Reasons Why The Bolsheviks Able To Take Control Of Russia In 1917

Introduction
The Bolsheviks were strong government party who were able to seize power of Russia in 1917 due to the weak way the country was run. Some of the reasons why the Bolsheviks were able to take control of Russia include: the Provisional Government was very unpopular, the Petrograd soviet was powerful, Lenin returned to Russia, Kornilov was defeated by the Red Guard and the Military Committee was formed. With the ongoing World War the people of Russia began to lose faith in the Provisional Government to put a stop to Russia’s involvement, however the Bolshevik party promised to put a stop to Russia’s involvement while also solving many of the other issues which continued to plague the nation. The four main reasons as to why the Bolsheviks …show more content…
The Provisional Government became very unpopular after many of their reforms were not to the liking of the Russian working class. The Provisional Government was blamed with food shortages and rising prices due to continuing to fight in World War One despite the Russian people opposing this action. The Provisional Government wanted to continue fighting so the allies would continue to support them. Another reason why the Provisional Government was disliked was due to failing to hand out land to peasants. The Russian government told farmers to claim their land after the election; however the Provisional Government had not yet allowed the Russian people to vote for their own government. The Bolshevik party saw how unpopular the Provisional Government was becoming and took advantage of the disapproval of the Provisional Governments actions and used them to their advantage, using slogans to appeal to the people for example “Peace, Bread and Land!” The Bolsheviks had promised to give food to the starving people of Russia, Land to those who wanted it and to pull the Russian military from the world war. These views made the Bolsheviks very popular with the people of Russia and were a leading factor in the takeover of power from the Provisional …show more content…
Kornilov was loyal to the previous Tsar way of running Russia. Kornilov gathered troops claiming he was under order from Kerensky and in September 1917 Kornilov ordered the troops to march on the Petrograd. Kornilov’s aims were to seize control over the Provisional Government and to destroy their competition the Petrograd Soviet. The provisional government sought out help from the Bolshevik army the Red Guards, The Red Guards defeated Lavr Kornilov and he was arrested and the Bolsheviks gained popularity from this