Bolshevik Seizure of Power

• The plans of the Bolsheviks to seize power became widely known.

  • Kerensky ordered some of the more radical army units out of Petrograd.
• Bolsheviks argued that Kerensky left the city undefended for the Germans or to a counter-revolutionary general.

  • The Bolsheviks persuaded the Soviet to set up the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) to defend the city in case of an attack.
  • The MRC was led by Trotsky and was dominated by the Bolsheviks and their Red Guards.
  • Control of the MRC gave the Bolsheviks access to more weapons and ammunition;.
• Kerensky tried to close down Bolshevik newspapers, restrict the power of the MRC and even raise the bridges linking working class areas to the centre of Petrograd.

  • This fuelled the idea that Kerensky was betraying the February Revolution and the Soviet.
• With almost no troops loyal to the PG by this point, Kerensky realised the situation was a lost cause.

  • He fled in a car he borrowed from the US embassy by telling other ministers he was going to get help.