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In October 1917,
the world changed forever.

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Three men led the takeover
of the largest country on Earth.

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Russia became the world's first
communist state.

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It took everyone by surprise,
including its own leaders.

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Revolution might not happen
in our lifetime.

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Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky

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and Joseph Stalin had to struggle,
plot and force their way into power

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through the most unlikely series
of events.

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'Lenin was moving around in secret,
being hunted by the police.'

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'For me, this is the real turning
point of 20th-century history.'

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This is the moment when one man
makes all the difference.

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The insurrection Lenin led
still inspires fierce debate.

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'Did they want a Bolshevik
government led by Vladimir Lenin?'

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Miserable BLEEP traitors!

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I don't think so.

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The masses are tired of words
and resolutions!

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How the hell is that a coup d'etat?

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'He is motivated by a vision
of an alternative world.'

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These people should be shot
for their incompetence!

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His object was not to convince
or persuade anyone,

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it was to destroy them.

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The system Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin
created a century ago

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shapes the world we live in today.

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Putin really understands
the October Revolution.

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In many ways, he's one
of the results of it.

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This is the countdown
of the 245 days

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that brought three men from
obscurity to supreme power,

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forging a brave and bloody
new world.

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February 1917.

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Russia is ready to explode.

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Its royalty, the Tsars,
have ruled with an iron fist

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for four centuries.

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EXPLOSION

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Its men are dying in the millions
in World War I.

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Its women and children are starving.

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But the Tsar rejects any change.

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JEERING AND SHOUTING

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On February 23rd, Russia erupts.

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The masses of Petrograd
take over the capital

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and force the Tsar to abdicate.

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Here, dramatized in October,

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Sergei Eisenstein's propaganda film
made ten years after the revolution.

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Yet the men we most associate
with the Russian Revolution

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aren't even in the country.

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Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin
miss the February Revolution.

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Lenin is in Zurich, having been
exiled for nearly 17 years

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as a dangerous revolutionary.

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KNOCKING

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Haven't you heard?
There's been a revolution!

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I've heard this sort of rumour
before.

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It's probably German propaganda.

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Just days before the February
Revolution, Lenin had confessed...

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Revolution might not happen
in our lifetime.

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We must go home.

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The one thing Lenin couldn't bear

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was that the revolution,
now it's come,

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is going to happen without him.

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He was absolutely tormented
about getting back

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and seizing control
before someone else did.

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Lenin's drive for power may have
its origins in a family trauma.

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Until 1889,

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Lenin is really a fairly
average schoolboy

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from a provincial town, Simbirsk.

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But his brother, Aleksandr,

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has been a activist in the main
terrorist revolutionary group,

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the People's Will, involved in an
attempt to assassinate the Tsar,

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arrested and executed.

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And I think it's partly in revenge
for that family tragedy

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that he is so bent on destruction.

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Lenin becomes an ardent Marxist.

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By 1903, he's head of his own
radical party, the Bolsheviks.

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Soon after, Leon Trotsky hears
about the February Revolution

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while avoiding the Russian
authorities in New York.

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'Trotsky was very much
the showman, the orator,'

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the real firebrand
of the revolution.

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He was a very glamorous figure.

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He was a terrific speaker, real
rabble-rouser, and he knew it.

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CHEERING

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Born Lev Bronstein, Trotsky has
been a Marxist rebel from youth.

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He had an interesting background.

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He came from the Black Sea coast,

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he was the son of a very rich
Jewish farmer.

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He'd had a wonderful education,
he was highly cultured,

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he was an internationalist,
he'd been all over the world,

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he's been in New York
and round Europe and Vienna.

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He's known to be a difficult man,
abrasive, extremely charismatic,

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sometimes hard to love but
absolutely impossible not to admire.

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This independent revolutionary
has rivalled Lenin for 20 years.

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Soon, they'll have to work together.

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Days later, Joseph Stalin learns
of the February Revolution

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while exiled for robbery
3,500 kilometres away

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in Achinsky, Siberia.

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'Just look at how attractive
Stalin was

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'in the time leading up
to the revolution.'

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HE LAUGHS

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'Not only a published poet'

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but an anthologised poet,
very handsome,

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with a marvellous head of hair.

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A great one for women.

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He's escaped six times
from Siberian exile

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and wanted what?

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Universal equality and justice.

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A completely attractive figure.

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Until he was in power.

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Stalin was the ultimate
man of action

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and he became Lenin's chosen
favourite man of action.

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He was the master of assassinations,

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protection rackets, heists.

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Every revolutionary leader
needs a Stalin.

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Stalin...

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..Trotsky

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and Lenin.

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Three comrades in revolution
who now have barely 230 days

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to change the world.

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CHEERING

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They return to a country in turmoil.

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The overthrow of the Tsar
in the February Revolution

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has unleashed wild euphoria.

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People were partying in the streets,

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soldiers were, sort of,
driving around in cars,

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tooting their horns with, sort of,
half undressed girls.

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People were having sex
in the street.

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There were a multitude of political
factions and parties

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and everyone was having meetings
about everything.

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So, it was total anarchy.

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It was an explosion,

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which meant all rules were destroyed
and it was a chance to start again.

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We're talking about,
in aspiration, you know,

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a fundamental reconfiguring of the
way human beings live in the world.

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Lenin arrives at a time when there
is an enormous amount of hope

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and a sense that this
is still a new Russia.

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April 4th,

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the Bolsheviks' few thousand
supporters await Lenin in Petrograd,

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now St Petersburg.

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It was Easter Monday and so
the factories weren't working

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so they did manage to get
a big crowd in,

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partly by the promise of free beer,

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which, actually, sadly
didn't arrive for any of them.

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They've got fantastic arc lighting
and it made it look terrific.

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The converted, the supporters,
the acolytes, the underground,

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the revolutionaries
were there to meet him.

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But the vast majority of people

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didn't even really know
who Lenin was.

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After two decades of studying
the theory of revolution,

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Lenin arrives with radical ideas
on what Russia should do now.

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He had an idea of the revolution
in his head

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before he'd even got back to Russia

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to see what the real
possibilities were.

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Lenin is ready to test his theories
on real people.

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He has no time
for other politicians.

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'A delegation greet him
rather nervously.

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'He doesn't even answer them.'

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Instead, he gives a speech
to the crowds.

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Sailors...

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soldiers, comrades...

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..this is no time for compromise
or diplomatic phrases.

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This is the time to move towards
building a socialist state.

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CHEERING

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As soon as he arrives
back in Russia,

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he calls for his party to agitate
for a new revolution.

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The piratical, imperialist war...

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Even Lenin's own party,
the Bolsheviks, were shocked.

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..and the hour is not far distant
when the people will turn their arms

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against their capitalist exploiters.

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'The political conversation was all
about a bourgeois democracy.'

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It was all about elections
that were going to happen.

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'It was all about coalitions
of groups.'

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Lenin didn't want any of that.

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Lenin wants a second revolution to
overthrow the provisional government

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that has been set up.

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He calls instead for the country
to be run by Soviets -

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committees of workers,
soldiers and peasants.

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He was suggesting that they should
seize power pretty much immediately.

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The worldwide revolution
has already dawned.

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'The party was absolutely confused,'

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bewildered and amazed
by what Lenin said.

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And a lot of them thought
he'd gone mad.

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The people want peace.

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They want bread and land.

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They give you war and hunger.

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And the landowners still have
all the land.

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He coins the first big slogan -

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land for the peasants,

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peace, an end to war

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and bread.

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Feed the poor.

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Simple words, but behind each
lies a whole set of policies.

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The same way that the entire...

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The crowd love it.

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00:12:06,420 --> 00:12:09,060
Those in power just laugh.

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A lot of liberal politicians were
saying, "Forget it, don't worry,

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"Lenin is a busted flush, he's lost
his mind, basically an anarchist,

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"we don't need to worry about him."

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Scant months later, this is the most
powerful single person in Russia.

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Sailors, comrades...

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we have to fight
for a socialist revolution.

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Fight to the end!

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00:12:35,020 --> 00:12:38,460
Long live the worldwide
socialist revolution!

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00:12:38,460 --> 00:12:40,460
CHEERING

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00:12:41,540 --> 00:12:46,820
'People would recognise Lenin as a
very modern political phenomenon.'

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He believed totally that the ends
justify the means.

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That winning is all, that power
is all that really matters.

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00:12:53,100 --> 00:12:55,020
APPLAUSE

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00:12:55,020 --> 00:12:58,780
There was still huge disagreement
about Lenin's motives.

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00:12:59,820 --> 00:13:02,420
Power on its own for him
was nothing.

206
00:13:02,420 --> 00:13:04,980
He really wasn't interested in that.

207
00:13:04,980 --> 00:13:10,380
It was power to make big changes
in society.

208
00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:17,260
'He is motivated by a vision
of an alternative world.'

