by Natasha Hone

Created on: March 17, 2008   Last Updated: September 15, 2010

The Bolsheviks were faced with an enormous task of assuming power in Russia. They were a minority party trying to impose their will on Russia and facing fierce opposition from within and outside the nation. The support of the working class and the peasantry was very important to the Bolsheviks' assumption of power and it would have been deemed easy to obtain. After years of defeat at the war front it came to a point where continuance was impossible. Russia was suffering from great hardships such as inadequate transport, food scarcity, high prices and low wages.

Russia is a huge country which in 1914 was filled with a fast growing population of millions of peasants who were impoverished by the high rents they had to pay landlords and industrial workers. Discontent among the peasants was rife and the prolonged industrial depression and consequent unemployment provided material for working class trade unions and political organisation. The majority of the population were peasants almost ninety five percent with only five percent of elites, so for any party to gain control it would need to get them on their side or quite simply put the peasants outnumbered everyone else.

If it had not been for the role of the workers, soldiers and peasants in Bolsheviks' rise to power it is possible that's Lenin's arguments would have remained only an annotation in history if the continuing social discontent and anger had not undermined Russia's fragile new order. The majority of the lower classes were deeply distrustful of the existing political and social authorities over their every day live's due to their standard of life during the period. The peasants began to rebel against their employers and landlords - this was the start of the proletariat revolution, workers control evolved in factories. Distrust for employers by the factory workers grew. Soldiers along with sailors also rebelled, these were mainly peasants in uniform who turned against their officers and replaced them with one of their own. Also in the country side peasants seized control of land, livestock and tools.

The people of Russia wanted fundamental rights which they had lacked for a long period of time, they hoped that this would bring social benefits such as food, land, free education and an end to the war in Europe. The majority of people wanted a strong unified political authority to restore law and order to the country that would nevertheless serve the interests of the majority against the minority and the poor against the rich.

The majority in Russia distrusted the rich and powerful and blamed them for the war, their poor living conditions and the March revolution they believed that they were enemies of the people and traitors to Russia. When Lenin arrived with his slogan of Bread, Peace and Land it was a very attractive proposition as there was little else on offer.

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