Essay on Was it Lenin’s leadership that allowed the Bolsheviks to seize control in October 1917?

Submitted By rpooja
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Was it Lenin’s leadership that allowed the Bolsheviks to seize control in October 1917? In October there was another revolution, in which this time the Bolsheviks came to power.
Unlike the Provisional Government, they used this opportunity and acted quickly taking over Russia and taking it out to make reforms
The Bolsheviks won the Civil war, but then put the country in a terrible state. Industries collapsed, food productions dropped and food shortages were getting bigger and bigger, more and more people starving and dying.

Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks. He had returned to Russia in April 1917. He began to stir up opposition to the Provisional Government. Lenin promised to bring an end to the war, to give land to peasants, to give workers control of factories, to take control of the banks and to give power to soviets (councils) of workers and soldiers set up throughout Russia.

General Kornilov was commander in chief of the Russian Army in 1917. He was unhappy with the Provisional Government's war plans. In September 1917, Kornilov ordered his troops to march on Petrograd. He wanted to take control of the Provisional Government and destroy the Petrograd Soviet. The leaders of the Provisional Government had to ask the Bolsheviks' Red Guards to help them defend Petrograd. Kornilov was arrested. The popularity of the Bolsheviks increased amongst the public. Many units of armed soldiers were under the control of the Bolsheviks.

Trotsky was Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, which had a Bolshevik majority, he also ran ‘The Revolutionary Committee’.
The provisional government were unable the violence in the city. On October 22nd a telegram was sent to Kerensky saying ‘There’s nothing you can do but give up’.

The plan to takeover was well planned and organized by Trotsky. He