All trade unions were banned in Russia, however illegal ones were set up none the less. In 1898 the extreme communist party, the Russian Social Democratic party held their first congress. However many of the leaders were arrested, including Lenin, who was to play a major role in the later revolution. He was sent into exile in Siberia, where he later escaped from into Europe in the year 1900.
In 1902 Lenin issued a thesis that set out his beliefs and aims of what should happen to Russia. In this thesis he stated that he wanted all of the land and wealth in Russia to be re-distributed evenly amongst all of the people. He states that a highly organised party will be needed to bring about the revolutions that will achieve a socialist state. In short Lenin wanted a radical shake up in Russia with a communist system in place, resulting in a socialist state where everyone is equal and has equal land. Again this is quite a major factor in contributing to the revolution because of the effect that it has on the party.
These radical ideas that Lenin has caused a split in the Russian Social Democratic party. In 1903 it split into the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, the Bolsheviks being led by Lenin and the Mensheviks being led by Martov. Stalin went with the Bolsheviks and Trotsky went with the Mensheviks. The Bolshevik party that was formed was the main contributor to the revolution in 1917 as they were the ones that would eventually overthrow the provisional government. However that revolution would never have been able to take place without the social and political factors in Russia at the time, as well as the contribution of the First World War.
In the year 1905 the Tsar faced two very tough tests in order to remain in control of Russia. First of all there was an attempted revolution by the people of Russia, including the Social Democrats, the Social Revolutionaries, the middle class and the very extreme political parties in Russia. They all wanted to get rid of the autocratic system that was in place under the Tsar and replace it with a democracy. However the revolution was not organised enough to take over Russia and was unsuccessful. The second problem faced by the tsar in the same year was that Russia went to war with Japan and was embarrassingly defeated. The Japanese sank the Russian fleet almost immediately and this caused even more pressure to build up towards the Tsar, this inevitably contributed to the Bolsheviks seizing power in 1917.
The workers in Russia were still highly unsatisfied with how they were being treated. They were fed up of the poor pay and living conditions so they went on strike in attempt to make the Tsar give in to them. The Tsar saw off these protests by the workers but pressure was still mounting on him. The Russian workers made a desperate attempt to make the Tsar give in to them by murdering his uncle. Under enormous pressure the Tsar backed down and gave concessions to the workers starting by setting up a parliament, known as the Duma, which was set up in 1905 and eventually lasted until 1917. Following more strikes by the workers the Tsar is forced to make more concessions, such as the allowance of trade unions and official political parties being set up. Another revolution in the December of 1905 came to nothing and only really succeeded in the setting up of the Duma, which was virtually powerless anyway. Despite elections being held by the Duma the country was still an autocracy, which consequently still meant the Tsar had the power to over rule any decisions made, which is exactly what he did. In the first two elections, the resulting parties proved too extreme so the Tsar dissolved the elections. So the Duma was worthless if the Tsar could just dissolve the elections if he didn't like the result. The Prime Minister at the time was called Stolypin, he suggested that the system was changed so that the people can vote. The result of which means a Conservative Party is voted in.
At this time a number of extreme parties were banned by the Tsar and made illegal, this meant that Lenin was again forced to flee the country as the Bolsheviks were included in this. Stolypin then began to make a number of reforms including agricultural and land ownership reforms. Russia is now in a much more stable position due to these reforms and some of the richer peasants prospered. The Social Revolutionaries were not happy with the reforms that had taken place, so blaming Stolypin for this they assassinated him. Now Russia had become very unstable due to the constant disagreements between the workers, the Tsar and the political parties. This instability laid the groundwork for the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, as there was mass discontent among all of the Russian citizens.
Ill feeling grew towards the Tsar as the public and other politicians became suspicious of his relationship with a priest named Rasputin. It seemed to them that the Tsar was weak and could be manipulated by Rasputin. He was very close to the Romanov family, as he was believed to have healed the Tsar's ill son. He became very close to the family as a result of this, but others did not like Rasputin as he had a reputation for being addicted to sex and attending brothels as well as being homosexual. This further reduced people's opinion of the Tsar and led them to ask questions about whether he should be in charge if he was being manipulated by this unsavoury character.
