How to structure exam question: ‘Trotsky was just as significant as Lenin to the success of the Bolsheviks in the period 1903-1924.’ Assess the validity of this view.

Introduction: Pick one side - yes or no. Mention your arguments and make it extremely clear which one supports your argument the most.
Paragraph 1: Lenin as the figurehead of the Bolsheviks --> 1917, October Revolution, flexibility during the NEP. To think about: he was absent from Russia during most years pre-1917
Paragraph 2: Lenin as a theorist --> publications pre-1917 (Pravda, Iskra, What is to be Done), Marxism-Leninism, April Theses, War Communism and the NEP
Paragraph 3: Trotsky's role in organising the party during the October Revolution and the Civil War --> Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and head of MRC, Commissar for War, Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Brest Litovsk!), propaganda
Paragraph 4: Trotsky's (limited) role as a theorist --> was a Menshevik before!! Main idea was permanent revolution (but later abandoned..)
Conclusion: reiterate your argument and your points, honing in on the one specific point that is the most important to your argument.

Anna G. avatar
Answered by Anna G. History tutor

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