Why did the October Revolution take place?

Answer 1

The Provisional Government (PG) which was set up after the February Revolution and abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, did not satisfy the revolutionary desires of the people of Russia which caused the revolution. The PG was comprised of people from the Duma, aristocrats and intellectuals army of whom had interest they wanted to protect now that they had gotten rid of the Tsar.

The PG continued the war against Germany. It failed to improve the availability of food. It failed to redistribute land from wealthy owners to peasants. In short nothing had changed for the common person, therefore it had lost its support.

Meanwhile the Bolsheviks under Lenin had been agitating against the PG itself now. The Bolsheviks had many supporters in the army and they turned they army against the PG just as they had done against the Tsar. The PG, like the Tsar before it, lost the military support it needed to fight the rebellion.

The PG was dependent upon the local councils of workers and soldiers called soviets to maintain its power, but these were gradually taken over by the Bolsheviks so the PG lost its local political support.

All in all though, the October Revolution took place because Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks wanted a socialist (not communist) state and the PG still had capitalist roots. Lenin was not content to wait for a true Marxist uprising of the proletariat so he acted for it by staging the military coup that they called the October Revolution.