The Bolshevik consolidation of power

October 25th 1917: All-Russia Congress of Soviets

• Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries criticised the Bolshevik seizure of power and left the Soviet. With them gone, the Bolsheviks had a majority (300/395 remaining delegates). This gave Lenin the authority to announce that the Soviet was taking power

What did people think would happen after the revolution?

• The Bolsheviks had no plans for after the seizure of power. Lenin believed that the majority of the Russian population would support  the  revolution and the need for government would reduce as people took charge of their own affairs
• Most Russian people expected the Bolshevik government to be temporary and a new government to be elected in the Constituent Assembly elections

Problems facing the Bolsheviks after seizure of…