Bolsheviks' Seizure of Power in 1917

Poor Living and Working Conditions as the Reason for Bolsheviks' Seizure of Power in 1917

During the 1900’s the Russian Government made it extremely hard for the Bolsheviks to progress which made them revolt against the government making this a prime matter for the start of the Revolution. The Czarist government was ostracized by the common people of Russia so Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the Provisional Government, whom later on were overthrown by Lenin and shortly after the Bolsheviks took control over Russia. Russia was hard to develop because of the major leaders who had control; Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky. Almost overnight an entire society was destroyed and replaced with one of the most radical social experiments ever seen. Poverty, crime, privileged and class-divisions were to be eliminated, a new era of socialism

In October 1917, there was enough opposition for Lenin to take power as leader of the Bolsheviks. The Provisional Government provided him with no majority support, with the Bolsheviks winning 24% and the SRs gaining 54% of votes. The Liberal period consisting of keeping workers and peasants happy left them with little power. Decree on land gives noble land to peasantry so that they have legal title to it, did it to stop rebellion and get peasant support in the civil war. 2. War Communism- Summer 1918 (civil war)- more authoritarian. 3. 1921- New Economic freedom for peasantry Economic policy- less authoritarian.

On 24-26 October, the Bolshevik Party seized power from Kerensky’s Provisional Government. This was achieved with surprising ease. Retaining their newly acquired power, however, was to prove difficult. Nonetheless, the Bolsheviks proved successful in consolidating their power from 1917-1924, achieving this through a combination of pragmatic reforms and ruthless terror. This ultimately led the Bolsheviks far from their original goals and ideologies, and by 1924, the Soviet Union was a highly centralised one-party state.

In 1917, there were many major world events going on. World War I was under place and had been since 1914. There were civil rights movements in the United States. A worldwide influenza epidemic had broken out. The Chicago White Sox won the world series against the New York Giants. During the year 1917, there was also a major revolution in Russia. The people of Russia split themselves into several political groups, all fighting over how the government should be run. One of these groups was the Bolshevik party. They were a communist party and ended up taking over Russia by the end of the revolution. For the revolution to begin and finally end with a communist power in Russia, there needed to be causes. The three major causes of the Russian Revolution were Russia’s participation in World War I, an unstable government and Vladimir Lenin.

The Russian Revolution is a series of political events that occurred during the years 1905 to 1924. The February Revolution, in which overthrew the imperial government and the October Revolution, placed the Bolsheviks in power (britannica.com). The Russian Revolution happened because of discontentment of with the tsar, poverty in Russia, and lack of control over the government. During the In January of 1905, protesters were protesting in front of the winter palace because of extreme poverty and starvation due to peasants’ wages decreasing. The Russian workers and peasants wanted a better working and living conditions. More than 1000 protesters were killed and injured after the tsar, Nicholas the II, ordered his army to gun down the protesters. This incident, known as Bloody Sunday, led to the 1905 revolution. During the 1905 revolution, Russian Social Democratic Social Party split into two factions, the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. Later in October of 1905, Nicholas the II issued the October Manifesto, which ended the Russian Revolution of 1905. In July of 1914, World War I begun which caused the Russians a lot of damage because four million Russian soldiers killed, wounded or captured. The Russian Soldiers refused the fight and people back in Russian were starving because of the lack of income from the war. World War I also caused the tsar to lose control of Russia as the war has caused chaos in Russia. Soon, continuous protests and revolts led to the March Revolution of

To start, people rallied and protested, welcoming revolution to the Russian government who had yet to fix the food and fuel shortages, among many other problems such as, poor working conditions, low pay, extremely long hours for factory workers and their own soldiers deserting the front lines of war. Food shortages and unfair conditions for workers, are what mainly causes the citizens to revolt and lose all of the faith they had left in their government and want some sort of change, and they wanted it extremely fast. Then, all of this came when the Tsar stepped down and a temporary government was set up in his place. All of this contributed to the Bolshevik revolution by making the government less powerful. When the government was still only temporary the Bolsheviks stormed the palace and were easily able to take over in a coup

In 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, there were two revolutions that took place to ensure good change in Russia. The first of the revolutions was the March revolution, the purpose of it was to overtake the imperial government and the second named the November revolution; which placed the Bolsheviks in power. The Russian Revolution took place during a difficult time in Russia. These distresses began before World War I and lasted up until the 1930's. Russia's population was built up of mostly poor, starving, unfortunate peasants at this point; caused by the prevalent and growing civil unrest, as well as dramatic food shortages which led to a huge rebellion against the present government. “World War I provided the catalyst for revolution in Russia .” Although at first it raised national pride

The Russian Revolution of 1917 did not just suddenly happen overnight, just as there was no main reason why it happened. The Revolution was more like a virus or bad bacteria. At first you barely notice it, even though you know it is there, but soon it starts to multiply and take over your body and before you know it you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. There are about 4 or 5 significant reasons why there was the revolution of 1917, with the Russian Tsar Nicolas II to be the blame for almost all of them.

