By Nigina and Timmy
 The Bolsheviks succeeded because they
were able to gain the support of the
majority of the population, organize
the revolution thoroughly, and create a
good “game plan”
1. Good Game Plan
The fact that Bolsheviks had an organized agenda
helped them in gaining the support of the people.
They were able to say exactly what they were going to
do as opposed to the PG. They promised to:
1) Get Russia out WWI
2) Give land back to peasants
3) Improve working and living conditions
This mixture of beliefs appealed to the largest classes in
Russia- workers and peasants.
2. Failures of Provisional
Government in 1917
The PG failed to gain the people’s support due to:
 Soviet order No. 1
 Its war aims – keep Russia in the war.
 ‘The July Days’ violent demonstrations
 The Kornilov Affair
Failure of military in WW1
The population did not support the tsarist rule and later the PG
due to their aims to keep Russia in WW1. The people begain to
see the war as a failure because:
 Failure of the Kerensky Offensive: June 1917
 The Battle of Tannenberg and The Battle of Masurian Lakes
 Lots more men: 5.3 million troops vs. Germany’s 3.8 million.
 Poorly equipped: Russian artillery is limited to only 2-3 shells per
day, and only 2 rifles were provided for every 3 soldiers in 1916.
 Poor logistics: During the Russo-Japanese war railways could
only provide 35,000 troops per month, yet Locomotion
production was halved from 1913 to 1916.
 Resulted only in losses: By the end of 1915, Russian army
withdrawn 450 kilometers of gained ground, lost 1 million men,
and 1 million POW’s
3. Leadership and organization
 Lenin’s great strength was an ability to organize the party.
 Lenin +Trotsky = Charisma + logistics = ULTIMATE
COMBINATION
 Trotsky’s skills as a military leader, his rousing oratory and
devotion to the revolution, combined with Lenin’s skill as an
organizer who could understand the most minute detail, led to a
very potent combination. Their skill infected the rest of the party
with enthusiasm and vigor which was vital in November 1917 and
the months that immediately followed the Bolsheviks rise to
power in Russia.
 The November 1917 Revolution = classic example of Lenin and
Trotsky WORKING TOGETHER.
 The planning was done by Lenin, the actual execution was
carried out by Trotsky.
4. German Financing
The Germans financed the Bolsheviks because they
knew that Lenin wanted to take Russia out of the war.
 This gave money for their publicity campaigns
 The German money also led to the creation of a small
Bolshevik army. A private Bolshevik army (the Red
Guards), dedicated to the revolution, was set up and
trained under Leon Trotsky . It gave the Bolsheviks the
military power to win.
5. Powerful campaigns and PR
 The war had also caused much hunger in the cities and
discontent in the countryside. The SRs had
traditionally been strong in the countryside, but they
had failed to achieve anything concrete by 1917.
 Now Lenin promised land to those people. The
message was unequivocal and was quickly absorbed.
 Lenin’s powerful slogans - “Peace, bread and land” and
‘All Power to the Soviets’ found widespread
acceptance.
 Propaganda in “Iskra” – a powerful tool