the October revolution Flashcards
intro to October revolution
-in October 1917, lenin and Trotsky overthrew provisional government
-in its place came a new revolutionary government
June offensive
-in June 1917, proviosnal government launched offensive against the Austro-hungarian army, this was massive failure as it lead to desertions and breakdown of army discipline
-the bolsheviks used this in their favour, encourage soldiers and workers to protest
-around 70k soldiers and armed workers went to the Tauride palace in Petrograd, the home of the pg and ps
-led to two days of riots
-pg accused lenin of being a German spy and had to flee to escape arrest
-prince Lvov resigned
kornilov coup
-after resignation of Lvov, Kerensky formed a government of salvation of the revolution
-needed to restore order in russia
-reappointed kornilov
-kornilov wanted to put Petrograd under military rule, Kerensky refused and dismissed him
-kornilov then sent troops to petrograd
-kerensky had to ask Petrograd soviet to defend Petrograd
Trotsky and the revolution
-he was the chair of the Petrograd soviet
-he joined the bolsheviks in June
-he was the head of the MRC (military revolutionary committee), an armed group organised along military lines
-in mid-October, PG attempted to shut down two bolshevik newspapers
-trotsky used fears of Kerensky’s orders as pretext to get MRC ready for defensive action
role of lenin in October
-returned to Petrograd on 10th October after fleeing due to June offensive
-returned to persuade the bolshevik central committee for armed seizure of power (10-2 vote, Zinoviev and Kamenev opposing), written in September to convince
the attack on the provisional government
-on October 24th, the MRC began their attack on the provisional government
-the provisional government offered very little resistance
-the MRC had taken control of the post offices and telegraphs so the PG had no way of summoning for help
-the red guards had successfully arrested the majority of leaders in the PG
-on October 25th, the MRC claimed that the PG had been deposed
-kerensky fled to Petrograd
council of people’s commissars
-lenin and Trotsky had gained a lot of support from the second all-russian congress
-many Mensheviks and SR’s had walked out, giving the bolshevik’s a majority
-they formed the people’s council of commissars (sovnarkom), Lenin was the chair of this meaning he was chair of the new government
decrees and actions to December 1917
-bolshevik power was still very fragile
-did not have overall majority in second congress of soviets
-due to the support the congress had for Lenin, a number of radical and popular decrees could be passed: decree on peace- ended Russian involvement in the war. decree on land- authorised peasant seizures of land
