The October Revolution

1
The October Revolution

• The situation in Russia by September
• Bolshevik action
• Events of the revolution
• Reasons for Bolshevik success
• Significance of Revolution

2
The situation in Russia by September

• Kerensky and the government had an impossible
  task of making good the deficiencies of the
  Tsarist regime
• Also the Russian people turned against the whole
  policy of war due to further failures

3
The situation in Russia by September

• Therefore during September the governments
  authority declined and the Bolsheviks influence
  rose
• They had gained a majority in both the Petrograd
  and Moscow soviets although this was mainly due
  to declined enthusiasm in attending meetings

• The Bolsheviks at the same time spread propaganda
  amongst the troops leading to desertions
• The men hurried home so as not to lose their
  share of the land they expected to seize.

4
Bolshevik action

• The PG at this time shifted to the right whilst
  the soviets moved to the left- clashed
• From Finland Lenin urged his party to prepare to
  take over as the only hope of true revolutionaries

History will not forgive us if we do not assume
power
5
Bolshevik action

• Urgency arose due to two events meeting of
  All-Russian Congress of Soviets in late October
  and the November election for the Constituent
  Assembly
• The latter was a problem as the assembly was what
  the progressives and reformers had set their
  hopes
• Lenin was not sure how the Bolsheviks would
  perform in the elections therefore they would
  have to be in power before the elections

6
Bolshevik action

• However there were Bolsheviks in the central
  committee who were not ready to take action
• Lenin therefore slipped back to Petrograd on 7th
  of October

7
Lenins return

• He spent the next 2 weeks trying to convince the
  CC but it failed to agree on a date for action
• Zinoviev and Kamenov wrote an article which
  argued that it would be a mistake to overthrow
  the government

8
Kerenskys reaction

• He interpreted the article as indicating that a
  date had been set
• Pravda and Izvestiya the Bolshevik newspapers
  were closed down
• The Bolsheviks no longer had a choice and Lenin
  ordered the planned insurrection to begin
• Trotsky was the man behind the plan, he was the
  chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and the dominant
  member of the three-man Military Revolutionary
  Committee (MRC) of the Soviet

9
Events of the revolution(24-27 Oct)

• The red guards under Trotsky seized keys points
  in Petrograd
• There was little fighting in the 3 days
• This was due to the PGs lack of military
  resources due to desertions

10
Events of the revolution(24-27 Oct)

• Faced by the red guards, the Cossacks deserted,
  whilst the cadets and womens battalion (Amazons)
  were persuaded that resistance would be futile

• The red guards met minimum resistance
• The sound of the guns from the Aurora in the
  River Neva declared their support for the soviet,
  convinced the PG that their position was hopeless

11
Much-publicized photo purporting to show the
storming of the Winter Palace, October 1917. It
is in fact from a Bolshevik re-enactment staged
as a civic spectacle on the third anniversary of
the action. The actual fighting at the Palace
took place at night and there were no cameras
present.
12
The womens battalion
13
Events of the revolution(24-27 Oct)

• Kerensky fled to the USA
• On the 27th of October Lenin informed the
  delegates to the Congress of Soviets that the
  Bolsheviks had seized power in their name
• He named himself as chairperson and announced
  that they would construct the towering edifice
  of socialist society
• The PG had came nowhere near to solving Russias
  problems and by October 1917 the Bolsheviks were
  pushing against an already open door Lynch