Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power successfully in November 1917?

In November 1917 the Bolsheviks seized power of Petrograd, Russia’s capital. The Bolsheviks were a socialist group who wanted to overthrow the Provisional Government. I will divide my essay into 3 groups - the mistakes of the provisional government, the appeal of the Bolsheviks, and the actually events of 6th to the 8th of November 1917 when the Bolsheviks captured Petrograd and began there control of Russia.

Firstly the Provisional Government had made many mistakes and a lot of people disliked them and thought it was time for them to go. This was a big factor in helping the Bolsheviks revolution.

The First World War, which was very unpopular, was still going on. There were great casualties and the ‘July Offensive’ had failed dismally. The ‘July Offensive’ was the Russian army’s attempt to push up on the Germans. Instead it resulted in large casualties and Russia losing ground to the Germans. People began to support the Bolsheviks as they had promised to stop this unpopular and unsuccessful war. This popularity in turn helped the Bolsheviks take control of Petrograd.

The Provisional Government made the other mistake of giving everyone free speech. Although freedom of speech is a fundamental right, this turned against the Government. All opposition groups could write and say what they wanted against the Provisional Government, including the Bolsheviks. Good communicating was a massive feature to the Bolshevik uprising. They could plan a revolution easily, they could explain what they would do if they went into power, and say how bad the Provisional Government was.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Also another big problem for the Government was Kornilov’s uprising. This was in September 1917. Kornilov, a supporter of the Tsar, was an army general and with the support of his troops planned to march to the Winter Palace in Petrograd, the Provisional Government’s headquarters. He wanted to take power by force and hand it to the Tsar, who was a prisoner of the Government at the time. The Provisional Government mistakenly gave the Bolsheviks weapons to fight off Kornilov, as the Provisional Government had little support of its army. The Bolsheviks gladly accepted. They knew they would have a lot of weapons to eventually overthrow the Provisional Government. In the end Kornilov didn’t even get to Petrograd and the Bolsheviks were left with a lot of guns and artillery. Having all of these weapons was one of the main reasons to the successful seizing of power in November 1917.

Next the appeal of the Bolsheviks. Although not the most popular in terms of percentage of the Russian population the Bolsheviks had a lot of things on their side.

They were supported by the soviets; these were like workers councils or unions. This meant that most of the working class supported the Bolsheviks. This was a big factor as Petrograd, Russia’s capital and the Bolsheviks first target, was an industrial working class city.

The Bolsheviks were lead be professional revolutionaries. This meant that people like Lenin had spent most of their life planning for this. They were very well organised and when it came to a revolution they could do it very effectively and quickly. Lenin, who was also known as ‘The Pen’ was very good at writing and getting his message to the people. He wrote his April Theses, which in it he writes

‘Peace, Bread, land, all power to the soviets’ Lenin

This made the Bolsheviks very popular. Especially the ‘Peace, bread, land’ part as it was easy to say even if you couldn’t read. The peasants (which made up over 70% of the population) also began to support the Bolsheviks. They were missing their fathers and sons due to the war, many were starving, and they wanted to have their own land.

There were already small riots; these were called the July days. The army shot on the protesters killing over 400 hundred. These riots showed unhappiness in Russia. But maybe most importantly Lenin escaped, allowing him to eventually plan the oust of the Provisional government.

Finally the succession of events of the November 1917 revolution.

As the Bolsheviks had people like Lenin, professional revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks used some very clever tactics. In October 1917 Lenin wrote:

‘Our Three main Forces – the fleet, the workers, and the army units – must be combined so as to occupy and hold without fail and at any cost the telephone exchange, the telegraph station, the railway station, and above all, the bridges.’ Lenin.

Some important things from this source is the main targets ‘the telephone exchange, the telegraph station, the railway station, and above all, the bridges.’ The telephone exchange and the telegraph station are important so the Bolsheviks can get the message out to the rest of Russia that they are know in control of Petrograd and tell them what to do. This statement was issued by Lenin using the telephone exchange and the telegraph station which were captured:

‘To the citizens of Russia! The provisional Government is overthrown!’ Lenin.

Also the Railway station and the bridges are very important so they can get things in and out. Notice the Winter Palace, the Provisional Government’s Headquarters, was not on their list of most important things to capture. They realised it was only a building and has no other use than to house things.

The Bolsheviks had gained a lot of support from a lot of important groups. A large part of the army and some of the navy had lent their support to the Bolsheviks, including the Aurora Warship that was used to shoot at important targets. This was very influential to the eventual overthrow of the Provisional Government. Also the Soviets supported the Bolsheviks, especially important as Petrograd was a working class city and the Soviets could help fund the revolution.

The Provision Government had very little support from the army. Only the Women’s Battalion and the Cadet Officers defended the Winter Palace. However they did have support of an army battalion but they did not come to their rescue

‘They were expected, but didn’t come’ Kerensky (leader of Provisional Government)

In conclusion there were many factors to the over throw of the Provisional Government. The main problems for the Provisional Government being the unpopularity of World War One, Freedom of speech, giving the Bolsheviks weapons, Lenin’s survival, the Bolsheviks tactics in the November 1917 uprising and the lack of support of the army for the Provisional Government.