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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
<font color="

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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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<font color="
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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<font color="

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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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<font color="
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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<font color="
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
<font color="

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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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<font color="

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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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<font color="
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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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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<font color="

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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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<font color="

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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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<font color="
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
<font color="

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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,
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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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<font color="
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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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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<font color="
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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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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<font color="

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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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<font color="
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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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
<font color="

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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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<font color="

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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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<font color="
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
<font color="

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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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<font color="

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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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<font color="
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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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
<font color="

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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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00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,520
<font color="
socialist revolution!

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CHEERING

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'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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<font color="

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00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,840
There was still huge disagreement
about Lenin's motives.

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Power on its own for him
was nothing.

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00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,040
He really wasn't interested in that.

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00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:09,560
It was power to make big changes
in society.

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'He is motivated by a vision
<font color="

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00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:19,440
The end of a society dominated
by profit.

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00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:22,280
What motivates Lenin is power.

211
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,280
Power is all that matters
in a revolution.

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00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,040
That is how Lenin understands
revolution.

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00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,520
You have to have power
<font color="

214
00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:35,040
So principle goes out the window
in the struggle for power,

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00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,040
as far as Lenin is concerned.

216
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Spring turns to summer,
but the provisional government

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00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,040
is unable to solve
the country's problems.

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00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,760
<font color="
in this man -

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00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,040
Minister of War Alexander Kerensky.

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'Alexander Kerensky was really
the first love of the revolution.'

221
00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:03,560
The intelligentsia adored him.

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00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:07,040
I don't care, General.
The men will manage.

223
00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,520
<font color="
the Kerensky cult'

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becomes absolutely out of control.

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00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,280
So you have pamphlet after pamphlet
describing him literally

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00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,040
as a divine figure.

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00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:18,520
Immediately.

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'He is convinced of his own
historical mission'

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00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:28,040
<font color="
is to turn the war around.

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Despite the popular opposition
to the war,

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00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,520
Kerensky orders a new offensive.

232
00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,520
So the offensive is launched
on the 16th of June.

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00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,040
It goes forward for a couple of
<font color="

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00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,520
the Russians run back.
There's chaos.

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00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,040
They lost hundreds of thousands
of men within a week

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00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,760
and this played totally
into the hands of Lenin.

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Lenin, who'd been saying
that war is a bad thing,

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00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,560
<font color="
suddenly became incredibly popular.

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00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:04,840
And so did the Bolshevik Party.

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00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:11,760
When Kerensky orders more soldiers
to leave Petrograd for the front,

241
00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:13,720
they refuse to obey.

242
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Their determined resistance
spreads to front-line troops.

243
00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,440
<font color="

244
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:31,040
thousands of deserters join
anti-government demonstrations

245
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:32,760
in Petrograd.

246
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,760
It looks like Lenin's second
revolution has arrived.

247
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:43,040
But are Lenin and the Bolsheviks
ready to take power?

248
00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,760
The front-page editorial
<font color="

249
00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,040
had meant to tell the crowds
to stay home.

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You should all be thrashed for this.

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'When it becomes clear that
this will simply look ridiculous

252
00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,760
'with this enormous
mass demonstration,

253
00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,040
<font color="
to come up with another line.'

254
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,040
They just pull it and they
have no time to replace it,

255
00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:13,680
so it comes out with a rather
pregnant blank right at its front.

256
00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,040
The Bolsheviks look utterly
confused.

257
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,040
<font color="
the provisional government

258
00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,760
to be thrown out and replaced
by the more radical Soviets.

259
00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,040
Now, thousands are ready
to do just that...

260
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:32,760
is he?

261
00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:37,040
'They were screaming,

262
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,040
'"Show us leadership.
<font color="

263
00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:41,760
'And Lenin was hedging.

264
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:44,840
'He was wondering what the hell
to do, how to manage this.'

265
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,840
Because he realised that if this
went wrong he could be destroyed.

266
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,840
'When Lenin steps out
onto that balcony,'

267
00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,040
<font color="

268
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,400
He doesn't really know what to say.

269
00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,520
We always wanted this
to be peaceful.

270
00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:07,280
With no violence.

271
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:16,520
The Bolshevik call to give power
to the Soviets will win one day.

272
00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:21,840
Despite the zigzags of history.

273
00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,640
<font color="

274
00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,760
Why did Lenin hesitate?

275
00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,200
'Perhaps he's slightly intimidated.'

276
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,040
This is a man who lived
in books and libraries,

277
00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,280
a man who'd been abroad
for 15 years,

278
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,600
who'd never really confronted

279
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,040
angry workers like that before.

280
00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:56,040
<font color="
of cowardice creeps in here.

281
00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,520
He was not one for mounting
the barricades.

282
00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:02,520
He was, often it was remarked,
the first to run

283
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,160
when the going got dangerous.

284
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,680
'He was not intimidated at all.'

285
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,760
<font color="

286
00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:18,040
of 20,000, to 30,000,
to 40,000 workers, no.

287
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:24,480
There is a time to strike and there
is a time to bite our lips.

