In the cities, under the tall exhaust masts of factories laid millions of industrial workers who lived in atrocious conditions. They worked for up to 14 hours a day and received extremely low wages. Also, the Russian factories were not up to date and were not efficient at all. After a day like that, they hardy had any time for entertainment or any money left for the basic needs. The workers could not do anything about this as strikes were considered a mutiny and were crush with extreme force. The Bolsheviks used this for their own ends by promising a better deal with more money, more bread, more land and peace. They said that they will shorten the working day to eight hours and will set a minimum wage. This attracted the working class even more than the Provisional government as Kerensky did not do enough for the Russian people.
The First World War was a terrible blow to Russia. Even before the war everyone knew that Russia was not ready and the majority had the perception that Russia was forced into a war with Germany because of Serbia. When the war started, it was greeted with some enthusiasm but it soon became clear that the Russian industry was too far behind the standards of the time and could not cope with an expensive war. The army was not well supported or equipped to fight the more advance German forces and was often short of rifles and ammo. The final blow came after an all-out failed offensive in July 1917 when, because of two arrogant officers and their personal dislike for each other, half a million Russian soldiers were slaughtered by about 200,000 German ones. This was one of the events that the Bolsheviks promoted and it added immensely to their support.
Lenin, real name Vladimir Illich Ulyanov was a very gifted public speaker and was exceptional good at arousing crowds and lifting spirits. He was able to speak what the man on the street feared to say and that’s probably why he was driven into exile by the Czar. When the Germans secretly let him enter Russia through Siberia in the hope that the move will help them win the war, he and the rest of the Bolsheviks got a lot of support from the general public. They spoke the people’s minds and promised them things that they could only dream of in the pre-revolutionary Czarist Russia. This did a lot for the Bolsheviks and Lenin because if they weren’t able to convince the farmers, the workers and the army that they will stick to their word, the revolution would not have been possible.
After Alexander II abdicated and was beheaded, a Provisional Government lead by Alexander Kerensky was set to control the situation which was getting out of hand. Kerensky did a good job considering the short time he was in the Office but he made two big blunders: 1) He did not distribute the rural lands between the peasants which meant that he did not really understood the need of the poor and 2) He kept Russia in the war, which was probably his biggest mistake and an unexpected decision as almost every one in Russia hated the war. Although he did make reforms to improve life for the people but these were limited. After a while, it was understood that this Provisional government was incapable of understanding the common man’s need.
I think that all the causes of the October Revolution were equally important for Lenin and the Bolshevik’s seizure of power as the Revolution wouldn’t have worked without any of them. Altogether, the causes made a ‘mood for revolution’ and put a yearning for change in the hearts of men. They made the people against the monarchy and the Provisional government and, combined with the Bolsheviks’ ruthless methods, gave them an open path to leading Russian into becoming a true Communist state.
