Ten Days That Shook the World · Chapter
V: Plunging Ahead explained
The Bolsheviks consolidate power after the insurrection, facing opposition from the Municipal Duma, the Committee for Salvation, and various workers' unions.
What happens
The Bolsheviks consolidate power after the insurrection, facing opposition from the Municipal Duma, the Committee for Salvation, and various workers' unions. The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets debates coalition government, land reform, and desertion, with Trotsky defending the Bolsheviks' isolated path. Lenin pushes for swift action, while the Congress passes the Land Decree and appeals against pogroms.
Themes in this chapter
Struggle for Legitimacy and Power
Conflict between the Bolsheviks and the Municipal Duma over who holds legitimate authority in Petrograd.
Peasant Question and Land Reform
Passage of the Land Decree and debates over deserters' land rights reflect the centrality of peasant issues.
Workers' Control and Economic Transformation
Bolsheviks assert control over state apparatus, appointing commissars and facing sabotage from unions.
Counterrevolution and Civil War
Formation of the Committee for Salvation and calls for coalition signal the beginning of organized opposition.
Characters to notice
- Grigory Schreider
Mayor of Petrograd, protests Bolshevik takeover at the Duma, asserting its legitimacy.
- Leon Trotsky
Defends Bolshevik actions at the Duma and Congress, argues for proletarian coalition.
- Andrei Shingarev
Cadet, demands dismissal of municipal functionaries who became Bolshevik commissars.
- Matvei Skobelev
Speaks at the Committee for Salvation, urging unity against Bolsheviks.
- Mikhail Uritsky
Sent to Ministry of Foreign Affairs to demand secret treaties.
- Lev Kamenev
Reads appeal against pogroms at the Congress of Soviets.
- Boris Avilov
Argues for socialist coalition government, warns of isolation.
- Vladimir Karelin
Left SR, explains refusal to join Council of People's Commissars, advocates mediation.
Key passages
“Workers, soldiers, peasants! In March you struck down the tyranny of the clique of nobles. Yesterday you struck down the tyranny of the bourgeois gang.”
The Bolshevik newspaper proclaims that the people have overthrown both the old nobility and the bourgeois government.
From the suppressed Bolshevik newspaper, rallying support after the insurrection.
“There is a constitutional remedy for that. The Duma can be dissolved and reelected.”
Trotsky tells the Mayor that the Duma can be legally dissolved and new elections held.
Trotsky's response to Schreider's protest against Bolshevik authority.
“We shall die sooner than surrender our post!”
The Committee for Salvation vows to resist the Bolsheviks to the death.
Defiant declaration at the Committee for Salvation meeting.
“No one party can conquer these enormous difficulties. The majority of the people, supporting a government of Socialist coalition, can alone accomplish the Revolution.”
Avilov argues that only a broad socialist coalition government can overcome the challenges facing Russia.
Avilov's plea for coalition at the Congress of Soviets.
“These considerations on the dangers of isolation of our party are not new. On the eve of insurrection our fatal defeat was also predicted.”
Trotsky dismisses warnings about Bolshevik isolation, noting similar predictions before the uprising.
Trotsky's rebuttal to Avilov and Karelin at the Congress.
