Before the arrival of Lenin, the Provisional Government was doing very well, they had passed new laws which made the people feel as though there was a new Russia, however they didn’t tackle main problems like giving land to peasants and the shortage of food and the war. This shows that they were unable to cope under pressure and needed time to sort out these things. The Provisional Government didn’t want to pull out of the war because they had taken lots of war loans from the Allies so if they pulled out of the war, they would have to pay all the war loans back and this would result in the economy collapsing, this would also have resulted in all of the peasant soldiers going back to their homes with nothing to do and there was a chance that they could have started rioting, so the Provisional Government had to stay in the war.
The Germans supported Lenin financially and let him travel safely through their country in order to get into Russia, therefore Lenin evidently had a high ‘nuisance value’ and must have had something to do with the Bolshevik revolution. Before the arrival of Lenin, the Bolsheviks were supportive of the Provisional Government but on his arrival, they changed their view and wanted to over throw it. This shows that Lenin was a strong character and must have made some drastic changes for the Bolsheviks.
When Lenin arrived in Russia, it seemed unlikely that he would manage to overthrow the Provisional Government. This is because there were only 24,000 Bolsheviks in the whole Russian population, so they didn’t stand much of a chance of organising a successful coup. They had no role in the February revolution as the leaders were not in the country, Trotsky had been in New York, Stalin had been in Siberia and Lenin had been in Switzerland therefore they were not in the Provisional Government, did not have a say in the Provisional Government and were a minority in the Petrograd Soviets. However, the Bolsheviks were financed by Germany, and they influenced a relatively small urban population of about 2 million. Lenin was a very good, aggressive communicator and public speaker, which gained the support of many people; he also used this to point out all of the faults and weaknesses of the Provisional Government.
The sharing out of land was very important to the peasants of Russia because they relied on themselves for food, and without land, they could not grow it. Kerensky was a SR, this meant that he wanted to give land to the peasants. However, he went back on his promise and did not share out the land, this is because he had to work with a coalition of unwilling landowners. The minister of agriculture, Victor Chernov’s criticism of the Provisional Government helped Lenin. Lenin changed his view from the government should keep the land for the country’s own good to ‘land to the peasants’, even though it was against Marxist ideology. He even went into the army and encouraged officers and soldiers to go back home and to seize their own land, this weakened the army and made hunger and land seem more important than fighting the war. Kerensky’s failure to work with his own government, gave Lenin the opportunity to manipulate the failure in order to help himself and the Bolsheviks as well as hindering Kerensky’s support in and outside the Provisional Government.
During the summer of 1917, there were two main events that show the Provisional Government losing support and Lenin’s luck and skill at exploiting mistakes made by Kerensky. These two events were the July days and the Kornilov revolt.
The July days show that 100,000 people in St Petersburg did not respect the government as they were taking part in a demonstration but it also shows that there were approximately 2 million people in St Petersburg that supported the Provisional Government as the Bolsheviks failed to seize power. Kerensky came across as a good leader as he managed to put the coup down, but because he used extreme violence, he lost credibility, genuine support and long term respect. Kerensky also got troops from outside of St Petersburg; this made him look like the Tsar as he was ruling through repression. Kerensky said that Lenin was a German spy and that he was a traitor. This lost Bolsheviks some credibility. Throughout the demonstration, the words ‘all power to the soviets’ was shouted, this shows that the demonstration was not necessarily Bolshevik but soviet, it seems that the demonstrators wanted another part of the government to have more power.
The July days show that the Bolsheviks were weak but clever and knew which direction to go in. They were weak because after the demonstration, many Bolshevik leaders were arrested and Lenin fled into the countryside with a damaged reputation. However, they also come across as quote clever, as they realised that they could exploit the people that are also dissatisfied but not Bolsheviks. Kerensky comes across as a good leader but, because he used the army, he lost credibility.
The Kornilov revolt made the Provisional Government look as though they were overshadowed by the Bolsheviks as they had been helped out by the enemies and traitors, Kerensky was forced to arm the Bolsheviks, led by Trotsky, founder of the ‘red guards’. Kerensky comes across as quite foolish as he appointed Kornilov in the first place and had given him the power to be able to revolt against the Provisional Government. The Kornilov revolt showed that Kerensky was not admired by everybody. The Bolsheviks come across as heroic and loyal to Russia. The revolt helped to restore their reputation that was damaged during the July Days. It shows that they are not unorganised and that Trotsky (founder of the ‘red guards’) had done a good job. They also become more credible.
The last few weeks of the Provisional Government’s rule, highlight Lenin’s successes and Kerensky failings. The Kornilov revolt shows Kerensky and the Provisional Government became weak and highlights how they lost control. The Provisional Government was forced to arm their enemies. Kerensky was discredited by having appointed Kornilov. Kornilov, who was very close to the Provisional Government and as he revolted it shows that people were losing confidence in the Provisional Government. The revolt was very successful for the Bolsheviks as they were released and armed, branded heroes from the right wing ‘dictator’ and Lenin returned into Russia.
The results of the Soviet elections also show Lenin as being successful and Kerensky failing. The Dual authority collapsed because the Bolsheviks dominated the Soviet, this made it hard for the Provisional Government to assert its power over the people because of Order Number One. The Bolsheviks dominate the Soviet, they see an increase in popularity.
The Bolsheviks were successful in gaining military power because Trotsky took his opportunity and started to train the Red Guard. Also because the Bolsheviks controlled the Petrograd Soviets they had control of the army through Order Number One and the garrison announced loyalty to Bolsheviks, Kerensky no longer controlled the garrison that refused to go to the front line and fight as they declared themselves loyal to the Bolsheviks. The Provisional Government only had the loyalty of new units that were set up to defend revolutions i.e. women and cadets. This was a major failure for Kerensky as he could no longer keep the war effort going.
Kerensky failed to make good political decisions. He was as ‘out of touch’ as the Tsar when he tried to order the garrison the front line. Whereas Lenin used all of his powers of persuasion to make the Bolsheviks stage the coup.
Therefore, the takeover succeeded because the Provisional Government had not delivered all of its promises or fulfilled the people’s hopes. The people became apathetic of what he did. Kerensky also had left the capital which is a key error as it became very difficult to reclaim it. The Bolsheviks succeeded because they planned a surprise coup and took over key positions in the city. The Bolsheviks used Lenin’s leadership and persuasive powers to the fullest extent. They were also able to control most of the army in the capital. This was very successful for Lenin as the takeover succeeded and a failure for Kerensky as the Provisional Government was no longer in control.
I think that the Bolshevik revolution is best explained by mostly Lenin’s successes because he was able to act quickly and decisively when necessary, he was able to exploit the Provisional Governments weaknesses and could exploit dissatisfied demonstrators to his advantage. But partly Kerensky’s failure because Lenin was always able to exploit the situation and make it favour himself and the Bolsheviks and Kerensky made the mistake of appointing Kornilov, as his revolt in August armed the Bolsheviks and restored their reputation.