288
00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:31,040
'That, to me,
is a sign of greatness.'

289
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:42,520
One wrong move on our part
could wreck everything.

290
00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:47,520
<font color="

291
00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:51,520
this would be used as a provocation
by the counterrevolution

292
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:53,040
to crush them.

293
00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:57,200
That the movement wasn't strong
enough to take power.

294
00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,760
We are still an insignificant
minority.

295
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,760
Time is on our side.

296
00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,760
<font color="
than a demonstration.

297
00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,040
A lot less than a revolution.

298
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:35,520
Perhaps the fact that he bottles it,
essentially, on the 4th of July,

299
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,520
is because in the back of his head
he's thinking,

300
00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:42,040
"Crikey, this could fail
<font color="

301
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,080
GUNFIRE

302
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,520
For Lenin, timing is everything,

303
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,520
and he proves correct.

304
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:53,760
The revolt collapses the next day

305
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:57,040
amidst a hail of bullets
from government snipers.

306
00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,040
Kerensky then goes after
the Bolshevik Party.

307
00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:06,280
<font color="
party members, including Lenin,

308
00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:07,920
for high treason.

309
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,560
The July days left Lenin isolated.

310
00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:17,480
To stay in Petrograd, he'd face
arrest and possibly being shot,

311
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,760
and he knew he had to escape
somewhere.

312
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:25,160
<font color="

313
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:32,280
With the Bolsheviks in ruins,
Lenin goes into hiding.

314
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,280
There is a 200,000 rouble bounty
on his head.

315
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,760
He must now rely on his Lieutenant,
Joseph Stalin,

316
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,040
to mastermind his escape.

317
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,280
<font color="
again.

318
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:49,320
'Stalin, the master of the black
arts, was essential to Lenin.'

319
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,520
'Stalin was the boy in the back room
who watched what was happening'

320
00:20:55,520 --> 00:21:00,200
and made himself useful as
and when the moment came.

321
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:06,040
<font color="
his very distinctive little goatee.

322
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,560
'They give him a dreadful wig
and a worker's cap,'

323
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,760
and smuggle him out
across into Finland.

324
00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:17,520
With Lenin gone
and Trotsky arrested,

325
00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,760
Stalin finds himself
<font color="

326
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,040
of the shattered Bolshevik Party.

327
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,280
'Lenin trusted Stalin.'

328
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,520
He carried secret messages,
he set up by the machinery

329
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:34,520
whereby Lenin could communicate
from a barn out in Finland

330
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:38,280
with the Bolshevik machine
inside Petrograd.

331
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,760
<font color="

332
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,040
And it was now that Stalin
became the key person

333
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,000
behind Lenin in the revolution.

334
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,040
The interesting thing about Stalin,

335
00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:53,280
he played this incredibly subtle
waiting game.

336
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,040
He was very much there
<font color="

337
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,240
watching, waiting, learning.

338
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:07,280
While the Bolsheviks rot in jail,
flee or go underground,

339
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,760
things are looking up
for Alexander Kerensky.

340
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,280
He is now Prime Minister.

341
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,040
After the aborted
Bolshevik uprising,

342
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,760
<font color="
Lavr Kornilov

343
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,280
to restore order in Petrograd.

344
00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,280
'Kornilov could see that the
Bolsheviks were gearing up

345
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:30,040
'to try and take over.

346
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,760
'He desperately wanted to round up
the belligerent revolutionaries,

347
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,040
<font color="

348
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,160
'and impose almost a military
government on the city'

349
00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:44,480
because he saw that as the only way
of saving the situation.

350
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,040
'The right-wing, the conservatives,

351
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,040
'are beginning to rally around
Kornilov quite explicitly

352
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:53,520
<font color="
to Russia.'

353
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,520
Kerensky worries the General
wants to rule Russia

354
00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,520
as a military dictator.

355
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,480
'There's no question that Kerensky
was quite paranoid,'

356
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,040
but there's also not much question
<font color="

357
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,760
Just days after appointing
the General,

358
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,000
Kerensky dismisses him
in a telegram.

359
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,280
But the General's troops
advance on Petrograd.

360
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:25,040
Ironically, it takes Bolshevik
activists to save the city.

361
00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,680
<font color="
the army, soldiers,

362
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,760
went and spoke to the Kornilov
soldiers and said,

363
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,520
"Do you know why you're being
brought to Petrograd?

364
00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,720
"To attack us, to kill
your brothers and sisters.

365
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,040
<font color="

366
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,040
And the descriptions of this event
are that Kornilov's army

367
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,080
melted away
in front of his very eyes.

368
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,040
In an extraordinary reversal
of fortune,

369
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:06,040
the Bolsheviks are now seen
as the saviours of Petrograd.

370
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,080
<font color="

371
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,280
Kerensky's credibility
lies in tatters.

372
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,760
He's reduced to keeping himself
going with cocaine and morphine.

373
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,040
'So, rather than buttress
his power base, in fact,

374
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:37,040
'the defeat of Kornilov only played
into the hands of the left.'

