1. What caused the October 1917 Revolution?
Was it inevitable (Marx)
or the result of failures by the Provisional Government
Or brilliant Bolsheviks?

2. Essay feedback Statement – ‘one reason for the revolution was...
Example – for example... On this date, this number of people, by this person, in this place that happened...
Explain - this meant that x happened, which meant that y happened which caused the fall of the Tsar
Evaluation -on the other hand... Less important because... Links to other reasons because... Links to my main reason... If this hadn’t happened then...

3. What caused Oct Rev? Inherent weakness of Prov Gov
Bad policies of Prov Gov
Eg WWI
Eg Mistakes by Kerensky
Strength of Bolsheviks
Good policies of Bolsheviks
Good leadership eg by Lenin & Trotsky

4. Timeline- Oct Rev February 1917 Revolution – Prov Gov takes power
April Theses- Lenin returns
June Offensive- WWI attack
July Days- Bolshevik’s failed revolution
Kornilov revolt- army failed revolution
October Revolution- Bolsheviks succeed

5. Context “ 10 Days that shook the world’ –John Reid
Bolsheviks have done very little previously
Small group
Take over Russia suddenly
Rule it for next 60+ years
How!

6. Who were the Provisional Govt?
When Nicholas banned Duma
‘Provisional’ (temporary) committee set up - became Provisional Government.
= remains Fourth Duma. (+ Kerensky).

7. What was the Provisional Government’s role?
until elections for Constituent Assembly.
To write a democratic constitution.
Elections then held for ‘real’ Duma to take the ‘big’ decisions.

8. #1 What were the weaknesses of the PG from the start?
temporary
Partially unelected because…
didn’t have full control
Petrograd Soviet ran factories, soldiers, Kronstadt naval base
Other groups more powerful, because had done more to overthrow Tsar

9. Who were the Soviets?
Soviets = committees of soldiers, sailors and workers
many only recognised them as gov
Petrograd Soviet dominated by SRs and Mensheviks,
Bolsheviks took control later.
Eg April First All Russian Congress of Soviets: 1600 deputies. Only 40+ were Bolsheviks.

10. Why didn’t the Petrograd Soviet govern?
believed it was living through Marx’s bourgeois revolution
wanted to make sure that the PG did not lead a counter revolution
so acted as check on the PG’s actions,

11. EG: Soviet Order Number One
Issued by the Petrograd Soviet to the army;
“The orders of the military commission of the State Duma shall be executed only in such cases as do not conflict with the orders and resolutions of the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers Deputies.”
What does this tell you about PG’s power?

12. ENTRY PASS: Cause of the October Rev?
Write your name on a post it
Explain x2 weaknesses of the provisional government

13. What was the Dual Authority?
2 ruled together- PG & Soviets
Soviet Order No 1 said: Nothing PG did could be done without Soviet’s agreement.
In effect: “The Soviet held real power but refused to rule, while the Provisional Government was in many ways powerless but was expected to govern.”
Mensheviks did work with PG because = saw it as part of Marx’s revolution

14. Prov Gov and its problems Key Notes
Read Lynch pg 80-2
Provisional Government inherently weak: Dual Authority
Democratic weakness… (para 3)
Weak because of Soviet… (para 3
But Soviet also supportive because…
Weakned by Soviet Order No 1 because... (p 81 para 2)
But cooperation possible because...
Lenin’s Return cause the revolution (p 82...)
German’s hoped...
Lenin’s return important because...
April theses said...
Support for Soviets because...
Slogan =
Used it to appeal to... N5
Read p68-71 of Robertson
Answer Qs on P72 in full sentences

15. Prov Gov and its problems Key Notes
Read Lynch pg 85
Provisional Government’ mistakes
War...
No choice because...
Morale in soldiers...
June offensive
July Days(p 87...)
Who ran it?
What happened?
3 results...
Land (p88)
Peasants expected...
Provision Gov did...
Bolsheviks did...
Read Lynch p 90
Kornilov affair
What happened
Why it weakended PG
October Revolution
Key dates
Lenin’s role
Trotsky’s role
Summary: reasons for success
Support of Bolsheviks by opposition parties because...
Weakness of others because of...
Weakness of PG
Lenin... Or not?

16. Prov Gov and its problems Key Notes
Read Lynch pg
The Provisional Gov & Problems:
The main problem was…
It was financial because…
The preoccupation of war…
On 14th March Milyukov…
Kerensky became…
The socialists became isolated from the Soviet because…
Kerensky & increasing troubles:
As War Minister he…
He visited…
In June….
Bolshevik agitators were…
Whole regiments….
General Kornilov called the Prov Gov to….
On Kronstadt….

