orders the printing house of Bolshevik newspapers to be sealed and calls for military reinforcements to Petrograd. The Bolsheviks break the seals and during the day do not allow troops loyal to the government to build bridges. The beginning of the uprising, the leadership of which is carried out from the building of the Smolny Institute. On the night of 24 to 25 Oct. (November 6-7) Red Guards, sailors and soldiers who sided with the Bolsheviks, without much difficulty occupy the most important points of the city. Lenin comes to Smolny, where the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies is to begin, the ministers gather in the Winter Palace, Kerensky flees the capital for reinforcements.
Oct 25 (7 Nov.) The rebels take possession of almost the entire capital, except for Winter Palace. The Military Revolutionary Committee announces the overthrow of the Provisional Government and takes power into its own hands in the name of the Soviet.
Assault on the Winter Palace (with the support of the cruiser Aurora). At 2:30 a.m., the palace is occupied by the rebels.
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets opens in Smolny (out of 650 delegates, 390 Bolsheviks and 150 Left Social Revolutionaries). A new composition of the presidium was elected, in which the Bolsheviks predominate; Mensheviks and Right Socialist-Revolutionaries, who opposed the coup, leave the congress; the appeal "To the workers, soldiers and peasants!" Thus the congress affirms the victory of the insurrection.
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). The beginning of the Bolshevik uprising in Moscow, which, after fierce fighting, ends with the capture of the Kremlin.
3 (16) Nov. The Petrograd City Duma is creating a "Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution", which includes Mensheviks and Right Social Revolutionaries who do not accept the actions of the Bolsheviks.
Night from 26 to 27 Oct. (Nov 8–9). The final meeting of the II Congress of Soviets: a resolution was approved on the formation of a new government - the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), which included exclusively the Bolsheviks: Lenin (chairman), Trotsky (People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs), Stalin (People's Commissar for Nationalities), Rykov (People's Commissar for internal affairs), Lunacharsky (People's Commissar of Education). The All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) was re-elected, which is also dominated by Bolsheviks and Left SRs. Decrees on peace and land, written by Lenin, were adopted.
Oct 27 (Nov 9). The offensive of the troops of General Krasnov against Petrograd organized by A. Kerensky (stopped near Pulkovo on October 30/November 12).
Oct 29 (Nov 11). In Petrograd, an attempted revolt by the Junkers was suppressed. An ultimatum from the Executive Committee of the Railway Workers' Union (Vikzhel) demanding the formation of a coalition socialist government.
1 (14) Nov. The Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party adopts a resolution that means the breakdown of negotiations that were conducted with representatives of other socialist parties on the formation of a coalition government. The representatives of the Bolsheviks sent to Gatchina manage to win over the troops gathered by Kerensky and Krasnov to the side of the revolution. Kerensky flees, Krasnov is arrested (he will soon be released and join the counter-revolutionary forces on the Don). The Tashkent Council takes power into its own hands. In general, at that time, Soviet power was established in Yaroslavl, Tver, Smolensk, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saratov, Rostov, Ufa.
2 (15) Nov. The "Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia" proclaims the equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia and their right to free self-determination up to secession.
4 (17) Nov. In protest against the refusal to form a coalition government, several Bolsheviks (including Kamenev, Zinoviev and Rykov) announced their withdrawal from the Central Committee or from the Council of People's Commissars, however, they soon returned to their posts. The Third Universal of the Ukrainian Central Rada, proclaiming the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic(without breaking with Russia, the Rada urged her to transform into a federation).
Nov 10–25 (Nov 23-Dec 8). Extraordinary Congress of Peasants' Deputies in Petrograd, dominated by Socialist-Revolutionaries. The congress approves the decree on land and delegates 108 representatives as members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
12 (25) Nov. The beginning of the elections to the Constituent Assembly, during which 58% of the votes will be cast for the Social Revolutionaries, 25% for the Bolsheviks (however, the majority votes for them in Petrograd, Moscow and in the military units of the Northern and Western Fronts), 13% for the Cadets and others " bourgeois parties.
15 (28) Nov. The Transcaucasian Commissariat was formed in Tiflis, organizing resistance to the Bolsheviks in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Nov 19–28 (December 2-11). The First Congress of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who have organized themselves into an independent political party, is taking place in Petrograd.
Nov 20 (December 3). The call of Lenin and Stalin to all Muslims in Russia and the East to begin the struggle for liberation from all forms of oppression. The National Muslim Assembly is gathering in Ufa to prepare the national-cultural autonomy of the Muslims of Russia.
Nov 26 - Dec 10 (December 9-23). I Congress of Soviets of Peasants' Deputies in Petrograd. It is dominated by Left Socialist-Revolutionaries who support the policies of the Bolsheviks.
Nov 28 (11 Dec.). Decree on the arrest of the leadership of the party of the Cadets, accused of preparing a civil war.
Nov. The organization of the first counter-revolutionary military formations: in Novocherkassk, Generals Alekseev and Kornilov create the Volunteer Army, and in December they form a "triumvirate" with the Don ataman A. Kaledin.
2 (15) Dec. The Cadets are expelled from the Constituent Assembly. Volunteer army enters Rostov.
4 (17) Dec. An ultimatum was presented to the Central Rada demanding to recognize Soviet power in Ukraine.
7 (20) Dec. Creation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Sabotage and Counter-Revolution, chaired by Dzerzhinsky.
9 (22) Dec. The Bolsheviks agree with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries on the entry of the latter into the government (they were given the posts of People's Commissars of Agriculture, Justice, Posts and Telegraphs).
11 (24) Dec. The First All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets opens in Kharkov (at which the Bolsheviks predominate). 12 (25) Dec. he proclaims the Ukraine a "Republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies".