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00:13:17,260 --> 00:13:20,500
The end of a society dominated
by profit.

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00:13:20,500 --> 00:13:23,260
What motivates Lenin is power.

211
00:13:23,260 --> 00:13:26,220
Power is all that matters
in a revolution.

212
00:13:26,220 --> 00:13:29,020
That is how Lenin understands
revolution.

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00:13:29,020 --> 00:13:32,500
You have to have power
before you can do anything.

214
00:13:32,500 --> 00:13:35,900
So principle goes out the window
in the struggle for power,

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00:13:35,900 --> 00:13:37,980
as far as Lenin is concerned.

216
00:13:44,500 --> 00:13:47,980
Spring turns to summer,
but the provisional government

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00:13:47,980 --> 00:13:50,980
is unable to solve
the country's problems.

218
00:13:50,980 --> 00:13:54,660
Yet most Russians still have faith
in this man -

219
00:13:54,660 --> 00:13:58,020
Minister of War Alexander Kerensky.

220
00:13:58,020 --> 00:14:02,180
'Alexander Kerensky was really
the first love of the revolution.'

221
00:14:02,180 --> 00:14:04,380
The intelligentsia adored him.

222
00:14:05,540 --> 00:14:08,100
I don't care, General.
The men will manage.

223
00:14:08,100 --> 00:14:10,460
'What became known as
the Kerensky cult'

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00:14:10,460 --> 00:14:12,740
becomes absolutely out of control.

225
00:14:12,740 --> 00:14:16,220
So you have pamphlet after pamphlet
describing him literally

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00:14:16,220 --> 00:14:17,980
as a divine figure.

227
00:14:17,980 --> 00:14:19,380
Immediately.

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00:14:22,460 --> 00:14:25,500
'He is convinced of his own
historical mission'

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00:14:25,500 --> 00:14:29,020
and part of his historical mission
is to turn the war around.

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00:14:32,020 --> 00:14:34,900
Despite the popular opposition
to the war,

231
00:14:34,900 --> 00:14:37,380
Kerensky orders a new offensive.

232
00:14:39,020 --> 00:14:41,580
So the offensive is launched
on the 16th of June.

233
00:14:41,580 --> 00:14:45,020
It goes forward for a couple of
days, the Germans counterattack,

234
00:14:45,020 --> 00:14:47,420
the Russians run back.
There's chaos.

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00:14:49,060 --> 00:14:52,020
They lost hundreds of thousands
of men within a week

236
00:14:52,020 --> 00:14:54,620
and this played totally
into the hands of Lenin.

237
00:14:57,020 --> 00:14:59,740
Lenin, who'd been saying
that war is a bad thing,

238
00:14:59,740 --> 00:15:03,460
that he would provide instant peace,
suddenly became incredibly popular.

239
00:15:03,460 --> 00:15:05,700
And so did the Bolshevik Party.

240
00:15:08,260 --> 00:15:12,700
When Kerensky orders more soldiers
to leave Petrograd for the front,

241
00:15:12,700 --> 00:15:14,700
they refuse to obey.

242
00:15:15,700 --> 00:15:19,940
Their determined resistance
spreads to front-line troops.

243
00:15:26,460 --> 00:15:28,420
By July the 4th,

244
00:15:28,420 --> 00:15:31,900
thousands of deserters join
anti-government demonstrations

245
00:15:31,900 --> 00:15:33,620
in Petrograd.

246
00:15:34,980 --> 00:15:38,620
It looks like Lenin's second
revolution has arrived.

247
00:15:39,980 --> 00:15:43,940
But are Lenin and the Bolsheviks
ready to take power?

248
00:15:44,980 --> 00:15:48,780
The front-page editorial
in the party paper, Pravda,

249
00:15:48,780 --> 00:15:52,100
had meant to tell the crowds
to stay home.

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00:15:52,100 --> 00:15:55,020
You should all be thrashed for this.

251
00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:58,340
'When it becomes clear that
this will simply look ridiculous

252
00:15:58,340 --> 00:16:00,780
'with this enormous
mass demonstration,

253
00:16:00,780 --> 00:16:04,900
'it is too late for the Bolsheviks
to come up with another line.'

254
00:16:06,900 --> 00:16:10,020
They just pull it and they
have no time to replace it,

255
00:16:10,020 --> 00:16:14,580
so it comes out with a rather
pregnant blank right at its front.

256
00:16:16,740 --> 00:16:20,060
The Bolsheviks look utterly
confused.

257
00:16:20,060 --> 00:16:23,020
Lenin had been calling for
the provisional government

258
00:16:23,020 --> 00:16:26,620
to be thrown out and replaced
by the more radical Soviets.

259
00:16:28,740 --> 00:16:31,980
Now, thousands are ready
to do just that...

260
00:16:31,980 --> 00:16:33,740
is he?

261
00:16:36,260 --> 00:16:37,980
'They were screaming,

262
00:16:37,980 --> 00:16:40,980
'"Show us leadership.
Seize power right now, Lenin."

263
00:16:40,980 --> 00:16:42,740
'And Lenin was hedging.

264
00:16:42,740 --> 00:16:45,820
'He was wondering what the hell
to do, how to manage this.'

265
00:16:45,820 --> 00:16:49,700
Because he realised that if this
went wrong he could be destroyed.

266
00:16:51,980 --> 00:16:54,780
'When Lenin steps out
onto that balcony,'

267
00:16:54,780 --> 00:16:57,020
perhaps he loses his nerve.

268
00:16:57,020 --> 00:17:00,260
He doesn't really know what to say.

269
00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:05,340
We always wanted this
to be peaceful.

270
00:17:06,380 --> 00:17:08,180
With no violence.

271
00:17:12,500 --> 00:17:17,340
The Bolshevik call to give power
to the Soviets will win one day.

272
00:17:19,460 --> 00:17:22,700
Despite the zigzags of history.

273
00:17:25,060 --> 00:17:28,500
But maybe not today.

274
00:17:34,380 --> 00:17:36,620
Why did Lenin hesitate?

275
00:17:37,660 --> 00:17:40,220
'Perhaps he's slightly intimidated.'

276
00:17:41,140 --> 00:17:43,980
This is a man who lived
in books and libraries,

277
00:17:43,980 --> 00:17:47,220
a man who'd been abroad
for 15 years,

278
00:17:47,220 --> 00:17:49,500
who'd never really confronted

279
00:17:49,500 --> 00:17:52,020
angry workers like that before.

280
00:17:52,020 --> 00:17:56,980
And perhaps also an element
of cowardice creeps in here.

281
00:17:56,980 --> 00:18:00,460
He was not one for mounting
the barricades.

282
00:18:00,460 --> 00:18:03,420
He was, often it was remarked,
the first to run

283
00:18:03,420 --> 00:18:06,060
when the going got dangerous.

284
00:18:08,420 --> 00:18:11,580
'He was not intimidated at all.'

285
00:18:11,580 --> 00:18:14,740
To be able to say to a whirling mass

286
00:18:14,740 --> 00:18:18,900
of 20,000, to 30,000,
to 40,000 workers, no.

287
00:18:20,020 --> 00:18:25,380
There is a time to strike and there
is a time to bite our lips.

288
00:18:27,740 --> 00:18:31,860
'That, to me,
is a sign of greatness.'

289
00:18:39,220 --> 00:18:43,420
One wrong move on our part
could wreck everything.

290
00:18:45,260 --> 00:18:48,540
'He just knew that...'

291
00:18:48,540 --> 00:18:52,380
this would be used as a provocation
by the counterrevolution

292
00:18:52,380 --> 00:18:54,060
to crush them.

293
00:18:54,060 --> 00:18:58,060
That the movement wasn't strong
enough to take power.

294
00:18:59,460 --> 00:19:03,620
We are still an insignificant
minority.

295
00:19:07,020 --> 00:19:09,660
Time is on our side.

296
00:19:22,100 --> 00:19:25,620
It was a little more
than a demonstration.

297
00:19:27,420 --> 00:19:29,940
A lot less than a revolution.

298
00:19:31,380 --> 00:19:36,580
Perhaps the fact that he bottles it,
essentially, on the 4th of July,

299
00:19:36,580 --> 00:19:39,540
is because in the back of his head
he's thinking,

300
00:19:39,540 --> 00:19:42,980
"Crikey, this could fail
and then they'll come for me."

301
00:19:42,980 --> 00:19:44,980
GUNFIRE

302
00:19:47,660 --> 00:19:50,460
For Lenin, timing is everything,

303
00:19:50,460 --> 00:19:52,420
and he proves correct.

304
00:19:52,420 --> 00:19:54,780
The revolt collapses the next day

305
00:19:54,780 --> 00:19:57,900
amidst a hail of bullets
from government snipers.

306
00:19:59,860 --> 00:20:03,020
Kerensky then goes after
the Bolshevik Party.