375
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:40,520
<font color="

376
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,280
I struggle with the left
and with the right.

377
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,280
The people demand that I lean
on one and then the other.

378
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,760
I want to take a middle road
but nobody will help me.

379
00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:58,040
'How could you roll out democracy
in a country like that?'

380
00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:02,280
<font color="
that this anarchic force

381
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,760
which splintered the country
into revolution

382
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,520
was never going to quickly shuffle
the pieces and put them back

383
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,760
into a neat jigsaw puzzle
which was a proper democracy.

384
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:13,480
<font color="

385
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,040
The Kornilov coup created
the situation

386
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,760
where you had a government
with no real power.

387
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:21,520
With power ebbing away.

388
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:24,760
A leader with no real prestige.

389
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:30,040
And the opportunity, the vacuum,
into which someone, somewhere,

390
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,040
<font color="

391
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:36,400
And that someone, Lenin was
determined, would be the Bolsheviks.

392
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:51,520
The Bolshevik resurgence begins when
Kerensky releases them from jail.

393
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:56,360
While locked up, Leon Trotsky has
finally joined Lenin's party.

394
00:25:57,360 --> 00:25:59,760
Crowds flock to hear him speak.

395
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,040
<font color="
of the revolution.

396
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,040
He was much more famous than Lenin,
not to speak of Stalin.

397
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:13,520
'Trotsky was probably the most
brilliant intellectual mind'

398
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,280
produced in tsarist Russia,

399
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,080
including Lenin.

400
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,040
<font color="
were his two chief supporters

401
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,520
'in pushing for
the October Revolution,

402
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,280
'so Stalin and Trotsky had actually
had a lot in common politically.'

403
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,960
But it was personally that they
absolutely loathed each other.

404
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,040
<font color="
Trotsky replaces Stalin

405
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,280
as interim leader.

406
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,280
Stalin was very valuable
behind the scenes.

407
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:50,760
He did have a knack of convincing
the average run of leaders,

408
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,240
especially the provincials.

409
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,280
APPLAUSE

410
00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,520
<font color="

411
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,040
The country stands on the edge
of ruin.

412
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,520
The Army demand peace.

413
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,040
The peasants demand land.

414
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,640
The workers demand work and food.

415
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,040
The coalition government
is against the people.

416
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:26,040
The government is a tool in the
<font color="

417
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,280
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

418
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,520
The time for words has passed!

419
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:38,760
Trotsky's individualism and panache
is not always trusted by Lenin.

420
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,320
'Trotsky writes,
"Lenin was worried,'

421
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,040
"suspicious of
my non-Bolshevik past,'

422
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,040
<font color="
the capacity to do it,

423
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,280
"and I had to constantly reassure
him, do not worry, Comrade Lenin,

424
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,400
"it's going to happen.
We are doing it."

425
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,280
All power to the Soviets!

426
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,320
CHEERING

427
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,520
Immediate Armistice on all fronts!

428
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,760
<font color="

429
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:10,800
CHEERING

430
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,040
He's sort of arrogant
and that's his Achilles heel

431
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,160
because people don't like arrogance
in the party.

432
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,280
Trotsky felt it should all
be delivered to him

433
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,760
because of that brilliance.

434
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:32,040
<font color="
ostentatiously read French novels

435
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:35,760
during meetings of the politburo,

436
00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:40,280
to show how, erm,
above all this he was.

437
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,760
When Lenin was asked what had kept
he and Trotsky apart for so long,

438
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:48,280
he answered...

439
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,040
Don't you know?

440
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:51,520
<font color="

441
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,040
Ambition.

442
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,280
Ambition.

443
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,200
Now they share an ambition -
real power.

444
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:09,280
While hiding in Finland, Lenin makes
the biggest decision of his life.

445
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,520
The time is ripe for his revolution.

446
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:16,280
'By then, everyone was sick
<font color="

447
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,760
They were sick
of the food shortages.

448
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,040
People were openly saying
on the streets,

449
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,760
"Do you know what,
we don't care who's in power.

450
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,920
"If they like, the Germans
can come and take Petrograd."

451
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:30,760
<font color="

452
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:35,760
Lenin bombards the Bolsheviks with
letters insisting they seize power.

453
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:41,520
"The present task must be an armed
uprising in Petrograd and Moscow,

454
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:46,120
"the seizing of power and the
overthrow of the government."

455
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,040
'Lenin was a complete monomaniac.'

456
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:54,040
<font color="

457
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,520
All the time, you can hear
the lid rattling.

458
00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:00,040
He gets more and more furious
and the bubbles are bubbling up.

459
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:04,760
"It would be naive to wait for a
formal majority for Bolsheviks.

460
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:08,040
"No, revolution ever waits
for that."

461
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:10,760
<font color="
extraordinarily

462
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,760
and twisted himself up into anger

463
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:17,280
and his flashes of anger
were terrifying.

464
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:24,040
"History will not forgive us
if we do not assume power now.

