The Bolsheviks name gained fame due to the Bolshevik Revolution that took place as part of the Russian Civil War in the early months of 1917, against the then provisional government of Russia. The revolution of masses, famously known as the ‘February Revolution’, included the participation of many organizations, one of the primary ones being that of the Bolsheviks. It was initially anticipated to be a strike against the oppressive living conditions of the common citizens of Petrograd (now called Saint Petersburg), which then turned into a full-fledged revolt. This led to the fall of the Imperial regime and a new government was established. It was during this time that the Bolsheviks came under the public spotlight.
Before delving deeper into the public outlook of the Bolsheviks, it is critical to understand what is the significance of public opinion over a community and how is it assessed. Public opinions give a perspective about a specific viewpoint that is possessed by the citizens by large. It helps regular people to be heard, and gives people of different cultures an opportunity to speak and be heard. The principal underlying factor behind any major decision taken on behalf of the nation’s welfare is public point of view. It helps the government if the national populace utilizes its freedom of speech and embraces any policy that it favors. That public opinion means literally the opinion of the public is not quite correct. Public opinion is a social entity that represents the aggregated and shared beliefs and concerns of people. It clears the way for political and social changes and in the further development of the country. Russia claiming to be the democratic country that it is, gives high importance to the public opinion to maintain peace and social integrity.
The most surefire way of obtaining and then assessing the public opinion is through public polls and surveys. These polls or surveys are designed into a series of questionnaires in such a way so as to gain the public’s views in relation to a particular subject. Random samples of the population are picked up and every participant is allowed to express his/her view to ensure unbiased results. These random samples consist of representatives who speak for a generalized set of people. The responses are recorded and then interpreted to obtain a generalized public point of view. The polls indicate the specific viewpoints of each proportion of public. It is a measurement tool to get the thoughts of the common man, either through the telephone or a face-to-face interview. Thus, public opinion plays an essential role in the social economy of a country, and this held true even during the days of the Civil War.
According to the letters sent to Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government during April 1917 from the peasants of Rakalovsk Volost, the citizens of the Viatka Province were against the Germans. They did not want to see the bloodshed of their loved ones in the battlefield - but to escape from the clutches of the German influence, they had no choice but to fight. A month later, citizens of another village, Osnichkovo and Andreevo, signed a declaration asking for a Democratic Republic, among other administrative and welfare needs. Workers and employers of the Georgievsky Sugar Factory supported the Provisional Government, placing themselves at its disposal. However, the Union of Forestry was against the State Duma and State Council, demanding it to be dissolved.
When the First Provisional Government was formed, most of the Bolshevik leaders opposed outright to it. Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, was not present during the establishment of the provisional government and thus the Bolsheviks who were unsupportive of the government were left stranded. When Lenin arrived from Germany, he received a varied welcome, with most of the public greeting him as a revolutionist to be respected, while others treated him as a mad man with ideas so extreme that no one could ever be a follower. Still others disregarded him and found him a disturbing reminder of the revolutionary movement, a thing of the past.
The Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd in November 1917, burdened with many issues. Since the land they controlled was not more than 400 miles, they faced opposition from many different groups from outside. However, all was not lost to the Bolsheviks since their leader was strong and driven. Lenin and his military commander Leon Trotsky, played a key role in the October Revolution 1917 which led to the overthrow of the Provisional Government. Lenin succeeded in pulling Russia out of a war with Germany in December 1914. There was peace negotiation and then a treaty, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, during which Russia lost some of its land to Germany. Though this did not win Lenin any popularity votes within the political realm, it allowed him to concentrate more on the development of his country – like legalizing homosexuality and abortion. Through his actions of overthrowing the government which was very much into the World War 1, Lenin garnered a lot of supporters throughout the Russian population – because he ordered the Russian troops to withdraw from the frontline.
As gleaned from the previous sections, there were many who were not in favor with the German treaty since they wanted to fight Germany, and there were others who were in favor of the Provisional Government. This resulted in Lenin having many enemies, known as well as unknown. Some of the prominent groups who had a desire to get rid of Bolsheviks were the Whites, as known in the Russian Civil War. They were also known as the White Army, mostly consisting of military officers from the former czarist state. In the elections for Constituent Assembly in December 1917, Bolsheviks acquired only 168 seats, as opposed to the Social Revolutionaries (370) which showed that the constituent assembly highly disapproved of Lenin and the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks also faced international oppositions from country giants like the Great Britian and the United States. To crease out internal problems, Trotsky organized the Red Army, mostly consisting of men from workers groups who had no military experience whatsoever. The behavior of the White Army was derogatory since they believed in burning and looting towns that were under their control. As a result, a vast majority of the public supported the Bolsheviks, who were only trying to get their country back.
References
Steinberg, Mark D. Voices of Revolution, 1917. Trans. Marian Schwartz. Yale University Press, 2003.
