The October Revolution was orchestrated by the Bolshevik’s; a faction of Russians who were part of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Their main goal was to finally claim Russia as their own and implement a new system that stopped the rich from getting richer and the poor from getting poorer. The man who was spearheading the October Revolution was known as Vladimir Ulyanov, better known by his pseudonym: Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was very close to his family and looked up to his brother, Alexander, because he was an excellent student and role model. Alexander Ulyanov was executed for being part of a “terrorist” organization while he was at Saint Petersburg State University that wanted to overthrow the Tsar. Lenin’s efforts were fueled by the death of his older brother as well as the lack of concentrated power under Tsarism.

Vladimir Lenin was influenced tremendously to pursue a revolutionary future after Alexander’s execution in 1887. Lenin looked up to his brother and followed in similar footsteps while at Kazan University by expressing his anti-Tsarism views. This ultimately led to his expulsion from the university, but his brother left his mark on Lenin’s outlook. Historian Philip Pomper wrote about the Ulyanov family and how Lenin started to develop as a revolutionary, “The story of Lenin’s choices and his behavior as a revolutionary and head of government cannot simply be summed up by the word “revenge”, but Alexander’s execution undoubtedly started it all” (Pomper, 7). Lenin was an outstanding student just like his older brother but Alexander’s death was a pivotal point in his life as it was the point at which he decided his future. Lenin was immersed with Marxism and wanted to continue what his brother and many others had started while at Kazan. As his wife Nadya Krupskaya stated in her book:  

At the end of his letter Ilyich (Lenin) indicated what had to be done in order to treat the insurrection in a Marxist way, i.e., as an art. And in order to treat insurrection in a Marxist way, i.e., as an art, we must at the same time, without losing a single moment, organize a headquarter staff of the insurgent detachments, distribute our forces, move the reliable regiments to the most important points, surround the Alexandrinsky Theatre," occupy the Peter and Paul Fortress, arrest the general staff and the government, and move against the cadets and the Savage Division such detachments as will rather die than allow the enemy to approach the centres of the city, we must mobilize the armed workers and call them to fight the last desperate fight, occupy the telegraph and the telephone exchange at once, place our headquarter staff of the insurrection at the central telephone exchange and connect it by telephone with all the factories, all the regiments, all the points of armed fighting, etc (Krupskaya).

Lenin was willing to use brute force to remove the Tsar in power as part of a big scheme just like his brother. He took from his brother’s shortcomings by organizing staff and the lower classes to match the violence he would authorize in the revolution. The main difference with Lenin was that he wanted to calculate and make sure that everyone, including himself, knew why they were there and the message they were spreading by destroying Tsarism. Marxism was near and dear to Lenin due to his constant admiration of the works by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels while he was going around Europe meeting with other Marxists.

Alexander acknowledged the working class as the center of Socialism which was one of his influences in addition to Marxism. When Lenin heard of his death while he was still doing exams to get into the university, he was stricken with grief and a realization that there is a different way to change Russia. Alexander thought that with his student organization he could overthrow the Tsar with one swift act of terrorism in the name of the working class. He was outraged that they lived in a police state that executed any critics to the Russian Throne as Pomper stated.“Thwarted in their effort to honor the memory of Dobrolyubov, Sacha (Alexander) and Anna were forced to stand in a cold, drenching rain with hundreds of other students. The angry students and Sacha’s own surprisingly explosive rage on that day foretold his decision to become a terrorist” (Pomper, 40). This was an example of how much Alexander believed and advocated for Marxism. He attended the funeral of a critic of the Russian Empire with the terrorist organization he was part of, but was denied access by the police. He was furious that police were not allowing them to attend the funeral as it would show the growing number of opposition to the Russian Monarchy. Alexander died for the Marxist movement which rubbed off on Lenin who revised his brother’s original plan to lead a revolution with positive long term effects in Russia. Nadya learned from Lenin about how Russia was brought to its knees under the Monarchy and how it would change after October 1917. She stated in her book:

The essence of socialism in the making is organization, Ilyich often said. It was no accident that the course of events brought to the fore men who were not afraid to shoulder responsibility, men whose abilities had been cramped by the conditions of the old underground; constant arrests and deportations had brought their organizing efforts to naught, while the need for secrecy had kept them in the background (Krupskaya).

The working class would be the ones fighting the most to take Russia as theirs. They felt since they were moving Russia forward, they should have control over it and not the rich and royalty at the very top. Lenin would organize them while keeping his plans in the shadows as the police were quick to get rid of anyone not doing their jobs. He knew the working class would finally get what they truly deserve.

