What happened in the Russian Revolutions of 1917?
The first revolution – the February was really just a bread riot that spiralled out of control. Workers in the giant industrial plants in Petrograd went on strike in support of the bread rioters. The Petrograd garrison refused to fire on the crowds and when the normally loyal cossack regiments joined the rioters the Autocracy was doomed. There was no ideology, there were no leaders, no guiding. The October Revolution was a very different affair. Lenin had learnt from the 1905 and the February revolutions, he planned the takeover in great detail. He ensured that Bolsheviks were either in the majority on all the influential soviets, or controlled the important posts of general secretary (controlling the soviet’s personnel) or security (being able to intimidate or exclude political opponents. He ensured that the demoralised army was even further demoralised, he Bolsheviks demanded a democratic army with no officers. Then he ensured that the Red Guard seized key buildings, the post office,
