October Revolution

⚔️ After the February Revolution of 1917 and the abdication of Nicholas II, power in the country became split between the Provisional Government, made up mostly of liberal and moderate socialist politicians, and the rapidly growing influence of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The continuation of the unpopular war, the unresolved land question, and the swiftly deteriorating economic situation undermined the authority of the Provisional Government, while the Bolshevik party under Vladimir Lenin steadily gained popularity with its simple, radical slogans of peace, land, and workers' control. The failure of the June offensive at the front, the July crisis, and General Kornilov's failed coup attempt in the autumn of 1917 further weakened the government's position and created favorable conditions for decisive Bolshevik action. 🔴 By the autumn of 1917, the Bolsheviks had won majorities in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets, and the Military Revolutionary Committee formed under the Petrograd Soviet, led by Leon Trotsky, began deliberate preparations to seize power by force. On the night of October 25, 1917, detachments of revolutionary workers, soldiers, and sailors occupied the capital's key sites — railway stations, bridges, and the telegraph office — with virtually no resistance, securing full control of the city even before the assault on the government's residence. That evening, revolutionary forces took the Winter Palace and arrested the ministers of the Provisional Government, while its head, Alexander Kerensky, had already left Petrograd before the decisive events unfolded. 📜 The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, convening in those same days, proclaimed the transfer of all power to the Soviets and approved the formation of a new government led by Lenin. In its very first hours, the congress adopted two crucial decrees that set the course of the new government: the Decree on Peace, calling on the warring powers to begin immediate negotiations without annexations or indemnities, and the Decree on Land, abolishing landowners' property and transferring land to the peasants' use. These decrees, addressing the most urgent hopes of a population exhausted by war, secured the Bolsheviks broad support in the first months after the takeover. 🏛️ In the following weeks, the new government took a series of decisive steps to consolidate its position: banks were nationalized, workers' control was established at enterprises, and the newly created All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (Cheka) began its struggle against political opponents of the regime. The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly in January 1918, a significant portion of whose deputies did not support the Bolsheviks, finally demonstrated the new government's determination to hold on to power by any means. The October Revolution fundamentally changed the course of Russian and world history, ushering in the Soviet period and the fierce Civil War that followed.