AQA A-Level History: Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia 1917–1953

Read the three sources below and then answer the question that follows.

Source A — written for this exercise in the style of a private letter from a junior officer of the Petrograd garrison to his brother, late October 1917 (Old Style).

You ask me what is happening in the capital, and the truth is that nothing is happening and everything is happening at once. The Provisional Government still sits in the Winter Palace, but it commands nobody. When Kerensky asked the regiments to come out and defend him, the men simply laughed and stayed in their barracks. The Military Revolutionary Committee at the Soviet now signs the orders the soldiers obey. There has been almost no fighting. A few cadets and a women's battalion hold the gates of the palace, but they cannot last. I confess I do not know whether to call these Bolsheviks saviours or wreckers, only that the old authority has melted like spring ice. The garrison will follow whoever promises bread, peace and an end to this endless waiting. That, brother, is the whole secret of it.

Source B — written for this exercise in the style of a Bolshevik party proclamation posted in Petrograd, 25 October 1917 (Old Style).

To the Citizens of Russia! The Provisional Government has been overthrown. State power has passed into the hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the Military Revolutionary Committee, which stands at the head of the proletariat and the garrison. The cause for which the people have struggled — the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landlord property in land, workers' control over production, the creation of a Soviet government — this cause is secured. Long live the revolution of workers, soldiers and peasants! The garrison and the workers of Petrograd have shown discipline and resolve. Those who hesitate now betray the people. Power belongs to the Soviets, and the Soviets will hold it.

Source C — written for this exercise in the style of a memoir by a Menshevik delegate to the Second Congress of Soviets, published abroad in the 1920s.

I was in the hall when the news came that the Winter Palace had fallen. The Bolsheviks were jubilant; we who had warned against adventurism sat in bitter silence. Looking back, I see how cleverly Lenin and his lieutenants had timed the rising to coincide with the Congress, so that the seizure of power could be dressed up as the act of the Soviets themselves. It was not. The Petrograd garrison had drifted to the Bolsheviks for weeks because they alone said openly what the soldiers wished to hear. When we Mensheviks rose to protest and walked out, we did not break their grip; we handed them the field. The Provisional Government had ruined itself long before. The Bolsheviks merely had to push on a door that was already swinging open.

Question: With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to a historian studying the reasons for the success of the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917. [30 marks]

To what extent was the Bolshevik victory in the Civil War of 1918–1921 the result of the weaknesses of their opponents rather than the strengths of the Reds? [25 marks]

How far was Stalin's victory in the struggle to succeed Lenin between 1924 and 1929 due to his control of the Communist Party machine? [25 marks]

'The collectivisation of agriculture from 1929 was driven more by political aims than by economic necessity.' Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks]

How important was Stalin's personal role in causing the Great Terror of 1936–1938? [25 marks]