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). Peace Decree: it contains a proposal to all warring parties to immediately begin negotiations for the signing of a just democratic peace without annexations and indemnities.
1 (14) Nov. After the flight of A. Kerensky, General N. Dukhonin became the Supreme Commander.
8 (21) Nov. Note from People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs L. Trotsky, in which all belligerents are invited to start peace negotiations.
9 (22) Nov. General N. Dukhonin removed from command (for refusing to start negotiations on a truce with the Germans) and replaced by N. Krylenko. Announced the forthcoming publication of secret treaties related to the war.
Nov 20 (December 3). Armistice talks between Russia and the Central European powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey) are opening in Brest-Litovsk. N. Krylenko takes possession of the Headquarters in Mogilev. N. Dukhonin was brutally killed by soldiers and sailors.
9 (22) Dec. Opening of the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk: Germany is represented by Secretary of State (Minister of Foreign Affairs) von Kuhlmann and General Hoffmann, Austria is represented by Foreign Minister Chernin. The Soviet delegation, headed by A. Ioffe, demands the conclusion of peace without annexations and reparations, while respecting the right of the peoples to decide their own destiny.
Dec 27 (Jan 9). After a ten-day break (arranged at the request of the Soviet side, which is trying - unsuccessfully - to involve the Entente countries in the negotiations), the peace conference in Brest-Litovsk is resumed. The Soviet delegation is now headed by L. Trotsky.
Economy, society and culture
Oct 16-19 (Oct 29-Nov 1). Meeting of proletarian organizations of cultural education in Petrograd (led by A. Lunacharsky); from November they will take the official name "Proletkult".
Oct 26 (8 Nov.). Land Decree; landowner ownership of land is abolished without any redemption, all land is transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies. In many cases, the decree simply consolidates the actual situation. Each peasant family is provided with an additional tithe of land.
5 (18) Nov. Metropolitan Tikhon was elected Patriarch of Moscow (the patriarchate had been restored shortly before by the Council of Orthodox Church).
14 (27) Nov. "Regulations on workers' control" at enterprises where more than 5 wage workers are employed (factory committees are elected at enterprises, the supreme body is the All-Russian Council of Workers' Control).
Nov 22 (5 Dec.). Reorganization of the judicial system (election of judges, creation of revolutionary tribunals).
2 (15) Dec. Creation of the Supreme Council National economy(VSNKh) to regulate the entire economic life. Local organs of the Supreme Council of National Economy became the Councils of the National Economy (sovnarkhozes).
18 (31) Dec. Decrees "On civil marriage, on children and the maintenance of books of acts of state" and "On the dissolution of marriage."
Lenin (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924) was born in Simbirsk, in the family of an inspector of public schools. Entering the law faculty of Kazan University, he soon finds himself expelled after student unrest. His older brother Alexander was executed in 1887 as a member of the Narodnaya Volya conspiracy to attempt on his life. Alexander III. Young Vladimir brilliantly passes the exams at St. Petersburg University. Then he became a Marxist, met in Switzerland with Plekhanov, and upon returning to the capital in 1895 founded the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class." He is immediately arrested and, after imprisonment, is exiled to Siberia for three years. There he writes the work "The Development of Capitalism in Russia", published in 1895 and directed against populist theories. After leaving the exile, he left Russia in 1900 and founded the Iskra newspaper in exile, which was called upon to serve as the propaganda of Marxism; at the same time, the distribution of the newspaper allows you to create a fairly extensive network of underground organizations in the territory Russian Empire. Then he takes the pseudonym Lenin and publishes in 1902 the fundamental work What Is to Be Done?, in which he sets out his concept of a party of professional revolutionaries - a small, strictly centralized one, intended to become the vanguard of the working class in its struggle against the bourgeoisie. In 1903, at the First Congress of the RSDLP, a split occurred between the Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) and the Mensheviks, who disagreed with this concept of party organization. During the revolution of 1905, he returned to Russia, but with the beginning of the Stolypin reaction, he was forced to go into exile again, where he continued an uncompromising struggle with everyone who did not accept his views on the revolutionary struggle, accusing even some Bolsheviks of idealism. In 1912 he decisively broke with the Mensheviks and began directing the newspaper Pravda, legally published in Russia, from abroad. Since 1912 he lives in Austria, and after the outbreak of the First World War he moves to Switzerland. At the conferences in Zimmerwald (1915) and in Kienthal (1916), he defends his thesis about the need to transform the imperialist war into a civil war and at the same time asserts that the socialist revolution can win in Russia (“Imperialism, as the highest stage of capitalism”).
After February Revolution In 1917, he was allowed to cross Germany by train, and immediately upon his arrival in Russia, taking the Bolshevik Party into his own hands, he raised the question of preparing a second revolution (April Theses). In October, not without some difficulties, he convinces his comrades in the struggle of the need for an armed uprising, after the success of which he passes decrees on peace and land, and then leads the "building of socialism", during which he more than once has to overcome stubborn resistance, as , for example, on the issue of the Brest-Litovsk peace or on trade union and national issues. Possessing the ability to make concessions in certain situations, as happened with the adoption of the New Economic Policy (NEP), inevitable in the conditions of complete ruin in the country, Lenin showed exceptional intransigence in the fight against the opposition, not stopping either before the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly in 1918, nor before the expulsion of the "counter-revolutionary" intelligentsia from the country in 1922. Already being seriously ill, he nevertheless tries to participate in decision-making in late 1922 - early 1923 and expresses his fears in notes later known as "Testament". For about a year, he actually does not live, but survives, paralyzed and speechless, and dies in January 1924.
