On the sixteenth of April 1917, communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin stepped onto the platform of Finland station in St. Petersburg, Russia. After seventeen long years in exile, Lenin finally found himself home, carrying with him high aspirations to overthrow the weak provincial Russian government and install a new “Dictatorship of the Proletariat.” Less than a month later, he would preside over the newly created Soviet Union. First, however, he must proclaim the words announcing his return to Russia and ignite the revolution that would change the world. From atop an armored car, Lenin delivered his speech to the gathered crowd, lighting the spark of the revolution and signaling a turning point in history.
Examining Lenin’s speech, often hailed as his most famous, its power comes not only from the text itself, but from its ability to effectively respond to the situation surrounding it. According to scholar of rhetoric Lloyd F. Bitzer, a rhetorical situation is “a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance” (4). Rhetorical situation is, in short, the context and problems that encourage a text to be created. There are three major parts to the rhetorical situation as defined by Bitzer. The first part is exigence. This refers to the problem that the text seeks to address and change in a positive way. The second part of the rhetorical situation is the audience that the text is created for; in particular it is the audience that can be swayed into taking action to solve the problem the text addresses. Constraints are the third and final piece that makes up a rhetorical situation. These are factors that affect the way that the text must be created, they are obstacles that must be overcome, and needs that must be met. Bitzer defines constraints as being “made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence” (8). Constraints act by influencing the way the text responding to the rhetorical situation can be created. All three of these things, exigence, audience, and constraints, combine to make a rhetorical situation. In April 1917, as Lenin stepped from the train, the rhetorical situation he faced required a strong, well calculated response.
For Lenin, the exigence of his speech stems from the long history leading up to revolution in Russia, primarily it is the need to spark the revolution against the wealthy ruling class. In 1900, after a previous three-year period of exile in Siberia, Lenin began his exile in Zurich. Over the next seventeen years he worked to direct other revolutionaries toward setting into motion the revolution. After the disaster of first World War, the Russian economy was in complete disarray due to the costly war effort; in March 1917 widespread food shortages led to the outbreak of riots and strikes in Petrograd (Lenin Returns). After these revolutionary actions German officials, in the hopes of further destabilizing the Russian government, authorized Lenin’s movement to Russia via a sealed train car. It was with the embers of revolution waiting to be stirred that Lenin made his way through a war-torn Germany to Russia. As Bitzer points out, exigence only becomes rhetorical when a text can be made to change the situation for the positive (5). In Lenin’s case, the exigence of the situation becomes rhetorical because he speaks directly to those who are able to make revolution happen: the people. Through the text Lenin creates, he ignites the revolutionary spirit of his audience and influences them to act.
Lenin’s audience plays an important part in his rhetorical situation. According to Bitzer, the audience consists of anyone who can both view the rhetorical text and be moved to action by its content. The group that crowded around the train station on that April night was made up of mostly sailors, soldiers, and laborers: soldiers of the revolution. Through his speech, Lenin encourages them to take part in the revolution. Lenin does this in part by appealing to them directly, strengthening his ability to achieve the desired effect. He reaches out personally, saying “I greet you without knowing yet whether or not you have been believing in all the promises of the Provisional Government. But I am convinced that when they talk to you sweetly, when they promise you a lot, they are deceiving you and the whole Russian people” (Lenin). Through these words, Lenin takes a conversational tone, appealing to the thoughts of his audience. By engaging with the audience’s feelings of being wronged and deceived, Lenin attempts to gain their support. In the crowd, also, are party officials, who help to lead and organize the revolution. They in turn are encouraged to act from the text, working to ensure that the revolution is carried out in an organized fashion. Both groups in the audience stand to be affected by Lenin’s words, and thus they are at the heart of the rhetorical text that the situation calls for.
Lenin reaches a further audience through the reports and copies of his speech that are disturbed to the population through newspapers. According to one Russian newspaper at the time, “In the street, standing on top of an armored car, Comrade Lenin greeted the revolutionary Russian proletariat and the revolutionary Russian army,” (Lenin Collected). The heroic image displayed to the wider Russian population of Lenin standing on an armored car works to further expand the effect of Lenin’s speech by appealing to a larger audience. It is this because of this widespread knowledge of his words and actions that his display is able to have such a great effect. Through using the media, Lenin amplifies his message to a greater audience of individuals all across Russia, coaxing them into revolutionary action.
