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Why Were the Bolsheviks Able to Seize Power Without Widespread Popular Support?

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Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power without widespread popular support?

The Bolsheviks came into power for many reasons. The provisional government was now weak, they hadn’t kept the promises they had made and had little support because of the Bolsheviks were basically handed the power. The Bolsheviks were a left wing party however they were not first choice to govern Russia, however the Bolshevik claimed power in the name of the people so didn’t need overall support.
The Bolsheviks had suffered a great loss in the July days when they tried to provide leadership as soldiers and industrial works protested against the provisional government, they used the Bolsheviks slogan ‘All power to the soviets’. However the military attacked the pacifist protests and began to repress the Bolsheviks. Lenin went in to hiding whereas the other Bolshevik leaders were arrested, this lead to a temporary decline in Bolshevik power and influence. Lenin and the leaders remained hidden/locked away until Kerensky released them in a response to the Kornilov affair, where the commander and chief of the army attempts to march and army to Petrograd, the Provisional Government have no choice but to release the Bolsheviks that were imprisoned to help prevent the attempted coup.
Another of the Bolsheviks slogans was “Peace, Bread, Land”. N the cities many workers were starving as the peasants were hoarding food or fighting in the war. This meant that there want enough food for everyone, the peasants had hoped that the provisions government would give them back the land they worked on as the land was owned by higher social classes. When the provision government didn’t meet this demand hunger and famine became worse across the whole of Russia. Russia was also doing very badly in the war; many citizens wanted the country to withdraw from the war. When the Bolshevik party noted that they wished to withdraw from the war they gained a little support. However the provisional government’s failure to meet the peasants/workers’ demands meant that the Bolsheviks could appease them and take the power away from the provisional government. Because the provisional government weren’t doing anything to help the peasants, once Trotsky and Lenin attempted to seize power the Petrograd citizens weren’t prepared to defend the provisional government, basically handing the power over to the Bolsheviks explaining why they were able to seize power without popular support.
The leadership if the party was also a main factor as to why the Bolsheviks were able to seize power. Once Lenin had returned, his determination to have power helped improve the Bolsheviks chances of ruling. Lenin was a very dedicated and capable leader; he managed to motivate the party to follow through on orders. He also used propaganda to try and increase Bolshevik support; eventually the Bolsheviks became popular in the army and in the factories as they promised to meet the demands rather than ignore them as the provisional government had done. Other leaders within the party were also very loyal to Lenin which allowed the Bolsheviks to seize power without a lot of support as they had a good, strong leader. Another good leader was Trotsky, he was very good at the administration side of the party and helped meet the demands of the workers, the party had a very good propaganda regime which included; Newspapers, banners and posters, all these helped to gain support from the military and the workers. He also brought back discipline within the military which allows the Bolsheviks to take power from the provisional government. These leaders were one of the key reasons why the Bolsheviks were able to seize power without having wide-spread popular support.
Overall the main reason why the Bolsheviks were able to seize power without wide spread support was because the provision government hadn’t met the demands of the workers, peasants, military and everyone else in Russia, the Bolsheviks were like a power vacuum, and instead of having to earn he power they basically picked it up due to the Provisional Governments failures.

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