The anarchists are actually semi-relevant now and actually has seats on the congress? I bet this will have no impact whatsoever, especially in Ukraine and Kronstadt.
Allying with the Left SRs was genius. Anyone calling bolshevik rule a one party state could be countered with the ole “what one party? The bolsheviks are in coalition with the Left SRs!”
@samuelwithers2221 Lenin posits that the assembly was not properly managed. "Firstly, proportional representation results in a faithful expression of the will of the people only when the party lists correspond to the real division of the people according to the party groupings reflected in those lists. In our case, however, as is well known, the party which from May to October had the largest number of followers among the people, and especially among the peasants the Socialist-Revolutionary Party came out with united election lists for the Constituent Assembly in the middle of October 1917, but split in November 1917, after the elections and before the Assembly met. For this reason, there is not, nor can there be, even a formal correspondence between the will of the mass of the electors and the composition of the elected Constituent Assembly." Lenin is essentially saying here that there's a disconnect between the voters and what those being elected are representing due to the October impass. It's hard to argue to contrary when as the situation devolved more and more people supported the Bolsheviks as a party to maintain order in the absence of any actually stable authority. Bolshevik red guards and worker organizations associated with the Soviet had been the backbone of local communities during this time of strife and acted as impromptu government services such as policing to ensure banditry and theft during scarcity was reduced. He was also very honest about what would be nessecary if Soviet workers power wasn't respected and enshrined due to their power at the time as well as policy regarding WW1. "The only chance of securing a painless solution to the crisis which has arisen owing to the divergence between the elections to the Constituent Assembly, on the one hand, and the will of the people and the interests of the working and exploited classes, on the other, is for the people to exercise as broadly and as rapidly as possible the right to elect the members of the Constituent Assembly anew, and for the Constituent Assembly to accept the law of the Central Executive Committee on these new elections, to proclaim that it unreservedly recognizes Soviet power, the Soviet revolution, and its policy on the questions of peace, the land and workers’ control, and to resolutely join the camp of the enemies of the Cadet-Kaledin counter-revolution. Unless these conditions are fulfilled, the crisis in connection with the Constituent Assembly can be settled only in a revolutionary way, by Soviet power adopting the most energetic, speedy, firm and determined revolutionary measures against the Cadet-Kaledin counter-revolution, no matter behind what slogans and institutions (even participation in the Constituent Assembly) this counter-revolution may hide. Any attempt to tie the hands of Soviet power in this struggle would be tantamount to aiding counter-revolution."
@@samuelwithers2221 Would recommend you read into the Petrograd Soviet if you wanna learn more about why this was such a sticking point for the bolsheviks.
Haha, I sent your channel to a friend after it showed up in my recommended this morning, but this channel had already popped up in his recommended, too. I’m glad the algorithm is giving you the attention you deserve! Keep up the great content!
I found your channel through an unrelated video but this series is genuinely fascinating. To slowly see the idea of democracy crumble because of both a king unwilling to compromise due to being a sheltered git and a far leftist loony who wanted all the power for themselves is very interesting to see play out in real time.
Most of the footage so far has come from the movie "Anniversary of the Revolution" (Godovshchina revolyutsii) directed by Dziga Vertov and released in 1918, which is listed in the description. I try to select footage of the actual event being discussed if possible, but if that's not available then footage depicting the general mood/type of event being described. For example the footage at 6:15 is the actual funeral in January 1918, but considering that was an embarrassing event for the Bolsheviks, Vertov only briefly shows it before skipping to the next event. There doesn't appear to be any footage of the actual burial, so at 6:25 I used footage from a previous funeral (in March 1917), to illustrate the idea. All the clips of protests in this video were from actual pro-Assembly protests, while the various clips of the Tauride Palace are of the opening of the Assembly. This includes the clip at the end of the video of the man speaking to a crowd, which according to the labeling in the film, is footage of an assembly deputy speaking to the protestors outside the Tauride Palace.
Yes it was. According to Smirnov, six local Estonian soviets were represented at the Congress: Yuriev (Tartu), Revel (Tallinn), Narva, Gaapsalu, Vero (Võru), Fellin (Viljandi). Collectively, these soviets were alloted over 20 seats, and the Credentials Commission recorded that six delegates identified as Estonian. In late 1917, the Bolsheviks had successfully launched a coup in Estonia and occupied the country, although a rival Estonian government persisted in the underground. And of course, parts of Estonia were already occupied by the Germans by this point. As a result, while Estonia was represented at the Congress de jure, the actual participation level of Estonians in the election would be quite low.
can we get some kind of understanding of how you entered this field? i mean so as to analyse whether this is coming from a bolshevik perspective (unlikely to be fair), a secular academic perspective, etc :)
Thank you! I wouldn't be opposed to an alternate history scenario. There are certainly a few moments even just in the series so far that would make for a good starting point. Although right now I would say I'm mostly focused on regular history videos for the time being.
Sure thing. I assume you mean not looping the same song throughout the video? I'll see what I can do about having a couple different songs in each. In general I want to follow the precedent set in the other election series of having the recordings reflect the era in question (so we get progressively more modern songs as we go), but unfortunately there's a lot of elections in only a few years here, and not a lot of good recordings to go around.
In terms of influence in Sovnarkom, the issue was that the Left SR deputies constantly clashed with the rest of the council and were routinely overruled. It was a very unequal partnership, with the Bolsheviks trying to placate the Left SR ministers, but only up to a point. In terms of the Soviet Congress, the Left SRs were the most penalized by the way the system was structured, as most of their supportbase was among peasants. As a result they were a significant part of the Congress but still a minority. More importantly, Lenin had established the right to rule by decree, meaning that at any point he could create a law essentially and have it passed without their input if he wanted to. Lastly, I wouldn't say they had no influence among the Red Guards. There were actually several detachments in the capital at this time which leaned toward the Left SRs (this will become important later). But in general the Bolsheviks had more staunchly loyal soldiers concentrated in key places, as well as a readiness to use them. The Left SRs by contrast didn't have anything resembling a military committee or plan (yet).
