In 1911 Stolypin was assassinated and, in the years 1911-1914, protests and strikes

        In 1911 Stolypin was assassinated and, in the years 1911-1914, protests and strikes began to increase. Nicholas II took Russia into the First World War. The First World War had created conditions in Russia that favoured the revolution. The war worsened Russian conditions, food and fuel shortages in the town led to protests and strikes, the agricultural system crumbled due to lack of workers, the railway system began to collapse, it was increasingly difficult to get food and fuel supplies to the city. Bad leadership in the front and lack of equipment and clothing led to mutinies in the army. The war speeded up the process of change-people had soon had enough with the Tsar and of what they thought was a pointless war. Most people wanted a short victorious war, but there was a shortage of rifles and other munitions equipment, military leadership was bad. In cities like Petrograd many strikes and demonstrations took place. By 1917, the army was no longer supporting the Tsar. He now had no effective means of suppressing the revolt, so this led to the Tsar’s abdication. However this is not the most important cause for the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power in 1917 because Lenin persuaded people to join his party and go against the government by using Marxist views.

Lenin was the Bolshevik leader. He was a cleaver thinker and a practical man-e knew how to take advantage of events. In April 1917 Lenin returned to Russia via Germany in a sealed train in order to take control of the revolution and impose communism on the Russian people. The Germans hoped that Lenin would cause so much trouble in Russia, that Russia would be forced out of the war. In the summer and autumn of 1917, Lenin concentrated on building support with the factory workers, publishing propaganda in Bolshevik newspapers, expanding membership of the Bolshevik Party and creating an army called the Red Guards by arming workers with guns. Much of Lenin’s success at building support for the Bolsheviks came from German financial support. The Bolsheviks followed the theories of Karl Marx who argued that the workers of the world should unite to throw off their chains. Marx argued a violent revolution was justified. An equal society should be formed. Capitalism should be abolished. Everything should be nationalised and run by the state and everyone should be obedient to the state.  Lenin issued a document called the April Theses promising peace, bread, land and freedom. On 24th October 1917 the Bolsheviks led a second revolution in Russia. The Bolshevik Red Guards led a revolution against the Provisional Government by seizing control of stations, telephone exchanges, post offices, the national bank and the Winter Palace in Petrograd. This is the most important reason for the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power in 1917 as if there was not the appeal of Lenin and the Bolsheviks there would not have been anyone to organise and plan the revolution.

The appeal of Lenin and the Bolsheviks is the most important cause for the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power in 1917 as Lenin was the person who organised most of the revolution. Lenin’s April theses encouraged workers and peasants to take action. If there was no appeal of Lenin and the Bolsheviks there would have not been anyone to plan the overthrowing of Kerensky and his provisional government. If poor living and working conditions had been the main reason for the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power in 1917 the revolution would have occurred much sooner as poor working and living conditions had existed all the way and peasant’s conditions had been dreadful for a long time.