Public opinion of the Tsar was diminishing rapidly. If the situation was bad then it was made even worse when Russia entered WW1 in August 1914. She had the largest army in the world, but was still poorly trained and poorly equipped. No one in Russia wanted the war. Despite it being against a lot of peoples moral issues it was disastrous economically. There were huge food shortages and a much better equipped German army was slaughtering millions of Russian peasants who were being conscripted to fight. The Tsar took over as commander of the army and was therefore blamed by all of the Russians for the huge losses in the war. Eventually the pressure proved too much and, in March 1917, the Tsar was forced to abdicate. This meant Russia became very politically unstable and was an ideal situation for a revolution to take place.
A provisional government was put into place, but this was unpopular and weak. Without this government being put into place it is debatable whether or not the Bolsheviks would have been able to seize power in Petrograd or not. But this government was weak and put up hardly any resistance to the Bolsheviks taking power. With a stronger government in place it might have been more difficult for the Bolsheviks to take over. The unpopularity of the provisional government gave people the opportunity to revolt. Which of course lead to the revolution.
Another unquestionably important factor in the Bolsheviks taking power was when the German government transported Lenin in the infamous "sealed train" from exile in Switzerland, across imperial Germany, and into Petrograd on April 3 1917. They did this in the hope that Lenin would create enough unrest and revolution to remove Russia from the war against Germany. When Lenin returned, the Bolsheviks shifted into high gear. They were going nowhere before the return of Lenin and may well have not had the drive and organisation to attempt to take over Petrograd. The return of Lenin caused an intensified effort to push for power by the Bolsheviks.
In June, the Menshevik Petrograd Soviet called the in an effort to take some control over the revolution. They were met with intensified efforts from the radical left as soldiers and workers marched against the Soviet and the Provisional Government. The crisis culminated in the , when soldiers and workers, with the aid of Bolshevik operatives, rioted and protested throughout the country. Troops loyal to the Provisional Government eventually stopped the revolt by the end of the month, but the event highlighted the sense of constant violence, the recognition of a number of serious flaws in the way Russia was being run, and the government's inability to handle these problems. It had been proved that the Provisional Government was weak and the Bolsheviks had laid the groundwork for their eventually successful revolution.
An extremely unwise move by the leader of the Provisional Government, Kerensky, was to release the Bolsheviks who had been imprisoned after the July Days riots and arm them in order to put down an attempted revolution by Kornilov, the new supreme commander of the army, and his men. The Bolsheviks agreed to help but made it clear they were fighting against Kornilov's troops and not in support of the government. In just a few days, they raised an army of 25,000 and fortified the city. Kornilov's soldiers did not attempt to take over Petrograd. Kornilov was arrested, his general committed suicide, and Kerensky had a new and just as severe, if not more severe problem on his hands. The Bolsheviks now had control of the Soviets and the Red Guard, control of Petrograd, and a small but well organised and army. The Mensheviks had allied themselves with Kerensky; Kerensky had tried to make a deal with the landowners, and sent the Cossacks out to subdue the revolutionaries in the countryside. None of this was well received by the workers. At the urging of Trotsky, the Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace, Kerensky fled, and the Bolsheviks had control of Petrograd.
In my opinion the two most important factors in allowing the Bolsheviks to seize power are the effects of the First World War and the unpopularity of the provisional government. If either of these did not happen then it is quite possible that there would never have been a revolution by the Bolsheviks. If I had to choose one then it would be the effects of the First World War because this made the working and living conditions worse which made the people force the Tsar to abdicate which gave the provisional government which made the people revolt against it. Also indirectly if there had been no war then perhaps Lenin would not have got back into Russia because the only reason that the Germans helped him get back was because they correctly thought he would create havoc in Russia and thus make Russia to surrender to Germany. But having considered all of the possible factors in allowing the Bolsheviks to power I have to conclude that the factors all pieced together in one big chain. Without one of the factors it may not have happened. However I believe that it was inevitable that a revolution would take place, it was just a matter of who would seize the chance, which is what the Bolsheviks did. They did not need to use hardly any force to take over the city, nor was there a great number of Bolshevik supporters in Russia, they were just the ones that acted most swiftly, under the expert guidance of Lenin.
