How far was Lenin responsible for the Bolsheviks growing hold on power in the years 1917How far was Lenin responsible for the Bolsheviks growing hold on power in the years 1917-24Lenin can easily be considered the most responsible character for the growth in Bolshevik power from 1927. However, there are also other factors which without; Lenin would not have been unable to succeed the way he did, such as the Civil War and the failures of other political powers.
The main reason which Lenin became successful in gaining the Bolsheviks power was his willingness to make concessions. In believing that there was only a small group of people needed to run Russia, even his initial decision to have the Bolsheviks support the social revolutionaries was a compromise. However, in opposing the Provisional Government Lenin was able to detach himself from the problems the Provisional’s faced which meant that the people of Russia were more likely to accept the Bolsheviks as a political party. With the Bolsheviks supporting the SR’s manifesto of ‘Bread, land, peace’ the people of Russia were drawn away from the Provisional’s and become more inclined to support the Bolsheviks. Were it not for Lenin’s being a pragmatist and seeing what the people wanted to hear was they could get out of the mess that they were currently in and that they could have food, land and peace with the Bolsheviks, then there was no way that the Bolshevik party would have gotten their initial power.
By saying that Lenin was a pragmatist, I mean that he was able to see what needed to be done to gain power for the Bolsheviks. However, what made him successful in his ambitions for the Bolsheviks to lead Russia was his ability to swallow his pride and make concessions in accordance to what needed to be done to ensure Bolshevik rule. A prime example of this would be when he ended war communism and returned capitalism. Lenin was a natural-born leader; he was strong, wise and extremely loyal to his beliefs….