22/25 mark essay on whether the October Revolution was simply a coup d'etat by Lenin whose principle aim was to secure power and never let it go. The essay argues overall the October Revolution wasn't a popular uprising but was a power grab by the Bolsheviks
The October Revolution was simply a coup d’etat by Lenin whose principle aim was to secure power
and never let it go- ATVOTV
The October Revolution can certainly be seen as a coup d’etat by Lenin, with the ultimate aim being
to secure power and not relinquish it, however it is also worth noting the extenuating circumstances
of Russia in 1917 and the opinions and actions of the Russian people, particularly those in the urban
heartlands of Russia (namely Petrograd). Undoubtedly, the October Revolution was spearheaded by
Lenin and the Bolsheviks, but what Lenin’s motives were are still debatable, as is the extent to which
the coup was supported by the people of Petrograd.
One view of the October Revolution is that it was primarily orchestrated by Lenin and executed by
the Bolsheviks (therefore, being a coup d’etat and not a popular revolution). This is certainly credible,
as the events of the 24-25th of October, which saw key buildings and communication centres being
taken over, were certainly led by the Bolsheviks, and it was the Bolsheviks who arrested the
remaining members of the Provisional Government in the days that followed. This suggests that,
even if Lenin wasn’t directly trying to establish an autocratic rule for himself, the Bolsheviks were
certainly the driving force of the revolution. However, it must be noted that armed workers and
soldiers were involved in the occupation of the key buildings and communication centres, suggesting
a degree of involvement from the proletariat. Additionally, when Kerensky attempted to send troops
to raise the bridges linking the Vyborg district (working class area) to the city centre on the 23 rd
October, the troops refused to do this as they saw it as a betrayal of the Soviet and an abandonment
of the principles of the February revolution. This also suggests that there was more to the October
revolution than just Lenin wanting to seize power, and that there was a genuine urge for a more
socialist society in Russia. A counterpoint to this is that the troops who disobeyed the Provisional
Government were somewhat loyal to the Bolsheviks, and so this again suggests that the October
Revolution was simply a power grab by the Bolsheviks. This shows that though Lenin was directly
involved in engineering the October Revolution, there was at least some support for it from the
soldiers and workers of Petrograd, and so it may not solely have been a coup designed to put Lenin
alone in power.
A further point which suggests that Lenin was aiming for a power grab was that he, to an extent,
forced the Central Committee into revolution by threatening resignation. This can be seen as going
against the Marxist stage theory he claimed to be following, or even just Lenin being too impatient to
wait for power. Many of the Central Committee were reluctant to launch into revolution; Zinoviev,
Kamenev and Trotsky all argued for either waiting until after the Constituent Assembly elections or
until the Congress of Soviets (either way, they wanted cooperation with other socialist parties). The
fact that Lenin went to such extreme lengths to persuade the Central Committee to adopt his
position (retuning from Finland to harangue the Central Committee for hours, threatening his
resignation) gives the impression that Lenin was the sole orchestrator of the October Revolution,
desperate to take power for himself, implying that it was really more of a coup d’etat than a popular
revolution. Zinoviev and Kamenev even proclaimed in Novaia Zhin that if they did as Lenin wanted,
and seized power in a revolution, then the mass of the soldiers and workers were unlikely to support
them, further emphasising that the October Revolution was a coup d’etat by Lenin and that the
Bolsheviks didn’t really have much support from the people of Russia. Yet another indicator which
strongly suggests that Lenin was desperate to cling onto power is what he did following the
revolution. The establishment of the Cheka as a tool of political state oppression by Lenin and
Dzerzhinsky in December 1917 shows just how quickly Lenin acted to any potential threat to his
power. Again, this could just be seen as following the long tradition of political repression that had
characterised Russia for centuries, or as a simply precautionary measure. However, these
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