Machiavellian Principles Applied to the Bolshevik Revolution

Every defining moment in history can be looked with various opinions. Using Machiavellian principles to examine the most prominent moment in the twentieth century, the Bolshevik Revolution, is just one way. While Machiavelli writes a limited amount on how to deal with power struggles and war within your own country, they are nonetheless still applicable. Machiavelli's ideas can be easily applied to many parts of the year 1917 in Russian history by looking at where the past leaders failed, where the new leaders made right and outside influences.

The beginning of the Russian revolution, or Bolshevik revolution, is vital to the understanding of the event as a whole. The question is, "How did Nikolai Romanov fail?" Machiavelli attributes all failures of the state to failures of the prince, and it was no different in Nikolai II's case. In Chapter 19 of The Prince, Machiavelli states that the one thing a prince must avoid is the contempt of his people. Beginning on February 23rd (March 8th), 1917 factory workers in Petrograd started rioting for freedom and basic rights and against the old police state. The workers of Russia were fed up with the oppression under Romanov and grew to conspire against him and hate him. On the 26th (March 11th) Russian soldiers open-fired on the demonstrators, and then the soldiers rebelled and refused to shoot their fellow countrymen and women. Neither the civilians or the soldiers were loyal to him. The hate of his people towards himself led to his downfall and the collapse of the Russian Empire.

The February Revolution led to a series of unstable Provisional Governments. The first of these was headed by a moderate liberal, Georgi Lvov and the second was ran by Alexander Krensky. The Provisional Government knew that the Bolsheviks were going to strike. The reports of the Bolshevik's conspiracy in where always in Krensky's mind, but there was overwhelming dissent about the revolution. The government was so unstable that Krensky had little to no control over the congress or military, and because Krensky did not have "the majesty of government, the laws, the protection of friends and of the state," he had no power, no control over his fortune. Krensky's failure as a prince had to do with the unstable government and the political factions all brewing their revolutions and civil unrest. He did not prepare for fortune. He met his end by not being able to deal with fortune.

During the Bolshevik Revolution, it's important to remember what was going on in the rest of Europe and the World. Russia was in the midst of fighting a war against the Germans and Austria-Hungary. Lenin was not a dolt when it came to picking his allies, and neither were the Germans. The Germans knew that they would never be able to win a war against a fully mobilized Russia because although they had the superior arms and technology, the Russian army had many more men. The German government, while denying it for many years, gave moneys and arms to the Bolsheviks in hope of the Bolsheviks weakening the Russian resolve, or even better, forcing Russia to surrender and withdraw from the war like Lenin and the Left-Soviet Revolutionists wanted. The German leaders of the time followed Machiavelli's principles as set forth by Chapter 20. In gaining an ally, the Germans gained the respect of the Bolsheviks enough to enter into a treaty with them to end Russian involvement in World War I. The allies both helped each other, but the Soviets remained in the debt of the Germans, according to Machiavelli.

The Second Congress of the Soviets met to discuss and pass a resolution for an overthrow of the Provisional Government. This was the signal that the Bolsheviks had been waiting for. Lenin led the Bolsheviks through Petrograde, but the defining event during the October Revolution in 1917 was the "attack" on the Winter Palace led by the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Antonov-Oveenko. The Bolshevik forces faced little to no opposition at the Winter Palace despite dramatizations of the scene in later Soviet history. The palace, which was, in essence, barracks for the Cossacks, cadets and women's armies was taken easily at 2 A.M. on October 26th (November 8th). The irony is that the revolution was passed by members of the Second Congress of the Soviets. In Chapter 6 of The Prince, Machiavelli states that it is hard to take the people of a country from the old form of a government or an old way of life and make them form a new way of life. This is an instance where, I believe, that the people of Russia were ready for a new government. So, in this instance, Machiavellian principle does not necessarily fit under the circumstance. The people propelled the change despite the results.

The men that Lenin had surround him follow in line with Machiavelli's description of a good minister. In leading the Bolsheviks to revolt, Lenin had many men in his hand, including Leon Trotsky, Vladimir