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Primary sourceDocument3/16 April 1917

April Theses

Vladimir Lenin · 3/16 April 1917

Lenin's ten directives issued in April 1917 calling for Soviet power and rejecting cooperation with the Provisional Government.

Lenin wrote and delivered this programme himself upon his return to Russia, launching the Bolsheviks toward revolution.

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Handwritten manuscript in Russian on lined paper, titled with a heading at the top, containing numbered points written in pencil or ink with crossings-out and marginal notes. This is an early draft of the April Theses by Lenin.
Vladimir Lenin, early draft of the April Theses, 3/16 April 1917.

About this source

What it is

The April Theses are a set of ten directives written by Vladimir Lenin in April 1917, soon after he returned to Petrograd from exile in Switzerland. He first gave them as a speech, and they were then published in the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda. The manuscript shown here is an early handwritten draft.

Why it matters

In the Theses, Lenin rejected the new Provisional Government and demanded that power pass to the soviets (workers' councils). This slogan, "All power to the Soviets", helped push the Bolsheviks toward the actions that led to the October Revolution later that year. The document shows how quickly Lenin set out a radical programme once he was back in Russia.

Look closer

  • What does the handwriting, with its crossings-out, tell you about how Lenin worked out his ideas?
  • Why might Lenin have aimed this message mainly at fellow Bolsheviks rather than the general public?
  • What does the document leave out about how such demands might actually be carried out?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Vladimir Lenin on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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