465
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,760
'Lenin is raging
that we are about to lose'

466
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:32,320
<font color="
power, to seize Russia.

467
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,040
"To wait would be utter idiocy."

468
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,280
'The Bolshevik leadership
doesn't know what to do with these.

469
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,040
'It thinks that they might be
inflammatory

470
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,320
'and provoke an uprising
prematurely,'

471
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,440
<font color="
these letters if they can.

472
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,280
BLEEP traitors
to the proletarian cause!

473
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,520
'When you read the letters,'

474
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,520
my God, he could swear like
a trooper when he wanted to.

475
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,200
He had a vicious tongue.

476
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,760
<font color="
letters from his hiding place

477
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,040
'is not enough. He's going to have
to face the central committee

478
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:23,280
'to argue for this properly
and to win the argument.

479
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,160
'And then he's going to have to
seize power immediately.'

480
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,040
<font color="
of high drama here.

481
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,280
You know, something has got to give.

482
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,280
If the Bolsheviks don't seize power
now, somebody else might.

483
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:44,440
By the beginning of October, Lenin
is beside himself with impatience.

484
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,200
INDISTINCT CHATTER

485
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,000
<font color="

486
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:05,160
On the night of October the 10th,
Lenin suddenly reappears,

487
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:09,520
disguised as a Lutheran minister to
avoid capture by the authorities.

488
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,600
The significance of the meeting
is world historical.

489
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,040
History isn't always made
<font color="

490
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,840
They're made in small meeting rooms.

491
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,040
Since the beginning of September,
there has been a certain...

492
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:31,040
..indifference to the idea
of seizing power.

493
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,280
We must seize power now

494
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,040
and not wait for the Soviets
or any congresses.

495
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,040
<font color="

496
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:43,040
The moment of decision has arrived.

497
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,520
The masses are tired of words
and resolutions.

498
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,040
The majority are behind us.

499
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,760
The success of Russian
and worldwide revolution

500
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,280
depends on two or three
days' struggle.

501
00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,520
<font color="

502
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,760
Trotsky wants to wait
to launch the uprising

503
00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:06,560
until after the upcoming
Congress of Soviets.

504
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:10,280
This way, socialist delegates
from all over the country

505
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,160
can back the insurrection.

506
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,040
But Lenin disagrees.

507
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,040
<font color="
organised body of men

508
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,520
to take swift, decisive action.

509
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:25,520
We must act on the 25th,
the day that Congress sits,

510
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:29,040
so that we may say to it,
"Here is our power.

511
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,760
"What are you going to do with it?"

512
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,760
<font color="
and hammers the point

513
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,760
'that if we don't act now
we'll lose our moment,'

514
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,040
we'll never have a chance again.

515
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,680
This is the only time
we will succeed.

516
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,280
I don't think Lenin
was browbeating anyone.

517
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,080
<font color="
that this is the time.

518
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,320
Of course, they were vigorous
arguments.

519
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,440
The argument is essential.

520
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:04,000
Whether to seize power
or to form democratic alliances.

521
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,240
'At this very moment,
the top Bolsheviks'

522
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:10,280
<font color="
we should negotiate a coalition

523
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:15,000
with other parties like the
Mensheviks, other rival factions.

524
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,280
'This isn't the time to seize power,

525
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,040
'we might lose everything
we have already.'

526
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:25,640
I say we put it to the vote.

527
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,280
<font color="
the central committee

528
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,520
was against armed insurrection.

529
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:39,520
After ten hours arguing,

530
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:43,520
the result goes 10-2
in Lenin's favour.

531
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,040
'This is just the moment
when you realise'

532
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:55,280
the absolute paramount power
<font color="

533
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,760
because, you know,
half the central committee,

534
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,280
or even a majority of the central
committee of the Bolshevik Party

535
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,040
doesn't want to seize power
in October 1917.

536
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:09,040
'The fact that Lenin got the vote
<font color="

537
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,520
'was entirely decisive.

538
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:16,000
'This was indeed the cocking
of the pistol of revolution.'

539
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:24,440
By October the 24th, Kerensky
is expecting an uprising,

540
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,280
but he's still confident
he will prevail.

541
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,280
<font color="

542
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,760
I'll be prepared to offer prayers
to produce this uprising.

543
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:37,280
I'll have greater forces
than necessary.

544
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,280
They will be utterly crushed.

545
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,040
LOUD THUD

546
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:08,040
Kerensky's overconfidence
plays right into Lenin's hands.

547
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,760
<font color="
of the Bolshevik press,

548
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,520
Kerensky orders two
of the newspapers closed.

549
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:25,080
Within hours, Stalin is free to get
the newspapers running again...

550
00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:28,280
..announcing Kerensky's censorship

551
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,760
as the start of a full-blown
<font color="

552
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,760
Now, the Bolsheviks can start
their uprising

553
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,400
under the pretext
of defending freedom.

554
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:43,760
A lie always has a stronger effect
than the truth.

555
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:47,760
The main thing is to obtain
one's objective.

556
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:54,520
<font color="

557
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:56,760
As head of the Petrograd Soviet,

558
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,520
Trotsky plays his part
in the deception.

