Evidence of Coup

• Bolshs had not been involved in the genuinely popular Feb Rev

  • Lenin realised that the only wat for Molsh to have power was to orchestrate another uprising but under the control of Lenin
• Throughout his career, Lenin advocated for the role of the Party as the leader of the workers, a small elite group.

  • call for popular support from workers and peasants 1917 was an attempt to use popular discontent for his own benefit
• • Lenin had not been happy about worker control of factories but saw it as a way for gaining support for Bolsheviks
  • Very soon after the Oct Rev he reimposed managerial control
• When Bolshs had not won control of Soviets by July 1917, he called them useless because they were dominated by other socialist parties

  - was now in favour of abandoning Soviets in pursuit of control of worker committees controlled by Bolshs
• As soon as the Bolshs gained power, they remained there despite not having a popular mandate - decided to close down CA in Jan 1918

  • achieved by a small group of Revs led by Trotsky
• MRC was a smokescreen to take power, meant to defend the city against Germans
• There was hardly an attempt to defend Winter Palace, most of the soldiers defending it had already gone home
• Trotsky himself estimated the number of people involved at only 30,000
• Later attempts to present the Oct Rev as a popular rev were a myth - propaganda films
• Most public services like transport in Petrograd proceeded as normal, most people did not even know it occurred
• Only 3,000 soldiers total were protecting the Palace, with 200 women from the Shock Battalion of Death

  • they smoked, got drunk
  • By evening, only 300 troops remained
• Support for Soviets was not unconditional:

  • Sukhanov (Bolshevik) said 'the mood was Bolshevik but rather slack and wavering'
  • support for Bolshs was a reaction to the PG and their failures
  • majority wanted a coalition govt of socialist parties
• Arguably the Soviets would have gained power after the collapse of PG anyway without the uprising but Lenin hijacked this process to gain power for himself