The myth of the Bolshevik revolution is shattered by statistical facts about the night of 6th November. How can the Bolshevik propaganda and re told history be correct about the violent storming of the Winter Palace with guns and fire a blazing when only five soldiers and one sailor died? – and from stray bullets. The main fictional source of propaganda; the film ‘October’, can not be used as evidence because it was filmed in 1927, and in 1917 cameras where not yet sophisticated enough to film in the dark, so its night scenes of the revolution couldn’t have been filmed. The film is again inaccurate about the leaders of the revolution. Trotsky, a vital man in the revolution was nearly completely cut from the film so he wouldn’t win a leadership battle with Stalin after Lenin had died.
Trotsky was indeed a main part in the drama of the revolution. It was his ideas and organisation along with Lenin’s that made the Bolshevik party so disciplined and efficient. For example, it was his idea to use the Congress as a cover to seize power and claim it was all done for the Soviet. While Lenin hid in the Bolshevik headquarters, Trotsky came and went to update him with the latest news. He wrote in “My Life”, “I roamed about the building from one floor to another to make sure everything was in order and to encourage those who needed it.” Trotsky was influential to the revolution, because he had become chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in October 1917 and therefore was in prime position for information and knew precisely what was going on. Although Stalin airbrushed Trotsky out of the Bolshevik revolution in later years, he remains an undeniable factor of the events in November 1917. He was involved with all the important turning points in Bolshevik history. He masterminded military arrangements for the revolution in November; he played highly in the defeat of the Kornilov Plot and he led the Bolshevik team in the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. Trotsky also was the Commissar for War and he created the Red Army with which he led to victory in the Civil War that followed the Bolshevik revolution – a man involved to the top in the party.
In the 1980’s, Anthony Wood wrote in his “The Russian Revolution”, that the essential factor in the story of the Bolshevik revolution was the collapse of the Tsarist government in March 1917. But for this, he writes, Lenin might well have ended his days as a frustrated émigré. It is true to say that the Bolshevik revolution would not have happened without the March revolution. If not for the uprising of the masses in March, then the Bolshevik party could not have orchestrated their own coup for power. After the fall of the Tsar, the Provincial Government was set up with faith from the Russian people; they would finally have a democratic society.
It was not just the driving force of the Bolsheviks’ leader that caused the revolution, but rather more the situation that Russia was presently in. The Provincial Government that was at first cheered had to defend its meetings by November 1917. In the year leading up the Bolshevik revolution, it was the Provincial Government’s mistakes that made it easier for the Bolsheviks to take control. However the Provincial Government did not have complete power; it was meant to be only a temporary government. In fact it was weak because it hadn’t been elected and therefore couldn’t pass laws, as it had no constitutional basis for its role. It shared a ‘duel power’ with the Petrograd Soviet, a power that was unbalanced. It hadn’t got any real control over the armed forces due to Order 1, in which no orders from the Provincial Government could be carried out if they contradicted those of the Soviet’s.
The Provincial Government made two main mistakes that lost any support it might have had with the middle classes and peasants and significantly these affected future events; the Bolshevik revolution, but it should be noted that they had very few choices. First of all, they decided to continue the War against Germany; a War that Russia was already loosing badly in. Minister’s thought if better managed, the War could swing in their favour, but they were wrong. In June, Kerensky ordered a new Offensive, continuing the concentration of factories on producing ammunitions, not food. People in the cities and all over Russia had to live with increasing food shortages and inflation was high, as it had been just before the Tsar was taken from power. Conditions were worse than ever. The June Offensive turned into a military disaster and thousands of discontented soldiers – urged by Bolsheviks – left the front and returned home. People hence rejected Kerensky and turned to other parties, such as the Bolsheviks that promised reliable conditions and food.
The second main mistake was the decision by the Provincial Government to disallow land reform. All over Russia, peasants were taking advantage of the messy and uncoordinated political circumstances by taking land and property from the rich nobles, as much as they could. The government refused to make this legal, claiming they did not have the right as they didn’t belong to an elected institution. However if they had recognised the mobs of peasants, then Russia might have fallen into an unlawful chaotic riotous country. The decision to not make land reforms legal gave more reasons for soldiers to desert at the front, most of them were peasants, and claim their own land. It also made the Provincial Government very unpopular with the slowly starving peasants, whose mass made up nearly all of the Russian population.
These two decisions made the government powerless and without support. Through out this whole period, Lenin who had returned to Russia in April was fiercely publicising his April Theses and he was gaining some supporters, until he fled to Finland after the July Days. A time when a disorderly, armed mob full of soldiers ran onto the Petrograd streets, trying to overthrow the Provincial Government. Lenin grudgingly supported the attempt at revolution, but it was suppressed.
