Consistent Bolshevik message
Did Lenin’s April theses lead to a complete change of policy? Lars T Lih continues his series, arguing that the opposite is the case
Throughout 1917, the Bolsheviks delivered a consistent message to the soviet constituency: that is, the workers and soldiers who elected soviets in the capital cities of Petrograd and Moscow, as well as many other urban centres. The heart of this message can be stated concisely: an exclusive worker-peasant
vlast based on the soviets is the only way to effectively defend the revolution and carry out its goals.
Formulated in positive terms, the key implication of this message was: ‘All power to the soviets!’ Stated in negative terms, the key implication was
Letters
Robin
My big brother, Robin, passed away on December 19, aged 80. After a fall at home he was taken into hospital, where he caught Coronavirus and died of it three weeks later.
Robin was always six years older than me, and five years older than our brother, Ken. I count myself lucky to have been the youngest, as parents always seem to be stressed about the eldest - and Robin was the eldest son of an eldest son, so I think he got a double dose of parent pressure - and, despite living a long life, I believe he never fully recovered. Right into old age he never stopped complaining about his parents.