The policies that the Provisional Government did create were unpopular. The decision to continue the war created a lot of opposition as that was what many revolutionary’s protested against the Tsar in the first place. They also did not legitimise the peasant take-overs of land that were happening, this angered the peasants who were less than willing to supply food to the cities. The Provisional Government also lost support of the national minorities by refusing to give them a degree of autonomy. The Provisional Government did nothing amount the deteriorating economy, there were food shortages and rising prices. This radicalised workers who would eventually contribute to the Bolshevik takeover.
Another contribution were the mistakes by Kerensky. In June 1917 he launched a new offensive against Germany that was a huge failure. He was already becoming discredited as he was addicted to morphine and cocaine, and the Kornilov affair left him totally discredited. This meant that Military Officers would not fight for him as they felt he had betrayed Kornilov he might try and betray them. This was a strike of luck for the Bolsheviks, who emerged as heroes and were also now equipped with weapons given to them by Kerensky to fight Kornilov. Kerensky underestimated the Bolsheviks and moved against them in October. This gave them an excuse to seize power, it increased their popularity and allowed them to claim they were seizing power in the name of the soviet.
The Bolsheviks became directly linked with opposition to the Provisional Government, the other socialist party’s had been identified with the discredited Provisional Government. Their policies were what the workers and soldiers wanted, their slogan Peace, Bread and All Power to the Soviets was exactly what they wanted. Also the Bolsheviks were the only party that wanted to stop the war, this greatly increased their popularity. The promise of land redistribution gained the tactic support of the peasants.
Lenin was seen as a great leader of the Bolsheviks, his power and prestige in the party meant he could force through policy decisions such as the April thesis, and he also persuaded the party to have the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks were seen to have good organisation and followed directions from the leaders, in contrast to other parties such as the Socialist Revolutionaries who lacked organisation and strong leadership. Trotsky persuaded Lenin to postpone the date of the takeover, this was very important as it meant that the Bolsheviks could then later take power in the name of the Soviets.
Another factor in the takeover was luck. Lenin was allowed to return to Russia by Germany as the Germans wanted Lenin to seize power and stop the war, which would mean they could fight on just one front, many people believe that if Lenin had not been allowed back there would have been no October Revolution as he would have not persuaded the party to. The military and Economic collapse created an opportunity which the Bolsheviks seized. The army was weak and many were starving. The radicalised workers who favoured soviet power supported the Bolsheviks as they were using the image of the soviets. Also as Kerensky underestimated them this meant the take over was relatively easy. The Bolsheviks had their greatest number of supporters around Petrograd and Moscow, particularly soldiers and sailors. This meant that the takeover of these key points would be made possible. Although only a small minority of the Petrograd garrison supported the Bolsheviks, the majority of the soldiers refused to oppose them and remained neutral – this guarantied the Bolsheviks success as they had less opposition from the army.
All the factors play an important role – the problems of the Provisional Government, Bolshevik strengths, weaknesses of other parties and luck. However I think that the problems of the Provisional Government were the main reason the Bolsheviks could seize power, as they now only had to fight an enemy that was weak, both in supporters and in the military.