V. I. Lenin arrived in Petrograd late in the evening on April 3, 1917. The exposition shows the route by which he returned to Russia, a questionnaire filled out on April 2, 1917 when crossing the border point of Tornio (Finland), as well as a telegram sent by M. I. Ulyanova and A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova: We are arriving Monday night, 11. Report the Truth. Ulyanov.
At 11:10 p.m., the train stopped at the platform of the Finland Station, where Petrograd workers had gathered by that time. A guard of honor was lined up on the platform. V. I. Lenin, climbing onto an armored car, delivered a speech, which he ended with an appeal: Long live the socialist revolution! This moment is reflected in the sculpture by M. Manizer (1925), installed in the center of the hall.
On an armored car, surrounded by people, Lenin went to the mansion, which in 1917 housed the Central and Petrograd Committees of the Bolshevik Party. Military organization of the Bolsheviks and other organizations. From the balcony of the mansion, Lenin spoke several times that night to the workers, soldiers and sailors. Only in the morning he, together with N. K. Krupskaya, went to the apartment of his sister A. I. Elizarova-Ulyanova and her husband M. T. Elizarov (Shirokaya St., 48/9, apt. 24, now Lenin St. , A. 52).
In an apartment on st. Shirokoy Lenin lived from April 4 to July 5, 1917. All this time, he carried out gigantic propaganda and organizational work to rally the revolutionary forces around the Soviets. He directly headed the Central Committee of the party and the editorial office of the newspaper Pravda.
April theses. On the tasks of the proletariat in the present revolution.
An enormous role in preparing the masses for the socialist revolution was played by the April Theses, formulated by V. I. Lenin back in March 1917 and published in Pravda on April 7, 1917 as theses On the tasks of the proletariat in this revolution. The manuscript The initial draft of the April theses and the issue of Pravda of April 7 are exhibited in a special design on the wall to the left of the entrance to the hall.
The April Theses are a scientifically substantiated plan of struggle for the transition from the bourgeois-democratic revolution, which gave power to the bourgeoisie, to the socialist revolution, which should transfer power into the hands of the working class and the poorest peasantry. Having set such a task, V. I. Lenin theoretically substantiated the meaning, essence of the Republic of Soviets as a political form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a new, higher form democracy.
In the theses, Lenin considered the most burning question of those times - about the attitude towards the war, which on the part of Russia and under the Provisional Government remained predatory, predatory due to the bourgeois nature, goals and policies of this government. Only that power could give the peoples peace, bread and freedom, which would turn the country onto the path of socialism. Hence the Bolshevik slogans: No support for the Provisional Government! , All power to the Soviets!
In the April Theses, Lenin formulated the economic platform of the proletarian party: the nationalization of the entire land fund of the country with the confiscation of landowners' lands, that is, the liquidation of private ownership of land and its transfer to the local Soviets of laborers and peasants' deputies, as well as the immediate merger of all the country's banks into one nationwide bank and the establishment of control over it by the Soviets of Workers' Deputies; the establishment of workers' control over the production and distribution of products.
Referring to internal Party issues, Lenin proposed convening a Party Congress, changing the Party Program, where, in particular, putting forward the task of creating a Soviet Republic, and renaming the Party to the Communist Party. As a practical task for all revolutionary Marxists, Lenin put forward the task of creating the Third, Communist International.
The stand contains materials and documents of the VII (April) All-Russian Conference RSDLP(b), the first legal Bolshevik conference in Russia. All her work was carried out under the direct supervision of V. I. Lenin. He delivered reports on the current situation, on the agrarian question, and on the revision of the Party Program. in fact, the conference played the role of a congress. She elected the Central Committee of the party headed by Lenin.
After the April Conference, the task of the Bolshevik Party was to merge into one powerful revolutionary stream the general democratic movement for peace, the peasant struggle for land, the national liberation movement of the oppressed peoples for national independence.
The Bolsheviks had to explain to the proletariat and all working people their program and slogans, the anti-people character of the Provisional Government, and the compromising position of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries.
The entire wall to the right of the entrance is occupied by a painting by the artist I. Brodsky V. I. Lenin's speech at a rally of workers of the Putilov factory on May 12 (25), 1917 (1929), which conveys the atmosphere of that time. According to the recollections of the rally participants, Lenin spoke so simply and clearly that all doubts and hesitations disappeared from people, and a readiness to overcome any difficulties appeared.
From the memoirs of the old Putilov worker P. A. Danilov: ... what Ilyich said captured and ignited. Fear disappeared, fatigue disappeared. And it seemed that not only Ilyich was speaking, but all forty thousand workers were speaking, sitting, standing, holding on to weight, uttering their cherished thoughts. It seemed that everything that was in the worker spoke with one voice of Lenin. Everything that everyone thought, experienced to himself, but did not find a chance and words to fully and clearly state to a comrade - all this suddenly took shape and spoke ... This meeting gave an enormous amount to history. He moved the Putilov masses, and the Putilov masses moved into the revolution.
In the exposition of the hall there is a transcript of V. I. Lenin's speech on his attitude towards the Provisional Government, which he delivered at the 1st All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which met in early June 1917. Declaring that the Bolshevik Party was ready to take full power, Lenin explained the main slogans of the party: all power to the Soviets, bread to the working people, land to the peasants, peace to the peoples. On the stand there is an issue of the newspaper Pravda dated July 2, 1917 with the second speech of V. I. Lenin at the congress - about the war.
The hall presents a diagram of the Bolshevik press by July 1917. It shows that the party at that time had about 55 newspapers and magazines, the daily circulation of which exceeded 500,000 copies. Especially popular was Pravda, in which Lenin's articles were published almost daily. From the moment he arrived in Russia until July 1917, he wrote more than 170 articles for the newspaper.