307
00:20:03,020 --> 00:20:07,140
He ordered the arrest of 800
party members, including Lenin,

308
00:20:07,140 --> 00:20:08,780
for high treason.

309
00:20:10,220 --> 00:20:13,460
The July days left Lenin isolated.

310
00:20:13,460 --> 00:20:18,460
To stay in Petrograd, he'd face
arrest and possibly being shot,

311
00:20:18,460 --> 00:20:21,620
and he knew he had to escape
somewhere.

312
00:20:22,980 --> 00:20:26,060
He felt all chance had gone.

313
00:20:28,980 --> 00:20:33,220
With the Bolsheviks in ruins,
Lenin goes into hiding.

314
00:20:33,220 --> 00:20:37,180
There is a 200,000 rouble bounty
on his head.

315
00:20:38,260 --> 00:20:41,660
He must now rely on his Lieutenant,
Joseph Stalin,

316
00:20:41,660 --> 00:20:43,980
to mastermind his escape.

317
00:20:43,980 --> 00:20:46,220
'Now they were going underground
again.

318
00:20:46,220 --> 00:20:50,220
'Stalin, the master of the black
arts, was essential to Lenin.'

319
00:20:52,260 --> 00:20:56,460
'Stalin was the boy in the back room
who watched what was happening'

320
00:20:56,460 --> 00:21:01,060
and made himself useful as
and when the moment came.

321
00:21:02,220 --> 00:21:06,900
'There he was, helps Lenin shave off
his very distinctive little goatee.

322
00:21:08,100 --> 00:21:10,540
'They give him a dreadful wig
and a worker's cap,'

323
00:21:10,540 --> 00:21:13,620
and smuggle him out
across into Finland.

324
00:21:15,420 --> 00:21:18,500
With Lenin gone
and Trotsky arrested,

325
00:21:18,500 --> 00:21:21,700
Stalin finds himself
the unlikely leader

326
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:23,940
of the shattered Bolshevik Party.

327
00:21:24,980 --> 00:21:27,180
'Lenin trusted Stalin.'

328
00:21:28,420 --> 00:21:31,460
He carried secret messages,
he set up by the machinery

329
00:21:31,460 --> 00:21:35,460
whereby Lenin could communicate
from a barn out in Finland

330
00:21:35,460 --> 00:21:39,180
with the Bolshevik machine
inside Petrograd.

331
00:21:39,180 --> 00:21:41,740
All of these things, Stalin managed.

332
00:21:41,740 --> 00:21:45,020
And it was now that Stalin
became the key person

333
00:21:45,020 --> 00:21:47,900
behind Lenin in the revolution.

334
00:21:48,900 --> 00:21:50,980
The interesting thing about Stalin,

335
00:21:50,980 --> 00:21:54,220
he played this incredibly subtle
waiting game.

336
00:21:54,220 --> 00:21:56,940
He was very much there
in the shadows,

337
00:21:56,940 --> 00:22:00,100
watching, waiting, learning.

338
00:22:03,700 --> 00:22:08,420
While the Bolsheviks rot in jail,
flee or go underground,

339
00:22:08,420 --> 00:22:11,660
things are looking up
for Alexander Kerensky.

340
00:22:11,660 --> 00:22:14,140
He is now Prime Minister.

341
00:22:15,260 --> 00:22:17,980
After the aborted
Bolshevik uprising,

342
00:22:17,980 --> 00:22:21,700
he appoints Siberian General
Lavr Kornilov

343
00:22:21,700 --> 00:22:24,140
to restore order in Petrograd.

344
00:22:26,020 --> 00:22:29,180
'Kornilov could see that the
Bolsheviks were gearing up

345
00:22:29,180 --> 00:22:31,220
'to try and take over.

346
00:22:31,220 --> 00:22:34,700
'He desperately wanted to round up
the belligerent revolutionaries,

347
00:22:34,700 --> 00:22:37,060
'the Bolsheviks, slam them in jail

348
00:22:37,060 --> 00:22:41,140
'and impose almost a military
government on the city'

349
00:22:41,140 --> 00:22:45,380
because he saw that as the only way
of saving the situation.

350
00:22:46,700 --> 00:22:49,060
'The right-wing, the conservatives,

351
00:22:49,060 --> 00:22:51,980
'are beginning to rally around
Kornilov quite explicitly

352
00:22:51,980 --> 00:22:54,340
'as a figure who can bring order
to Russia.'

353
00:22:55,460 --> 00:22:58,420
Kerensky worries the General
wants to rule Russia

354
00:22:58,420 --> 00:23:00,420
as a military dictator.

355
00:23:01,460 --> 00:23:04,500
'There's no question that Kerensky
was quite paranoid,'

356
00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:07,940
but there's also not much question
that people were out to get him.

357
00:23:08,980 --> 00:23:11,740
Just days after appointing
the General,

358
00:23:11,740 --> 00:23:14,860
Kerensky dismisses him
in a telegram.

359
00:23:17,740 --> 00:23:21,260
But the General's troops
advance on Petrograd.

360
00:23:21,260 --> 00:23:25,900
Ironically, it takes Bolshevik
activists to save the city.

361
00:23:29,620 --> 00:23:33,580
Bolshevik agitators from within
the army, soldiers,

362
00:23:33,580 --> 00:23:36,780
went and spoke to the Kornilov
soldiers and said,

363
00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:39,460
"Do you know why you're being
brought to Petrograd?

364
00:23:39,460 --> 00:23:42,660
"To attack us, to kill
your brothers and sisters.

365
00:23:42,660 --> 00:23:44,900
"Is this what you're coming to do?"

366
00:23:47,780 --> 00:23:52,140
And the descriptions of this event
are that Kornilov's army

367
00:23:52,140 --> 00:23:54,940
melted away
in front of his very eyes.

368
00:24:00,020 --> 00:24:03,020
In an extraordinary reversal
of fortune,

369
00:24:03,020 --> 00:24:07,060
the Bolsheviks are now seen
as the saviours of Petrograd.

370
00:24:07,060 --> 00:24:08,940
MUSIC

371
00:24:17,140 --> 00:24:20,260
Kerensky's credibility
lies in tatters.

372
00:24:20,260 --> 00:24:24,620
He's reduced to keeping himself
going with cocaine and morphine.

373
00:24:29,220 --> 00:24:33,060
'So, rather than buttress
his power base, in fact,

374
00:24:33,060 --> 00:24:37,900
'the defeat of Kornilov only played
into the hands of the left.'

375
00:24:39,700 --> 00:24:41,380
It's hard for me.

376
00:24:42,460 --> 00:24:45,260
I struggle with the left
and with the right.

377
00:24:45,260 --> 00:24:48,300
The people demand that I lean
on one and then the other.

378
00:24:49,300 --> 00:24:52,620
I want to take a middle road
but nobody will help me.

379
00:24:53,980 --> 00:24:59,060
'How could you roll out democracy
in a country like that?'

380
00:24:59,060 --> 00:25:03,260
So I think it was always inevitable
that this anarchic force

381
00:25:03,260 --> 00:25:05,780
which splintered the country
into revolution

382
00:25:05,780 --> 00:25:09,420
was never going to quickly shuffle
the pieces and put them back

383
00:25:09,420 --> 00:25:12,660
into a neat jigsaw puzzle
which was a proper democracy.

384
00:25:12,660 --> 00:25:14,500
That wasn't going to happen.

385
00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:16,980
The Kornilov coup created
the situation

386
00:25:16,980 --> 00:25:20,740
where you had a government
with no real power.

387
00:25:20,740 --> 00:25:22,420
With power ebbing away.

388
00:25:22,420 --> 00:25:25,780
A leader with no real prestige.

389
00:25:25,780 --> 00:25:30,940
And the opportunity, the vacuum,
into which someone, somewhere,

390
00:25:30,940 --> 00:25:33,020
could seize power.

391
00:25:33,020 --> 00:25:37,260
And that someone, Lenin was
determined, would be the Bolsheviks.

392
00:25:47,740 --> 00:25:52,500
The Bolshevik resurgence begins when
Kerensky releases them from jail.

393
00:25:52,500 --> 00:25:57,220
While locked up, Leon Trotsky has
finally joined Lenin's party.

394
00:25:58,300 --> 00:26:00,580
Crowds flock to hear him speak.

395
00:26:02,220 --> 00:26:05,100
Trotsky was the great celebrity
of the revolution.

396
00:26:05,100 --> 00:26:07,900
He was much more famous than Lenin,
not to speak of Stalin.

397
00:26:08,980 --> 00:26:14,420
'Trotsky was probably the most
brilliant intellectual mind'

398
00:26:14,420 --> 00:26:18,220
produced in tsarist Russia,

399
00:26:18,220 --> 00:26:19,900
including Lenin.