Vladimir Lenin strongly opposed the Russian Monarchy with his belief in Marxism which came  from his brother. During his visits across cities in Europe, Lenin met up with other Marxists, some of which were Russian and in exile due to their beliefs. One of the biggest promulgators of the idea was Karl Kautsky who Lenin met with to discuss the class system and the Bolshevik mission. He knew what mentality the classes needed to have in order to achieve the Russia they wanted:

They are held together by a common fear, the dread that the power just overthrown may again raise its head. It becomes the most important task of the new regime to clean away the refuse that the old has left behind it. Furthermore, the exploiting class hesitates to maintain its own class interests, largely because it fears the strength demonstrated by the laboring masses in the struggle against the rulers whom they have overthrown. They are trembling with fear, and dare not step into the foreground. They still hope to pacify the masses by small concessions and sacrifices (Kautsky).

The lower and middle classes needed to make sure that once the government was brought down, no government as bad would come up in its place. The small, but powerful upper class would be fighting the lower classes while losing control of Russia little by little. Lenin learned from Kautsky that the empire would not hold out forever; after time they would slowly dwindle down leaving them vulnerable to one final blow. Kautsky knew how the revolution would unfold which is what Lenin wanted all along with years of planning and learning from his brother’s mistakes. Kautsky knew that Russia would be in the balance and that the working class wanted Russia more than the other, eventually coming out victorious. “In this period not only the two classes will fight against each other, but tactical differences between the various groups of the same class will appear as well...The class interests are a deciding factor in politics, but not the only factor (Kautsky).” This is what Lenin wanted, not just pure violence and hatred, but recognition as to who is fighting and why they are fighting. His older brother wanted to stop the rich from getting richer. Then as Lenin took over for him, he wanted the working class to show what they want in Russia.

Russia was in the midst of all sorts of change in the early 1900’s which put it under a lot of pressure. While the world was at war, Russia had it’s own problems that needed the entire counties’ attention. The economy was changing, the class system was changing, and their political system was changing due to the might of the Russian people led by Lenin. The October Revolution was successful for the Bolsheviks as they seized control of Russia and set it in motion to a new era. All of this was set in motion by Lenin who got his jump start in politics from the death of his older brother, Alexander.

Annotated Bibliography

Krupskaya, Nadezhda K. "The October Days." Reminiscences of Lenin. Marxist Internet Archive, 1999. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

Nadezhda Krupskaya, wife of Vladimir Lenin, journals everything about Lenin leading up to the October Revolution and the events that followed. She wrote down everything from military forces in certain cities across Russia and even parts of Finland to meetings Lenin had with advisors and officials. She provided examples of the work that her husband and herself used and lived by from other figures of the Revolution. This is a very dense and detailed document from Krupskaya’s perspective and experiences.

Kautsky, Karl. "The Russian Revolution." The Class Struggle. Marxist Internet Archive, June 2002. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.

Karl Kautsky was a philosopher who was promoting Marxism up until World War I, then went on to go to have talks with Lenin about the future of the Soviet state. He goes on about his account of the Revolution, but he puts an emphasis on Marxism and the class system. Kautsky speaks of why the working class is important to the country and why they need to be the “leaders” of Russia in order for it to become a global power.

Extremists Rise To Power In Russia . New York City: The New York Times, 1917. Web.

New York Times writes about the October Revolution from when it was first planned to when it happened. They write about the key characters in this event and their contribution, ideologies, and relation to the movement such as Vladimir Lenin who was referred to as “Nikolai Lenine”. The article seems to be a little opinionated in that it mentions and hints that the people were forced to fight while sources from Russia said that they volunteered. They go into detail on the new leaders in the parliament and briefly into their next operations.

Figes, Orlando. A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924. London: Jonathan Cape, 1996. Print.

Historian Orlando Figes goes over the history of Russia from the downfall of the Empire to Lenin’s death. He goes into depth with the problems of a one party system that was implemented after the Bolshevik’s took hold of the country. Figes takes first hand accounts of soldiers and politicians in Russian and in the Western World and dissects their experiences to compare and contrast them. Figes also argues that the revolution ended in October and not after the Civil War that ensued afterward as some historians claim.  

Pomper, Phillip. Lenin’s Brother: The Origins of the October Revolution. W. W. Norton & Company. 1986. Print.

Historian Phillip Pomper takes a different approach when talking about the October Revolution is his book. He goes in depth about Lenin’s older brother, Alexander, who was executed after a failed attempt to assassinate Russia’s Tsar. Not many people know about Alexander and he is often left out of the history books, yet it led to the October Revolution which was spearheaded by his younger brother. The book shows the dynamics of Vladimir and Alexander’s relationship and an insight on their family early in their lives. It goes into how Alexander transformed from a quiet student to part of a terrorist group as they were labeled.