October revolution and the lead up to it

• At the time of the February revolution the bolsheviks were still a small party with 23,000 members and there were only 40 bolsheviks in the Petrograd Soviet
• Bolsheviks in petrograd agreed with the policy of the Petrograd Soviet, give support to the provisional government while protecting workers rights
• Lenin was in exile in Switzerland at the time of the February revolution and was permitted to travel back to Russia from germany by sealed train which was allowed by Germany as they thought it would cause instability in Russia and maybe even result in them retreating from war
• Lenin returned to Russia on the 3rd April 1917
• Lenins April theses was published on 7 April 1917 which explained Lenin’s political programme and set out his ideology.
• Lenin’s two slogans was peace, bread, land and all power to the soviets
• In Lenin’s ideology the Russian middle classes were too weak to carry through a revolution so the workers and peasants needed to do it.

  • Russia was primed for a socialist revolution
  • the rest of Europe seemed close to socialist revolution
• Lenin did not immediately receive full support for his proposals as some bolsheviks argued that he was not powerful enough to oppose the provisional government whilst others feared his radical proposals would do more harm than good
• Some bolsheviks feared that Lenin lost his touch during his years of exile

  • Some thought Lenin’s call to go against the provisional government was unrealistic as the Bolsheviks were only a minority group
  • some believed that he was in the pay of German spies
• Lenin sought out supporters at party and factory meetings - abandoned his call for an immediate overthrow of the provisional government which helped convince those who were worried about civil war
• Lenin claimed credit for the social changes happening in Russia , the peasant land seizures helped him appear in control of events

  • mensheviks feared Lenin would undermine what they were doing and by stirring up trouble would provoke a right wing reaction
• In july 1917 sailors from the Kronstadt naval base organised an armed demonstration which spread to the centre of Petrograd, workers and soldiers joined them

  • rising prices and unemployment contributed to the unrest
  • when the demonstrations turned violent, the Bolsheviks were blamed
• In June 1917 a major offensive led by brusilov hoped to rally the nation but this failed and Russians were faced with heavy losses.

  • because of this desertions escalated and anti war sentiment grew which resulted in General Lavr Kornilov to be appointed to restore discipline in the army
• After the brusilov Offensive death penalty was restored to control troops
• The provisional government had little support in summer 1917 due to the food supplies being chaotic in towns and the wages rapidly falling as prices rose. By October prices were estimated at 755% above pre war levels
• To add to the discomtent in the summer of 1917 factories were able to dismiss workers who went on strikes and meetings of factory workers during working hours were forbidden
• The continuation of war and the governments failure to redistribute land also lost it support in the countryside, the peasants also just seized land despite what the Provisional government said
• An electoral commission was established in May to arrange elections for November, because of this there was suspicion that the ‘bourgeoisie’ government was deliberately delaying a move to democracy in order to preserve its power
• Those on the right, landowners and businessmen who felt the provisional government had done little to protect their land, property and interests saw kornilov as their saviour
• Kerenskys moscow state conference was boycotted by the Bolsheviks who organised a general strike
• At the end of august kornilov ordered 6 regiments of troops to March on Petrograd, to establish a military dictatorship but this was halted when kerensky panicked and released imprisoned bolsheviks from July days
• When bolsheviks were released from prison they provided workers with weapons which halted kornilov’s advance, and he was arrested
• The bolsheviks were the main beneficiaries of the kornolov coup as they organised the Petrograd red guards which was the most efficient parliamentary unit than the other militia groups that had been set up to defend workers rights
• Bolsheviks took advantage of the propaganda opportunities the kornilov affair presented and used it to criticise kerensky, especially after closing down Bolshevik newspapers
• Bolsheviks were the only group to have oppose kornilov consistently and they were elected in increased numbers to Soviet’s throughout urban Russia. Bolshevik membership increased from 23,000 in February to 200,000 in October
• From mid September Lenin began bombarding the central committee with letters demanding that they prepare for the revolution and seizure of power. On the 12th September he suggested that history will not forgive us if we do not assume power now.

  • 3 days after this the CC voted against a coup and even lenins threats of resignation were not enough to convince them
• The committees two most prominent members Kamenev and Zinoviev believed they should not act fearing that Russia was not economically ready
• Trotsky believed they should work through the petrograd soviet and wait for the congress of soviets which convened on the 26th Octoberand believed they could win the support of all socialist parties for a soviet government without resorting to violence
• Lenin slipped back into Russia in disguise and on 10 October convinced the central committee of the bolshevik party all night that an armed rising was needed and he succeeded with 10 to 2 votes
• The storming of the winter palace was not a heroic or popular rising, as when the shot was fired from the battleship Aurora, the women’s battalion guarding the palace panicked and left and army cadets offered little resistance
• One cause of the October revolution was the mistakes of the provisional governmen, for example on the 23 October kerensky closed down 2 bolshevik newspapers in an attempt to restrict the power of the military revolutionary committee, he also did this to raise the bridges between the working class area of Petrograd and the city centre however this was prevented by Bolshevik troops
• Kerensky could not raise the bridges between vyborg and the city centre due to loyal Bolshevik troops who claimed his actions were a betrayal of the soviet and an abandonment of the principles of the February and March revolution
• Another cause of the october revolution is the failings of the provisional government as the aggressive war led to anger as people thought the new regime would be different, so when the bolsheviks promised to end this war many peoples loyalty changed
• As well as this the October revolution could have also been caused due to the army having increased control of the railway which left thousands going hungry
• The provisional government was also unable to improve the economic situation of Russia as the government increased the price it paid for grain by 100% and punishment brigades were sent to requisition grain which the peasants resented
• Bolshevik organisation was also a cause of the revolution because compared to the provisional government the Bolsheviks looked organised and offered people what they wanted the most- peace, land and bread
• On the night of the 24-25 October, 5000 soldiers and sailors from Kronstadt moved into the city and Bolshevik red guards began taking over key buildings and positions in Petrograd
• 24 October- the BRG encountered some resistance at the main telegraph office but troops mostly gave in with no resistance

  • Lenin remained in hiding until the evening and then travelled to Smolny to take charge of the insurrection
• On the 25th October kerensky attempted to rally military support outside petrograd

  • red guard soldiers and sailors surrounded the winter palace which was threatened by artillery and by guns of the battleship Aurora
• On 25 October at 9.40pm a blank shot was fired from Aurora which signalled the start of the Bolshevik attack , red guards were able to easily penetrate the building and some members of the government left by the back entrance