Causes of October 1917 Revolution

Leadership

• Small, organized group of revolutionaries
• Broke away from the Mensheviks: small coup

April Theses

• Produced by Lenin April1 1917
• Called for: a worldwide socialist revolution, immediate end to WW1, end to co-operation with Provisonal gov't, Soviet to take power, land to be given to the peasants

July Days

• Violence and rioting in Petrograd
• Encouraged by the Bolsheviks (some members arrested)

Military

• Refused to pull out of World War 1
• Launched Summer 1917 offensive - hundreds of thousands killed and even more territory lost to the Germans
• Desertations increased - led to Petrograd uprising in July

Social

• No land reforms: 237 cases of peasant land seizures in July 1917
• Fins, Poles and Ukranians demanded independence
• Cost of living rose - black bread price rose 500% from August 1914-17

Economic

• All resources directed to fighting the war
• 568 factories closed in Petrograd - unemployment, violence
• 100 000 jobs lost in Petrograd between Feb-July
• Railway condition poor, dislocated by the war
• Shortages of food, fuel and raw materials

Political

• No clear control over the country, working with Petrograd Soviet
• Kerensky leader in July 1917 - popular choice, although did not solve any of the problems, moved into Tsar's palace