| | The '''October Revolution''' or '''Bolshevik Revolution''', led by [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]], took place in [[Russia]] in 1917. Lenin returned from exile when the [[czar|tsarist]] (czarist) rule ended and by a coup against the social-democratic government of [[Alexander Kerensky]] he led the Bolsheviks into power. | | The '''October Revolution''' or '''Bolshevik Revolution''', led by [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]], took place in [[Russia]] in 1917. Lenin returned from exile when the [[czar|tsarist]] (czarist) rule ended and by a coup against the social-democratic government of [[Alexander Kerensky]] he led the Bolsheviks into power. |
| − | The Congress of [[Soviet]]s, in 1917, was made up of representatives of local soviets which, in turn, were supposedly elected primarily by workers and peasants in the various local districts; in reality, the Bolsheviks secured the delegates by the use of violence and intimidation. In the Congress of Soviets which met at the beginning of November, 1917, the Bolshevik party had a majority. This Congress then declared itself to be "the government": that is to say, it claimed sovereignty and declared that sovereignty was no longer possessed by the [[Kerensky government]] which was based upon the remnants of the old Russian Duma and had been in power since the [[February Revolution]]. The Soviet Congress then proceeded to enact the chief initial measures of the new regime and to elect an executive - the Council of Commissars.<ref>James Burnham, ''The Managerial Revolution'', Indiana University Press, Bloomingham 1966.</ref> | + | The Congress of [[Soviet]]s, in 1917, was made up of representatives of local soviets which, in turn, were supposedly elected primarily by workers and peasants in the various local districts; in reality, the Bolsheviks secured the delegates by the use of violence and intimidation. In the Congress of Soviets which met at the beginning of November, 1917, the Bolshevik party had a majority. This Congress then declared itself to be "the government": that is to say, it claimed sovereignty and declared that sovereignty was no longer possessed by the Kerensky government which was based upon the remnants of the old Russian Duma and had been in power since the [[February Revolution]]. The Soviet Congress then proceeded to enact the chief initial measures of the new regime and to elect an executive - the Council of Commissars.<ref>James Burnham, ''The Managerial Revolution'', Indiana University Press, Bloomingham 1966.</ref> |
| | Lenin was dictator of the Soviet state under a system of [[Marxism-Leninism]], involving iron control of the party and the people, until his death in 1924. After his death, a power struggle between [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] ostracized Trotsky and brought Stalin to power. Stalin would eventually have Trotsky assassinated; and his increasing paranoia was manifested in a bloody series of [[purges]] from the mid 1930s onwards. | | Lenin was dictator of the Soviet state under a system of [[Marxism-Leninism]], involving iron control of the party and the people, until his death in 1924. After his death, a power struggle between [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] ostracized Trotsky and brought Stalin to power. Stalin would eventually have Trotsky assassinated; and his increasing paranoia was manifested in a bloody series of [[purges]] from the mid 1930s onwards. |