Comments on: Important Landing Page Tips

By: fallenaway

fallenaway — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:34:59 +0000

Russian joke:

What is communism?

Communism is the passage from capitalism to capitalism.
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By: Raspberry pancakes

Raspberry pancakes — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:32:59 +0000

- Lenin endeavored to get support by promoting propaganda such as the "Bread, Land, Peace and All Power to the Soviets" slogan
-This was successful because it’s exactly what people wanted to hear, because many suffered from poverty and starvation
- At this point Russians were so sick of czar Nicholas’s inability to fight poverty and rule the country properly, that they were eager for any sort of change
- although those Russians who wanted change found Bolshevism appealing, many were anti-Bolshevik, so Lenin used propaganda as his tool to convert them to his idealisms
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By: kennyj

kennyj — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:30:59 +0000

The promise of "bread, peace and land" could not have been more dear to the heart of the average Russian during early part of the 20th century. Lenin recognized that for his revolution to be successful they needed to attract and sustain the peasantry and the disenfranchised middle class. Remember, Russia was a late coming to industrialization, so their urban middle class was a step or two behind much of Europe (Britain, France and Germany for example). For a couple of centuries the czars had held power like feudal lords. They kept any true political power away from the upper classes and nobility by allowing them to run their land as they wished - very much like it had been through most of Europe during the Middle Ages. The nobles enjoyed their little empires of privilege and were appeased. So essentially, the nobility ran their estates in a heirarchy where land ownership rested in the hands of very few and the many worked the land and lived hand to mouth and what ever other food could be scrounged. Many Russians at this time lived on only bread. It was, and still is, a Russian staple. Affordable and available bread was a basic need. So much food was being hoarded by the aristocracy and was being used for the war effort. Little (and in some areas none) food was available. Starvation was rampant. The third promise, peace, was crucial. Remember, Lenin’s speech came during some of the bloodiest days of WW I. Russians, like Germans, French, Brits and the other Commonwealth nations were losing soldiers in obscene numbers. Peace at any cost was truly on the minds of many Russians. One could argue that it was on the minds of most Europeans generally. At the heart of socialist philosophy is a strong vein of pacifism. Socialists everywhere at this time, and in many countries still, call for non-military intervention and diplomatic solutions rather than war. Lenin, badly wanted out of the war, and he astutely recongnized it as a rallying call for millions of Russians. And most of the peasantry, which was paying the highest price, agreed. Love him or hate him, Lenin was correct in stating that wars are won and lost on the backs of the poor and the middle class. People of privilege do not sacrifice to same extent. It is the same today.

So, BREAD, PEACE AND LAND, were promises that so many Russians could buy into. They needed and desired all three.
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By: Yun

Yun — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:28:59 +0000

Remember what Communism was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a popular movement among the people. The system would never have lasted so long if people hadn’t first been duped into liking it and later suppressed by it under the threat of force.

People in Russia in those days had been mistreated and neglected so long that they wanted a government that actually cared about them. Lenin’s promises made it sound like the Communists really cared about them.
Promising those things allowed them to recruit people to do things for them. The "faithful" to the cause and the leadership of it didn’t have to risk themselves or so much of their movement because they could pull in new people to do their dirty work just by promising things.
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By: poppytry

poppytry — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:26:20 +0000

How important are the promises of BREAD, PEACE and LAND in Lenins April thesis in explaining the oct revolutio
How important are the promises of BREAD, PEACE and LAND in Lenins April thesis in explaining the Bolsheviks succesful seizure of power in october 1917?

This is my exam question.. what important tips would you recomend I raise in this argument? Im also alowed to make two pages of notes so any suggestions on those would be great thanks.