400
00:26:21,260 --> 00:26:25,020
'Lenin knew that Stalin and Trotsky
were his two chief supporters

401
00:26:25,020 --> 00:26:27,460
'in pushing for
the October Revolution,

402
00:26:27,460 --> 00:26:31,300
'so Stalin and Trotsky had actually
had a lot in common politically.'

403
00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:34,820
But it was personally that they
absolutely loathed each other.

404
00:26:36,780 --> 00:26:41,020
Their animosity only grows when
Trotsky replaces Stalin

405
00:26:41,020 --> 00:26:43,300
as interim leader.

406
00:26:43,300 --> 00:26:46,140
Stalin was very valuable
behind the scenes.

407
00:26:47,260 --> 00:26:51,660
He did have a knack of convincing
the average run of leaders,

408
00:26:51,660 --> 00:26:54,180
especially the provincials.

409
00:26:54,180 --> 00:26:56,140
APPLAUSE

410
00:26:58,260 --> 00:27:01,380
The time for words has passed.

411
00:27:02,980 --> 00:27:05,900
The country stands on the edge
of ruin.

412
00:27:06,940 --> 00:27:09,540
The Army demand peace.

413
00:27:10,460 --> 00:27:12,900
The peasants demand land.

414
00:27:13,940 --> 00:27:16,540
The workers demand work and food.

415
00:27:17,620 --> 00:27:20,900
The coalition government
is against the people.

416
00:27:22,700 --> 00:27:26,940
The government is a tool in the
hands of the enemies of the people.

417
00:27:26,940 --> 00:27:29,140
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

418
00:27:29,140 --> 00:27:32,500
The time for words has passed!

419
00:27:34,260 --> 00:27:39,660
Trotsky's individualism and panache
is not always trusted by Lenin.

420
00:27:40,940 --> 00:27:43,300
'Trotsky writes,
"Lenin was worried,'

421
00:27:43,300 --> 00:27:46,060
"suspicious of
my non-Bolshevik past,'

422
00:27:46,060 --> 00:27:49,100
"wondering, have I got
the capacity to do it,

423
00:27:49,100 --> 00:27:53,380
"and I had to constantly reassure
him, do not worry, Comrade Lenin,

424
00:27:53,380 --> 00:27:56,260
"it's going to happen.
We are doing it."

425
00:27:57,460 --> 00:28:00,220
All power to the Soviets!

426
00:28:00,220 --> 00:28:02,260
CHEERING

427
00:28:02,260 --> 00:28:05,340
Immediate Armistice on all fronts!

428
00:28:06,940 --> 00:28:09,780
Land to the peasants!

429
00:28:09,780 --> 00:28:11,660
CHEERING

430
00:28:15,340 --> 00:28:18,980
He's sort of arrogant
and that's his Achilles heel

431
00:28:18,980 --> 00:28:22,220
because people don't like arrogance
in the party.

432
00:28:22,220 --> 00:28:25,220
Trotsky felt it should all
be delivered to him

433
00:28:25,220 --> 00:28:27,700
because of that brilliance.

434
00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:32,940
And he would read...
ostentatiously read French novels

435
00:28:32,940 --> 00:28:36,860
during meetings of the politburo,

436
00:28:36,860 --> 00:28:41,140
to show how, erm,
above all this he was.

437
00:28:43,140 --> 00:28:47,660
When Lenin was asked what had kept
he and Trotsky apart for so long,

438
00:28:47,660 --> 00:28:49,380
he answered...

439
00:28:49,380 --> 00:28:50,980
Don't you know?

440
00:28:50,980 --> 00:28:52,420
Ambition.

441
00:28:53,540 --> 00:28:54,860
Ambition.

442
00:28:56,460 --> 00:28:58,100
Ambition.

443
00:29:01,020 --> 00:29:04,020
Now they share an ambition -
real power.

444
00:29:05,140 --> 00:29:10,220
While hiding in Finland, Lenin makes
the biggest decision of his life.

445
00:29:10,220 --> 00:29:13,340
The time is ripe for his revolution.

446
00:29:14,500 --> 00:29:17,260
'By then, everyone was sick
of the war.'

447
00:29:17,260 --> 00:29:19,700
They were sick
of the food shortages.

448
00:29:19,700 --> 00:29:22,020
People were openly saying
on the streets,

449
00:29:22,020 --> 00:29:24,780
"Do you know what,
we don't care who's in power.

450
00:29:24,780 --> 00:29:27,780
"If they like, the Germans
can come and take Petrograd."

451
00:29:30,020 --> 00:29:31,700
From mid-September,

452
00:29:31,700 --> 00:29:36,740
Lenin bombards the Bolsheviks with
letters insisting they seize power.

453
00:29:36,740 --> 00:29:42,460
"The present task must be an armed
uprising in Petrograd and Moscow,

454
00:29:42,460 --> 00:29:46,980
"the seizing of power and the
overthrow of the government."

455
00:29:49,940 --> 00:29:52,980
'Lenin was a complete monomaniac.'

456
00:29:52,980 --> 00:29:55,020
He's like a boiling pot.

457
00:29:55,020 --> 00:29:57,460
All the time, you can hear
the lid rattling.

458
00:29:57,460 --> 00:30:01,020
He gets more and more furious
and the bubbles are bubbling up.

459
00:30:01,020 --> 00:30:05,740
"It would be naive to wait for a
formal majority for Bolsheviks.

460
00:30:05,740 --> 00:30:09,060
"No, revolution ever waits
for that."

461
00:30:09,060 --> 00:30:11,660
He brewed himself up
extraordinarily

462
00:30:11,660 --> 00:30:14,740
and twisted himself up into anger

463
00:30:14,740 --> 00:30:18,180
and his flashes of anger
were terrifying.

464
00:30:18,180 --> 00:30:25,060
"History will not forgive us
if we do not assume power now.

465
00:30:25,060 --> 00:30:28,740
'Lenin is raging
that we are about to lose'

466
00:30:28,740 --> 00:30:33,300
the one-off opportunity to seize
power, to seize Russia.

467
00:30:33,300 --> 00:30:35,900
"To wait would be utter idiocy."

468
00:30:37,580 --> 00:30:41,260
'The Bolshevik leadership
doesn't know what to do with these.

469
00:30:41,260 --> 00:30:43,980
'It thinks that they might be
inflammatory

470
00:30:43,980 --> 00:30:47,220
'and provoke an uprising
prematurely,'

471
00:30:47,220 --> 00:30:50,300
so they go as far as to destroying
these letters if they can.

472
00:30:58,700 --> 00:31:02,260
BLEEP traitors
to the proletarian cause!

473
00:31:03,460 --> 00:31:05,540
'When you read the letters,'

474
00:31:05,540 --> 00:31:08,500
my God, he could swear like
a trooper when he wanted to.

475
00:31:08,500 --> 00:31:10,100
He had a vicious tongue.

476
00:31:13,860 --> 00:31:17,700
Lenin realises that writing these
letters from his hiding place

477
00:31:17,700 --> 00:31:21,180
'is not enough. He's going to have
to face the central committee

478
00:31:21,180 --> 00:31:24,220
'to argue for this properly
and to win the argument.

479
00:31:24,220 --> 00:31:27,020
'And then he's going to have to
seize power immediately.'

480
00:31:28,100 --> 00:31:30,900
Suddenly we're in a state
of high drama here.

481
00:31:30,900 --> 00:31:33,260
You know, something has got to give.

482
00:31:33,260 --> 00:31:37,180
If the Bolsheviks don't seize power
now, somebody else might.

483
00:31:40,700 --> 00:31:45,300
By the beginning of October, Lenin
is beside himself with impatience.

484
00:31:46,340 --> 00:31:49,060
INDISTINCT CHATTER

485
00:31:56,980 --> 00:31:58,900
Comrade Lenin?

486
00:32:01,500 --> 00:32:06,060
On the night of October the 10th,
Lenin suddenly reappears,

487
00:32:06,060 --> 00:32:10,380
disguised as a Lutheran minister to
avoid capture by the authorities.

488
00:32:15,580 --> 00:32:18,540
The significance of the meeting
is world historical.

489
00:32:18,540 --> 00:32:21,020
History isn't always made
on battlefields.

490
00:32:21,020 --> 00:32:23,820
They're made in small meeting rooms.

491
00:32:23,820 --> 00:32:26,940
Since the beginning of September,
there has been a certain...

492
00:32:27,980 --> 00:32:31,900
..indifference to the idea
of seizing power.

493
00:32:33,460 --> 00:32:36,300
We must seize power now

494
00:32:36,300 --> 00:32:38,900
and not wait for the Soviets
or any congresses.

495
00:32:38,900 --> 00:32:40,940
The time is right now.

496
00:32:40,940 --> 00:32:43,900
The moment of decision has arrived.

497
00:32:47,060 --> 00:32:50,500
The masses are tired of words
and resolutions.

