Summary
By
November 1917 the Provisional Government was in complete
collapse. In the meantime, the Bolshevik party,
helped by German money, had built up an efficient party
organisation, a brilliant propaganda machine, and a powerful
private army (the Red Guards).
When Lenin moved to take over, the Provisional Government was
unable to stop him, and the 'November Revolution' was less of
a revolution than a coup d'état.
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Links
The
November Revolution
Reed
Brett on the November Revolution
A description of the Fall of the Winter Palace by Louise
Bryant, an American journalist
Lenin v
Trotsky: who was more important?
The Russian
Revolutions of 1917
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Events
of the 'October' Revolution
6
November
Red Guards took over
bridges and the telephone exchange.
7
November
Red Guards took over
banks, government buildings, and the railway stations.
The cruiser Aurora
shelled the Winter Palace.
That
night (9.40 pm) the Red Guards took the Winter Palace and arrested the
Provisional Government leaders.
8
November
Lenin announced the
new Communist Government
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Extra:
1. What were the most important events of 1917?
2.
Find out more
about:
a.
Lenin
b. Trotksy
c.
the fall of the Winter Palace
3.
Which was more important
for the Bolsheviks' victory – the strengths of the Bolsheviks, or the
weaknesses of the Provisional Government?
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Why did the Bolshevik
Revolution of November 1917 succeed?
(Perhaps
Seven Powers Gave Lenin An Opportunity)
1.
Provisional
Government problems
The Bolsheviks succeeded because the Provisional
Government was weak and unpopular (remember that
Government
That’s Provisional Will Be Killed).
When it was attacked, nobody was prepared to defend it.
2.
Slogans
The Bolsheviks had good slogans
such as ‘Peace, Bread, Land’ and ‘All Power to the Soviets’.
Other parties claimed they could never deliver their promises, but
their arguments were too complicated for people to understand.
This meant that they got the public’s support.
3.
Pravda
The party ran its own
propaganda machine, including the newspaper Pravda
(‘Truth’), which got their ideas across.
4.
German
money
The Germans financed the
Bolsheviks because they knew that Lenin wanted to take Russia out of the
war.
This gave them the
money to mount their publicity campaigns
A brilliant leader – a
professional revolutionary with an iron will, ruthless, brilliant speaker,
a good planner with ONE aim – to overthrow the government.
The Bolsheviks were well-led.
6.
Army
A private Bolshevik army (the
Red Guards), dedicated to the revolution, was set up and trained under
Leon Trotsky.
It gave
the Bolsheviks the military power to win.
7.
Organisation
The Bolsheviks were brilliantly
organised (or
were they?). A central committee (controlled by Lenin and other leading
Bolsheviks) sent orders to the soviets, who gave orders to the factories.
Membership grew to 2 million in 3 months.
Unlike the Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks demanded total
obedience from their members, so they were well-disciplined (members
did what the leaders wanted).
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Source A
Later depictions of the October Revolution
– were Bolshevik propaganda,
and showed the revolution as an
heroic workers’ struggle.
Soviet
paintings of the October Revolution, such as this one, also showed it as
a popular uprising similar to the March Revolution.
In fact, in Petrograd,
the take-over was virtually bloodless (although there was fierce
fighting in Moscow).
an American journalist who witnessed the revolution.
Source B
The
Provisional Government had dwindled to a meeting of ministers in the
Winter Palace. A few
Red Guards climbed in through the servants’ entrance and arrested
them.
Written
by AJP Taylor, a modern historian.
Source C
(The
Winter Palace was defended by the
Women’s Death Battalion.)
(click on the picture to see a
larger image)
‘What happened to the women?’ we
asked a soldier.
He laughed. ‘We found
them hiding in a back room … crying. We did not know what to do with
them; in the end we just sent them home.
Written by an American who was in
Russia in 1917.
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