Editing October Revolution (section)

===Onset===

{{multiple image
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 | image1 = Lenin in 1920 (cropped).jpg
 | caption1 = [[Vladimir Lenin]], founder of the [[Soviet Union]] and the leader of the [[Bolshevik party]].
 | image2 = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R15068, Leo Dawidowitsch Trotzki.jpg
 | caption2 = [[Leon Trotsky]], founder of the [[Red Army]] and a key figure in the October Revolution.
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In the early morning of 24 October (O.S.; 6 November N.S.), a group of soldiers loyal to [[Directorate (Russia)|Kerensky's government]] marched on the printing house of the Bolshevik newspaper, ''Rabochiy put'' (''Worker's Path''), seizing and destroying printing equipment and thousands of newspapers. Shortly thereafter, the government announced the immediate closure of not only ''Rabochiy put'' but also the left-wing ''Soldat'', as well as the far-right newspapers ''Zhivoe slovo'' and ''Novaia Rus''. The editors and contributors of these newspapers were seen to be calling for insurrection and were to be prosecuted on criminal charges.<ref name=rabinowitch/>

In response, at 9{{nbsp}}a.m. the Bolshevik [[Military Revolutionary Committee]] issued a statement denouncing the government's actions. At 10{{nbsp}}a.m., Bolshevik-aligned soldiers successfully retook the ''Rabochiy put'' printing house. Kerensky responded at approximately 3{{nbsp}}p.m. that afternoon by ordering the raising of all but one of Petrograd's bridges, a tactic used by the government several months earlier during the [[July Days]]. What followed was a series of sporadic clashes over control of the bridges, between [[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guard]] militias aligned with the Military-Revolutionary Committee and military units still loyal to the government. At approximately 5{{nbsp}}p.m. the Military-Revolutionary Committee seized the Central Telegraph of Petrograd, giving the Bolsheviks control over communications through the city.<ref name=rabinowitch/><ref name="bard">{{Cite web |last=Bard College: Experimental Humanities and Eurasian Studies |title=From Empire To Republic: October 24 – November 1, 1917 |url=https://projects.eh.bard.edu/1917/oct-maps.html |access-date=24 February 2018}}</ref>

On 25 October (O.S.; 7 November, N.S.) 1917, the Bolsheviks led their forces in the uprising in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg, then capital of Russia) against the Provisional Government. The event coincided with the arrival of a pro-Bolshevik flotilla—consisting primarily of five destroyers and their crews, as well as marines—in Petrograd harbor. At [[Kronstadt]], sailors announced their allegiance to the Bolshevik insurrection. In the early morning, from its heavily guarded and picketed headquarters in Smolny Palace, the Military-Revolutionary Committee designated the last of the locations to be assaulted or seized. The Red Guards systematically captured major government facilities, key communication installations, and vantage points with little opposition. The [[Petrograd Soviet|Petrograd Garrison]] and most of the city's military units joined the insurrection against the Provisional Government.<ref name=suny2011/> The insurrection was timed and organized to hand state power to the [[Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies]], which began on this day.

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|bgcolor=|quote=After the majority of the petrograd Soviet passed into the hands of the Bolsheviks, [Trotsky] was elected its chairman and in that position organized and led the insurrection of October 25.|source=Lenin on the organization of the October Revolution, Vol.XIV of the ''Collected Works''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trotsky |first=Leon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rv9oAAAAMAAJ&q=%E2%80%9CAfter+the+majority+of+the+petrograd+Soviet+passed+into+the+hands+of+the+Bolsheviks,+%5BTrotsky%5D+was+elected+its+chairman+and+in+that+position+organized+and+led+the+insurrection+of+October+25 |title=The Stalin School of Falsification |date=1962 |publisher=Pioneer Publishers |page=12 |language=en}}</ref>}}

Kerensky and the Provisional Government were virtually helpless to offer significant resistance. Railways and railway stations had been controlled by Soviet workers and soldiers for days, making rail travel to and from Petrograd impossible for Provisional Government officials. The Provisional Government was also unable to locate any serviceable vehicles. On the morning of the insurrection, Kerensky desperately searched for a means of reaching military forces he hoped would be friendly to the Provisional Government outside the city and ultimately borrowed a [[Renault]] car from the American embassy, which he drove from the Winter Palace, along with a [[Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company|Pierce Arrow]]. Kerensky was able to evade the pickets going up around the palace and to drive to meet approaching soldiers.<ref name=rabinowitch/>

As Kerensky left Petrograd, Lenin wrote a proclamation ''To the Citizens of Russia'', stating that the Provisional Government had been overthrown by the Military-Revolutionary Committee. The proclamation was sent by telegraph throughout Russia, even as the pro-Soviet soldiers were seizing important control centers throughout the city. One of Lenin's intentions was to present members of the Soviet congress, who would assemble that afternoon, with a ''fait accompli'' and thus forestall further debate on the wisdom or legitimacy of taking power.<ref name=rabinowitch/>