October Revolution

Question 1

Lenin’s reasons for seising power

Answer 1

Growing support for the Bolshevik Party.

Bolsheviks won 48% of Vote in Moscow election.

The railway and coastal employees were in conflict with the government.

Question 2

What were the September Central Committees attitude towards a coup?

Answer 2

The 12 Man committee were against a coup.

Question 3

Day to day Breakdown of the Oct Rev

Answer 3

📆10 October 1917
Lenin returns secretly to Petrograd.

At a meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee, Lenin persuades them to plan an armed uprising.

Vote: 10–2 in favour of revolution (only Zinoviev and Kamenev opposed).

📆 20 October 1917
Trotsky, as chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, takes control of the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC).

The MRC begins preparing the Red Guards for action.

📆 23 October 1917
Kerensky tries to shut down Bolshevik newspapers (Pravda and Izvestia).

Bolsheviks see this as a provocation and speed up plans for the uprising.

Trotsky and the MRC take full control of planning.

📆 24 October 1917
Red Guards, sailors from Kronstadt, and loyal army units begin seizing control of key infrastructure:

Railways, telegraph stations, bridges, banks, and government buildings.

Kerensky flees Petrograd, hoping to rally loyal troops.

Resistance is minimal; most of Petrograd remains calm.

📆 25 October 1917
The Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government is based, is surrounded by Red Guards and sailors.

Aurora, a Bolshevik-controlled warship, fires a blank shot as a signal to begin the assault.

Red Guards storm the palace that night.

Provisional Government arrested, with little bloodshed.

18 deaths total, mostly accidental or during minor resistance.

📆 26 October 1917 (early hours)
Lenin announces that the Provisional Government has been overthrown.

Bolsheviks establish the Council of People’s Commissars, with Lenin as chairman.

Trotsky declares: “Go where you belong – to the dustbin of history!” to the remaining Provisional Government deputies.

Decrees passed:

Decree on Peace: called for withdrawal from WWI

Decree on Land: redistributed land to peasants

Question 4

Summary Oct Rev Stats