How Did Lenin Support The Russian Revolution

socialists and Lenin but failed. Unconsciously, Kornilov brought back the Bolshevicks on the scene of the Russian Revolution. The picture of Kornilov, shows him in front of his army ready to attack Petrograde as the photograph was taken in summer 1917. He looks determined but his army looks small and quite weak compared to the Bolshevik's troops and the Kerensky's troops. The fact that the Bolsheviks helped Kerensky only restored the Bolsheviks as patriots in the eyes of the Russians and enabled them to continue their plan to seize power.

This plan to seize power was mainly based of Lenin's and Lenin's collaborators ideas. The role of Lenin in the overthrow of the provisional government is huge. He was the Bolshevik's leader and controlled the soviets
and the red guards.
Lenin was not allowed to stay in Russia by Kerenski but When Lenin returned to Russia on 3rd April, 1917, he announced what became known as the April Theses. Source E, which is an extract from these theses, suggests that in these theses, Lenin attacked Bolsheviks for supporting the Provisional Government. He tells the Bolshevik's that they should not cooperate with the Provisional government because it should "cease to be an imperialist Government". He says that the power should be transferred to the Soviets and only them. Source E was written by Lenin himself and shows the mentality of Lenin who was completely against the provisional government. In addition, Lenin urged the peasants to take the land from the rich landlords and the industrial workers to seize the factories. Lenin accused those Bolsheviks who were still supporting the Provisional Government of betraying socialism and suggested that they
should leave the party. Some took Lenin's advice, arguing that any attempt at revolution at this stage was. Source I reinforces the idea that Lenin was able to deal with internal problems. It is a text about Lenin's role in bringing about the Russian Revolution written in 1987 by an historian. Even though this source was not written at Lenin's time, it suggests that Lenin was the strategist of the Revolution by the way he unified the country and led the various revolutions and calculated the good moment to overthrow the provisional Government.

The Bolsheviks who controlled the soviets and the red guards, had an army of 20 000 troops at their hands due to the mutinies in the army directly caused by the First World War. This allowed them to plan a coup-d'etat since they would be able to take control of strategic points of the capital with ease. The only remaining area they needed to capture was the Winter Palace, which they did without a struggle. There is much debate on whether it was a coup-d'etat or a popular uprising but many sources say that there was no one in the streets that day, and the fact that it took place at night-time and that in addition the Bolsheviks took control of strategic points of the city in a surgical way, suggests it was a well thought-out and carefully planned coup. Moreover, there were hardly any casualties save five sailors and a few soldiers, which also indicate that the storming was carried out by soldiers and not demonstrators. Source G is a painting of Lenin making a speech after the storming of the winter palace. The palace is burning, and Lenin looks glorious surrounded by armed people. It is clear that the painting is exaggerated as we know that the storming of the winter palace was made without any violence and that the palace did not burn. This painting is probably a piece of propaganda saying how glorious are the Bolshovik's and how much they participated in the Revolution to encourage people joining in their ranks. It is important to note that the working classes welcomed this coup-d'etat since they were not satisfied with the Provisional Government's policies and were more attracted by the Bolsheviks' promises.

Thus, the Bolsheviks took control of the country in November 1917, replacing the Provisional Government, which had been established after the Tsar's abdication in February of that same year.

To conclude, the 1917 Russian Revolution was caused by an internal disastrous situation in all areas of society (political, economic, social, and military). The roles of Kornilov, Kerensky and more importantly Lenin (for his ideas about society) are also to be taken in account. The Russian Revolution had many long term causes linked to there under developed society but the final trigger, which is the Great War and its impact, was essential to the break out of the Revolution. We can argue that without the releasing of the First World War, the tsar would have kept control of his army and could have endured other riots and demonstrations as soon as the army could intervene.