Why The Bolsheviks Came Into Power?

How far do you agree that the weakness of the provisional government was the main reason why the Bolsheviks came into power?

There are two main reasons why the Bolsheviks were able to take over power in Russia in November 1917. They are the strengths of Bolsheviks themselves and factors in their favour, and the weaknesses and mistakes of the Provisional Government.
The most important reason why the Bolsheviks were able to take over power was the faults and mistakes of the Provisional Government. A key factor was ‘Order No. 1’ which gave the Soviet control over the armed forcesand communications in Petrograd, and stated that the Provisional Government couldn’t pass any laws without the Soviet’s permission. This meant that the Provisional Government were lacking in power and couldn’t govern effectively right from the start which meant that people were dissatisfied. Also the Provisional Government hesitated when it came to important decisions such as the war and the
issue of land ownership, as they felt that they were just temporary. This meant that the main grievances of the peasants were not addressed and, as they continued to suffer the economic hardships created by the war, they were even more dissatisfied and therefore prepared to support another change of government. These flaws in the government were made worse because of Kerensky’s mistakes. Not only did the Provisional Government continue the war but Kerensky also launched a major offensive. When the army suffered heavy defeats this meant everyone blamed Kerensky and the government lost even more support particularly from the army, which would really matter if they were trying to control people who were striking or protesting. Kerensky also made other mistakes that increased support for the Bolsheviks such as his handling of the threatened coup by Kornilov. Kerensky gave rifles and weapons to the Red Guard and, when Kornilov failed to appear this made Kerensky look weak and the Bolsheviks look strong, and it also left them in possession of the weapons which helped them when they did chose to seize power.
All these weakness and mistakes were all the more significant because they were contrasted with the strengths of the Bolsheviks and the factors in their favour which helped to make the Bolsheviks seem stronger than they were.
Perhaps the most important Bolshevik strength was their leaders, Lenin and Trotsky.
Trotsky was important in organising and coordinating the actual take over Petrograd in November, but Lenin was even more important because he was a strong leader who guided the Central Committee of the Party and pushed to make the takeover happen. For example, he produced the April Theses, which gave the Bolsheviks clear goals and made them better focused and organized, which was vital if they were going to take over successfully. He also put together the slogan ‘Bread, Peace, Land, and All power to the Soviets!’ which was designed to appeal to a broad range of people and he gave speeches and led rallies to inspire people to join the party. This meant that the Bolsheviks grew in popularity because they were offering people what they wanted – in particular they were the only party who opposed the war and all the other parties were associated with the much-disliked Provisional Government, which seemed to be doing
nothing.
The Bolsheviks also had other factors in their favour such as the fact that the majority of the armed forces in Petrograd stayed neutral and didn’t oppose the Bolsheviks when they came to take over, the fact that they had the support of the Kronstadt sailors and the fact that most of their supporters were based in Petrograd and Moscow, the two main cities. These three points meant that the takeover was made much easier for the Bolsheviks because they had a strong support-base from which to launch their take over and faced little opposition.
I think that the most important reason why the Bolsheviks took over power in Russia in November 1917 is the fact that the Bolsheviks had Lenin on their side as he put together the April Theses and the slogan, which focused and rallied Bolshevik support, and he persuaded the party to take action immediately – if they had waited they might not have been so successful.

Judy kader 10 E