Interpreting October: How did the Bolsheviks come to power? An analysis of the role of the Military Revolutionary Committee in the Bolshevik seizure of power on October 25, 1917.

Abstract

This thesis deals with the problematic understanding of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd during the Russian revolution as either a ‘coup d’état’ from above or a ‘social revolution’ from below. The complexities, possibilities and limitations of both approaches are explored by analyzing the more general course of events leading up to the Bolshevik seizure of power as well as by looking in greater detail to the internal dynamics of the Bolshevik party and its relation to the Petrograd Soviet in general and the ‘Military Revolutionary Committee’ in particular.