559
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,760
He orders that bridges
and key government buildings

560
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,280
be seized to protect the city.

561
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:06,760
He claims...

562
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:09,040
This is defence, comrades,

563
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:11,040
<font color="

564
00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:14,480
He goes so far as to say...

565
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,520
An armed conflict,
today or tomorrow,

566
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:21,560
on the eve of the Soviet Congress,
is not in our plans.

567
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:34,520
By that evening,
Lenin is convinced the hour,

568
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:39,040
indeed the moment to seize power,
<font color="

569
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,520
Everything now hangs by a thread.

570
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:49,760
The matter must be decided
without fail...

571
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:52,520
..this evening.

572
00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:57,760
'Lenin has been told very
categorically by his comrades'

573
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:01,160
to stay put
and he is crawling the walls.

574
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,520
<font color="
to be in the thick of it.

575
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,320
'Lenin's face is notorious

576
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,760
'so what he does is
he puts on his disguise.

577
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:16,520
'He puts on glasses, he puts on
a fairly ridiculous wig,

578
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,040
'he puts on a battered worker's cap.

579
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:27,040
<font color="
some bandages around his face

580
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,520
'to, sort of, look injured
in some way

581
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,040
'and also simply to obscure
those notorious features.'

582
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,760
He is wanted for high treason.

583
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,520
Government troops are searching
<font color="

584
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:50,040
Now, he must risk capture to get
to Bolshevik headquarters.

585
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:52,080
DOG BARKS

586
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:05,040
'On his way, they're stopped by
one of the last police patrols'

587
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:06,960
of the provisional government.

588
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,000
HE MUMBLES

589
00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:16,560
'And they look at this man and think
<font color="

590
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:20,200
What do you think? He's just drunk.

591
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,040
..and let him go.

592
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,040
Get out of here.

593
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:34,920
For me, this is the real turning
point of 20th century history.

594
00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,880
This is the moment when one man
makes all the difference.

595
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,040
<font color="

596
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,000
'..they probably never would have
launched an insurrection.

597
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,720
'But because those policemen
failed to recognise Lenin,'

598
00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:54,040
for whom there was a warrant
for arrest...

599
00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:57,280
..the insurrection took place.

600
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,280
<font color="
in a series of rooms

601
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,280
'in the splendid Smolny Institute.

602
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,520
'Lenin arrived at room 36, which
was the key room, the headquarters,'

603
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:22,520
the engine room, the beating heart
of the revolution,

604
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:26,520
'and there he found
<font color="

605
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,280
'There's Trotsky.

606
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:31,400
'There's Stalin.

607
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:34,840
'And they're running everything
from here.

608
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,280
'There were soldiers playing cards,
smoking.

609
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,240
'People sleeping.

610
00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:47,520
'People drinking vodka.
Some people drunk.

611
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:49,600
<font color="

612
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:52,280
that this building or that building
had fallen.

613
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:56,040
'At this moment in Russian history,
in world history,

614
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,040
'these series of shambolic rooms

615
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:04,040
'half encampment, half military
headquarters, half student bivouac,

616
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:08,320
<font color="
and Lenin has to be in this room.'

617
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:15,040
Lenin has always been called
the Father of the Revolution.

618
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:20,520
But the man who ran the October
Revolution was not Lenin or Stalin.

619
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:25,920
'Trotsky wasn't just a handsome face
and a great orator,

620
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,040
<font color="
an organisational genius.

621
00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:33,040
'He put together the machinery,
the personnel, the plan.

622
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:35,880
'It was Trotsky that gave
the orders.'

623
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:37,840
Trotsky was the man of the hour.

624
00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:46,040
The Bolsheviks take control
of Petrograd overnight,

625
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:49,760
<font color="
of Soviets is to meet.

626
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:52,600
By the morning of October the 25th,

627
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,280
only the Winter Palace
remains in the hands

628
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,320
of the provisional government.

629
00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:00,520
'Kerensky is in cloud cuckoo land,
quite frankly.

630
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:04,040
'And on the morning
<font color="

631
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,760
'thinks, well, it might be time
to go and summon troops.

632
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,280
'He can't get any on the telephone.'

633
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,520
Of course, the Bolsheviks are
already in control of virtually

634
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,040
'every means of communication
in the capital.'

635
00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:25,520
<font color="
still occupies the Winter Palace,

636
00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:30,520
that afternoon, Trotsky announces
that the government has fallen.

637
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:34,040
In the name of the military
revolutionary committee,

638
00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:39,520
I declare that the provisional
government is no more!

639
00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,760
<font color="

640
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,040
Well, talk about fake news.
It hasn't happened at all.

641
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,240
It had meant to happen
by that point.

642
00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:50,760
The authority of
the provisional government,

643
00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:53,760
presided over by Kerensky,

644
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:55,760
was a corpse

645
00:42:55,760 --> 00:43:00,040
<font color="
of history to sweep it away.

