Why did the Bolsheviks take power in 1917?

Russia – Terror in the Early Soviet State, 1917-29

In this course, Dr James Ryan (Cardiff University) discusses the development of violence and extremism of the early Soviet regime. In the first lecture we explore the events of 1917 and what prompted the Bolsheviks to take power in that moment of Russian history. In the second lecture we look at how and why the early Soviet state became so violent. Third, we investigate how an environment of violence and wartime developed into a period of state-sanctioned terror, the Red Terror (1918-22). In the fourth lecture we identify how terror characterised the period of the New Economic Policy. Finally, in the fifth lecture, we delve into the transition from Leninism to Stalinism, exploring continuities and divergences to understand the basis for a new era of Stalinist terror.

Why did the Bolsheviks take power in 1917?

In this module we think about why the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, focussing on: (i) the Bolsheviks’ ideological desire to fulfil Marxist theory by establishing a Socialist State and thus beginning the path towards communism; (ii) the impact of WWI on the Bolsheviks’ contempt for capitalism, perceiving the war as the culmination of capitalist imperialist competition and exploitation; (iii) the Bolsheviks’ belief that Revolution was an immediate necessity in the wake of the peak of capitalism exemplified in WWI, needing to eminently liberate the workers and free them through socialism.