october revolution

• on the 10th October Lenin sneaks back into Petrograd and convinces the Central Committee to seize power, the majority vote for, except Zinoviev and Kamenev
• Trotsky takes charge of the Military Revolutionary Committee, leading the members in gathering the Red Guard and other troops like Kronstadt Sailors totalling 20000
• 26th October, Winter Palace is captured and the Provisional Government is arrested
• Causes of the October Revolution

  • Weaknesses and failures of the PG, they look weak which undermines their authority and aren't well liked so people aren't bothered when they are kicked out of office.
  • Failures of the Tsar being echoed in the PG, who are remnants of the tsarist regime
• Causes of the October Revolution

  • Defeat in WWI with the Provisional Government dedicated to the continued war effort, tired russians turn to the Bolsheviks
• Causes of the October Revolution

  • Bolshevik appeal and political manoeuvres- peace bread land resonated with a lot of russians, they offered workers rights, land distribution etc
• Causes of the October Revolution

  • Trotsky and Lenin's leadership, Lenin deciding the right time and Trotsky leading on the ground with the Military Revolutionary Committee
• weaknesses of the pg

  • Kornilov Coup
  • June Offensive
  • caused unrest in the countryside by putting off the CA moving land redistribution further off
• central committee in the lead up to October


  • lenin wrote the CC while in switzerland that they should act now and seize power "history will not forgive us", they voted against this, led by zinoviev and kamenev who thought they shouldnt act before a CA formed.
  • trotsky believed they should work through the PS, a meeting of the congress of soviets would win support of socialists without needing violence
  • Len slipped back into russia on 10th Oct and persuaded the cc, t sided with him but Z+K refused to budge as they though if the violence caused a revolutionary war, soldiers wouldn't side with them
• trotsky and the prep for revolution

  • organised the revolution sending speakers to factories to create support and set up the military revolutionary commitee and was elected chariman of the petrograd soviet on october 8th
  • Troops were gathered, made up of mensheviks, bolsheviks and their supportes like the Kronstadt sailors but no SRs who refused to cooperate
  • 15/18 of petrograds troop units declared allegience to the soviet rather than PG so 200k red guards, 60k baltic sailors and 150k soldiers
• was the PG doomed from the start?


  • lenin offered radically different programmes than the PG
  • mensheviks and SRs became associated with the PGs weakness
  • war was the source of many problems and the PG was unwilling to make peace
  • they refused to legitimise peasant land seizure
  • workers became more radicalised as the pg continuously failed
  • soldiers were tired of fighting
  • the pg was never going to be able to meet all the expectations of the russian people through correct political conduct in such little time
  • kerensky was a floppa
• Causes of the October Revolution

  deteriorating economic situation
• Causes of the October Revolution

  the resentment of soldiers, peasants and workers
• events of the october revolution

  24th

  • through the night, 5000 sailors and soldiers from kronstadt move into othe city and the red guard takes over key positions and government buildings in petrograd: rails, bridges and power stations. they meet little opposition, lenin remained in hiding
• events of the october revolution

  25th

  • kerensky had left petrograd to try gather military support, the red guard and sailors surround the Winter Palace. the battleship Aurora is on the river and fires a blank shot to signal attack
• events of the october revolution

  26th

  • the winter palace is captured and remaining PG arrested, the 2nd congress of soviets adopts a resolution to take power and lenin's decree on peace

  27th

  • lenins decree on land is accepted and the bolsheviks put forward proposals for organising govenment opposed by mensheviks and left wing SRs but the congress adopts them, electing the All Russian Central Executive Committee majority bolshevik
  • the sovnarkom is created to run the government, made up of only bolsheviks. they free political prisoners, abolish death penalty at the front and arrest kerensky
• aftermath

  • the revolution was small scale in reality, trotsky claimed there were 30k involved, around 5% soldiers and workers. there were 10-15k actually at the winter palace, but many were bystanders.
  • within three days the bolsheviks assumed control (25-27) and there was little fighting, no more than 5 deaths largly as the pg was out of resources. petrograd remained almost as if nothing had occured and trotsky later admitted the revoution was a series of "small operations, calculated and prepared in advance. "The Bolsheviks did not seize power; they picked it up"
• where the february revolution had been a popular revolutions- supported by the mass of workers in cities- the october revolution was more of a coup d'etat- a violent seizure of power by a small group.
• weaknesses + failures of the PG

  • real power lay with the soviet due to the loyalty of the proletariat and order no 1
  • saw itself as a temporary body that couldnt make binding decisions, had to wait for the Constituent Assembly
  • divisions between socialists and liberals, lacked clear policy
  • continuing the war
  • failed to legitimise peasant land seizure, lead to decreased food supplies
  • lost national minority support
  • couldn't fix the economy
  • kornilov coup
  • june offensive
  • underestimated the bolsheviks, trying to amass forces against them only gave them a excuse to seize power
  • failed to bring the CA
• bolshevik strengths and factors favouring

  • opposed the pg, urged its end, other socialist parties associated with discredited
  • only party opposing war
  • peasant support by promising land redistribution
  • lenin's strong leadership meant he forced key decisions like april thesis and october
  • trotskys role in organising takeover
  • radicalised workers were supported soviet power
  • military and econonomic collapse meant army was weak, people desperate and hungry
  • pg and kerensky didnt counter the rising well
  • they had support in petrograd and moscow
  • the majority of soldiers refused to oppose them