There are many constraints involved in Lenin’s speech, shaping the manner in which the text must be delivered. One important constraint is intertwined with the exigence of the situation. The Russia that Lenin returned to was one of suffering, and in his article for The Atlantic, “When Lenin Returned,” Edward Crankshaw points out that “It was this misery which Lenin deliberately set himself out to exploit” (Crankshaw). Here the constraint is not necessarily a negative one; indeed, it gives Lenin an aspect to use in the appeal for a proletarian revolution. He states that “The people need peace; the people need bread; the people need land. And they give you war, hunger, no bread—leave the landlords still on the land” (Lenin). Here Lenin uses the anger felt by his audience to turn their intentions toward revolution. Other constraints such as the fact that his words are being delivered audibly, the time available to deliver the speech, and the overall rushed and constrained situation in which Lenin creates this text mean that it must be short and sweet. Indeed, Lenin’s speech lasted only a few minutes. However, by keeping the length short, Lenin gets straight to the point, avoiding boring his audience and ensuring that all his points are made in the uncertain amount of time available to him. By abiding by the constraints, Lenin produces a speech that works best for the demanding situation at hand.
Lenin’s audience also serves as a constraint as the need to strike them into action requires Lenin to appeal directly to them. One important way Lenin uses his platform to improve his rhetorical text is through connecting visually with the audience. Although only five foot five inches in height, Lenin appears energetic and larger than life by implementing large gestures and a fiery tone. In his essay, “Lenin,” Maurice Dobb, an economist at Cambridge University, examines the important connection between Lenin’s appearance as a member of the proletariat and his ability to rule. According to Dobb, “The secret of his influence was not that he could subordinate the mass to himself, but that he could be a part of the mass and lead at the same time” (35). In the case of Lenin’s speech, it is through his appearance that he works to appear similar to his audience. He arrives at the station wearing a simple suit and hat; these clothes mark him as a normal man, further cementing him as a member of the proletariat class who seeks to unite his comrades toward a common goal. By making this connection, Lenin appears equal with his audience, further encouraging them to rise as one.
An additional constraint on Lenin’s speech comes from his political views. Because his ideals and beliefs are well known, there is a set “script” of political beliefs and sentiments he must stick to. Crankshaw writes that “Lenin was arriving to go on saying what he had been saying for years, what he had already said in those first letters and telegrams” (3). Since his words are just repeats of his original message, Lenin must ensure the connection is deeper than ideological. He must display his passion to strike energy into the hearts of his audience rather than relying on the surprise of a new and intriguing idea.
Lenin himself also acts as a restraint on the rhetorical situation. Lenin’s extreme, nearly robotic devotion to his political ideals work to constrain his response to the rhetorical situation of his return to Russia. Crankshaw states that “By the time of his recall to Russia, Lenin was disciplined absolutely to impersonality, so that it had become his real nature. Because of this I say that he hardly knew what he was doing, or that he was facing the supreme crisis of his life” (5). Lenin’s only reaction to the situation can be to strike up the revolution; for him there is no other feasible way to go about it. A revolution must come, and he must be the one to direct the proletariat against the ruling class. When facing this situation, Lenin himself acts as a constraint because of his unfaltering devotion to leading a revolution in Russia.
In response to the complex rhetorical situation of his return to Russia, Lenin’s speech at Finland Station is extremely successful. Responding to the exigence of the situation, the speech works to neatly stand as the spark of the October Revolution. Lenin achieves the goal of his speech as less than a month after delivering the speech, the provincial government would be overthrown, and he would be the head of the newly created Soviet Union. The effects of these actions are still being felt today. All these events stem back to Lenin’s short but powerful words, shouted from atop and armored car to a crowd just waiting for the time to achieve their freedom. Through his speech, Lenin provided the revolutionary spark, and in doing so, changed the course of history.

Works Cited
Bitzer, Lloyd F. “The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy & Rhetoric, vol. 25, Penn State University Press, 1992, pp. 1–14, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40237697.
Crankshaw, E. (1954, October 1). “When Lenin Returned.” The Atlantic. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1954/10/when-lenin-returned/303867/.
Dobb, Maurice. “Lenin.” The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 19, no. 53/54, Modern Humanities Research Association, 1939, pp. 34–54, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4203582.
Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, 1977, Moscow, Volume 41, page 399.2.
Lenin, Vladimir. Finland Station, Petrograd. April 16, 1917. Welcome Speech.
“Lenin Returns to Russia from Exile.” History.com, A&E Television Networks. 5 November 2009, Accessed 8 October 2021.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lenin-returns-to-russia-from-exile