Russia 1917: Countdown to Revolution Page #4

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He had a vicious tongue.

Lenin realises that writing these

letters from his hiding place

'is not enough. He's going to have

to face the central committee

'to argue for this properly

and to win the argument.

'And then he's going to have to

seize power immediately.'

Suddenly we're in a state

of high drama here.

You know, something has got to give.

If the Bolsheviks don't seize power

now, somebody else might.

By the beginning of October, Lenin

is beside himself with impatience.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

Comrade Lenin?

On the night of October the 10th,

Lenin suddenly reappears,

disguised as a Lutheran minister to

avoid capture by the authorities.

The significance of the meeting

is world historical.

History isn't always made

on battlefields.

They're made in small meeting rooms.

Since the beginning of September,

there has been a certain...

..indifference to the idea

of seizing power.

We must seize power now

and not wait for the Soviets

or any congresses.

The time is right now.

The moment of decision has arrived.

The masses are tired of words

and resolutions.

The majority are behind us.

The success of Russian

and worldwide revolution

depends on two or three

days' struggle.

If I may, Comrade Lenin.

Trotsky wants to wait

to launch the uprising

until after the upcoming

Congress of Soviets.

This way, socialist delegates

from all over the country

can back the insurrection.

But Lenin disagrees.

It's difficult for a large,

organised body of men

to take swift, decisive action.

We must act on the 25th,

the day that Congress sits,

so that we may say to it,

"Here is our power.

"What are you going to do with it?"

'He hammers and hammers

and hammers the point

'that if we don't act now

we'll lose our moment,'

we'll never have a chance again.

This is the only time

we will succeed.

I don't think Lenin

was browbeating anyone.

He was just arguing

that this is the time.

Of course, they were vigorous

arguments.

The argument is essential.

Whether to seize power

or to form democratic alliances.

'At this very moment,

the top Bolsheviks'

start to say,

we should negotiate a coalition

with other parties like the

Mensheviks, other rival factions.

'This isn't the time to seize power,

'we might lose everything

we have already.'

I say we put it to the vote.

When they began, at least half

the central committee

was against armed insurrection.

After ten hours arguing,

the result goes 10-2

in Lenin's favour.

'This is just the moment

when you realise'

the absolute paramount power

of the individual in history,

because, you know,

half the central committee,

or even a majority of the central

committee of the Bolshevik Party

doesn't want to seize power

in October 1917.

'The fact that Lenin got the vote

and won the permission to go ahead

'was entirely decisive.

'This was indeed the cocking

of the pistol of revolution.'

By October the 24th, Kerensky

is expecting an uprising,

but he's still confident

he will prevail.

It'll be like July again.

I'll be prepared to offer prayers

to produce this uprising.

I'll have greater forces

than necessary.

They will be utterly crushed.

LOUD THUD:

Kerensky's overconfidence

plays right into Lenin's hands.

With Stalin in charge

of the Bolshevik press,

Kerensky orders two

of the newspapers closed.

Within hours, Stalin is free to get

the newspapers running again...

..announcing Kerensky's censorship

as the start of a full-blown

counterrevolution.

Now, the Bolsheviks can start

their uprising

under the pretext

of defending freedom.

A lie always has a stronger effect

than the truth.

The main thing is to obtain

one's objective.

You've come a long way, comrades.

As head of the Petrograd Soviet,

Trotsky plays his part

in the deception.

He orders that bridges

and key government buildings

be seized to protect the city.

He claims...

This is defence, comrades,

this is defence.

He goes so far as to say...

An armed conflict,

today or tomorrow,

on the eve of the Soviet Congress,

is not in our plans.

By that evening,

Lenin is convinced the hour,

indeed the moment to seize power,

has finally arrived.

Everything now hangs by a thread.

The matter must be decided

without fail...

..this evening.

'Lenin has been told very

categorically by his comrades'

to stay put

and he is crawling the walls.

'He is desperate to be there,

to be in the thick of it.

'Lenin's face is notorious

'so what he does is

he puts on his disguise.

'He puts on glasses, he puts on

a fairly ridiculous wig,

'he puts on a battered worker's cap.

'And finally he, sort of, swathes

some bandages around his face

'to, sort of, look injured

in some way

'and also simply to obscure

those notorious features.'

He is wanted for high treason.

Government troops are searching

the city for him.

Now, he must risk capture to get

to Bolshevik headquarters.

DOG BARKS:

'On his way, they're stopped by

one of the last police patrols'

of the provisional government.

HE MUMBLES:

'And they look at this man and think

he's some sort of drunk tramp...'

What do you think? He's just drunk.

..and let him go.

Get out of here.

For me, this is the real turning

point of 20th century history.

This is the moment when one man

makes all the difference.

'If Lenin had been arrested...

'..they probably never would have

launched an insurrection.

'But because those policemen

failed to recognise Lenin,'

for whom there was a warrant

for arrest...

..the insurrection took place.

'Everything is happening

in a series of rooms

'in the splendid Smolny Institute.

'Lenin arrived at room 36, which

was the key room, the headquarters,'

the engine room, the beating heart

of the revolution,

'and there he found

all the key players.

'There's Trotsky.

'There's Stalin.

'And they're running everything

from here.

'There were soldiers playing cards,

smoking.

'People sleeping.

'People drinking vodka.

Some people drunk.

'Soldiers rushing in with news'

that this building or that building

had fallen.

'At this moment in Russian history,

in world history,

'these series of shambolic rooms

'half encampment, half military

headquarters, half student bivouac,

'are the centre of the world

and Lenin has to be in this room.'

Lenin has always been called

the Father of the Revolution.

But the man who ran the October

Revolution was not Lenin or Stalin.

'Trotsky wasn't just a handsome face

and a great orator,

'he was also

an organisational genius.

'He put together the machinery,

the personnel, the plan.

'It was Trotsky that gave

the orders.'

Trotsky was the man of the hour.

The Bolsheviks take control

of Petrograd overnight,

just hours before the Congress

of Soviets is to meet.

By the morning of October the 25th,

only the Winter Palace

remains in the hands

of the provisional government.

'Kerensky is in cloud cuckoo land,

quite frankly.

'And on the morning

of the 25th of October,

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