The Kournilov coup had shown that a right-wing uprising was still possible. In order to see the reasons for the right wing wanting an uprising we need to look at the source. The First World War was the first time that Russia had been involved in since the French had invaded in 1812. In this war Russia had lost three million me, millions were starving back home because all industry was focused on the war effort, the winning of the war seemed impossible. People no longer wanted to fight a war; they would rather admit defeat and conserve what little they had left as opposed to throwing it all away for Russian glory. The failure of the Tsar’s control of the war meant that the demoralisation of the army had started to spread to the Russian people. This led to a gradual collapse in the army and Russia appeared to be on its last legs and both the people and the soldiers knew it. The Army sought hope in the provisional government to end the war after the resignation of the Tsar. At the same time as this the Bolsheviks were spreading propaganda and gaining massive support with the Russian people. The last thing that the Army wanted was a Communist revolution because the need for an army would be very limited and hundreds of thousands would lose their jobs. This worry led to uprisings such as the Kournilov coup in order to try and end Bolshevik influence.
Although the soldiers and army officers had right wing views and feared the loss of their jobs they began to see that a Communist revolution was the only way forward. The loss of life both at the front and back home was too much for Russia to take. It all sparked up at the start of July after the failure of the summer offensive and ultimately the provisional government. The Petrograd garrison were fearful that their regiments would be sent to the front. These were known as the July days. The July days culminated with both citizens, which were armed during the Kournilov coup, and twenty thousand soldiers from the Kronstadt naval base were rushing around the capital looking for blood. They eventually arrived at the palace where they demanded that the soviets take over from the provisional government. The instigator of the socialist revolution, Chemrov, ventured out to came the people down. He was abducted but later rescued by Trotsky. This attack on the government itself showed the resolve of the Bolsheviks and that massive support which they had generated.
Since the February revolution the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Lenin had been gaining gradual support until the July days when they had a massive organisation. Between April and October the Bolsheviks gained two hundred thousand members. Most of this support came from the working class, as the Bolsheviks were the only party seen to be supporting their interests. This was because the provisional government had carried on the war, which led to factory closure due to no male workers, as they were either dead or fighting. This combined with rising unemployment led to a crisis in Russian industry. Bolshevik support was increasing because of this and a special version of the Bolshevik newspaper, the PRAVADA, was being sent to frontline troops. Later on many people saw the Bolsheviks as a separate political party with their own policies such as the ending of the war, the prioritising of food and social reform to the workers. The workers saw a Bolshevik government as the only government that would change things in their favour. In August Bolshevik support grew dramatically when the both the Petrograd soviets and the Mensheviks all joined the Bolsheviks and blamed the vote increase on the government for ‘not giving the people any concrete results’. The reason why the Bolsheviks became so popular and gained so much public support was because they recognised the importance of winning the support of the proletariat. ‘Peace’, ‘Bread’ and ‘Land’ were seen as the three most important factors as well giving power back to the people. The Bolsheviks started off as a small isolated party but by early October they were a very large and significant group whose policies appealed to both the working classes and soldiers alike.
As well as the Bolsheviks and the Army having a part to play in the October revolution the role of the people also had a small part to play. Throughout 1917 inflation increased four fold. The people that bore the brunt of this were the peasants. This meant that people started to starve because they simply could not afford to eat. Middle class support grew for the Bolsheviks because the provisional government had abolished the ownership of land with no compensation. The Bolsheviks promised to give this land back if they got into power. So there were four main groups of people: soldiers, peasants, workers and the middle class landowners. The Bolsheviks made policies that helped each individual group and so increased their support across society as a whole.
All of these factors eventually led to Bolshevik soldiers, gunboats and supporters surrounding the provisional government who had retreated to a mansion just outside of Petrograd. After the gunboats of the navy started to open fire with blanks the government got so scared of being killed that they gave themselves up and the Bolsheviks, under the command of Lenin, took control of Russia. The first thing that they did was the ending of Russia’s involvement in the war.
There were many extensive causes of the October revolution. These were made up of both long term and short-term factors. In the long term the First World War played a massive part in the revolution, as it was the basis of all the failures that were to follow, such as the failure of the Tsar and the July offensive. The February revolution and the abdication of the Tsar were due to the situation of the war, which led to the provisional government taking over the running of the country. The provisional government also worried too much about themselves and not enough about the people. This is why support for the Bolsheviks grew dramatically between February and October. Also the effect o the provisional government on different areas of society also led to a wide range of people including the middle class and formerly right wing soldiers joining the Bolsheviks. In the short term the Kournilov coup hardened the resolve of the Bolsheviks as it was shown that a right wing revolution was still possible but after the failure of the provisional government this seemed very unlikely. Also the failure of the July offensive led by Kerensky was the final straw for the soldiers in the Russian Army, defeat and loss of life as well as starvation at home led them to joining the Bolsheviks.
The revolutions of 1917 proved that Karl Marx’s theory of Communism was correct. According to Marx in order for a Communism system to be put into place there needs to be at least two revolutions. The first is the revolution from feudalism to capitalism. For this their needs to be an upper/middle class revolution in order for a democracy to be formed. We saw this revolution in February 1917 with the forced resignation on the Tsar and the formation of the provisional government. For the transition from capitalism to socialism and ultimately Communism there needs to be a socialist revolution of the working and lower middle classes. We saw this in October 1917 with the abolition of the provisional government by the Bolsheviks. After a socialist revolution it is only a matter of time before Communism becomes common practice. So this series events leading to Communism almost perfectly matches Marx’s theory. Lenin later changed Marx’s theory on Communism by moving straight from Feudalism to Socialism with a class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Ultimately it was the upper and upper middle classes that lost the revolution with the working and lower middle classes ultimately gaining power with the help of the Bolsheviks.
The stem of both the October and February revolution was the First World War. This was because all of the problems attributed to the rise of the Bolsheviks such as starvation, the ending of the war, the failure of the provisional government and the resignation on the Tsar would never have happened had there not have been a war. So the main cause of the October revolution was the First World War, with all of the other problems attributed to it. This revolution paved the way for nearly sixty years of Communism in Russia.