498
00:32:50,500 --> 00:32:52,980
The majority are behind us.

499
00:32:52,980 --> 00:32:55,740
The success of Russian
and worldwide revolution

500
00:32:55,740 --> 00:32:58,220
depends on two or three
days' struggle.

501
00:32:58,220 --> 00:33:00,500
If I may, Comrade Lenin.

502
00:33:00,500 --> 00:33:03,740
Trotsky wants to wait
to launch the uprising

503
00:33:03,740 --> 00:33:07,540
until after the upcoming
Congress of Soviets.

504
00:33:07,540 --> 00:33:11,260
This way, socialist delegates
from all over the country

505
00:33:11,260 --> 00:33:13,060
can back the insurrection.

506
00:33:14,060 --> 00:33:15,900
But Lenin disagrees.

507
00:33:16,980 --> 00:33:19,980
It's difficult for a large,
organised body of men

508
00:33:19,980 --> 00:33:22,420
to take swift, decisive action.

509
00:33:22,420 --> 00:33:26,500
We must act on the 25th,
the day that Congress sits,

510
00:33:26,500 --> 00:33:29,900
so that we may say to it,
"Here is our power.

511
00:33:31,180 --> 00:33:33,620
"What are you going to do with it?"

512
00:33:35,460 --> 00:33:38,700
'He hammers and hammers
and hammers the point

513
00:33:38,700 --> 00:33:41,700
'that if we don't act now
we'll lose our moment,'

514
00:33:41,700 --> 00:33:43,980
we'll never have a chance again.

515
00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:47,620
This is the only time
we will succeed.

516
00:33:47,620 --> 00:33:50,260
I don't think Lenin
was browbeating anyone.

517
00:33:50,260 --> 00:33:53,020
He was just arguing
that this is the time.

518
00:33:53,020 --> 00:33:56,140
Of course, they were vigorous
arguments.

519
00:33:57,340 --> 00:33:59,380
The argument is essential.

520
00:33:59,380 --> 00:34:04,980
Whether to seize power
or to form democratic alliances.

521
00:34:04,980 --> 00:34:08,140
'At this very moment,
the top Bolsheviks'

522
00:34:08,140 --> 00:34:11,380
start to say,
we should negotiate a coalition

523
00:34:11,380 --> 00:34:15,900
with other parties like the
Mensheviks, other rival factions.

524
00:34:15,900 --> 00:34:18,300
'This isn't the time to seize power,

525
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:20,900
'we might lose everything
we have already.'

526
00:34:24,420 --> 00:34:26,540
I say we put it to the vote.

527
00:34:31,060 --> 00:34:34,300
When they began, at least half
the central committee

528
00:34:34,300 --> 00:34:36,420
was against armed insurrection.

529
00:34:37,980 --> 00:34:40,620
After ten hours arguing,

530
00:34:40,620 --> 00:34:44,420
the result goes 10-2
in Lenin's favour.

531
00:34:50,780 --> 00:34:53,140
'This is just the moment
when you realise'

532
00:34:53,140 --> 00:34:56,260
the absolute paramount power
of the individual in history,

533
00:34:56,260 --> 00:34:58,700
because, you know,
half the central committee,

534
00:34:58,700 --> 00:35:02,260
or even a majority of the central
committee of the Bolshevik Party

535
00:35:02,260 --> 00:35:04,940
doesn't want to seize power
in October 1917.

536
00:35:06,020 --> 00:35:10,020
'The fact that Lenin got the vote
and won the permission to go ahead

537
00:35:10,020 --> 00:35:12,460
'was entirely decisive.

538
00:35:12,460 --> 00:35:16,860
'This was indeed the cocking
of the pistol of revolution.'

539
00:35:20,460 --> 00:35:25,300
By October the 24th, Kerensky
is expecting an uprising,

540
00:35:25,300 --> 00:35:28,340
but he's still confident
he will prevail.

541
00:35:28,340 --> 00:35:30,180
It'll be like July again.

542
00:35:31,500 --> 00:35:34,620
I'll be prepared to offer prayers
to produce this uprising.

543
00:35:35,700 --> 00:35:38,140
I'll have greater forces
than necessary.

544
00:35:39,980 --> 00:35:42,140
They will be utterly crushed.

545
00:35:49,060 --> 00:35:50,900
LOUD THUD

546
00:36:04,260 --> 00:36:08,980
Kerensky's overconfidence
plays right into Lenin's hands.

547
00:36:08,980 --> 00:36:12,740
With Stalin in charge
of the Bolshevik press,

548
00:36:12,740 --> 00:36:16,380
Kerensky orders two
of the newspapers closed.

549
00:36:21,980 --> 00:36:25,980
Within hours, Stalin is free to get
the newspapers running again...

550
00:36:27,060 --> 00:36:29,300
..announcing Kerensky's censorship

551
00:36:29,300 --> 00:36:32,740
as the start of a full-blown
counterrevolution.

552
00:36:33,780 --> 00:36:36,860
Now, the Bolsheviks can start
their uprising

553
00:36:36,860 --> 00:36:40,380
under the pretext
of defending freedom.

554
00:36:40,380 --> 00:36:44,660
A lie always has a stronger effect
than the truth.

555
00:36:45,740 --> 00:36:48,580
The main thing is to obtain
one's objective.

556
00:36:53,660 --> 00:36:55,580
You've come a long way, comrades.

557
00:36:55,580 --> 00:36:57,820
As head of the Petrograd Soviet,

558
00:36:57,820 --> 00:37:00,420
Trotsky plays his part
in the deception.

559
00:37:00,420 --> 00:37:03,660
He orders that bridges
and key government buildings

560
00:37:03,660 --> 00:37:06,220
be seized to protect the city.

561
00:37:06,220 --> 00:37:07,660
He claims...

562
00:37:07,660 --> 00:37:10,100
This is defence, comrades,

563
00:37:10,100 --> 00:37:11,940
this is defence.

564
00:37:13,420 --> 00:37:15,420
He goes so far as to say...

565
00:37:15,420 --> 00:37:18,580
An armed conflict,
today or tomorrow,

566
00:37:18,580 --> 00:37:22,540
on the eve of the Soviet Congress,
is not in our plans.

567
00:37:32,060 --> 00:37:35,460
By that evening,
Lenin is convinced the hour,

568
00:37:35,460 --> 00:37:39,940
indeed the moment to seize power,
has finally arrived.

569
00:37:41,380 --> 00:37:44,420
Everything now hangs by a thread.

570
00:37:46,060 --> 00:37:50,620
The matter must be decided
without fail...

571
00:37:51,740 --> 00:37:53,380
..this evening.

572
00:37:55,020 --> 00:37:58,660
'Lenin has been told very
categorically by his comrades'

573
00:37:58,660 --> 00:38:02,180
to stay put
and he is crawling the walls.

574
00:38:02,180 --> 00:38:05,340
'He is desperate to be there,
to be in the thick of it.

575
00:38:07,180 --> 00:38:09,260
'Lenin's face is notorious

576
00:38:09,260 --> 00:38:12,700
'so what he does is
he puts on his disguise.

577
00:38:12,700 --> 00:38:17,420
'He puts on glasses, he puts on
a fairly ridiculous wig,

578
00:38:17,420 --> 00:38:19,940
'he puts on a battered worker's cap.

579
00:38:24,060 --> 00:38:28,020
'And finally he, sort of, swathes
some bandages around his face

580
00:38:28,020 --> 00:38:30,460
'to, sort of, look injured
in some way

581
00:38:30,460 --> 00:38:33,940
'and also simply to obscure
those notorious features.'

582
00:38:37,140 --> 00:38:39,660
He is wanted for high treason.

583
00:38:41,260 --> 00:38:44,340
Government troops are searching
the city for him.

584
00:38:46,020 --> 00:38:51,020
Now, he must risk capture to get
to Bolshevik headquarters.

585
00:38:51,020 --> 00:38:52,940
DOG BARKS

586
00:39:01,260 --> 00:39:05,940
'On his way, they're stopped by
one of the last police patrols'

587
00:39:05,940 --> 00:39:07,900
of the provisional government.

588
00:39:07,900 --> 00:39:09,900
HE MUMBLES

589
00:39:13,020 --> 00:39:17,460
'And they look at this man and think
he's some sort of drunk tramp...'

590
00:39:17,460 --> 00:39:21,100
What do you think? He's just drunk.

591
00:39:21,100 --> 00:39:23,140
..and let him go.

592
00:39:23,140 --> 00:39:24,980
Get out of here.

593
00:39:30,060 --> 00:39:35,900
For me, this is the real turning
point of 20th century history.

594
00:39:35,900 --> 00:39:38,780
This is the moment when one man
makes all the difference.

595
00:39:40,420 --> 00:39:42,900
'If Lenin had been arrested...

596
00:39:44,420 --> 00:39:47,940
'..they probably never would have
launched an insurrection.

