1. Using Documents C, D, and E (page 2 - all numbers referred to are the big hand written page numbers) explain how Lenin and Stalin worked to secure the supremacy of the party.
Lenin and Stalin worked to secure the supremacy of the party by saying no member of the party can go against the party at that point, and there must complete devotion to the party. According to Document C if anyone didn't support the Resolution of the Congress they would be expelled from the party and wouldn't have a second chance to rejoin or anything, which shows the members had to support everything that was made by them. This could be because Lenin wanted a communist Russia desperately and wouldn't let any other type of government take control or conform Russia. Also, in Document D Stalin tells the roles of the Communist Party to the members, they have to "absorb all the best elements of the working class, their experience, their revolutionary spirit, their selfless devotion to the cause of the proletariat." Stalin knows that in order to keep support from the majority, the peasants, he has to make the members understand the peasants or workers so that they do things in support of the workers. In Document E it shows a stalinist leader going to attack someone or group who tried "to stop the Revolution." Since the "Mensheviks" and "Social Revolutionaries" figures are trying to stop him it shows that he cannot be stopped, and wont stop until he gets his way. He will do whatever it takes to make everything right in his eyes so his idea or plan wont be ruined, since he can't be stopped it shows that Stalin had control over different parties. The Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries tried to stop him but couldn't, and possibly the political party he's going to stop will succumb to the stalinist official showing that he has control.
2. In what ways do Documents A, B and C (pages 3 - 4) support the assertion made in Document C that "Lenin wanted power, Lenin's rivals did not want it"?
Document A supports the assertion made in Document C by saying in the first paragraph Lenin and the party must take down the Provisional Government by using any means, like propaganda. Also, Document A accuses the Provisional Government of "utter falsity of its promises" to the people. I believe he's talking about how the Provisional Government promised to support, help, and be loyal to Russia, however the Provisional Government is doing none of its promises. Since they don't do any of their promises, like fix food shortages and low wages, they didn't really care about Russia and didn't want to govern.
Document B supports the assertion "Lenin wanted power, Lenin's rivals did not want it" by saying "as long as the government steadfastly confirms and expands the gains of the revolution and so long as its foreign policy is based on the renunciation [giving up] of ambitions of territorial expansion." This shows that the Provisional Government didn't care about having power and didn't really care about Russia, therefore supporting the assertion.
Document C supports the assertion because it talks about Lenin wanting power and the Provisional Government not wanting it. It is clearly written, "the Menshevik, Irakli Tsereteli said, 'there is at present no party in Russia willing to assume responsibility for governing.' To which Lenin from his seat shouted, 'there is.'" This clearly supports the assertion because the orator says there is no party present or willing, refering to the provisional government, and lenin says there is refering to himself and his party.
3. What can be inferred from Document D (page 4) about the following?
a: Why soldiers wanted to go home
The soldiers wanted to go home, according to Document D, because they didn't want to fight anymore, "to share the land their fellow villagers had not taken from the squires [land owners], and live in freedom." They didn't care about fighting for Russia, they even said that it wasn't their job to protect or think about Russia so why should they be fighting for it.
b: Why the soldiers now supported the Bolsheviks.
The soldiers now supported the Bolsheviks because the two things they wanted the most the Bolsheviks were promising them with, land and freedom. Bolsheviks promised them peace by taking them out of World War I. They wanted land to support their family and make a living, and they wanted freedom so they could be away from the war front.
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