Why was the result a Bolshevik dictatorship?
Essentially what the Bolsheviks wanted was as much opposed to the real desires of the people as had been the policies of the provisional government. For instance the Bolsheviks might well be prepared to give the peasants the land but their real aims was collectivized farming under state direction. When the Bolsheviks and the popular movement came into conflict, the Bolsheviks were utterly ruthless in imposing their will by force. Lenin is crucial. He pushed the Bolshevik Party into it’s uncompromising opposition to the provisional government and so ensured Bolshevik victory. It was he who ensured that the Bolshevik party would resort to dictatorship rather than bow to the will of the Russian people. The details of all that are in my October essay.
