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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 '''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.

==Notes==

==Notes==

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[[category:Soviet Union]]

[[Category:Soviet Union]]

[[Category:Russian History]]

[[Category:Russian History]]

[[Category:Communism]]

[[Category:Communism]]