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Hello class. Today we are going to explain the second revolution in 1917. I'm talking

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about the October Revolution because remember that in this revolution we are going to see

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how the Bolsheviks managed to overthrow the provisional government because around the

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month of February and March Lenin had almost complete control of the Soviets. Actually

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in April in 1917 Lenin and the Bolsheviks didn't have a specific plan about the revolution.

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They had a confused idea, a jumbled idea about the economy and society. But when Lenin came

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from exile from Switzerland and he managed to arrive to Russia in April, at that moment

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Lenin had a clear idea in mind. He wanted power and for this reason he set down the

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April Thesis. In order to get the power he promised everything to the Russian people.

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He wanted to establish a government of workers and peasants. He was in favor of signing a

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peace treaty with the Germans because remember that the First World War was very unpopular

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among Russian people. He advocated distributing the land among peasants and also he was in

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favor of giving workers control of the factories. He was in favor of nationalizing the banks

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and recognizing the nationalities of the Russian Empire. Because during the time of

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the Tsars the most important identity in the Russian Empire was the Russian identity obviously.

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But there were others inside of the Russian Empire such as the Latvians, Lithuanians,

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Poles. All of these identities were banned inside of the Russian Empire. But Lenin promised to

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recognize all nationalities in the old Russian Empire so as to get more support for his own

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revolution. So the Bolsheviks were preparing the revolution very very soon in the early

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month of October and actually on the 7th of October the Provisional Government tried to

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implement a truly democratic system in Russia. For this reason Kerensky who was at that moment

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the most important figure in the Provisional Government organized a pre-parliament to give

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a voice to all political parties in Russia in order to create a truly democratic system.

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However, the Bolsheviks got only 25% of the seats although they won a majority in cities

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and in the industrial regions. And fearing that those groups opposing to the revolution

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could take over the Duma, Lenin at that moment dissolved the assembly and put an end to political

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pluralism in the new Soviet Russia. So for this reason at that moment when the Bolsheviks lost

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the election in the pre-parliament they established a secret resolution. They would

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take the power through a military uprising. For this reason the Red Guards were a militia

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which was organized by the Soviets on the 25th of October in 1917. As we can see here in the

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image they took over the Winter Palace. So the Red Guards, as I said before, who were members

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of the Bolshevik party and who were created a militia, took over the Winter Palace and they

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received at that moment the help from the soldiers because the warship Aurora managed to bomb the

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Winter Palace so as to give the chance to the Red Guards to take over the Winter Palace. For this

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reason for some historians this revolution was in reality a popular revolution because the peasants,

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workers and the soldiers supported the revolution. But for others the revolution was in reality a

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coup because the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government. Very soon the revolution

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from St. Petersburg spread to Moscow and other regions in the country and the Bolsheviks managed

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to get the power in the Second Congress of the Soviets when the Bolsheviks took over the

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government and they organized a workers' government and the main leaders of this government were

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obviously Lenin, Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. However, many many communists were disenchanted

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by this decision because the communists instead of promoting a truly democratic state they took

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control of the country and they organized a one-party state so only one party took the decisions

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at that moment in Russia. So for this reason many members of the communist party were disenchanted

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and 50% of members of the communist party left the party after a few months. So at that moment

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the new government decreed the first revolutionary measures. For example they put an end to the war

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when they signed the famous Treaty of Brest-Litovsk together with the Germans on the 3rd of March

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in 1918. In reality the Brest-Litovsk Treaty was a dead end for the communist revolution

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because the dream of a European revolution ended with the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. So here we have

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Trotsky together with the Germans and when Trotsky and the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty

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of Brest-Litovsk Russia lost the territories of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine

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and some parts of Romania because the Bolsheviks would prefer to consolidate the revolution

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in Russia instead of promoting the revolution all over Europe. So I'm about to finish. The Bolsheviks

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set down a new constitution in Russia and it was true that they gave large estates of land

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to the peasants. The land owners lost their lands and common peasants got this land but at the same

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time some families were owners of small proportion of land actually they lost also their

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lands. So poor peasants got the land from the land owners but at the same time families who

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were owners of small proportion of land lost also their properties. At that moment the Bolsheviks

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also gave the factories to the workers but in reality the Soviets which were controlled by

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the Bolshevik party in reality controlled the factories. The Bolsheviks nationalized the banks

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and the ways of and the means of transport but what does it mean nationalized? Nationalized means

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at that moment that it meant at that moment that the Bolshevik party in reality was the owner of the

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banks because they became the owners of the estate and as a consequence of that the banks and the

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means of transport were falling apart because the workers were not ready to run the economy.

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And finally it was true that at the end of the first world war workers of the world created the

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third international in theory to promote the revolution all over Europe but as I said before

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with the signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk the dream of a revolution ended because from that

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moment the communists of the world were not ready to expand the revolution because the Bolsheviks in

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Russia would prefer to consolidate the revolution in his own country more than promoting the

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revolution all over Europe. So as a consequence of that Russia became weaker and very soon Germany

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after the first world war became stronger above all above all when the Nazis came into power and

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they promoted a huge army so from the axis of the first world war all of these decisions regrettably

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ended in another war in the second one but this is another story that I will explain

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in the following lessons. Thank you so much for your attention. Bye-bye!