The government again made the situation for the Bolsheviks more beneficial when they were threatened with the Kornilov Plot. Kornilov was a General in the Russian army who was plotting to take troops under his control back to Petrograd from the front and destroy the Soviets and the Bolshevik leaders, some believe he wanted to restore power to the Tsar. Kerensky thought he might have wanted to overthrow the
Provincial Government as well and take power for himself. Trotsky was the temporary Bolshevik leader as Lenin was in Finland after the July Days. It is probably true that Lenin was in contact with Trotsky while he was in hiding, but it was Trotsky that made sure the Kornilov Plot failed and did not take place. He sent agents of Bolsheviks to the front where they gave Kornilov’s soldiers doubts and encouragement to desert. They were very successful – Kornilov failed to have an army when it was time to motivate his Plot. In case the Bolshevik agents were not successful, Kerensky gave arms and ammunition to the Bolsheviks to protect Petrograd as the Provincial Government had no fighting force under their power. He released Bolshevik leaders from their imprisonment after the July Days. Trotsky with his efficient and now equipped Red Guards, the Bolshevik’s personal army, gained credit for the failure of the Kornilov Plot, and recognition among the public as a serious, dedicated party. These gains made the Bolshevik revolution even more likely.
The Provincial Government had further faults. Their government was based on middle class values and allowed free speech and free press. Kerensky’s ministers didn’t stop support gathering for Socialist parties, plotting to overthrow it and revolutionaries were free to criticise the government. They did not suppress the Bolsheviks enough to prevent danger and did too little too late.
Lenin was exiled to Siberia in 1897 because of his revolutionary demonstrations and activities against the Tsar. From 1900, he moved and lived in Western Europe and wrote many books. After the March revolution he returned to Russia in April 1917. Lenin was completely taken by surprise by the news of the revolution, when he heard while in Switzerland. The Bolshevik revolution couldn’t have happened without the March revolution. Lenin was not involved with the fall of the Tsar.
Lenin was a captivating speaker. He managed to change the views of his Party from April and held long speeches at Bolshevik conferences and in public, sometimes speaking for over 90 minutes. He obtained short, simple, memorable slogans; giving the people directly what they wanted to hear. “Peace, Bread, Land!” and “All power to the Soviets” were widely used, bringing together his policies to end the war, provide food, and legalise land reform. Guided by Lenin, the party membership grew from 2600 to 2000000 between April and August.
The Bolshevik party was highly organised. A central committee ran the Party with local committees in factories and the army. A private army was set up in the Petrograd factories and was trained by Trotsky. The Party ran numerous newspapers including the Pravada: truth. The Party had some funding from the German government because they called for peace and the Germans thought that the Bolsheviks would overthrow the Provincial Government. Discipline was valued highly and unlike other opposing parties, the Bolsheviks were unified and could back up their promises. Other propaganda won many to their support. Lenin held onto his determined ideas and he was clear with what he wanted.
On the 6th of November 1917, the Provincial Government prepared for a Bolshevik coup. They cut telephone wires to the Bolshevik headquarters and raised bridges over the River Neva. Three detachments of cadets, a woman’s death battalion, a bicycle unit and 40 war invalids
were stationed to defend the Winter Palace, where the second Congress was being held with only some light artillery. The army did not send any machine guns to help. The Bolsheviks one by one, gained control of post offices, railways, banks, bridges and the military headquarters. No shots were fired and there was very little if any resistance. The next day, two confusing messages were sent out to the public. One by Lenin stating that the Provincial government had been overthrown, and one from the Petrograd Soviet, stating that they considered that the Second Congress had not taken place. The Provincial government was ordered to surrender at 6:30pm on the 7th of November. At first blank shots were fired but then guns of the Peter Paul Fortress opened fire. It later became a standing joke with Soviet film makers that more damage was done to the Winter Palace in the film ‘October’ than in the actual Bolshevik revolution. At 2:10 am the Provincial Government was arrested. The only masses that entered the Winter Palace after it ceased defending itself. It was vandalised and looted by soldiers and men drunk on the Palace’s wine store. Lenin did not take a critical role in the events of the November 1917 revolution, his presence was there, but he had hid through most of it so not to be recognised through his disguise and he heard rather than saw the revolutionary coup had worked.
I have already said that the Bolshevik revolution in November 1917 could not have happened without the March revolution. By the time Lenin reached Russia the people, not the Bolsheviks had already overthrown the Tsar. After his death, Lenin was portrayed as a man who founded the whole Russian revolution. He was only involved in the revolution after he returned from exile in April, given pass by the Germans who thought he might be able to overthrow the Provincial Government. He was organised and knew what he wanted and was encircled by loyal followers like Trotsky who proved invaluable. It is true that some main ideas came from other men, but Lenin was ultimately responsible for his Party and its actions. He was in exile for some months of 1917, and the circumstances that Russia was facing gave the Bolshevik party a huge boost. It was Lenin though who insisted that they had to overthrow the Provincial government by force and that they do it soon. It was Lenin’s April Theses, for a while unsupported, that outlined in the end how the Bolsheviks gained a lot of support. I believe however, it was not just Lenin and Trotsky that brought around the Bolshevik revolution. The Provincial Government helped the Bolsheviks gain support by their mistakes and gave the Bolsheviks fuel to use against them. Other parties were disorganised and the people were induring food shortages and bad conditions, they had little else to turn to. On the night of the November revolution there was little resistance and only 1 in 600 Russians supported the Bolsheviks. However, it remains that Lenin knew he was going to die and he wanted to be alive to see the revolution. It was Lenin who insisted and pushed the Bolsheviks into motion. I think he was an important factor in the November 1917 revolution, but there were many other factors that allowed the Bolshevik revolution to take place. Alone he could not have made the revolution happen, but it was all other contributing events that brought the revolution together.