17. Prov Gov and its problems Key Notes
Read Lynch pg
The Land Question:
The Prov Gov misread…
Land shortage was…
The Feb Rev made peasants believe…
The Government however….
This led to the peasants….
It set up the Land Commission but…
The majority of the Prov Gov came from…
Therefore they did not want…
The Bolshevik’s view on Land reform
They had no…
Lenin could no longer ignore 4/5th of the Russian population so….
He stole the SR’s…
They recognised the land seizures as…
This produced a swing…
It had also the effect of…

18. #2 Did PG make mistakes? What were the Provisional Government’s reforms?
Released political prisoners
Abolished the death penalty
Transferred power from local Tsarist officials
gave it to Zemstva
Confiscated all Tsarist land

19. #2 Mistakes of PG Did WWI help lead to the October revolution?
PG continued war - Because: Brit and France forced them
Needed/relied on international loans (War Credits) – Tsardom left Russia bankrupt
need to keep the army busy (not causing rev)
Soviets weren’t happy. Agreed to defend Russian borders only – not keen on advancement
Kerensky persuaded them co-operate with PG to avoid a collapse of law and order. [Kerensky was a member of both the Petrograd Soviet and the PG.]
June military offensive = disaster
Army / navy discipline collapsed – desertions & Mutinies

20. #2 Mistakes of PG: Did Peasants help cause October Revolution?
calm at first = expected land redistribution
Chernov (leader of the SRs) became Minister of Agriculture but Prov Gov was too slow to share land
Results = started to take landlord / church land.
By summer - law and order in countryside had collapsed.
Bolsheviks took advantage!

21. #2 Mistakes of PG: Did minorities help cause revolution?
Nationalists active.
Bolsheviks supported demands for independence.
PG recognised Polish independence - but did little else.

22. #5 Did Lenin help cause October Revolution? Lenin returns: April 1917
exile since 1905.
his ‘Letters from afar’ =
called for a policy of non-cooperation with the PG: “It is necessary not to support Guchkov and Co but to organise, expand and strengthen a proletarian militia, to arm the people under the leadership of the workers.”
Germans helped Lenin to return hoping he would weaken Russia: he was their virus!

23. Did the April Theses help cause Oct Rev?
Lenin’ plan
no co-operation with the PG or any other party;
plan for the proletarian revolution;
the soviets should have power.
‘Peace, land, bread’
‘All power to the Soviets’

24. Prov Gov and its problems Key Notes
Read Lynch pg 89-91
Lenin’s Return & Impact:
Lenin arrived from exile from Switzerland to Petrograd on…
Between the Germans had…
The Germans hoped…
Before Lenin’s return Kamenev & Stalin…
Lenin changed the direction of the Bolsheviks by…
The April Thesis spelt out…
He insisted that Bolsheviks must…
Lenin saw the Soviets as…
His 2 slogans were…
He claimed that the Prov Gov were only…

25. #2 Mistakes of PG: Do the July Days, 1917, show the Provisional Government as weak or strong?
Bolsheviks started an uprising but…
After failure- Bolsheviks blamed - Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries
very disorganised - allowed PG to crush it using troops still loyal to the government
Kerensky took credit
tried to crush the Bolsheviks…
Lenin fled to Finland

26. July 3-6th, 1917
There was a continuing challenge to the Provisional Government but the signs had always been there…
“The spread of soviets, the growth of trade unions, worker control of factories, the widespread seizure of land by the peasants and the creation of independent national minority governments—most notably in the Ukraine—suggested that the Provisional Government could no longer control events.”

27. Prov Gov and its problems Key Notes
Read Lynch pg
The July Days:
By summer of 1917 some of the problems were…
The Ukrainian problem was…
In Petrograd there were….
In the 3 days from the 3rd-6th of July…
The disunity made it easy…
The rising revealed that…
2 days after the rising Kerensky…
He attacked the Bolsheviks by…
The Bolsheviks seemed…

28. Do the July Days, 1917, show the Provisional Government as weak or strong?
Lenin hesitated
wanted to lead not follow revolution & remove PG.
PG gathered troops loyal to the gov
blamed Bolsheviks for fighting.
Reputation of the Bolsheviks fell.
Kerensky now PM
Hit Bolsheviks hard but worried that loyalists might try a coup.