The exposition materials tell about the powerful demonstrations of the working people against the continuation of the imperialist war, against the policy of the bourgeois government. One of the photographs shows the execution of the July peaceful demonstration of workers and soldiers in Petrograd. Mass searches began at the workers' homes, the revolutionary regiments were being disarmed, and soldiers were being arrested. The Bolshevik Party and workers' organizations were severely repressed.
On the morning of July 5, the Junkers ransacked the premises of the editorial office of Pravda; on July 7, the Provisional Government published a decree on the arrest and prosecution of Lenin and other Bolsheviks. The Central Committee of the Party decided to hide Lenin in the underground, in the vicinity of Petrograd. The village of Sestroretsk was chosen, where mainly the workers of the arms factory lived. There, close to railway station Razliv, in the house of the Bolshevik worker N. A. Emelyanov and settled V. I. Lenin. In the turnstile there is a photograph of a barn with an attic near the house of N.A. Emelyanov at the station. Spill, where in July 1917. V. I. Lenin was hiding.
The new situation that developed after the July days required a revision of the party's tactics and its slogans. On July 10, V. I. Lenin wrote the theses Political position, the manuscript of which is exhibited at the stand. All hopes for the peaceful development of the Russian revolution, - wrote V. I. Lenin, - disappeared completely. Thus, in the post-July period, the question arose of developing new tactics and new methods of struggle. It was necessary to convene a party congress.
At the stand that completes the exposition of the hall, there are documents and materials of the VI Congress of the Party. It took place in late July - early August 1917 in Petrograd, in a difficult situation, semi-legally. The overwhelming majority of the congress delegates were revolutionaries, hardened in the struggle against tsarism and the bourgeoisie. In the turnstile are materials on the election of V. I. Lenin as a delegate to the VI Congress of the RSDLP (b) from the Yekaterinburg (now the city of Sverdlovsk) organization of the Bolsheviks.
During the preparation and holding of the congress, V. I. Lenin was underground. From there, he maintained close contact with the Central Committee of the Party. His works - the theses "The Political Situation", the pamphlet To the Slogans, the article Lessons of the Revolution and others - formed the basis of the decisions of the VI Congress of the Bolshevik Party.
The exposition contains a resolution on the political situation. It advances the slogan of struggle for the complete liquidation of the dictatorship of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie and for the conquest of power by the proletariat and the poorest peasantry by means of an armed uprising.
The exposition (to the right of the entrance to the hall) also presents other resolutions of the congress: On the economic situation, Tasks of the trade union movement, On youth unions, On propaganda, as well as the Party Charter with the amendments adopted at the congress.
The VI Congress of the RSDLP (b) elected the Central Committee of the party, headed by V. I. Lenin. At the top of the exposition, above the stand with resolutions, there are photographs of members of the Central Committee, active participants in the revolution.
The manifesto of the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) issued after the congress and exhibited in the hall called on the masses of workers, soldiers and peasants to prepare for decisive clashes with the bourgeoisie. In particular, it said: Our Party is marching into this fight with unfurled banners.
Exhibits in the 10th hall reveal Lenin's plan for an armed uprising, show the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, its world-historical significance.
The exposition begins with the work of V. I. Lenin State and Revolution, completed in August-September 1917. It gives the most complete and systematic exposition of the Marxist doctrine of the state. The subtitle of the book The Teaching of Marxism on the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution defines its theme. In the conditions of the maturing of the socialist revolution in Russia and in a number of other countries, the question of the origin and role of the state, the prospects for its development arose in all its scientific and practical significance ... as a question of immediate action and, moreover, action on a massive scale, ... as a question about explaining to the masses what they will have to do to free themselves from the yoke of capital in the near future.
Manuscript on display preparatory materials to the book State and Revolution - the so-called blue (due to the color of the cover) notebook, known as the work Marxism about the State. It consists of 48 pages, written in characteristic Lenin's small, compact handwriting. On the cover, where the title is, Lenin lists the works of Marx and Engels, which he referred to in the course of the work. The manuscript provides an opportunity to get acquainted with Lenin's methods of working on sources and has an independent meaning.
In the work State and Revolution, the pages of the manuscript of which are displayed in showcases and on stands, Lenin developed the views of Marx and Engels on the state, emphasizing: The state is a product and manifestation of the irreconcilability of class contradictions. The state arises there, then and to the extent where, when and insofar as class contradictions objectively cannot be reconciled. Lenin further pointed out that as a result of the victory of the socialist revolution, the bourgeois state must be replaced by the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the social basis of which is the alliance of the working class with the many millions of working peasants.
V. I. Lenin showed the decisive role of the Communist Party not only in conquering but also in strengthening the dictatorship of the proletariat, in building socialism and communism, and gave a comprehensive treatment of the question of proletarian democracy - democracy of the highest type.
In the book, Lenin develops the Marxist doctrine of socialism and communism as two phases of communist society, about the conditions for the withering away of the state.
In the extensive exposition dedicated to the book State and Revolution, one can see its first edition, as well as editions in the languages of the peoples of the USSR and foreign countries.
As already mentioned, the Central Committee of the party sheltered Lenin from the persecution of the Provisional Government in the house of N. A. Emelyanov not far from the Razliv station, which was located near the border with Finland. However, the situation there was also alarming, and therefore soon Lenin, under the guise of a Finn mower, was moved to a hut on the shore of Lake Sestroretsky Razliv. The hall contains exhibits that tell about the last underground of V. I. Lenin: photographs of the places where he was hiding, as well as things that he used while living on the lake. The hut was his home, the area cleared of bushes - a green study, as Lenin jokingly called it. Vladimir Ilyich worked very hard, although the conditions for life and work were not easy. In the underground, Lenin maintained regular contact with the Central Committee of the party through G. K. Ordzhonikidze, A. V. Shotman, E. Rakhia, and others specially assigned for this purpose.
