The October Revolution

Question 1

How had attendance to meetings of the Petrograd Soviet changed between March and September?

Who did this benefit and why?

Answer 1

March: fully attended - over 3,000 deputies

September: attendance down to a few hundred

Bolsheviks: continued to turn up, so won a disproportionate influence

Question 2

Who was elected as Chair of the Petrograd Soviet (Workers’ section) on 25 September?

Answer 2

Trotsky

Question 3

What motion did the Petrograd Soviet pass on its first day under Bolshevik control?

Answer 3

A motion expressing their unwillingness to support the new coalition government of Kadets, Mensheviks and SRs

Question 4

Before which two events did Lenin wish to seize power, and why?

Answer 4

The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets (late October)

The elections to a Constituent Assembly (November)

Lenin wanted to present Bolshevik power as the undisputed authority before these events

Question 5

What did Kerensky announce on 7 October? How did the Bolsheviks respond?

Answer 5

A ‘pre-parliament’ would be created to advise the government before the Constituent Assembly.

The Bolsheviks accused the pre-parliament of being a mechanism to strengthen the government and the counterrevolutionary bourgeoisie

Question 6

What did the Provisional Government announce on 9 October? What impact did this have on the Bolsheviks?

Answer 6

Half the Petrograd Garrison would be sent to the front

Bolsheviks now had an immediate cause to overthrow the Provisional Government

Question 7

What did the Bolshevik Central Committee vote on in the secret meeting on 10 October?

Answer 7

Whether to launch an armed insurrection against the Provisional Government

Question 8

Who voted against the idea of an armed insurrection on 10 October and why?

Answer 8

Kamenev and Zinoviev

They preferred a broadly-based, exclusively socialist coalition government - they did not think that a majority of the Russian population would back the Bolsheviks

Question 9

How did the Bolshevik Central Committee vote on 10 October on the idea of an armed insurrection?

Answer 9

10 votes in favour, 2 against, 1 abstention (Trotsky)

Question 10

How did Kamenev and Zinoviev respond to the vote in favour of an armed insurrection? Why was this significant?

Answer 10

They wrote an article suggesting that the Russian working class was not prepared for an armed uprising

This now made public the idea that the Bolsheviks were seeking an immediate armed uprising (so the Provisional Government was aware)

Question 11

What did Kerensky order to be closed down on 23 October?

Answer 11

The Bolshevik newspaper Pravda and the Petrograd Soviet newspaper Izvestiia

Question 12

What did the Bolsheviks set up between 16 and 21 October? What was its purpose? Who led it?

Answer 12

The Military Revolutionary Committee

Organise the defence of Petrograd (i.e. to overthrow the Provisional Government)

Three Bolshevik leaders (including Trotsky), two Left SR leaders

Question 13

Why was the Military Revolutionary Committee so essential to the success of the October Revolution?

Answer 13

It meant that the Bolsheviks didn’t need to rely on mass demonstrations, workers or ordinary soldiers - they just needed the Red Guards directed by the MRC (acting as a VANGUARD)

Question 14

What two significant locations did the MRC seize on 23 October?

Why was this significant?

Answer 14

The Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Kronwerk Arsenal

All major weapons stores in Petrograd were now in the hands of the MRC

Question 15

What two things did the Provisional Government try to do to stop the MRC?

How did the MRC respond?

Answer 15

Called for troops from the front to defend the government

Raised the bridges over the River Neva to stop the protestors

The MRC responded by launching Directive Number One: military regiments should fight against the government to defend the Petrograd Soviet

Question 16

What was in the letter that Lenin sent to Bolshevik headquarters on 24 October?

Answer 16

“Delay is Death”: “history will not forgive revolutionaries for procrastinating when they could be victorious today”

Question 17

What did the MRC control by 8am on 25 October?

Why was this significant?

Answer 17

All of Petrograd’s bridges, central telegraph offices and all three rail stations

The government had lost all control of communications in the capital

Question 18

What remained open on 25 October, and what does this reveal about the nature of the October Revolution?

Answer 18

Schools, shops and theatres - life continued as normal, these were not mass demonstrations, it happened in a tiny area of Petrograd

Question 19

The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was scheduled for 12pm on 25 October: why was it delayed?

Answer 19

Lenin was desperate for the Provisional Government to fall before the Congress began

Question 20

What position did the Mensheviks take on the October Revolution? What did they do as a result?

Answer 20

Refused to endorse it - withdrew from the Congress of Soviets as a result

Question 21

When did the Provisional Government surrender? What happened to its ministers?

Answer 21

2am on 26 October

14 of the 15 ministers were arrested (Kerensky had fled on the 25th)

Question 22

Why did the Provisional Government lack military forces to help put down the October Revolution?

Answer 22

The Petrograd Garrison had recognised the authority of the MRC on 21 October - it supported the MRC over the government

Question 23

How many people died during the October Revolution?

Answer 23

Only 6 - more people died in the Bolshevik propaganda recreation