Editing Vladimir Lenin (section)

=== The October Revolution ===
In Petrograd dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in the spontaneous [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Days July Days] riots, by industrial workers and soldiers. After being suppressed, these riots were blamed by the government on Lenin and the Bolsheviks.<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Kerensky Aleksandr Kerensky], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigory_Aleksinsky Grigory Aleksinsky], and other opponents, also accused the Bolsheviks, especially Lenin—of being Imperial German ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur agents provocateurs]''; on 17 July, Trotsky defended them:<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>An intolerable atmosphere has been created, in which you, as well as we, are choking. They are throwing dirty accusations at Lenin and Zinoviev. Lenin has fought thirty years for the revolution. I have fought [for] twenty years against the oppression of the people. And we cannot but cherish a hatred for German militarism . . . I have been sentenced by a German court to eight months' imprisonment for my struggle against German militarism. This everybody knows. Let nobody in this hall say that we are hirelings of Germany.<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;">  </span>In the event, the Provisional Government arrested the Bolsheviks and outlawed their Party, prompting Lenin to go into hiding and flee to Finland. In exile again, reflecting on the July Days and its aftermath, Lenin determined that, to prevent the triumph of counter-revolutionary forces, the Provisional Government must be overthrown by an armed uprising. Meanwhile, he published ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_and_Revolution State and Revolution]'' (1917) proposing government by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_%28council%29 soviets] (worker-, soldier- and peasant-elected councils) rather than by a parliamentary body.

In late August 1917, while Lenin was in hiding in Finland, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavr_Kornilov General Lavr Kornilov] sent troops from the front to Petrograd in what appeared to be a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kornilov_Affair military coup attempt] against the Provisional Government. Kerensky panicked and turned to the Petrograd Soviet for help, allowing the revolutionaries to organise workers as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guards_%28Russia%29 Red Guards] to defend Petrograd. The coup petered out before it reached Petrograd thanks to the industrial action of the Petrograd workers and the soldiers' increasing unwillingness to obey their officers.

However, faith in the Provisional Government had been severely shaken. Lenin's slogan since the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Theses April Theses] – "All power to the soviets!" – became more plausible the more the Provisional Government was discredited in public eyes. The Bolsheviks won a majority in the Petrograd Soviet on 31 August and in the Moscow Soviet on 5 September.

In October Lenin returned from Finland. From the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolny_Institute Smolny Institute] for girls, Lenin directed the Provisional Government's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposition_%28politics%29 deposition] (6–8 November 1917), and the storming (7–8 November) of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Palace Winter Palace] to realise the Kerensky [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitulation_%28surrender%29 capitulation] that established Bolshevik government in Russia.