Autumn was coming, the hay season was over, it became dangerous to hide under the guise of a scythe. In addition, police agents with dogs appeared in the vicinity of Sestroretsk. Under these conditions, it was necessary to find a more reliable place for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The Central Committee decided to hide its leader in Finland, and in early August 1917, under the guise of a stoker, Lenin moved to Finland on a steam locomotive.
V. I. Lenin in a wig and a cap. The picture was taken for identification in the name of the worker K. P. Ivanov, according to which Lenin illegally left for Finland, hiding from the persecution of the Provisional Government. August 1917
In the exposition - things (coat, wig) that Lenin used. There are also photographs of the Finnish Social Democrats A. Blomkvist, J. Latukka, G. Rovio, G. Yalava, who helped Lenin in the underground, as well as a map-scheme of V. I. Lenin's last underground and a painting by the artist D. Nalbandyan V. I Lenin in the Underground.
Further along the exposition tells about the national crisis in Russia. In the fourth year of the imperialist war, the country's economic situation deteriorated sharply. Rail transport worked intermittently. The supply of raw materials, coal and metal to plants and factories was steadily reduced. Coal mining, production of pig iron, steel, consumer goods decreased. The country was threatened with famine and mass unemployment. In this situation, Lenin wrote the pamphlet Impending catastrophe and how to deal with it, which outlined a program to prevent a catastrophe and the economic renewal of the country, substantiated measures by which the country could be saved from devastation and hunger: the nationalization of banks, insurance companies, enterprises of capitalist monopolies; land nationalization; abolition of trade secrets; forced association of disparate capitalist enterprises into syndicates; association in consumer societies (with the aim of evenly distributing the hardships of war and controlling the consumption of the rich by the poor classes). Control, supervision, accounting - this is the first word in the fight against catastrophe and hunger. In his work, V. I. Lenin put forward the task of immediately ending the war, emphasizing that the war accelerated the development of monopoly capitalism into state-monopoly capitalism, which brought humanity closer to socialism. Die or rush forward at full speed. This is how the question is posed by history. The manuscript of the pamphlet is on display.
In Work Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power? , placed on the stand, V. I. Lenin emphasizes that in Russia there are both economic and political prerequisites for the victory of the socialist revolution, develops the doctrine of the Soviets as a form of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the center of the stand is a facsimile of Lenin's words: Only when the lower classes do not want the old and when the upper classes cannot continue in the old way, only then can the revolution win.
The exposition includes photographs, documents, diagrams that characterize the growing national crisis in the country: a powerful revolutionary movement of the working class, the growth of the peasant movement, the strengthening of the revolutionary movement of the oppressed peoples, the revolutionary upsurge in the army. The most obvious sign of the growing national crisis is the growing influence and authority of the Bolshevik Party among the broad masses of the people. On the stand is a diagram of the alignment of party forces by regions of the country on the eve of October (by this time there were 350,000 members in the party).
The Bolshevik Party, headed by Lenin, had a clear program for the revolutionary transformation of society, united the struggle of the workers for socialism, the general democratic struggle for peace, the struggle of the peasants for land, the national liberation movement into one revolutionary stream, and led the masses to a victorious socialist revolution.
Under these conditions, V. I. Lenin's ability to assess the real situation, his political wisdom, manifested itself especially clearly. He concentrated all his knowledge, all his colossal political experience, all his will and energy on the preparation of an armed uprising. In the works exhibited in the hall, Marxism and the uprising, the Soviets of an outsider, the Bolsheviks must take power and others, V. I. Lenin sets out his approximate plan for organizing an uprising, calling it a special type political struggle.
In connection with the growing revolutionary crisis in the country, Lenin turned to the Central Committee of the Party with a request to allow him to return to Petrograd. On the stand is an extract from the minutes of the meeting of the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) dated October 3, 1917: ... suggest Ilyich to move to St. Petersburg so that constant and close communication is possible. In early October, V. I. Lenin illegally returned to Petrograd. He settled in the apartment of M.V. Fofanova (Serdobolskaya St., 1, apt. 41) - this was his last secret apartment.
In Petrograd, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, with the greatest energy and perseverance, directly directs the preparations for an armed uprising. In the exposition is the resolution of the meeting of the Central Committee of the party of October 10. It emphasizes that an armed uprising is inevitable and fully ripe, that all the work of the Party must be subordinated to the tasks of organizing and carrying out an armed uprising. For the political leadership of the uprising, the Politburo of the Central Committee headed by Lenin was created.
On October 16, at an enlarged meeting of the Central Committee of the party, the Military Revolutionary Center was elected. Preparations for an armed uprising unfolded throughout the country.
On the stand is a letter from V. I. Lenin to the members of the Central Committee, written on the evening of October 24: I am writing these lines on the evening of the 24th, the situation is utterly critical. It is clearer than clear that now, truly, delay in the uprising is like death.
I try with all my might to convince my comrades that now everything hangs in the balance, that the next step is questions that are not decided by conferences, not by congresses (even if only by a Congress of Soviets), but exclusively by the peoples, by the masses, by the struggle of the armed masses... no matter what, tonight, tonight, to arrest the government, disarming (defeating if they resist) the junkers, etc. History will not forgive delay for revolutionaries who could win today (and will certainly win today), risking losing a lot tomorrow risking losing everything. Late in the evening of October 24, V. I. Lenin came to the headquarters of the revolution - Smolny, to take direct leadership of the entire course of the armed uprising into his own hands. The model of Smolny can be seen in the hall.
The exposition presents an electrified map-scheme of the armed uprising in Petrograd on October 24-25, photo montage Bolsheviks - active participants in October in Petrograd, photographs. One of them depicts pickets of soldiers and sailors checking passes at the entrance to Smolny, which in those days became the focus, the center of turbulent events.
