A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

The October Revolution 941

Kerensky organized a Moscow State Conference, which he hoped would
mobilize support for his second coalition government. Most of the delegates
(some of whom were leaders of trade unions, as well as bankers, represen­
tatives from the state dumas, military leaders, and professional people) now
believed only a military dictatorship could save Russia from the soviets and
from having to pull out of the war. German troops had captured Riga, a
major Baltic seaport, posing a direct threat to Petrograd.
Kerensky wanted Kornilov to form a military government that could
restore order, but he believed that the general would remain loyal to him
and to the idea of establishing a democratic republic. Kornilov probably
wanted to seize power and impose a right-wing military regime. A confusing
exchange led each leader to misconstrue what the other meant. Kerensky
demanded Kornilov’s resignation as commander in chief and, when the
latter refused, called on the army to remain loyal to the provisional govern­
ment. On August 27, Kornilov issued an ultimatum to the provisional gov­
ernment declaring that “the heavy sense of the inevitable ruin of the country
commands me in this ominous moment to call upon all Russian people to
come to the aid of the dying motherland.”
Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and Socialist Revolutionaries formed a com­
mittee against counter-revolution. Workers reinforced security around their
factories. Bolsheviks were among those receiving arms at the arsenals in
anticipation of a stand against a military coup. But no coup d’etat took place,
and probably nothing specific had actually been planned. However, by rais­
ing the specter of counter-revolution, the Kornilov Affair aided the Bolshe­
viks, who portrayed themselves as the only possible saviors of the Revolution.

The October Revolution

The provisional government seemed both incapable of solving the worsen­

ing economic crisis and unwilling to take Russia out of the war. The work­

ers of Petrograd were organized and armed, their demands increasing. Only

the Bolsheviks promised in their program to turn over to the soviets some

degree of political power. The radicalized All-Russian Executive Committee

of the Soviets now approved the Bolshevik demand that a “democratic”

republic be declared by a government “of representatives of the revolu­

tionary proletariat and peasantry” from which Kadets, moderate constitu­

tional democrats, would be excluded.

The Bolsheviks Seize Power

After returning to Petrograd in disguise, on October 10 Lenin convinced

the Bolshevik Central Committee that a second insurrection could suc­

ceed. Kerensky believed a Bolshevik insurrection imminent, but he vastly

underestimated the party’s influence with the Petrograd workers, the soviets,