Lenin's Demands for a Revolution

• In September, Lenin was still in exile in Finland as a result of the July Days whilst other such as Stalin were in Petrograd.

  • Stalin was still a minor player in the Bolshevik leadership at this point.
• By the end of September, Lenin had decided that the time was right for the Bolsheviks to seize power.

  • From 1902, he had consistently argued that the capitalist and socialist revolutions of Marxist theory could happen in quick succession in Russia.
• Lenin wrote "History will not forgive if we do not assume power" on 12 September.
• He regarded the February Revolution as the capitalist takeover and that the PG would become increasingly counter-revolutionary and now he argued for the socialist revolution to take place in October.

  • Lenin slipped back into Petrograd on 7 October and the Central Committee met.