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[[Image:Kustodiyev bolshevik.jpg|right|thumb|''Bolshevik'' by Boris Kustodiyev, 1920.|300px]]  

[[Image:Kustodiyev bolshevik.jpg|right|thumb|''Bolshevik'' by Boris Kustodiyev, 1920.|300px]]  

The '''October Revolution''' or '''Bolshevik Revolution''', led by [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]], took place in [[Russia]] in 1917.  Lenin returned from exile when the [[czar|tsarist]] (czarist) rule ended and by a violent coup against the social-democratic government of [[Alexander Kerensky]] he led the Bolsheviks into power.  

The '''October Revolution''' or '''Bolshevik Revolution''', led by [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]], took place in [[Russia]] in 1917.  Lenin returned from exile when the [[czar|tsarist]] (czarist) rule ended and by a coup against the social-democratic government of [[Alexander Kerensky]] he led the Bolsheviks into power.  

The Congress of [[Soviet]]s, in 1917, was made up of representatives of local soviets which, in turn, were supposedly elected primarily by workers and peasants in the various local districts; in reality, the Bolsheviks secured the delegates by the use of violence and intimidation. In the Congress of Soviets which met at the beginning of November, 1917, the Bolshevik party had a majority. This Congress then declared itself to be "the government": that is to say, it claimed sovereignty and declared that sovereignty was no longer possessed by the [[Kerensky government]] which was based upon the remnants of the old Russian Duma and had been in power since the [[February Revolution]].  The Soviet Congress then proceeded to enact the chief initial measures of the new regime and to elect an executive - the Council of Commissars. <ref>James Burnham, ''The Managerial Revolution'', Indiana University Press, Bloomingham 1966. </ref>

The Congress of [[Soviet]]s, in 1917, was made up of representatives of local soviets which, in turn, were supposedly elected primarily by workers and peasants in the various local districts; in reality, the Bolsheviks secured the delegates by the use of violence and intimidation. In the Congress of Soviets which met at the beginning of November, 1917, the Bolshevik party had a majority. This Congress then declared itself to be "the government": that is to say, it claimed sovereignty and declared that sovereignty was no longer possessed by the [[Kerensky government]] which was based upon the remnants of the old Russian Duma and had been in power since the [[February Revolution]].  The Soviet Congress then proceeded to enact the chief initial measures of the new regime and to elect an executive - the Council of Commissars. <ref>James Burnham, ''The Managerial Revolution'', Indiana University Press, Bloomingham 1966. </ref>

Lenin was dictator of the Soviet state under a system of [[Marxism-Leninism]], involving iron control of the party and the people, until his death in 1924. After his death, a power struggle between [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] ostracized Trotsky and brought Stalin to power. Stalin would eventually have Trotsky assassinated; and his increasing paranoia was manifested in a bloody series of [[purges]] from the mid 1930s onwards.

Lenin was dictator of the Soviet state under a system of [[Marxism-Leninism]], involving iron control of the party and the people, until his death in 1924. After his death, a power struggle between [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] ostracized Trotsky and brought Stalin to power. Stalin would eventually have Trotsky assassinated; and his increasing paranoia was manifested in a bloody series of [[purges]] from the mid 1930s onwards.

==Trivia==

==Calendar confusion==

*The confusion about the naming of the October or November Revolution is because at the time the Russians still used the [[Julian calendar]], which meant that it was around a month behind the more modern states who used the [[Gregorian calendar]], so for the other states the revolution occurred in November, but to the Russians it occurred in October.

*The confusion about the naming of the October or November Revolution is because at the time the Russians still used the [[Julian calendar]], which meant that it was around a month behind the more modern states who used the [[Gregorian calendar]], so for the other states the revolution occurred in November, but to the Russians it occurred in October.

==References==

==References==

*Corin, Chris; Fiehn, Terry (2002). ''Communist Russia under Lenin and Stalin''. ISBN 0-7195-7468-9

* Pipes, Richard. ''A Concise History of the Russian Revolution'' (1996), by a leading conservative scholar [http://www.amazon.com/Concise-History-Russian-Revolution/dp/0679745440/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239046631&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search]

==Notes==

==Notes==

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