Russian Revolution 1914-1930

Lenin's April Theses?

When Vladimir Lenin returned to Saint Petersburg from his exile in Switzerland, he wrote a collection of directives that were intended for Bolsheviks, both those in Russia and those returning to Russia from exile, just as Lenin was (Acton, et al. 1997; Pares, 2001). The primary tenets of the Aprelskiye Tezisy or April Theses, as they came to be called, were primarily as follows: The workers' councils or soviets were to take power -- to control the state -- and in the process, denounce all liberals and social democrats who were in the Provisional Government (Acton, et al. 1997; Pares, 2001). That is to say that he implored the Bolsheviks to not cooperate with the government, but rather to help establish new communist policies (Acton, et al. 1997; Pares, 2001). Lenin argued that the rank and file revolutionaries had been deceived by the bourgeoisie...
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