How Did Lenin Influence The Bolsheviks

While the Bolsheviks were instrumental in the development of the revolution, the eventual coup was only made possible by the ineptitude of the provisional government. Although playing a relatively minimal role in the February revolution, the influence of the Bolsheviks grew as the influence of the Provisional Government’s waned. Through the ideas of Lenin and the actions of the party as a whole, the party was able to manipulate the progression from February, to complete a socialist revolution.

The premiere February stage of the revolution, saw minimal Bolshevik influence, however it set up the paradigm which allowed them to flourish. Described by the Tsarina as a “hooligan movement”, the February revolution, the event which allowed for the

Trotsky realized that there was no point in campaigning for all power to go the “soviets”, if the Bolsheviks had minimal influence in them. As a result, he erected the ‘October plan,’ which saw the party legitimately taking control of the soviet, while establishing the Milrevcom, a loyal militia established under the false pretence of preventing revolutionary activity. The mere fact that the PG did not attempt to prevent Trotsky’s creation of what was essentially a private army accentuates the notion, the red party had already garnered the popular support of Petrograd. October 25th saw the Milrevcom and Red Army seize the winter palace and other important infrastructure, compelling an assortment of government members to step down without spilling blood. By timing the attack with the second Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks were able to legitimise their actions through the permission of all of Russia, and establish a communist government. Fainsod’s observation that “In the brief period of eight months, a tiny band of underground revolutionaries, numbering less than 25,000 had catapulted themselves into a governing authority of nearly 150,000,000 people”, illustrates that from February the party exponentially grew, to a point where it was so influential it manages to seize control of a whole country, and subvert centuries of rule. By performing their own coup—d’état, the Bolshevik party was one of the most important elements in the events of