There were many reasons why the Bolsheviks were able to remain in power. Lenin and Trotsky teamwork and leadership gave them a great advantage because they really knew how to control their team. The red army was incredibly stronger than the whites. The red army knew what they were fighting for whereas the whites really didn’t have any idea of what their ambition was. The Bolsheviks also had the central lines, which enabled them to travel all around the country guaranteeing that the red army troops could get all the necessities that they needed. Finally, war communism was also a contributor to why the Bolsheviks were able to remain in

By the mid 19th century, the majority of Russians lived in rural communities, which limited economic growth. Russia’s economy and ideology were considered primitive to Western countries, whose advancements in technological development were far beyond those in Russia. Russia’s antiquated technologies restricted economic progression, and thus trailed the developed countries of the West. A deplorable Russian economy led to an extremely small upper class and a prevalent lower class. A Russian consensus in 1897 determined that peasants made up 82% of Russia’s population. After years of mistreatment, Russia’s middle and lower class espoused an idea developed by Karl Marx— Communism. Communism was a totalitarian governmental ideology that believed in equally distributed wealth and property, state provided services, governmental control of economy and the focus on the community. Communism became extremely popular because it seemed to promise political and social equality and end the many hardships of the 19th century. In November 1917, communist supporters lead by Vladimir Lenin overthrew tsarist regime and promised a national reform during the Russian Revolution. Subsequently, a government body called the Bolsheviks quickly seized complete power in the November Revolution. However, right-wing, anti-Bolshevik parties rose up against the Bolsheviks, resulting in civil war. In late 1917, the Red Army (pro-Bolshevik) fought the White

Why were the Bolsheviks successful in seizing power? What were the forces and actions that made them successful in seizing power in October/November 1917? Prior to the 1917 Revolutions, there was constant unsettlement within Russia; there was a struggle for food, a struggle for economic control and a struggle for a stable government. The February Revolution brought an end to Tsar Nicholas II reign and emerged was a Provisional Government based on democratic ideals. Despite the Provisional Government’s success’ in implementing civil liberties, the Duma kept Russia in the First World War which not only continued the depletion of natural resources, but also heightened the discontent from citizens among all social classes.

Before the revolution negative sentiment had grown against the ruling class within their respective countries and the working class in Russia had flocked to the cities in search of work. The people were wary of war and food shortages were very common at the time. The stepping down of the Tsar also created a power vacuum, which the Bolsheviks quickly seized in order to initiate the Marxist-Lenin model. The charismatic Lenin and the organized structure of Bolsheviks helped tremendously with the successfulness with this model. All of this is a direct influence of Marxist’s Communist Manifesto at the time, without its influence the Bolsheviks platform could’ve been created. In Russia this ideology could thrive because of its accessibility. In many industrialized states this doctrine was seen as a threat and repressed, while Russia was a newly developing industry it wasn't seen as much of a threat to suppress. The peasantries within Russia were also quick to accept this ideology because of their worsening situation, radical ideas were being considered and this ideology offered more equality. China also had very similar atmosphere to Russia at this time and this also played a large part in the adoption of the Marxist-Lenin

Many things caused the 1905 revolution. There were a great number of long-term issues, short-term issues and recent issues that lead to the revolution. There was a large deal of long-term causes of the 1905 revolution. Two of them being the fact that peasants were unhappy with their living conditions and how land was divided up, and the government’s policies to develop industry had negative effects on people, and were hindered by famine and industrial slumps. Peasants were unhappy with their living conditions for a large time, with peasants for a large amount of time being slaves until the emancipation in 1961, in which they were promised land but not given it.

The Russian Civil War raged from 1918 until the start of 1921. During this time the Bolsheviks faced massive opposition to their rule in the form of the White Armies, led by the former officers of the Tsarist state, and also from intervention by the forces of foreign countries. The Bolsheviks were surrounded, and often outnumbered by their opponents. At times, their situation seemed hopeless. Yet, by the start of 1921, the Bolsheviks had defeated their enemies and gained a complete victory. This victory can be attributed to the party’s aims, leadership, geography, and support.