646
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:04,040
Well, this was the first
Bolshevik lie

647
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:08,280
of...of many of the next,
erm, the next 70 years.

648
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:12,040
The Winter Palace is not yet taken

649
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:17,040
but its fate will be settled in
<font color="

650
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,080
CHEERING

651
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:22,960
But the minutes drag into hours.

652
00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,000
Why haven't they seized power?

653
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:29,520
'He was promised,
he was told by his military'

654
00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:32,280
that it would take
just three or four hours.

655
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:34,280
For heaven's sake,

656
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,400
<font color="
into the Winter Palace?

657
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,040
Why haven't they stormed it?

658
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,760
'They couldn't find the artillery,
the guns didn't work,'

659
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:48,760
they were blocked, could
anyone find anyone to work them?

660
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:51,040
They needed a lantern
<font color="

661
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:53,040
but no-one could find a lantern.

662
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:56,520
'There's a sort of hilarious crisis
where the Mayor of Petrograd

663
00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:58,760
'actually marches
in front of the troops

664
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,760
'and stops the whole seizure
of the Winter Palace.

665
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:05,280
<font color="
coats start waving their umbrellas

666
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:08,120
'and saying, "You're not going to
seize power now."'

667
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,760
They have to be moved out of the way
and still nothing has happened.

668
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,360
By this point, Lenin is apoplectic.

669
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:17,280
What the hell's going on?

670
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:20,400
<font color="
for their incompetence!

671
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:24,840
As long as ministers
are in the Palace,

672
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:28,080
the provisional government
still stands.

673
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:32,280
I think the seizure of
the Winter Palace is the key,

674
00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:35,040
'because until then
<font color="

675
00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:38,440
'sitting around a Cabinet table,
still running Russia.'

676
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,520
And Lenin himself recognises this.

677
00:44:41,520 --> 00:44:45,800
This is why Lenin doesn't go to
the Congress or do anything else.

678
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,280
Trotsky deals with
the other socialist parties

679
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:54,520
<font color="

680
00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:57,040
Having travelled
from all over Russia,

681
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:01,280
they are shocked to find Petrograd
already seized by the Bolsheviks.

682
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:05,760
But their protests are shouted down
by Trotsky's men.

683
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:08,760
Trotsky has another strategy ready.

684
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:14,520
<font color="
if the people in the Winter Palace'

685
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:16,280
didn't surrender,

686
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:21,880
'the battleship Aurora
should fire blanks at them.

687
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:26,280
'He said that very noise
of the battleship,

688
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:29,040
'which they could all see
with its guns pointing,'

689
00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:32,360
<font color="
scurrying like rabbits.

690
00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:41,480
At 10:40pm, the warning shot
is fired from the Aurora.

691
00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:46,280
And is heard as far away
as the Congress.

692
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:51,040
The other socialist parties
are outraged by the aggression...

693
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:53,640
..and walk out.

694
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:59,880
<font color="
handed power to the Bolsheviks.

695
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,520
'It was a godsend that his chief
opponent just walked out,

696
00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:06,520
'leaving the field of battle.'

697
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:12,040
So many socialist delegates leave
that the Bolsheviks are now

698
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:15,280
in the majority
<font color="

699
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,520
'I think we have to agree
with the great memoirist,'

700
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:25,040
Nikolai Sukhanov, who was at
the Soviet Congress himself,

701
00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:28,560
when he said, it was just
a huge gift to Lenin.

702
00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:34,040
As the delegates leave,
<font color="

703
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:37,520
in one of the most quoted speeches
of the 20th century.

704
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:42,040
The rising of the masses
of the people

705
00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:45,040
requires no justification.

706
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:49,280
What has happened is an uprising,

707
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:51,600
not a conspiracy.

708
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:54,520
Trotsky's the real star
<font color="

709
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,280
He's a brilliant orator.

710
00:46:56,280 --> 00:47:01,520
The masses of the people
moved under our banner

711
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:03,760
and our uprising

712
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:05,880
has won victory.

713
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:08,520
But he's also
a brilliant theoretician

714
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:13,520
who understands how rhetoric
<font color="

715
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:16,720
and how he can play on an audience
to mobilise them.

716
00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:21,040
Trotsky is able to make
the Bolshevik view

717
00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:23,040
sound like everyone's view.

718
00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:25,760
And now...

719
00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:29,040
..we are told...

720
00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:32,520
to renounce our victory.

721
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:34,520
<font color="

722
00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:36,280
Compromise.

723
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:39,040
With whom?

724
00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:42,040
With that wretched group
who've just left us?

725
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:45,520
No-one in Russia
is with them any more.

726
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:47,280
No.

727
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:50,040
No compromise is possible.

728
00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:55,520
The Bolshevik position
<font color="

729
00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:58,040
To those who have left

730
00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:00,520
and those who make these proposals,

731
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:05,040
we say,
you are pathetic individuals!

732
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,040
You are bankrupt!

733
00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:10,040
Your role is played out.

734
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:13,040
Go off to where you belong
from now on.