597
00:39:48,980 --> 00:39:52,620
'But because those policemen
failed to recognise Lenin,'

598
00:39:52,620 --> 00:39:54,860
for whom there was a warrant
for arrest...

599
00:39:55,940 --> 00:39:58,140
..the insurrection took place.

600
00:40:09,060 --> 00:40:12,260
'Everything is happening
in a series of rooms

601
00:40:12,260 --> 00:40:15,180
'in the splendid Smolny Institute.

602
00:40:16,780 --> 00:40:20,460
'Lenin arrived at room 36, which
was the key room, the headquarters,'

603
00:40:20,460 --> 00:40:23,500
the engine room, the beating heart
of the revolution,

604
00:40:23,500 --> 00:40:27,540
'and there he found
all the key players.

605
00:40:27,540 --> 00:40:29,180
'There's Trotsky.

606
00:40:30,540 --> 00:40:32,260
'There's Stalin.

607
00:40:33,380 --> 00:40:35,860
'And they're running everything
from here.

608
00:40:38,980 --> 00:40:42,180
'There were soldiers playing cards,
smoking.

609
00:40:43,180 --> 00:40:45,220
'People sleeping.

610
00:40:45,220 --> 00:40:48,460
'People drinking vodka.
Some people drunk.

611
00:40:48,460 --> 00:40:50,540
'Soldiers rushing in with news'

612
00:40:50,540 --> 00:40:53,260
that this building or that building
had fallen.

613
00:40:53,260 --> 00:40:57,020
'At this moment in Russian history,
in world history,

614
00:40:57,020 --> 00:41:00,060
'these series of shambolic rooms

615
00:41:00,060 --> 00:41:05,140
'half encampment, half military
headquarters, half student bivouac,

616
00:41:05,140 --> 00:41:09,220
'are the centre of the world
and Lenin has to be in this room.'

617
00:41:12,060 --> 00:41:16,020
Lenin has always been called
the Father of the Revolution.

618
00:41:16,020 --> 00:41:21,380
But the man who ran the October
Revolution was not Lenin or Stalin.

619
00:41:22,460 --> 00:41:26,900
'Trotsky wasn't just a handsome face
and a great orator,

620
00:41:26,900 --> 00:41:30,020
'he was also
an organisational genius.

621
00:41:30,020 --> 00:41:34,180
'He put together the machinery,
the personnel, the plan.

622
00:41:34,180 --> 00:41:36,820
'It was Trotsky that gave
the orders.'

623
00:41:36,820 --> 00:41:38,660
Trotsky was the man of the hour.

624
00:41:43,260 --> 00:41:46,980
The Bolsheviks take control
of Petrograd overnight,

625
00:41:46,980 --> 00:41:50,780
just hours before the Congress
of Soviets is to meet.

626
00:41:50,780 --> 00:41:53,500
By the morning of October the 25th,

627
00:41:53,500 --> 00:41:56,260
only the Winter Palace
remains in the hands

628
00:41:56,260 --> 00:41:58,340
of the provisional government.

629
00:41:58,340 --> 00:42:01,420
'Kerensky is in cloud cuckoo land,
quite frankly.

630
00:42:01,420 --> 00:42:05,060
'And on the morning
of the 25th of October,

631
00:42:05,060 --> 00:42:08,700
'thinks, well, it might be time
to go and summon troops.

632
00:42:08,700 --> 00:42:11,260
'He can't get any on the telephone.'

633
00:42:11,260 --> 00:42:14,420
Of course, the Bolsheviks are
already in control of virtually

634
00:42:14,420 --> 00:42:16,900
'every means of communication
in the capital.'

635
00:42:22,260 --> 00:42:26,420
Though the provisional government
still occupies the Winter Palace,

636
00:42:26,420 --> 00:42:31,500
that afternoon, Trotsky announces
that the government has fallen.

637
00:42:31,500 --> 00:42:35,020
In the name of the military
revolutionary committee,

638
00:42:35,020 --> 00:42:40,580
I declare that the provisional
government is no more!

639
00:42:40,580 --> 00:42:42,780
CHEERING

640
00:42:42,780 --> 00:42:46,020
Well, talk about fake news.
It hasn't happened at all.

641
00:42:46,020 --> 00:42:48,220
It had meant to happen
by that point.

642
00:42:48,220 --> 00:42:51,700
The authority of
the provisional government,

643
00:42:51,700 --> 00:42:54,740
presided over by Kerensky,

644
00:42:54,740 --> 00:42:56,700
was a corpse

645
00:42:56,700 --> 00:43:00,900
that only awaited the broom
of history to sweep it away.

646
00:43:01,980 --> 00:43:05,020
Well, this was the first
Bolshevik lie

647
00:43:05,020 --> 00:43:09,260
of...of many of the next,
erm, the next 70 years.

648
00:43:09,260 --> 00:43:13,020
The Winter Palace is not yet taken

649
00:43:13,020 --> 00:43:18,060
but its fate will be settled in
the course of the next few minutes!

650
00:43:18,060 --> 00:43:20,060
CHEERING

651
00:43:21,020 --> 00:43:23,860
But the minutes drag into hours.

652
00:43:23,860 --> 00:43:26,900
Why haven't they seized power?

653
00:43:27,940 --> 00:43:30,580
'He was promised,
he was told by his military'

654
00:43:30,580 --> 00:43:33,180
that it would take
just three or four hours.

655
00:43:33,180 --> 00:43:35,260
For heaven's sake,

656
00:43:35,260 --> 00:43:39,300
why aren't shells being fired
into the Winter Palace?

657
00:43:39,300 --> 00:43:41,940
Why haven't they stormed it?

658
00:43:43,780 --> 00:43:46,700
'They couldn't find the artillery,
the guns didn't work,'

659
00:43:46,700 --> 00:43:49,700
they were blocked, could
anyone find anyone to work them?

660
00:43:49,700 --> 00:43:51,980
They needed a lantern
to give the signal

661
00:43:51,980 --> 00:43:53,980
but no-one could find a lantern.

662
00:43:53,980 --> 00:43:57,620
'There's a sort of hilarious crisis
where the Mayor of Petrograd

663
00:43:57,620 --> 00:43:59,740
'actually marches
in front of the troops

664
00:43:59,740 --> 00:44:02,700
'and stops the whole seizure
of the Winter Palace.

665
00:44:02,700 --> 00:44:06,260
'An entire group of men in frock

666
00:44:06,260 --> 00:44:09,100
'and saying, "You're not going to
seize power now."'

667
00:44:09,100 --> 00:44:12,660
They have to be moved out of the way
and still nothing has happened.

668
00:44:12,660 --> 00:44:15,260
By this point, Lenin is apoplectic.

669
00:44:16,260 --> 00:44:18,340
What the hell's going on?

670
00:44:18,340 --> 00:44:21,300
These people should be shot
for their incompetence!

671
00:44:22,980 --> 00:44:25,860
As long as ministers
are in the Palace,

672
00:44:25,860 --> 00:44:28,940
the provisional government
still stands.

673
00:44:30,020 --> 00:44:33,260
I think the seizure of
the Winter Palace is the key,

674
00:44:33,260 --> 00:44:36,020
'because until then
there's a Cabinet

675
00:44:36,020 --> 00:44:39,300
'sitting around a Cabinet table,
still running Russia.'

676
00:44:40,380 --> 00:44:42,500
And Lenin himself recognises this.

677
00:44:42,500 --> 00:44:46,700
This is why Lenin doesn't go to
the Congress or do anything else.

678
00:44:50,220 --> 00:44:53,260
Trotsky deals with
the other socialist parties

679
00:44:53,260 --> 00:44:55,700
at the Congress of Soviets.

680
00:44:55,700 --> 00:44:57,980
Having travelled
from all over Russia,

681
00:44:57,980 --> 00:45:02,220
they are shocked to find Petrograd
already seized by the Bolsheviks.

682
00:45:02,220 --> 00:45:06,700
But their protests are shouted down
by Trotsky's men.

683
00:45:06,700 --> 00:45:09,700
Trotsky has another strategy ready.

684
00:45:10,740 --> 00:45:15,380
'Trotsky's order of the day was that
if the people in the Winter Palace'

685
00:45:15,380 --> 00:45:17,220
didn't surrender,

686
00:45:17,220 --> 00:45:22,740
'the battleship Aurora
should fire blanks at them.

687
00:45:23,820 --> 00:45:27,220
'He said that very noise
of the battleship,

688
00:45:27,220 --> 00:45:30,020
'which they could all see
with its guns pointing,'

689
00:45:30,020 --> 00:45:33,260
would be enough to send them out
scurrying like rabbits.

690
00:45:36,220 --> 00:45:42,380
At 10:40pm, the warning shot
is fired from the Aurora.

691
00:45:44,060 --> 00:45:47,140
And is heard as far away
as the Congress.

