What happens in October revolution

Lenin was apprehensive of imposition of dictatorship by the Provisional Government. On 16 October 1917, he convinced the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party to agree to a socialist seizure of power. A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by the Soviet under Leon Trotskii to organize the seizure.

The uprising began on 24 October. Prime Minister Kerenskii had sensed trouble and hence left the city to summon troops. In the morning, military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of two Bolshevik newspapers. Pro-government troops were sent to take over the telephone and telegraph offices and protect the Winter Palace.

The Military Revolutionary Committee moved swiftly and ordered its supporters to seize government offices and arrest ministers. Later in the day, the ship Aurora shelled the Winter Palace. Various other vessels sailed down the Neva and took over various military points. The city was under the Committee’s control by night and the ministers had surrendered. At a meeting of the All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd, the Bolshevik action was approved by the majority. By December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow-Petrograd area.