By the morning of October 25, all the strategic centers of the capital - bridges across the Neva, the central telephone exchange, telegraph, power stations, train stations, etc. - were in the hands of the rebels. The Military Revolutionary Committee published an appeal written by Lenin to the citizens of Russia! - the exposition presents Lenin's manuscript and a leaflet with the text of the appeal, which spoke about the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the transfer of power into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee - an organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
In the afternoon, at 2:35, speaking at an emergency meeting of the Petrograd Soviet, V. I. Lenin said: The workers' and peasants' revolution, the necessity of which the Bolsheviks have been talking about all the time, has taken place.
On the evening of October 25, a historical shot was fired from the cruiser Aurora (the model of the cruiser is presented in the hall). That was the signal to storm the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government had taken refuge. A few hours later, the assault ended with the complete victory of the insurgent workers, soldiers and sailors.
At four o'clock in the morning on October 26, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted an appeal written by Lenin to the Workers, Soldiers and Peasants! exhibited at the booth. It proclaimed the transfer of all power in the center and in the regions to the Soviets.
On the central wall of the hall is a painting by the artist V. Serov, which captures the moment of V. I. Lenin's speech at the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Below, in a special format, are the first decrees of the Soviet state adopted by the congress: The Decree on Peace. The Decree on Land, as well as the Decree on the Formation of the Workers' and Peasants' Government - the Council People's Commissars- headed by Lenin. Here is the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia, adopted by the Soviet government on November 2, 1917. She proclaimed the basic principles of the Leninist national policy the Soviet state - the equality and sovereignty of the peoples of Russia, their right to free self-determination, up to secession, the abolition of all national and national-religious privileges and restrictions.
The gains of the revolution were enshrined in the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People, adopted by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918. Lenin's manuscript of this policy document, the basis of the first Soviet constitution presented in the hall.
By the beginning of the twentieth century. Russia was a tangle of unresolved problems and contradictions. These problems were very wide-ranging. Unfortunately, it was impossible to solve these problems without changing the political regime.
The first and most important problem is the economy, which had a depressing appearance. The Russian economy did not develop fast enough for such a large country. Modernization was superficial, or it was not at all. The country, despite attempts to develop industry, remained agrarian; Russia exported mainly agricultural products. Russia economically lagged far behind all advanced countries Europe. Naturally, society began to think about the reasons for the failures in the economy. It was logical to blame the current government for this.
At the same time, there were signs that Russia was trying to industrialize. From 1900 to 1914, the number of industries doubled. However, the entire industry was concentrated in several "centers": the center of the country, the northwest, the south, the Urals. The high concentration of factories in some places led to the fact that where they were absent, there was stagnation. There was an abyss between the center and the outskirts.
The share of foreign capital invested in production was very high in the Russian economy. Therefore, a fairly large part of Russian income went abroad, and this money could be used to speed up the modernization and development of the country as a whole, which would lead to an improvement in living standards. All this was very convenient for socialist propaganda to use, accusing domestic entrepreneurs of inaction and disregard for the people.
Due to the high concentration of production and funds, many large monopolies arose, uniting both banks and factories. They belonged either to large industrialists, or (more often) to the state. So-called "state-owned factories" appeared, with which smaller private industries simply could not compete. This reduced competition in the market, and this, in turn, reduced the level of product quality and allowed the state to dictate its prices. Of course, people didn't like it very much.
Consider Agriculture, a direction that has always been important for Russia because of its large area. The land was divided between the landlords and peasants, and the peasants owned a smaller part, and even were forced to cultivate the landowner's land. All this inflamed the age-old strife between the landowners and peasants. The latter looked with envy at the vast lands of the landowners and recalled their tiny allotments, which were not always enough just to feed the family. In addition, the community sowed enmity between the peasants themselves and prevented the emergence of wealthy peasants who would develop trade, bringing the city and countryside closer. P.A. tried to correct this situation. Stolypin, carrying out a number of reforms, but without special success. According to his idea, peasants began to be settled in free lands: Siberia, Kazakhstan, etc. Most of the settlers could not get used to the new conditions and returned, joining the ranks of the unemployed. As a result, social tension increased both in the countryside and in the city.
The second global problem of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. its social composition.
The entire population of Russia can be divided into four large, very different social classes:
- 1. Higher ranks, large and medium-sized entrepreneurs, landowners, bishops of the Orthodox Church, academicians, professors, doctors, etc. - 3%
- 2. Small entrepreneurs, townspeople, artisans, teachers, officers, priests, petty officials, etc. - 8%
- 3. Peasantry - 69%
Including: prosperous - 19%; average - 25%; poor - 25%.
4. Proletarian poor, beggars, vagabonds - 20%
It can be seen that more than half of society was made up of the poor (peasants and proletarians), who were dissatisfied with their position. Given the socialist propaganda, which the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks did not skimp on, it becomes clear that these people were ready to revolt at any moment.
In addition to these problems, there was another circumstance that aggravated the situation: the First World War. It can be regarded as a "powerful accelerator" of the revolution. Defeats in the war led to the fall of the authority of the tsarist regime. The war sucked out of Russia the last money and human resources; put the economy on a war footing, which led to a sharp deterioration in the living conditions of civilians.
Due to the war, the army increased, and the importance of its position increased. The Bolsheviks quickly managed to convert most of the soldiers to their side, given the high mortality, disgusting conditions, lack of weapons and equipment in the Russian troops.
Social opposition grew. The number of lumpen has increased. The population was more and more easily influenced by rumors and cleverly spread propaganda. The authority of the government was finally undermined. The last barriers holding back the revolution collapsed.
From February to October.
