Account For the Success of the Bolsheviks in October 1917

Account For the Success of the Bolsheviks in October 1917

At the beginning of 1917 most of the Bolsheviks were in exile but by

the end of 1917 the Bolshevik party had not only consolidated control

of Moscow and Petrograd, but they were also advancing on the rest of

the country. This success was due to several linked factors; the

Bolshevik policy of non-cooperation, weakness of the Provisional

Government, division of alternative opposition, Lenin's leadership

skills, the power of the Petrograd Soviet and Trotsky as its leader,

failure on deliver of land reform and the oppressed, armed workers in

Petrograd.

Bolshevik success is dictated by whether they met their aims; these

included the establishment of a Socialist government over the whole of

Russia, which would be ruled by a centralised democracy achieved

through a Proletarian Revolution.

Lenin returned from exile in 1917, the same year as the Bolshevik

success, which immediately implicates him as vital to the Bolshevik

victory. He was able to allow the Bolshevik Party to gel under his

guidance. On his return he launched his April Thesis, calling for

'Peace, Land, Bread and Power to the Soviets.' This was important in

gaining the Bolsheviks popular backing, which they lacked during the

February Revolution. The language of the April Thesis was simple so

that the uneducated mass of the population could easily understand the

message. Peace appealed to the soldiers and their families, whilst

land appealed to the peasants, power the Soviets pleased the workers

and a promise of bread ensured the support of the poor nationwide.

Lenin was careful with his language, so as not to aliena...

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...ause they seized control

of various situations open to them, which is why they were successful

in October. It is not surprising that Lenin and the Bolsheviks were

successful in 1917, what was surprising was that they managed to hold

power for over seventy years.

Bibliography

Roy A. Medvedev, The October Revolution (Columbia University Press,

1979, New York)

W. Astrov, An Illustrated History of the Russian Revolution (Martin

Lawrence Press, 1928, London)

Leon Trotsky, The History of the Russian Revolution (University of

Michigan Press, 1932, Michigan)

Paul Miliukov, The Russian Revolution, Volume 1. (Academic

International Press, 1978)

James D. White, The Russian Revolution 1917-21 (Edward Arnold

Publishing, 1994, London)

Robert Goldston, The Russian Revolution (Phoenix House, 1966, London)