those who saw the party as a conglomeration of loose and free lancing elements and care little about the interests of party , people and revolution . Lenin also came across those who indulged in factionalism , groupism , conspiracies and some even going to the extent of acting as enemy ’ s direct or camouflaged agents . 1905 Revolution
When the people ’ s upsurge was on a high tide , the tsarist govt . had released a Manifesto on October 17 , 1917 promising to convene a Bulgian Duma . But this was a fraud and trick against the people to gain some sort of respite , win time to rally his forces and more furiously strike at the revolution . The Bolsheviks guided the people not to fall in the trap , boycott the Duma and prepare for an armed uprising to overthrow the tsarist autocracy . The Bulgian Duma , in reality , was swept away by the revolutionary tide even before it was convened . The revolutionary struggle grew during Oct - Nov ’ 1905 . The struggle of peasants had acquired a wider dimension in autumn 1905 . The unrest and revolt had increased among the soldiers and sailors . On December 9 , 1905 , the workers had built up the first barricade in Moscow . Many more barricades had come up in the City . The oppressed nations rose in armed revolt against the tsarist autocracy .
The tsarist govt . at the time was in a war to annex the new territories . It hoped to win the war and grow stronger to stifle the rising tide of revolution . But Russia ’ s defeat in the Russo – Japanese war had seriously weakened the tsardom . Bloody Sunday
When the people in other parts of Russia were in the thick of revolutionary struggle , a priest and agent – provocateur was busy in organising a massive workers procession on January 9 , 1905 in St . Petersburg . His plan was to take a peaceful procession to the Winter Palace , submit an appeal and beg for tsar ’ s mercy . Here his plan was to create an alibi for the tsar to fire on the workers . The Bolsheviks understood the conspiracy . They explained to the workers by remaining in their midst not to fall in Gapon ’ s trap . But , the workers did not listen to them as the large sections of workers there were still having illusions in the tsar . So the Bolsheviks thought it proper to allow the workers to learn from their own practice . At the same time , the Bolsheviks did not leave the workers to their own fate . They took part in every aspect of the preparation for the procession – organisation , formulation of workers demands and preparation of the Appeal . They used every moment of their relation with the workers to expose the tsarist autocracy and to explain the need for a revolutionary 6 overthrow of it . On Jan 9 , 1905 , 1,40,000 workers , together with their families- children and old folk , holding the Church symbols and the portraits of the tsar , marched in a peaceful procession on the streets . But before they reached the Winter Palace , instead of tsar Nicholas- II , his armed police was present to rain the bullets indiscriminately and mercilessly on the unarmed workers . As a consequence , 1000 workers had died on the spot . More than 2000 workers were wounded . The Bolsheviks were in the procession . Many of them were killed or arrested . There , in the streets running with the workers blood , the Bolsheviks explained to the workers how the tsar had committed a monumental crime and why the tsardom must be fought and routed . The Jan ’ 9 , 1905 came to be known as a “ Bloody Sunday ”. The workers were taught a bloody lesson : They can win the rights only by struggle . The workers had declared then and there : “ The tsar gave it to us ; we will now give it to him ”.
Here we must understand how Lenin and Bolsheviks guided the workers in the whole Jan 9 th programme . The Bolsheviks remained with the workers even in their low level of consciousness to raise their consciousness to a higher level with the help of their own practice . The imp ortant lesson for the Communists is : Leaving the people to their own fate when they are found low in consciousness , or submerging ourselves and wading along with it or abandoning the people and resorting to individual terrorist and adventurist actions in the name of adopting the higher form of struggle cannot be a Leninist method of providing the leadership to the people .
The news of tsarist crime on January 9 th had spread far and wide in Russia . The whole country was stirred of profound indignation and abhorrence . The workers in every town rose in protest against the villainous tsardom . The working class movement rose to an unprecedented height .
The strikes had spread like a wild fire to all major cities . The Putilov workers strike in St . Petersburg on Jan 3 , 1905 was the biggest . After Jan 9 , 1905 massacre , the strikes grew more acute . The workers clashed with police . In Warsaw , the armed police massacred several hundreds of workers . Yet , the strikes and demonstrations did not cease . In Lodz , the workers erected barricades in the streets and battled with the armed police from behind for 3 days . As Lenin said , these battles were the first armed actions of the workers in Russia . Here the armed actions of the workers had merged with the General Strike of the workers . In August 1905 , the Bolsheviks led 70000 workers – many of them women — into the strike at Ivavovo-Voznesenk . Thousands of workers gathered on the banks of the river Tilka and were
Class Struggle