29. Who was General Kornilov?
Commander in Chief after July Days 1917.
described as having ‘…the heart of a lion and the brains of a sheep.’
Against socialists in the PG & Petrograd Soviet

30. Prov Gov and its problems Key Notes
Read Lynch pg
The Kornilov Affair:
Kornilov believed that…
By late August…
Large numbers of refugees…
He decided that Russia was about to…
He intended to bring troops to Petrograd to…
Kerensky ordered Kornilov to…
Kerensky ordered citizens to…
The Bolsheviks benefited by…
It ended when railway…
The Bolsheviks presented themselves as…
The episode damaged the Prov Gov because…

31. #2 Mistakes of PG: Did the Kornilov Revolt weaken the Provisional Government?
Kornilov tried to bargain with Kerensky to strengthen army discipline but by-passed the Soviet
So moderates liked him - but Socialists hated him
Confusion: Lvov said Kornilov = planning military coup
Kornilov thought Kerensky = Bolsheviks
Kornilov moved soldiers to take over gov in Petrograd
Kerensky armed Soviets & freed Bolsheviks to stop him

32. Kornilov -2
Kornilov failed to rally sufficient support for his march on Petrograd. It is debated whether there really was a revolt. But:
“The repercussions of the Kornilov Revolt were enormous. Had the Bolsheviks set out a strategy for destroying totally the credibility of moderate exponents of authority in Russia, they could not have managed better. Everyone who had been seen providing any kind of support for Kornilov was totally discredited…”

33. Did the Kornilov affair help cause the October Revolution?
Bolsheviks damaged by the July Days Rising
but restored by Kornilov affair
Kerensky’s position weakened.
Soviets now armed (to help stop Kornilov)
The Dual Authority was destroyed: the Soviets now refused to work with the PG.
The Kadets (Liberals) were isolated.

34. Were Provisional Government’s decisions the cause of the October Revolution?
Didn’t end the war.
So workers still in trouble: food, inflation
Continued with offensives (despite Soviets)
Didn’t legalise peasant land seizures.
Freed political prisoners- let Lenin back in
Not harsh enough on Bolsheviks after July Days
Let Bolsheviks out to stop Kornilov

35. Were Peasants, Soldiers and Workers the ones who created revolution?
Very few Bolsheviks
Peasants already organised and seizing land in Feb (mir)
Sailors at Kronstadt started things in July
Workers started Feb rev, then in Oct...
Real wages fell 10-60%,
Liberals in Prov Gov sided with factory owners so...
‘they turned to the Bolsheviks because their policies seemed to represent the only viable political alternative’ (Steve Smith)

36. Conclusions
Didn’t succeed in building up a strong power-base in Russia.
army only became more revolutionary.
failed to gain support of peasants.
divisions among the moderates proved fatal in the face of the single-minded purpose of the left, especially that of the Bolsheviks.

37. Why was the Provisional Government weak from the start
Why was the Provisional Government strong?
What was Soviet Order No.1?
What was the Petrograd Soviet?
Why was the Petrograd Soviet not that strong?
Why was the Dual Authority actually quite strong at first.
Why was World War I a mistake for the PG?
Why was WWI not a mistake but a weakness?
What mistakes did the PG make over land?
What mistakes did the PG make over bread?
Why did the June offensive weaken the provisional government?
Why did the Kornilov affair weaken the provisional government?
How important was Lenin in leading the October revolution
How important was Trotsky in leading the October revolution
Did the July Days weaken the provisional government?
Were Bolshevik ideas central?

38. It was only temporary- elections were scheduled for January 1919
The Dual Authority meant that in practice the Soviets held most power
there was huge goodwill when it first took over. People were delighted that the Tsar had gone.
un-democratic. 4th Duma only elected by 3% , closed by the Tsar, only a proportion stayed to form PG
This said that the Soviets would only obey the PG if it didn’t go against them.
It was 3000 delegates from groups of workers, soldiers and sailors?
Because it had so many different groups within it
Because the Soviet and the Provisional Government shared many members, such as Kerensky
Because they continued to fight,
Because the PG didn’t have a choice- they owed too much money to France.
Chernov didn’t hand it out fast enough to peasants so they took it anyway- showing their strength
They tried to start food rationing, but the peasants wouldn’t supply bread at their low fixed price
The Soviets had agreed to continue fighting as long as there was no attacking. After June they didn’t support the PG
it showed that they had to rely on the Soviets to stop him- they freed and armed the Bolsheviks.
Lenin made the Bolsheviks stop talking and start acting on 10th October
Trotsky persuaded Lenin to wait until the Bolsheviks controlled the Soviet on 20th Oct, he was the leader of the revolution in the Soviet, he organised the takeover.
No- it showed they were able to stop the Bolsheviks and lock them up
Peace, land, bread = simple and appealing. ‘All power to the Soviets’ attracted Soviets. They changed their ideas to fit.

39. What caused the 1917 October Revolution?
Weaknesses of Provisional Gov from start
Dual Authority - real power with Soviet (Army), saw itself as temporary, divided
Bad policies of Prov Gov
Opposition to WWI, failure to legit peasant take over, lost support of national minorities, economy
Mistakes by Kerensky
June offensive, July Days, Kornilov affair, under-estimating Bolsheviks - moved against them – Rearming Bolsheviks
Bolsheviks
Opposed Prov Gov, wanted to end war, promised land to peasants, good slogans
Return of Lenin, Trotsky, April theses appealed to peasant and workers, good use of Soviets Congress to seize power