The vanguard is proletarian. It isn’t that they know better than the proletariat, it’s that the vanguard is the organized section of the proletariat, one that is disciplined and studies the science of revolution. Not every proletarian can afford the time or energy to do so, but this does not mean that nobody can.
As for Lenin going “full dictator,” the masses of the people supported the Bolsheviks, who coalesced the soviets into one established socialist state. There were various factions that opposed the Bolsheviks, and they lost the Civil War.
The Bolsheviks were so popular with the masses that they lost the election of 1917 to the socialist revolutionaires. The bolsheviks were doubled up on.
The elections in the provisional government, correct, not the soviets. You’re mixing up governments, the provisional government was the one supported largely by the liberal establishment. Further, the left and right SRs had a split right before the election without the majority of workers knowing, and further still the left SRs and Bolsheviks immediately formed a coalition in the peasant soviets. You may want to brush up on your history a bit.
I know that provisional government election was not the same thing as the concurrent workers Soviets, I was illustrating a point that they didn’t even receive a plurality of the votes in that election to challenge the idea that the Bolsheviks were the most popular.
And I already said that most workers didn’t even bother voting in the provisional government elections, because the soviet government was the one that represented them, and that the election itself was hairy because the SRs had split shortly before the election without news spreading wide enough. Further, the left SRs did form a coalition with the Bolsheviks, and supported the revolution to overthrow the provisional government.
Not formally, no. In practice, due to World War I and the brewing civil war, the administrative failures of the Provisional Government, and the general chaos in Russia, voters were skewed heavily towards urban areas, while Russia was largely peasant at the time. The Bolsheviks were popular among the peasantry as well, and this is further backed by how the peasant soviet elections went.
In either case, the provisional government was deeply unpopular, and replacing it by soviet power was deeply popular. Carrying out the revolution was the correct action, and to go against the revolution would be to go against the people. The fact that the revolutionaries coalesced around the Bolsheviks after the fact does not mean that this was not the will of the people.
The vanguard is proletarian. It isn’t that they know better than the proletariat, it’s that the vanguard is the organized section of the proletariat, one that is disciplined and studies the science of revolution. Not every proletarian can afford the time or energy to do so, but this does not mean that nobody can.
As for Lenin going “full dictator,” the masses of the people supported the Bolsheviks, who coalesced the soviets into one established socialist state. There were various factions that opposed the Bolsheviks, and they lost the Civil War.
The Bolsheviks were so popular with the masses that they lost the election of 1917 to the socialist revolutionaires. The bolsheviks were doubled up on.
The elections in the provisional government, correct, not the soviets. You’re mixing up governments, the provisional government was the one supported largely by the liberal establishment. Further, the left and right SRs had a split right before the election without the majority of workers knowing, and further still the left SRs and Bolsheviks immediately formed a coalition in the peasant soviets. You may want to brush up on your history a bit.
I know that provisional government election was not the same thing as the concurrent workers Soviets, I was illustrating a point that they didn’t even receive a plurality of the votes in that election to challenge the idea that the Bolsheviks were the most popular.
And I already said that most workers didn’t even bother voting in the provisional government elections, because the soviet government was the one that represented them, and that the election itself was hairy because the SRs had split shortly before the election without news spreading wide enough. Further, the left SRs did form a coalition with the Bolsheviks, and supported the revolution to overthrow the provisional government.
What makes you say most didn’t bother voting? More than half of eligible voters cast ballots
Key words “eligible voters.”
That was just an age gate, though. 20 for civilians, 18 for military men. I know of no limits based on class, land ownership, etc.
Not formally, no. In practice, due to World War I and the brewing civil war, the administrative failures of the Provisional Government, and the general chaos in Russia, voters were skewed heavily towards urban areas, while Russia was largely peasant at the time. The Bolsheviks were popular among the peasantry as well, and this is further backed by how the peasant soviet elections went.
In either case, the provisional government was deeply unpopular, and replacing it by soviet power was deeply popular. Carrying out the revolution was the correct action, and to go against the revolution would be to go against the people. The fact that the revolutionaries coalesced around the Bolsheviks after the fact does not mean that this was not the will of the people.