By the increase of Bolshevik members from 25,000 in February to 75,000 in April, it is clear that Lenin was performing as a very able leader for the Bolshevik party. Even with this huge increase of support, he still realised that this platform wasn’t sufficient enough to perform a launch for power. His patience in gathering followers and anticipating the effects of fewer followers clearly defines Lenin as a remarkable leader and the main reason for the Bolshevik success. He sought to gather more followers by his issuing of the April theses which were a series of policies, designed to exploit the flaws and frustrations within the army, the peasantry, and the industrial working class.
Within the April theses Lenin expressed views of the land. The early 20th century saw the Russian peasants hunger for land. This is due to two main causes – one of which is the measly 1/3 of Russian arable land sold to peasants after the abolishment of serfdom (1861), and the second being the huge rural population increase from 70 million (1861) to 130 million (1917). With so little land, coupled with so many occupants, the usefulness of the land began to dim. The Bolsheviks came as a saviour to the peasant’s problem with the “All land to the peasantry” policy – put forward by Lenin in the April Theses – which greatly appealed to peasants and involved forceful land seizures by the peasants, upon the wealthy in 1917. This course of action is of course opposed to the Provisional Government, which was against illegal seizures. Lenin’s intelligence in appealing to the peasantry – which made up the largest proportion of the population – simultaneously downsizing the power, aims and nature of the Provisional Government allowed the Bolshevik’s to gain the advantage over their opponents.
The April Theses also tackled the issue of peace – or in other words, peace from WW1 which was crippling the economy of the country and causing widespread disapproval. Whilst the Mensheviks and SRs sought a policy of ‘revolutionary defensism’ – in which they fought defensively and encouraged peace and treaties amongst nations – Lenin realised that not all nations were ready to negotiate peace, therefore, he cleverly negotiated directly with the Central Powers, and in doing so, he aligned the Bolsheviks with the trend of opinion in Petrograd. In contrast with this, the Provisional Government began to lose favour with the citizens; thereby allowing the Bolsheviks gain more support, leading to an easier takeover. Without Lenin’s intelligent negotiations with the war and land, the Bolsheviks will not have gained so much favour with citizens – furthermore, Lenin also gained the favour of the Petrograds, this meant that the Bolsheviks, partnered with the Petrograd Soviets, will have been able to win elections and seize control. This is as they’ve done in the results of the Constituent Assembly election (November 1917) in which the Bolsheviks gained 24% of the votes, with the SRs in front with 53%. These results clearly shows that the Bolsheviks were gaining favour and coupled with the SR, would have been undefeatable.
Although Lenin’s leadership of the Bolshevik’s into their victory is most probably the main reason for their success, one must consider the weaknesses and failures of the Provisional Government, which in turn allowed the Bolsheviks, and Lenin, to gain support. In contradiction with Lenin and the Bolsheviks, the Provisional Government decided to continue the war; leading to more inflation at home, which severely disrupts the economy and created widespread opposition at home – moreover, with Kerensky’s blunders such as his offensive against Germany, it is no wonder that the Provisional Government began to lose contact and favour with the citizens of the nation. These severe negative impacts on the Government were not helped by the fact that they failed to call the Constituent Assembly early enough – therefore, the Bolsheviks who honed a more hands on approach were favoured much more by the peasants and the citizens as opposed to the weak, indecisive and incompetent actions of the Provisional Government.