Was the success of the Bolshevik Revolution because of their power and skills or the weakness of the Provisional Government?

Essay by KeirHigh School, 11th gradeA-, June 2006

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The success of the October Revolution in 1917 by the Bolsheviks was due to the combination of many different reasons. It was not solely because of the Bolsheviks' power or the weakness of the Provisional Government. But without either of these, the October Revolution would not take place at all. The following paragraphs are going to analyze the importance of the roles of the power of the Bolsheviks and the weakness of the Provisional Government from different standpoints to prove that the success was because of the combination of the two.

Organizationally, the Soviets' structure of organization was closer to the working population than the Provisional Government's, which gave the Bolsheviks more power and supporters. After the overthrown of Tsar in March, in Gregorian Calendar, the Duma set up the "Provisional Government" to keep the country in order. This Provisional Government was consisted of 12 executive and was led by Kerensky, all of them except for Kerensky were from the bourgeois.

They did not really have connections with the"revolutionary masses" , so they did not really understand what the general people desired and craved. The provisional government was just like the Tsar Regime before it, but with Kerensky living in the Winter Palace instead of Tsar Nicholas II. Therefore the gap between the government and the people were increasing and it was losing the people's supports. However, the Soviet was based directly upon the workers in the factory and the peasants in the field. The delegates of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Soviets were elected according to the rules and needs of the people. Sometimes there might be a delegate representing fifty people of a village . By having this kind of structure, the general public felt involved, and felt that their voices were heard. This was very good for the...