21
Lenin’s X Russia, 1917–1924 As we saw in the last chapter, in October 1917
Ire la n
the leader of the Bolshevik Party, Vladimir
d
X
Lenin, came to power in Russia. This event
became known as the October Revolution. This saw the creation of the world’s first communist society – an alternative to capitalism. In the
of
rest of Europe, many were inspired by this new experiment, but to others communism was like
om pa ny
a disease that threatened civilisation. They felt it had to be stopped by any means. This view led to the growth of fascism.
Caption
In this chapter we will look at how this communist revolution occurred and the policies pursued by the leader of the revolution, Lenin.
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Useful terms
C
Lenin addressing a crowd.
? KEY QUESTION How did Lenin come to power?
Bolshevik Party: Russian socialists who believed in using revolution to achieve political change; later known as the Communist Party.
Bourgeoisie: Marxist term for the middle class.
Capitalism: An economic system where goods and services are supplied by private business people in order to make a profit.
Cheka: Police force set up to combat counter-revolution.
Commissar: A minister in the Communist government.
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uc
at io
e
Constituent Assembly: A parliament elected to introduce a new constitution.
Th
Counter-revolutionary: Anyone who held different political views to the Communists.
Kremlin: The headquarters of the Soviet government in Moscow.
New Economic Policy (NEP): Revision of Communist economic policies allowing limited capitalism.
Proletariat: Marxist term for the working class.
Provisional government: The government formed after the abdication of the tsar in March that ran the country until elections were held.
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8 ❘ CASE STUDIES FOR TOPIC 3: DICTATORSHIP & DEMOCRACY
Dictatorship and Democracy_Case Study A_2.indd 8
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