In February 1917 the revolution finally took place. Despite the huge number of obvious prerequisites, it came as a surprise to the ruling elites. The result of the revolution was: the abdication of the tsar from the throne, the destruction of the monarchy, the transition to a republic, the formation of such bodies as the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet (or simply Soviets). The presence of these two bodies resulted in dual power.
The Provisional Government took a course to continue the war, which caused discontent among the people. And although reforms were carried out that were supposed to significantly improve the lives of ordinary people, the situation only worsened. Democracy was only an illusion; global problems did not decide. The February Revolution deepened the contradictions and awakened the forces of destruction.
The state of the economy continued to deteriorate, prices rose, and crime increased. The population continued to suffer. Chaos and disorder increased. The Provisional Government preferred to lie low and wait for the revelry to calm down. Instability was in the air, society was inclined to continue the political struggle, in which the Bolsheviks, who supported the Soviets, were in the lead. The entire period from February to October, the Bolsheviks were engaged in active agitation, thanks to which their party became the most numerous and influential in the country.
The reasons for the failure of the Provisional Government are very simple:
- 1) The course to continue the war, from which the country is tired;
- 2) Failures of the economy, which could be corrected only by cardinal reforms, which the EaP was afraid to do;
- 3) Inability to cope with difficulties and making decisions that provoke criticism from milestones in society. The consequence of this was the crises of the Provisional Government;
- 4) The growth of the influence of the Bolsheviks.
- April 3, 1917 V.I. Lenin arrived in Petrograd in a "sealed carriage". A whole crowd came to meet him. In their welcoming speech, the Soviets expressed their hope that the revolution would rally around Lenin. In response, he directly addressed the people: "Long live the world socialist revolution!" The enthusiastic crowd lifted their idol to the armored car.
The next day, Lenin published his famous "April Theses". With them, Vladimir Ilyich began the transition to a new, socialist tactic of the revolution, which consisted in relying on the workers and the poorest peasantry. Lenin proposed radical measures: the destruction of the VP, the immediate cessation of the war, the transfer of land to the peasants, and control over the factories to the workers, an equal division of property. Most of the Bolsheviks supported Lenin at the next party congress.
These new slogans were enthusiastically received by the people. The influence of the Bolsheviks grew every day. In June and July, the Bolsheviks carried out demonstrations and even armed uprisings against the Provisional Government with the involvement of the masses.
By the autumn of 1917, the Provisional Government, weakened by constant crises and rebellions, surrendered under the pressure of the Bolsheviks and on September 1, 1917, proclaimed Russia a republic. On September 14, the Democratic Conference opened, the organ government controlled, created by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, which were supposed to include all parties. Lenin, like almost all Bolsheviks, wanted to boycott the Democratic Conference and continue to Bolshevize the Soviets, since it was obvious that this new body (the Democratic Conference) did not play a key role and would not make important decisions.
Meanwhile, the country was on the brink of disaster. During the war, lands rich in bread were lost. Factories collapsed because of the striking workers. Peasant uprisings broke out in the villages. The number of unemployed increased; prices have risen sharply. All this clearly showed the inability of the Provisional Government to govern the state.
By October, the Bolsheviks, led by L.D. Trotsky firmly set a course for an armed uprising, the overthrow of the VP and the transfer of all power to the Soviets. They finally broke off relations with other parties, leaving the Democratic Conference on October 7, having previously read out their declaration. Meanwhile, Lenin returned illegally to Petrograd. At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party on October 10, 1917, Lenin and Trotsky decided on direct preparations for the uprising.
The February Revolution found Vladimir Lenin in Switzerland and came as a complete surprise to him. Just a month ago, he spoke to Swiss youth and said that the Russian revolution of 1905 had awakened both Europe and Asia from sleep, becoming the prologue of the coming European proletarian revolution.
“We old people may not live to see the decisive battles of this coming revolution,
he said. “But I can, I think, express with great confidence the hope that the youth who work so well in the socialist movement of Switzerland and the whole world, that they will have the happiness not only to fight, but also to win in the coming proletarian revolution.”
Lenin ended up in Switzerland not by chance. “After Austrian Poland, from where he managed to get away by force in 1914, there were few options in Europe - theoretically, it was possible to leave for America as well,” writer Lev told Gazeta.Ru. - The Central Powers were deliberately excluded as a place of residence, in England and France Lenin would have been interned or handed over to Russia for not only anti-war - defeatist agitation.
The choice was, in fact, Switzerland or Sweden, two neutral countries. But Lenin left Poland, obsessed with the idea of reading Hegel, more precisely, re-deciphering the Hegel code (traces of this are the 29th volume of the Collected Works), and writing a book about imperialism, about the causes of the world war. Sweden was closer to Russia, and there was a Marxist colony there, but in terms of books, Switzerland was better, Lenin did not know Swedish, and he managed well with German. Well, in Switzerland there was a promising local socialist party that could be pushed to the left. Switzerland was not a boring country of bankers and watchmakers in those days, there was almost a real revolution there in 1918, with blood and barricades.”
In Switzerland, Lenin continued to study the works of Karl Marx and other authors, writing out the most important provisions. He titled the notebook containing the notes "Marxism about the State." He also published articles in the local press and edited the work of the Bolshevik and revolutionary Inessa Armand, his confidant.
The news of the revolution that had taken place in the homeland overtook Lenin only on March 2, 1917.
“From the very first minutes, as soon as the news of the February Revolution came, Ilyich began to rush to Russia,” recalled his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya.
“The first thing he did when he found out about February in Russia was not to go to a church, not to a hard liquor store, but to the nearest mountain, well, or a hill by Swiss standards - Zurichberg - and there he spent several hours alone, thinking, what to do, - said Danilkin. - This kind of load has always been very fruitful for him both as a politician and as a philosopher. Well, then he rushed around Switzerland in search of an opportunity to get into Russia - legally, illegally, obviously, secretly, with an English passport, on an airplane, with documents in the name of a deaf-mute Swede, etc.