692
00:45:48,300 --> 00:45:51,940
The other socialist parties
are outraged by the aggression...

693
00:45:52,940 --> 00:45:54,540
..and walk out.

694
00:45:55,620 --> 00:46:00,700
Without realising it, they have just
handed power to the Bolsheviks.

695
00:46:01,820 --> 00:46:05,420
'It was a godsend that his chief
opponent just walked out,

696
00:46:05,420 --> 00:46:07,380
'leaving the field of battle.'

697
00:46:09,060 --> 00:46:13,060
So many socialist delegates leave
that the Bolsheviks are now

698
00:46:13,060 --> 00:46:16,100
in the majority
and can do as they please.

699
00:46:19,500 --> 00:46:22,460
'I think we have to agree
with the great memoirist,'

700
00:46:22,460 --> 00:46:26,060
Nikolai Sukhanov, who was at
the Soviet Congress himself,

701
00:46:26,060 --> 00:46:29,420
when he said, it was just
a huge gift to Lenin.

702
00:46:30,580 --> 00:46:35,020
As the delegates leave,
Trotsky mocks his one-time allies

703
00:46:35,020 --> 00:46:38,500
in one of the most quoted speeches
of the 20th century.

704
00:46:38,500 --> 00:46:42,940
The rising of the masses
of the people

705
00:46:42,940 --> 00:46:45,940
requires no justification.

706
00:46:46,980 --> 00:46:50,220
What has happened is an uprising,

707
00:46:50,220 --> 00:46:52,540
not a conspiracy.

708
00:46:52,540 --> 00:46:55,420
Trotsky's the real star
of the Petrograd Soviet.

709
00:46:55,420 --> 00:46:57,260
He's a brilliant orator.

710
00:46:57,260 --> 00:47:02,420
The masses of the people
moved under our banner

711
00:47:02,420 --> 00:47:04,660
and our uprising

712
00:47:04,660 --> 00:47:06,860
has won victory.

713
00:47:06,860 --> 00:47:09,500
But he's also
a brilliant theoretician

714
00:47:09,500 --> 00:47:14,460
who understands how rhetoric
and politics are intertwined

715
00:47:14,460 --> 00:47:17,620
and how he can play on an audience
to mobilise them.

716
00:47:19,300 --> 00:47:21,940
Trotsky is able to make
the Bolshevik view

717
00:47:21,940 --> 00:47:23,940
sound like everyone's view.

718
00:47:24,980 --> 00:47:26,580
And now...

719
00:47:27,700 --> 00:47:30,020
..we are told...

720
00:47:30,020 --> 00:47:33,500
to renounce our victory.

721
00:47:33,500 --> 00:47:35,420
Make concessions.

722
00:47:35,420 --> 00:47:37,140
Compromise.

723
00:47:38,180 --> 00:47:40,020
With whom?

724
00:47:40,020 --> 00:47:43,060
With that wretched group
who've just left us?

725
00:47:43,060 --> 00:47:46,420
No-one in Russia
is with them any more.

726
00:47:46,420 --> 00:47:48,220
No.

727
00:47:48,220 --> 00:47:50,940
No compromise is possible.

728
00:47:52,420 --> 00:47:56,460
The Bolshevik position
becomes the Soviet position.

729
00:47:56,460 --> 00:47:58,980
To those who have left

730
00:47:58,980 --> 00:48:01,540
and those who make these proposals,

731
00:48:01,540 --> 00:48:05,980
we say,
you are pathetic individuals!

732
00:48:05,980 --> 00:48:07,940
You are bankrupt!

733
00:48:07,940 --> 00:48:11,100
Your role is played out.

734
00:48:11,100 --> 00:48:13,940
Go off to where you belong
from now on.

735
00:48:15,140 --> 00:48:17,420
To the dustbin of history!

736
00:48:17,420 --> 00:48:19,420
CHEERING

737
00:48:21,700 --> 00:48:26,780
'His kind of dripping contempt lets
them know that power is moving now,'

738
00:48:26,780 --> 00:48:30,020
minute by minute,
erm, to the Bolsheviks,

739
00:48:30,020 --> 00:48:32,780
and to the creation
of an entirely new world.

740
00:48:42,500 --> 00:48:47,460
At virtually the same moment,
Lenin's wish is becoming reality.

741
00:48:47,460 --> 00:48:50,260
The Winter Palace
is about to be taken.

742
00:49:00,060 --> 00:49:03,300
Though its capture may not
have been quite as spectacular

743
00:49:03,300 --> 00:49:07,020
as Sergei Eisenstein's film,
October, portrayed it.

744
00:49:15,060 --> 00:49:17,300
First of all, it wasn't even locked.

745
00:49:17,300 --> 00:49:20,380
Secondly, it was guarded by a group
of adolescent boys

746
00:49:20,380 --> 00:49:22,860
who were about 15 years old -
cadets,

747
00:49:22,860 --> 00:49:25,260
and by a group of female soldiers

748
00:49:25,260 --> 00:49:28,260
who were getting more
and more terrified.

749
00:49:30,460 --> 00:49:34,940
So when they finally did, on that
evening, enter the Winter Palace...

750
00:49:38,060 --> 00:49:40,700
..when the doors were open,
no-one stopped them.

751
00:49:40,700 --> 00:49:43,140
There was no fighting,
there was no storming.

752
00:49:43,140 --> 00:49:48,980
The heroic scale of that film
is creating a myth of October,

753
00:49:48,980 --> 00:49:50,900
far from the reality.

754
00:49:52,060 --> 00:49:56,580
'The storming of the Winter Palace
creates this foundation myth

755
00:49:56,580 --> 00:49:59,340
'of it being a mass uprising.

756
00:50:00,540 --> 00:50:03,460
'That the thousands who stormed
the Winter Palace,'

757
00:50:03,460 --> 00:50:06,300
instead of the few dozen
who actually did so,

758
00:50:06,300 --> 00:50:09,300
were representatives
of the whole people.

759
00:50:11,980 --> 00:50:15,220
'Revolutions are, by nature,
illegitimate.'

760
00:50:15,220 --> 00:50:18,060
So you need to create
foundation myths.

761
00:50:18,060 --> 00:50:23,140
The moment that power passes to
the Bolsheviks is an epic example.

762
00:50:24,780 --> 00:50:26,980
They walked into
the Cabinet meeting.

763
00:50:34,020 --> 00:50:37,460
'And the Cabinet looked up and said,
"What do you want us to do?"

764
00:50:37,460 --> 00:50:40,660
'And the Bolsheviks said,
"You're under arrest."'

765
00:50:43,500 --> 00:50:47,300
That is the moment
the October Revolution happens.

766
00:50:50,740 --> 00:50:52,380
CHEERING

767
00:50:53,380 --> 00:50:56,180
An heroic new world is born.

768
00:50:57,700 --> 00:51:00,420
At least in Eisenstein's
version of events.

769
00:51:03,980 --> 00:51:08,700
In reality, Lenin is in room 36
when he gets the news,

770
00:51:08,700 --> 00:51:10,660
far from the action.

771
00:51:14,460 --> 00:51:16,620
It is finally done.

772
00:51:18,980 --> 00:51:20,900
Russia is his.

773
00:51:31,500 --> 00:51:34,980
But did Lenin just grab power
in a coup

774
00:51:34,980 --> 00:51:37,180
or did he have popular support?

775
00:51:38,180 --> 00:51:40,340
'I think it was a coup d'etat.'

776
00:51:40,340 --> 00:51:42,740
There were people who wanted
bread and land

777
00:51:42,740 --> 00:51:44,740
and all power to the Soviets,

778
00:51:44,740 --> 00:51:49,220
but did they want a Bolshevik
government led by Vladimir Lenin?

779
00:51:49,220 --> 00:51:51,220
I don't think so.

780
00:51:51,220 --> 00:51:54,460
Was there an element
of conspiracy in it?

781
00:51:54,460 --> 00:51:58,420
Well, of course, because you
can't plan an insurrection

782
00:51:58,420 --> 00:52:01,260
by publishing the details
the day before.

783
00:52:01,260 --> 00:52:05,940
But everything till then,
till the day before,

784
00:52:05,940 --> 00:52:09,780
had been discussed in Lenin's
speeches, in his writings,

785
00:52:09,780 --> 00:52:12,420
and those of Trotsky,
what he was saying,

786
00:52:12,420 --> 00:52:15,700
they were saying, yes,
we are making a revolution.

787
00:52:15,700 --> 00:52:18,420
How the hell is that a coup d'etat?

788
00:52:18,420 --> 00:52:22,980
For sure, the coup d'etat of
October, which is what it was,

789
00:52:22,980 --> 00:52:27,620
based itself on the underpinnings
of a mass social revolution

790
00:52:27,620 --> 00:52:31,020
which originated in February 1917.

