Editing Russian Revolution (section)

==October Revolution==
{{main|October Revolution|Kerensky-Krasnov uprising|Junker mutiny|Volunteer Army}}
The October Revolution, which unfolded on Wednesday 7 November 1917 according to the [[Gregorian calendar]] and on Wednesday 25 October according to the [[Julian calendar]] in use under tsarist Russia, was organized by the Bolshevik party. Lenin did not have any direct role in the revolution and he was hiding for his personal safety. However, in late October, Lenin secretly and at great personal risk entered Petrograd and attended a private gathering of the Bolshevik Central Committee on the evening of 23 October.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Resis |first=Albert |date=22 August 2024 |title=Leadership in the Russian Revolution of Vladimir Lenin |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Lenin/Leadership-in-the-Russian-Revolution |access-date=25 August 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |publisher=Britannica}}</ref> The Revolutionary Military Committee established by the Bolshevik party was organizing the insurrection and Leon Trotsky was the chairman. 50,000 workers had passed a resolution in favour of Bolshevik demand for transfer of power to the [[soviets]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Head |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYGNAgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PT83 |title=Evgeny Pashukanis: A Critical Reappraisal |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1353-0787-5 |pages=1–288 |language=en}}</ref>{{Sfn|Shukman|1994|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 21]}} However, Lenin played a crucial role in the debate in the leadership of the Bolshevik party for a revolutionary insurrection as the party in the autumn of 1917 received a majority in the soviets. An ally in the [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries|left fraction of the Revolutionary-Socialist Party]], with huge support among the peasants who opposed Russia's participation in the war, supported the slogan 'All power to the Soviets'.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Robert V. |last=Daniels |title=Red October: The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 |publisher=Macmillan |date=1967}}</ref> The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on [[Petrograd]] occurred largely without any human [[Casualty (person)|casualties]].{{Sfn|Shukman|1994|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA343 343]}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bergman |first=Jay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UKjDwAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PA224 |title=The French Revolutionary Tradition in Russian and Soviet Politics, Political Thought, and Culture |date=2019 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1988-4270-5 |page=224 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McMeekin |first=Sean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXmZDgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+bloodless&pg=PT155 |title=The Russian Revolution: A New History |date=30 May 2017 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=978-0-4650-9497-4 |language=en}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2025}}
 
Liberal and monarchist forces, loosely organized into the [[White Army]], immediately went to war against the Bolsheviks' [[Red Army]], in a series of battles that would become known as the Russian Civil War. This did not happen in 1917. The Civil War began in early 1918 with domestic anti-Bolshevik forces confronting the nascent Red Army. In autumn of 1918 Allied countries needed to block German access to Russian supplies. They sent troops to support the "Whites" with supplies of weapons, ammunition and logistic equipment being sent from the main Western countries but this was not at all coordinated. Germany did not participate in the civil war as it surrendered to the Allies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Allied War in Russia, 1918–22 |url=http://www.criticalenquiry.org/history/polarbear.shtml |website=Critical Enquiry}}</ref>

The provisional government with its second and third coalition was led by a right wing fraction of the Socialist-Revolutionary party, SR. This non-elected provisional government faced the revolutionary situation and the growing mood against the war by avoiding elections to the state Duma. However, the October revolution forced the political parties behind the newly dissolved provisional government to move and move fast for immediate elections. All happened so fast that the left SR fraction did not have time to reach out and be represented in ballots of the SR party which was part of the coalition in the provisional government. This non-elected government supported continuation of the war on the side of the allied forces. The elections to the State Duma 25 November 1917 therefore did not mirror the true political situation among peasants even if we don't know how the outcome would be if the anti-war left SR fraction had a fair chance to challenge the party leaders. In the elections, the Bolshevik party received 25% of the votes and the Socialist-Revolutionaries as much as 58%. It is possible the left SR had a good chance to reach more than 25% of the votes and thereby legitimate the October revolution but we can only guess.

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|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 |author-link=Leon Trotsky |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rv9oAAAAMAAJ |title=The Stalin School of Falsification |date=1962 |publisher=Pioneer Publishers |page=12 |language=en}}</ref>}}

Lenin did not believe that a socialist revolution necessarily presupposed a fully developed capitalist economy. A semi-capitalist country would suffice and Russia had a working class base of 5% of the population.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=David |last=Lane |title=Lenin's Theory of Socialist Revolution |journal=Critical Sociology |volume=47 |issue=3 |date=2021 |pages=455–473 [462] |doi=10.1177/0896920520958451}}</ref>

Though Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik Party, it has been argued that since Lenin was not present during the actual takeover of the Winter Palace, it was really Trotsky's organization and direction that led the revolution, merely spurred by the motivation Lenin instigated within his party. Bolshevik figures such as [[Anatoly Lunacharsky]], [[Moisei Uritsky]] and [[Dmitry Manuilsky]] agreed that Lenin’s influence on the Bolshevik party was decisive but the October insurrection was carried out according to Trotsky’s, not to Lenin’s plan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deutscher |first=Isaac |author-link=Isaac Deutscher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGznDwAAQBAJ&q=isaac+deutscher+trotsky+the+prophet |title=The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky |date=5 January 2015 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-7816-8721-5 |page=1283 |language=en}}</ref>

Critics on the Right have long argued that the financial and logistical assistance of German intelligence via their key agent, [[Alexander Parvus]] was a key component as well, though historians are divided, since there is little evidence supporting that claim.<ref>[[Isaac Deutscher]] ''The Prophet Armed''</ref>

[[File:Protección del Palacio Tauride durante el Segundo Congreso Regional de los Soviets.jpg|thumb|The dissolution of the [[Russian Constituent Assembly|Constituent Assembly]] on 6 January 1918. The [[Tauride Palace]] is locked and guarded by [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]], [[Yakov Sverdlov|Sverdlov]], [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]] and [[Mikhail Lashevich|Lashevich]].]]

Soviet membership was initially freely elected, but many members of the [[Socialist Revolutionary Party]], anarchists, and other leftists created opposition to the Bolsheviks through the Soviets themselves. The [[1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election|elections]] to the [[Russian Constituent Assembly]] took place 25 November 1917. The Bolsheviks gained 25% of the vote. When it became clear that the Bolsheviks had little support outside of the industrialized areas of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, they simply barred non-Bolsheviks from membership in the Soviets. The Bolsheviks dissolved the Constituent Assembly in January 1918.{{Sfn|Dando|1966|pages=314–319}}<ref>{{Cite book |first=Alexander |last=Rabinowitch |title=The Bolsheviks in power: the first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |date=2008}}</ref>