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The October/ November 1917 Revolution

Build-up to the Oct Rev:

16th Jun – 7th Jul:

  • 1st All-Russian Congress of Soviets meet
  • 1,090 delegates from across the country
  • 285 – SRs, 105 – Bols (Lenin announces they are ready to take over, laughable comment)

*Kornilov affair changes Bols luck, helping to suppress right-wing military takeover makes them heroes

9th Sep:

  • Bols have majority in Petrograd Soviet
  • Committed members
  • Mens/SRs stop going to meetings, Bols stay
  • Become majority since there are fewer people to have a majority over

12th Sep – 14th Sep:

  • Lenin (in Finland) starts to urge takeover of PG
  • Ignored by other Bols in Central Committee (other leaders e.g., Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev)

25th Sep:

  • Trotsky = chairman of PS
  • Soviet has moved further left

 

  • Meanwhile, PG has moved further right – Kerensky becomes c-i-c of army
  • Lenin says that there is a choice between Soviet gov. and Kornilovism (military gov.)

7th Oct:

  • Lenin re-arrives in Petrograd
  • Really wants to do a second revolution and take over
  • 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets (Oct 26th)

– Lenin can announce revolution there, Bols will support while others will walk out

  • Constituent Assembly elections (Nov 12th)

– Members of new Parliament

– Lenin feared Bols would lose election

– Wanted to cease power before the election, and then dismiss it

  • Kerensky tries to organise a pre-Parliament

– Pre-Parliament = multi-party committee to advise gov.

– It would make PG seem just and strong

– Bols aren’t involved with the PG, but if PG support increases, Bols support will decrease

  • After the Kornilov affair

– Kerensky seems weak, Bols seem good

  • Germans were getting closer to Petrograd

– Feared a German takeover

– Germans would take over Petrograd if Lenin remained

10th Oct:

  • Lenin forces his way
  • Tells Central Committee to agree that they should have a rev
  • No date set – just ‘soon’
  • Kamenev and Zinoviev disagree – publish disagreements in newspaper ‘Novaia Zhizn’ (new life)

18th Oct:

  • Kamenev and Zinoviev publish the newspaper

23rd Oct:

  • Kerensky sees article, panics and overreacts
  • Triggers rev, becomes a catalyst
  • Rounded up leaders, tries to close Pravda, restrict MRC and raise bridges
  • Lenin sees Kerensky’s response and realises he must act now
  • Response seen as a defence of the revolution and PS

*In PS, fear of a German takeover led to MRC – Military Revolutionary Committee

               – MRC has a three-part leadership (troika) – Trotsky is one of these leaders

               – Smolny Institute (Bols HQ) – Trotsky organises final stages of rev

24th Oct:

  • Lenin decided to use MRC to take over Petrograd quietly
  • Take over bridges, telegraph stations, trains etc.
  • Restrict anything that Kerensky could use
  • Seen as a defence of the PS, rumours that Kerensky would abandon Petrograd to the Germans
  • Petrograd garrison told to stand down, because MRC were now in control

25th Oct:

  • Bols in control of Petrograd except Winter Palace
  • Aurora battleship is stationed outside the Winter Palace on the river
  • Don’t have ammunition but fire blanks at the palace (21:40)
  • Most people in the Winter Palace leave without locking the door but some stay

26th Oct:

  • Bols walk into Winter Palace (2:00 am)
  • Little resistance
  • 6 people killed, possibly Bols killing Bols by accident
  • PG had trainee soldiers and Amazons (female soldiers), don’t fight back
  • BOLS TAKE OVER
  • Immediate threat from General Krasnov (organised by Kerensky) – no nearer than edges of city
  • In 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Trotsky says PS has seized power
  • Right SRs and Mens walk out
  • Trotsky says they go into ‘the dustbin of history’
  • Bols now have full control of PS

27th Oct:

  • Kamenev = chairman of ARCS
  • Announces there is a new gov. – Sovnarkom (Soviet, Narodnik, Kommisar) = council of people’s commissars
  • Made up of Bols and left SRs (some eventually become Bols)
  • Moscow takeover took 70 days
  • Bloody fighting, unlike Petrograd

Was the Oct Rev a coup d’état or a popular revolution?

Popular – lots of people, planned – Soviet historians

+ Bols had a majority in the PS

+ Had lots of supporters

Popular/coup? – Revisionist historians – relook at evidence e.g., Sheila Fitzpatrick

**Coup – small group of people, quiet (surprise) – Western historians e.g., Orlando Figes

– No paralysis of city

– No mass demonstrations, people didn’t realise it happened

How did the Bols seize power?

BOLS SKILL:

– Bols were opposed to the PG (April Thesis), weren’t tainted like other parties

– Secured support of peasants by promising land redistribution, albeit from the SRs

– Lenin = strong, determined, could force decisions in party

– Trotsky – postponed date of uprising and organised takeover. Support of ARCS was tactical

– Bols carried on opposing war – increased support

– Radical policies in tune with workers and soldiers’ wishes – ‘peace, bread, land’

– Good organisation despite being undisciplined

KERENSKY’S FAILINGS:

– Half-hearted attempt to stop coup – by shutting down newspapers, played into hands of Bols

– Underestimated strength of Bols, gave them an excuse to seize power (in name of Soviet)

– Kornilov affair – Kerensky = discredited, officers wouldn’t fight for Kerensky in fear of being betrayed

– Kerensky Offensive failure

PG FAILINGS:

– Failure to undertake radical land redistribution – rift with peasants; they didn’t supply food to cities

– Divisions between socialists and liberals – lack of clear policies, blocked each other

– Decision to continue war = opposition and associated problems

– PG betrayed masses of the people

– All authority was gone, no civil order

– Issues of dual power – caused conflicts

– Made everything too legal and time-consuming

– Failure to hold Constituent Assembly elections early enough

– Lost support of national minorities – refused to give autonomy

– Saw itself as temporary body – did not make long-term decisions

– Real practical power held by soviets

– Did not restore economy/carry out social reforms – led to radicalisation of workers

– Lacked knowledge of running a gov

LUCK:

– Military and economic collapse gave Bols opportunity – which they seized

– Bols supporters were in Petrograd and Moscow – key places in revolution

– Majority of garrison were neutral, refused to fight against Bols – only some actively supported them

OTHER:

– Radicalised workers who favoured soviet power were prepared to support Bols

– Moderate socialists lost contact with supporters – workers and peasants

– Kadets moved further right and identified with industrialists, reactionary military officers and landowners, as they were alarmed by the violence of the working class

SUMMARY:

How were the Bols able to seize power?

  • Failure of PG
  • No Constituent Assembly
  • ‘Temporary’ body
  • WW1 continued
  • Kornilov Affair
  • Power vacuum
  • Lack of resistance
  • PG buckled
  • Other groups caught up with Marxist discussions
  • SRs and Mens walked out of PS
  • No effective action taken against Bols despite publishing of plans in Novaia Zhizn
  • Brilliance of leaders and Bols planning
  • Trotsky
  • Use of MRC
  • Use of PS
  • Control of railways and telephone exchanges
  • Thorough planning e.g., coinciding coup with 2nd ARCS
  • Lenin
  • Determined
  • Use of memorable slogans e.g., ‘Peace, bread, land’ and ‘All power to the soviets’
  • Overcame resistance inside party
  • Did not compromise with other parties on 26th Oct

Conclusion:

– Bols took over mainly due to external factors

– However, Lenin’s determination and Trotsky’s military genius = able to capitalise problems of PG

– BUT relied on violence to consolidate rule though, were not set leaders, had to win civil war