Then, when I decided to go through Germany, I collected letters of support that could be waved in Russia - such an informal, but still sanction for travel. And if before that he was more likely to associate with a close circle of young Swiss socialists, more left-wing than their older, moderate comrades (just from this youth was Fritz Platten, who took on intermediary functions in the “sealed wagon”), now he had to to mobilize their communication skills and revive old contacts - both with the Mensheviks and with the Vperyodists. And more often than in the cantonal library, he could be seen in the nearby working club "Eintracht", where it was convenient to negotiate. Well, he composed - avidly - political analytics about the Russian Revolution, although from the newspapers then, from other people's words. From his "damned far away," as he himself put it.
In the first days of March, looking for ways to leave Switzerland, Lenin sent a letter to his assistant Yakub Ganetsky, who was at that time in Stockholm. He wrote: “We can’t wait any longer, all hopes for a legal arrival are in vain. It is necessary at all costs to immediately get out to Russia, and the only plan is the following:
find a Swede like me. But I don't know Swedish, so the Swede must be deaf and dumb. I am sending you my photograph just in case.
In anticipation of an opportunity to get out to Russia, Lenin was engaged in drawing up theses on the tasks of the proletariat in the revolution. He noted the necessity of organizing Soviets, arming the workers, transferring proletarian organizations to the army and the countryside. At the request of the revolutionary, who was at that time in Stockholm, to provide instructions for the Bolsheviks, he replied: “Raise new layers! To awaken a new initiative, new organizations in all strata, and prove to them that only an armed Soviet of Workers' Deputies will give peace if it takes power.
Before leaving, Lenin collected all possible information about the revolution that had taken place, which could be obtained from local newspapers. Having learned about the amnesty announced by the Provisional Government for political and religious matters, he turned to Armand with a request, if she left for Russia, “in England to find out quietly and truly” whether he could return. To the Bolsheviks leaving Switzerland for Russia, he exhorted: “Our tactics: complete distrust, no support for the new government; Kerensky is especially suspect; arming the proletariat is the only guarantee; immediate elections to the Petrograd Duma; no rapprochement with other parties. Telegraph this to Petrograd.
Hoping to get out of Switzerland through England, Lenin turned to the revolutionary Vyacheslav Karpinsky, who was in Geneva. He planned to drive illegally on his papers. “I can wear a wig. A photograph will be taken of me already in a wig ... ” Lenin suggested. He was sure that if he went under his own name, he would be detained or arrested.
In the circles of emigrants, the idea arose to go to Russia through Germany.
They planned to obtain a travel permit in exchange for Germans and Austrians interned in Russia. Success in negotiations with the German authorities was facilitated by Lenin's friend, the Swiss Friedrich Platten, who took personal responsibility for the move. In addition, the Germans believed that bringing Lenin to Russia would help them win the First World War. German General Max Hoffmann later recalled: “We naturally sought to intensify the disintegration introduced into the Russian army by the revolution by means of propaganda. In the rear, someone who maintained relations with the Russians living in exile in Switzerland came up with the idea of using some of these Russians in order to destroy the spirit of the Russian army even faster and poison it with poison.
Among the conditions put forward by Platten were the requirement to allow people to travel, regardless of their political views, the absence of interruptions in the movement of the train without technical need, and the absence of document checks when entering and leaving Germany.
The Swiss Bolsheviks, at the request of Lenin, informed the emigrants that it was possible to go to Russia. A group of 32 people gathered in a few days.
They proceeded through the warring Germany, Sweden, Finland.
He wrote about the appearance of Lenin in Petrograd: “It is necessary to pay close attention to the vile undertaking of the German military leadership, which it has already implemented. The fact that it used the most terrible weapon against Russia is awe-inspiring. It transported Lenin in a sealed wagon from Switzerland to Russia like a plague bacillus.
The statement about the sealed car, of course, is exaggerated - only three of the four doors were sealed.
The fourth door was used to communicate with the outside world, such as buying milk for the children in the car or receiving newspapers. As Catherine Merridale, author of the monograph Lenin on the Train, points out, this myth arose from Lenin's demand that his train be given extraterritorial status so that it had nothing to do with Germany. At the initiative of Lenin, a line was drawn in the carriage with chalk, dividing it into two parts: in one there were revolutionaries, in the other - German officers.
“Subsequently, Karl Radek, who was a passenger on the train, as well as his other passengers denied that the train doors were sealed,” says Merridale. “One of the four doors did not close at all, and the Swiss socialist Fritz Platten, through whom Lenin and his companions communicated with the guards, could freely get out at all stops, buy newspapers, milk for two children on the train and other products.”
Another requirement of Lenin was to pay for tickets from the passengers' own funds: in this way he showed that they were not going to accept German money. The emigrants took with them a supply of food, but at the Swiss-German border customs officers confiscated provisions - it was forbidden to import food into the warring countries.
Lenin and his companions traveled second and third class. Lenin himself and his wife traveled in a separate compartment.
On the way home, the revolutionaries encountered an unpleasant problem - there was only one toilet available to them in the car, the second was in the "German" part of the car.
In addition, Lenin banned smoking in the car, so passengers went to the toilet to smoke. As a result, this led to constant hustle and bustle near Lenin's compartment. He solved the problem by issuing tickets for visiting the toilet in two classes: the first - for those who needed to relieve their natural needs, and the second - for smokers.
The trip took eight days. Arriving in Petrograd, Lenin immediately came up with the "April Theses" - a program of action for the Russian Bolsheviks, which implied the struggle for the development of the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one. Preparations for the October Revolution began.
