How and why the Bolsheviks gained power in October 1917

History · AS: The Russian Revolution, 1894-1921. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

The Provisional Government lost support through 1917. It kept Russia in the war, delayed land reform and put off elections. The failed June offensive, the July Days and food shortages all weakened it.

Lenin returned in April and gave the Bolsheviks a clear programme in the April Theses: no support for the government, an end to the war and all power to the soviets. The slogan 'Peace, Bread, Land' matched what ordinary people wanted.

The Kornilov affair rescued the party after its July setback. With majorities in the main soviets, Lenin pressed for a rising. Trotsky organised it through the Military Revolutionary Committee, and the capital was taken with little fighting.

Rules to remember

April 1917: Lenin crossed Germany in a sealed train, with German help, and reached Petrograd.
July Days: armed demonstrations by soldiers, sailors and workers in Petrograd failed; Lenin fled to Finland and Bolshevik leaders were arrested.
Kornilov affair, August 1917: Kerensky armed the Bolshevik Red Guards to defend Petrograd, and they kept the weapons.
September 1917: Bolshevik majorities in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets; Trotsky became chairman of the Petrograd Soviet.
The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet controlled the garrison and planned the seizure of bridges, stations and the telegraph.
25 October 1917 (Old Style): the Bolsheviks took power; the Winter Palace fell that night.
Mensheviks and Right SRs walked out of the Second Congress of Soviets, leaving the Bolsheviks in control.

Common mistake

Do not describe October as a mass popular uprising like February. It was a planned seizure of power by a small, organised force, acting in the name of the Soviet.

Worked example

Why did Trotsky want the seizure of power carried out by the Military Revolutionary Committee and timed for the Second Congress of Soviets?

The Committee belonged to the Petrograd Soviet, not to the Bolshevik party alone.
A rising in the Soviet's name looked like 'all power to the soviets', not a coup by one party.
The Congress could then approve the new government at once, which gave it a claim to be legal.

Answer: It made a Bolshevik takeover look like a transfer of power to the soviets, which had wide support.

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