When Lenin arrived from exile on April 3, his interpretation of the February Revolution was opposed by the leaders of the Bolshevik Party. But Lenin’s view was supported by Bolshevik workers, who “thought it self-evident that the class which had won the victory should seize the power” (Trotsky 2008:235). With patience toward the Bolshevik leaders who opposed the new direction, and utilizing the support of rank-and-file Bolsheviks, Lenin was able to establish a new direction for the party by the end of the month, and official confirmation of Lenin’s approach was overwhelmingly obtained at a party conference in Petrograd from April 24 to April 29. This new direction involved breaking with the Mensheviks and advocating the direct seizing of power by the proletariat, establishing the soviets as the government. The Bolsheviks put forth the slogan, “All power to the soviets” The February Revolution was only two months old, but the October Revolution had begun (Trotsky 2008: 224-26, 232-39).
The influence of the Bolshevik Party among workers, soldiers, and peasants expanded rapidly between April and October by virtue of its capacity to discern and defend the interests of the masses, distinguishing itself from the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, whose popular support declined during this period. The Bolshevik platform focused on three issues that invoked a favorable response among the people: power to the soviets, the distribution of land to peasants, and bringing an end to the war. Soviets, land, and peace were the issues that brought Lenin and the Bolsheviks to the vanguard of the Russian Revolution by October (Trotsky 2008:308, 566-67).
During September and October, the soviets were increasingly assuming governmental functions, and they were increasingly controlled by delegates who were Bolshevik Party members or sympathizers. In the capital city of Petrograd, Bolshevik-controlled soviets had de facto power, including a considerable armed force composed of soldiers’ garrisons that had committed to following orders from the Petrograd soviet as well as workers’ militias organized by workers’ soviets. The armed insurrection of October 25 was necessary only to seize control of strategic points not under the control of the soviets, and although the insurrection was supported by a considerable armed force, the application of force was not necessary, as government officials surrendered their posts without resistance (Trotsky 2008:662-837).
Coinciding with the insurrection, a Congress of Soviets was held. The delegates to the Congress were elected delegates of soviets throughout the country. Since the election of the delegates occurred in October, a majority was Bolshevik. Unlike the petty bourgeois socialist intellectuals who had been elected to many soviets in February, the October Congress consisted overwhelmingly of workers, soldiers and peasants. Taking the step that the petty bourgeois socialists would not take in February, the workers, soldiers and peasants of the October Congress of Soviets sanctioned the establishment of an alternative system of government, with ultimate authority in the hands of delegates elected by councils of workers, soldiers and peasants. The newly constituted government immediately issued decrees concerning peace negotiations and the distribution of land to peasants (Trotsky 2008:674-80, 838-68).
We see here the most important legacy of the October Revolution: the development of workers’, solders’ and peasants’ councils as the foundation for an alternative structure of government based on popular democracy, an alternative to parliamentarianism and bourgeois representative democracy.
Lenin, V.I. 1997. El Estado y La Revolución. Madrid: Fundación Federico Engels.
Trotsky, Leon. 2008. History of the Russian Revolution. Translated by Max Eastman. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
Key words: Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, world-system, world-economy, development, underdevelopment, colonial, neocolonial, blog Third World perspective, Russian Revolution, October Revolution, soviets, Lenin, Trotsky