791
00:52:31,020 --> 00:52:35,780
And we see the radicalisation
of peasants, workers, soldiers,

792
00:52:35,780 --> 00:52:41,460
across the country, giving a mandate
for Soviet power by October.

793
00:52:41,460 --> 00:52:46,020
But Soviet power
is not what Lenin makes

794
00:52:46,020 --> 00:52:48,780
of the events
of the 25th of October.

795
00:52:48,780 --> 00:52:52,220
Lenin is using the cloak
of Soviet power

796
00:52:52,220 --> 00:52:55,420
to establish
a Bolshevik dictatorship.

797
00:52:58,900 --> 00:53:00,940
APPLAUSE

798
00:53:06,220 --> 00:53:10,900
The next day, Lenin appears at the
Congress of Soviets to announce...

799
00:53:11,900 --> 00:53:14,380
We shall now proceed

800
00:53:14,380 --> 00:53:17,380
to construct the socialist order.

801
00:53:21,060 --> 00:53:24,300
'This is a man who had spent years
working out the theory

802
00:53:24,300 --> 00:53:26,380
'of exactly what he was
going to do.'

803
00:53:27,980 --> 00:53:30,580
And so the moment that they took
over, he was ready.

804
00:53:32,060 --> 00:53:36,260
Trotsky is named the People's
Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

805
00:53:36,260 --> 00:53:40,220
Stalin, the People's Commissar
for Nationalities.

806
00:53:40,220 --> 00:53:43,180
And Lenin becomes
the leader of the government.

807
00:53:44,220 --> 00:53:49,100
A new era in the history of Russia
and of the world begins.

808
00:53:51,980 --> 00:53:56,380
Lenin issues scores of decrees
that transform Russia in days.

809
00:53:58,060 --> 00:54:01,940
'You start to see the first
stirrings of a different kind

810
00:54:01,940 --> 00:54:04,380
'of social control, for example.

811
00:54:04,380 --> 00:54:07,980
'Workers' control and peasantry
having control of their own lives.

812
00:54:09,020 --> 00:54:12,020
'Equal rights of men and women,
of divorce law,

813
00:54:12,020 --> 00:54:14,420
'decriminalising homosexuality.'

814
00:54:16,140 --> 00:54:20,620
To me, there's no question that
October represents a moment of hope.

815
00:54:22,220 --> 00:54:26,300
'Just weeks after
the October Revolution,'

816
00:54:26,300 --> 00:54:29,900
Lenin created a one-party state,
a totalitarian state.

817
00:54:30,980 --> 00:54:34,420
'He also created the Cheka,
the secret police,

818
00:54:34,420 --> 00:54:38,260
'with power over life and death,
to kill enemies of the revolution.'

819
00:54:39,380 --> 00:54:43,740
He repeatedly ordered mass shootings
of thousands of innocent people.

820
00:54:44,540 --> 00:54:46,420
'He specified that, you know,

821
00:54:46,420 --> 00:54:50,060
'annihilation was the only way
for the party to keep power.

822
00:54:50,060 --> 00:54:52,700
'So, gradually,
he created a dictatorship'

823
00:54:52,700 --> 00:54:57,140
that was inherited by Stalin, and
made much more intense by Stalin.

824
00:54:59,820 --> 00:55:02,980
'When the ideologue
is confronted with reality,

825
00:55:02,980 --> 00:55:05,300
'that doesn't fit into his scheme,'

826
00:55:05,300 --> 00:55:07,700
he can't defeat reality
with argument,

827
00:55:07,700 --> 00:55:09,300
so the fist tightens.

828
00:55:10,380 --> 00:55:14,620
Vladimir Lenin dies of a stroke
in 1924.

829
00:55:16,020 --> 00:55:19,060
Joseph Stalin rises to power.

830
00:55:19,900 --> 00:55:21,980
He eliminates his rivals.

831
00:55:21,980 --> 00:55:24,220
Notably, Leon Trotsky,

832
00:55:24,220 --> 00:55:27,460
who was assassinated in 1940.

833
00:55:30,860 --> 00:55:34,260
Joseph Stalin,
the quiet backroom fixer,

834
00:55:34,260 --> 00:55:37,420
outlasts both Lenin and Trotsky.

835
00:55:37,420 --> 00:55:40,020
His reign becomes the Great Terror

836
00:55:40,020 --> 00:55:42,860
that lasts for over a quarter
of a century.

837
00:55:44,700 --> 00:55:48,100
The Tsars,
in their last half century,

838
00:55:48,100 --> 00:55:51,980
were averaging 17 executions a year.

839
00:55:51,980 --> 00:55:54,340
Within a month...

840
00:55:54,340 --> 00:55:57,060
a few months of Lenin taking power,

841
00:55:57,060 --> 00:56:00,740
erm, it was 1,000 a month,
executions.

842
00:56:00,740 --> 00:56:05,220
And during the Great Terror,
it was more like 1,000 a week.

843
00:56:05,220 --> 00:56:08,460
'Under Stalin, something like
20 million people'

844
00:56:08,460 --> 00:56:12,540
would go through the concentration
camps, the Gulag camps.

845
00:56:12,540 --> 00:56:17,020
Somewhere between 20 and 30 million
people were killed.

846
00:56:17,020 --> 00:56:19,740
These were on the orders
not just of Stalin,

847
00:56:19,740 --> 00:56:22,340
but of Lenin
and the Bolshevik Party.

848
00:56:22,340 --> 00:56:25,260
Stalin is not Lenin's heir.

849
00:56:25,260 --> 00:56:27,740
In his last will and testament,

850
00:56:27,740 --> 00:56:31,380
Lenin made it very clear
that he should be removed

851
00:56:31,380 --> 00:56:33,860
as General Secretary of the party.

852
00:56:33,860 --> 00:56:37,660
Said he was not the right sort
of person to be leading the party.

853
00:56:41,780 --> 00:56:47,060
Stalin's impact on Russia
lasts beyond his death in 1953

854
00:56:47,060 --> 00:56:51,140
or even the death
of the Soviet Union in 1991.

855
00:56:52,260 --> 00:56:54,620
ANNOUNCED IN RUSSIAN

856
00:56:55,980 --> 00:56:58,820
'Putin really understands
the October Revolution.

857
00:56:58,820 --> 00:57:02,140
'In many ways, he's a result of it,
one of the results of it.

858
00:57:03,300 --> 00:57:06,140
'When he looks back at history,
he's really interested,'

859
00:57:06,140 --> 00:57:08,980
not in Marxism or Bolshevism,

860
00:57:08,980 --> 00:57:13,020
'he's most impressed
by the Red Tsar, by Stalin.

861
00:57:14,500 --> 00:57:17,700
'Because Stalin
is the successful manager

862
00:57:17,700 --> 00:57:19,700
'of the Russian nation.'

863
00:57:19,700 --> 00:57:21,420
HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

864
00:57:21,420 --> 00:57:25,460
'Putin's not interested in the chaos
caused by Lenin and Trotsky.

865
00:57:25,460 --> 00:57:28,940
'He's interested in the prestige
and the victory'

866
00:57:28,940 --> 00:57:30,980
delivered by Joseph Stalin.

867
00:57:35,420 --> 00:57:39,220
So, has history proved Stalin
to be more influential

868
00:57:39,220 --> 00:57:40,900
than Lenin or Trotsky?

869
00:57:42,020 --> 00:57:45,740
For so many years,
70 years of the Soviet Union,

870
00:57:45,740 --> 00:57:49,660
it was Lenin who was always
invoked as the godlike figure,

871
00:57:49,660 --> 00:57:51,740
the Father of the Revolution.

872
00:57:51,740 --> 00:57:55,900
And now, in the Putin era, he's been
sort of left to one side a bit.

873
00:57:55,900 --> 00:57:57,740
The statues are still there,

874
00:57:57,740 --> 00:58:00,220
but somehow he's not
talked about as much.

875
00:58:00,220 --> 00:58:04,460
When there was a poll recently
about some of the greatest leaders

876
00:58:04,460 --> 00:58:08,060
or figures in Russia, it was Stalin
who figured, not Lenin.

877
00:58:13,740 --> 00:58:16,180
But is Lenin's time coming again?

878
00:58:20,220 --> 00:58:25,780
'We live today in a world of rampant
populism, of post-factual politics,

879
00:58:25,780 --> 00:58:30,020
'and much of this can be
traced back to Lenin.

880
00:58:30,020 --> 00:58:32,900
'That ultimate
political manipulator...'

881
00:58:34,900 --> 00:58:37,940
..who, though he was
a fanatical Marxist,

882
00:58:37,940 --> 00:58:40,980
was also the master of pragmatism.

883
00:58:40,980 --> 00:58:46,020
'He understood that politics
was all about who controls who

884
00:58:46,020 --> 00:58:51,060
'and any means were suitable
to achieving his ends.'