735
00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:16,520
<font color="

736
00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:18,560
CHEERING

737
00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:25,840
'His kind of dripping contempt lets
them know that power is moving now,'

738
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:29,040
minute by minute,
erm, to the Bolsheviks,

739
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:31,880
and to the creation
of an entirely new world.

740
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:46,520
At virtually the same moment,
<font color="

741
00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:49,360
The Winter Palace
is about to be taken.

742
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:02,280
Though its capture may not
have been quite as spectacular

743
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:06,040
as Sergei Eisenstein's film,
October, portrayed it.

744
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:16,280
First of all, it wasn't even locked.

745
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:19,400
<font color="
of adolescent boys

746
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:21,960
who were about 15 years old -
cadets,

747
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:24,280
and by a group of female soldiers

748
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,360
who were getting more
and more terrified.

749
00:49:29,480 --> 00:49:34,040
So when they finally did, on that
<font color="

750
00:49:37,040 --> 00:49:39,760
..when the doors were open,
no-one stopped them.

751
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:42,200
There was no fighting,
there was no storming.

752
00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:48,040
The heroic scale of that film
is creating a myth of October,

753
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:50,040
far from the reality.

754
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:55,640
<font color="
creates this foundation myth

755
00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:58,520
'of it being a mass uprising.

756
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:02,520
'That the thousands who stormed
the Winter Palace,'

757
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:05,280
instead of the few dozen
who actually did so,

758
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:08,360
were representatives
of the whole people.

759
00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:14,280
<font color="
illegitimate.'

760
00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:17,120
So you need to create
foundation myths.

761
00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:22,280
The moment that power passes to
the Bolsheviks is an epic example.

762
00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:26,040
They walked into
the Cabinet meeting.

763
00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:36,520
'And the Cabinet looked up and said,
<font color="

764
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:39,760
'And the Bolsheviks said,
"You're under arrest."'

765
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:46,360
That is the moment
the October Revolution happens.

766
00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:51,520
CHEERING

767
00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:55,280
An heroic new world is born.

768
00:50:56,720 --> 00:50:59,520
At least in Eisenstein's
version of events.

769
00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:07,760
<font color="
when he gets the news,

770
00:51:07,760 --> 00:51:09,760
far from the action.

771
00:51:13,520 --> 00:51:15,760
It is finally done.

772
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:20,040
Russia is his.

773
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:34,040
But did Lenin just grab power
in a coup

774
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:36,280
or did he have popular support?

775
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:39,400
'I think it was a coup d'etat.'

776
00:51:39,400 --> 00:51:41,760
<font color="
bread and land

777
00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:43,760
and all power to the Soviets,

778
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:48,280
but did they want a Bolshevik
government led by Vladimir Lenin?

779
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:50,120
I don't think so.

780
00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:53,520
Was there an element
of conspiracy in it?

781
00:51:53,520 --> 00:51:57,520
Well, of course, because you
<font color="

782
00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:00,280
by publishing the details
the day before.

783
00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:04,760
But everything till then,
till the day before,

784
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:08,760
had been discussed in Lenin's
speeches, in his writings,

785
00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:11,520
and those of Trotsky,
what he was saying,

786
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:14,760
<font color="
we are making a revolution.

787
00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:17,360
How the hell is that a coup d'etat?

788
00:52:17,360 --> 00:52:22,040
For sure, the coup d'etat of
October, which is what it was,

789
00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:26,760
based itself on the underpinnings
of a mass social revolution

790
00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:30,040
which originated in February 1917.

791
00:52:30,040 --> 00:52:34,760
<font color="
of peasants, workers, soldiers,

792
00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:40,520
across the country, giving a mandate
for Soviet power by October.

793
00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:45,040
But Soviet power
is not what Lenin makes

794
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,760
of the events
of the 25th of October.

795
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:51,280
Lenin is using the cloak
<font color="

796
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:54,520
to establish
a Bolshevik dictatorship.

797
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:00,040
APPLAUSE

798
00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:10,040
The next day, Lenin appears at the
Congress of Soviets to announce...

799
00:53:11,040 --> 00:53:13,280
We shall now proceed

800
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:16,520
to construct the socialist order.

801
00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:23,280
'This is a man who had spent years
<font color="

802
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:25,520
'of exactly what he was
going to do.'

803
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:29,680
And so the moment that they took
over, he was ready.

804
00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:35,280
Trotsky is named the People's
Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

805
00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:39,280
Stalin, the People's Commissar
for Nationalities.

806
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:42,280
<font color="
the leader of the government.

807
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:48,280
A new era in the history of Russia
and of the world begins.

808
00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:55,520
Lenin issues scores of decrees
that transform Russia in days.

809
00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:01,040
'You start to see the first
stirrings of a different kind

810
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:03,280
<font color="

811
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:07,080
'Workers' control and peasantry
having control of their own lives.

812
00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:11,040
'Equal rights of men and women,
of divorce law,

813
00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:13,520
'decriminalising homosexuality.'

814
00:54:15,160 --> 00:54:19,760
To me, there's no question that
October represents a moment of hope.

815
00:54:21,280 --> 00:54:25,280
<font color="
the October Revolution,'

816
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:29,040
Lenin created a one-party state,
a totalitarian state.

817
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:33,520
'He also created the Cheka,
the secret police,

818
00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:37,400
'with power over life and death,
to kill enemies of the revolution.'

819
00:54:38,400 --> 00:54:42,680
<font color="
of thousands of innocent people.

820
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:45,520
'He specified that, you know,

821
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:49,040
'annihilation was the only way
for the party to keep power.

822
00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:51,760
'So, gradually,
he created a dictatorship'

823
00:54:51,760 --> 00:54:56,240
that was inherited by Stalin, and
<font color="

824
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:02,040
'When the ideologue
is confronted with reality,

825
00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:04,360
'that doesn't fit into his scheme,'

826
00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:06,760
he can't defeat reality
with argument,

827
00:55:06,760 --> 00:55:08,440
so the fist tightens.

828
00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:13,760
Vladimir Lenin dies of a stroke
in 1924.

829
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:18,040
<font color="

830
00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:21,040
He eliminates his rivals.

831
00:55:21,040 --> 00:55:23,280
Notably, Leon Trotsky,

832
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:26,520
who was assassinated in 1940.

833
00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:33,280
Joseph Stalin,
the quiet backroom fixer,

834
00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:36,520
outlasts both Lenin and Trotsky.

835
00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:39,040
His reign becomes the Great Terror

836
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:42,040
<font color="
of a century.

837
00:55:43,680 --> 00:55:47,040
The Tsars,
in their last half century,

838
00:55:47,040 --> 00:55:51,040
were averaging 17 executions a year.

839
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:53,280
Within a month...

840
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:56,040
a few months of Lenin taking power,

841
00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:59,760
erm, it was 1,000 a month,
executions.

842
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:04,280
<font color="
it was more like 1,000 a week.

843
00:56:04,280 --> 00:56:07,520
'Under Stalin, something like
20 million people'

844
00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:11,520
would go through the concentration
camps, the Gulag camps.

845
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:16,040
Somewhere between 20 and 30 million
people were killed.

846
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:18,760
<font color="
not just of Stalin,

847
00:56:18,760 --> 00:56:21,440
but of Lenin
and the Bolshevik Party.

848
00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:24,280
Stalin is not Lenin's heir.

849
00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:26,760
In his last will and testament,

850
00:56:26,760 --> 00:56:30,520
Lenin made it very clear
that he should be removed

851
00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:32,760
as General Secretary of the party.

852
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:36,800
<font color="
of person to be leading the party.

853
00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:46,040
Stalin's impact on Russia
lasts beyond his death in 1953

854
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:50,280
or even the death
of the Soviet Union in 1991.

855
00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:53,640
ANNOUNCED IN RUSSIAN

856
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:57,760
'Putin really understands
<font color="

857
00:56:57,760 --> 00:57:01,280
'In many ways, he's a result of it,
one of the results of it.

858
00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:05,280
'When he looks back at history,
he's really interested,'

859
00:57:05,280 --> 00:57:08,040
not in Marxism or Bolshevism,

860
00:57:08,040 --> 00:57:12,160
'he's most impressed
by the Red Tsar, by Stalin.

861
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:16,760
'Because Stalin
<font color="

862
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:18,760
'of the Russian nation.'

863
00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:20,520
HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

864
00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:24,520
'Putin's not interested in the chaos
caused by Lenin and Trotsky.

865
00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:28,040
'He's interested in the prestige
and the victory'

866
00:57:28,040 --> 00:57:30,120
delivered by Joseph Stalin.

867
00:57:34,520 --> 00:57:38,280
<font color="
to be more influential

868
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:40,040
than Lenin or Trotsky?

869
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:44,760
For so many years,
70 years of the Soviet Union,

870
00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:48,760
it was Lenin who was always
invoked as the godlike figure,

871
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:50,760
the Father of the Revolution.

872
00:57:50,760 --> 00:57:55,040
<font color="
sort of left to one side a bit.

873
00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:56,760
The statues are still there,

874
00:57:56,760 --> 00:57:59,280
but somehow he's not
talked about as much.

875
00:57:59,280 --> 00:58:03,520
When there was a poll recently
about some of the greatest leaders

876
00:58:03,520 --> 00:58:07,160
or figures in Russia, it was Stalin
<font color="

877
00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:15,280
But is Lenin's time coming again?

878
00:58:19,280 --> 00:58:24,760
'We live today in a world of rampant
populism, of post-factual politics,

879
00:58:24,760 --> 00:58:29,040
'and much of this can be
traced back to Lenin.

880
00:58:29,040 --> 00:58:32,040
'That ultimate
political manipulator...'

881
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:37,040
<font color="
a fanatical Marxist,

882
00:58:37,040 --> 00:58:40,000
was also the master of pragmatism.

883
00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:45,040
'He understood that politics
was all about who controls who

884
00:58:45,040 --> 00:58:50,040
'and any means were suitable
to achieving his ends.'