Bryson- Extremist group seizing power by promising but in most cases not fulfilling what the people wanted

The Russian Revolution began because the Russian people were unhappy with the way the previous government was running things and rebelled. It began with the February Revolution where the people wanted to get rid of the Czar and form a government that had more concern for the needs of the people (3). The Provisional government was formed as a result of that revolution . However, the Provisional government made promises to help fix the citizens concerns but asked the people to wait (2). The people of Russia were greatly impacted by the war with Germany and many were dying from the war and from shortages caused by the war (3). The Provisional government wanted to continue the war (2). The people, however, could not stand by with the threat of starvation and being sent to the front line hanging over their heads. Because of this, they began to protest again. The people wanted a government that had more concern for them and their needs (3). This left them wide open to new ideas and made it a great opprotunity for opposition groups to rise. The people were willing to do pretty much anything to get out of the war and stop the dying of their people. Because of all of this, one man began to become more and more popular among the people; Lenin.
Lenin promised the people everything they wanted without making empty promises. He wanted a better Russia; a Russia where the pride of the nation did not come from the battles they won or lost and on imperialistic gains but from the progress made within the already established Russia (2). He promised the people three things; peace, land, bread. He promised an end to Russian involvement in the war, land to the peasants and working class, and food after going hungry for so long as much of the food was sent to the war effort (3). This all appealed so much to the working class. This was a government that proposed to listen to the masses needs instead of the needs of the small majority of nobles. He was even promising representation for them in the government. This was so appealing to the masses that it did not seem to really concern them that Lenin stated that in order to grant all of this, a strict government has to be put in place and extreme measures have to be taken (3).
Lenin finally gained the people's trust enough to win enough support to overthrow the Provisional government (2). However, it is evident that Lenin's dream to rule Russia the way he believed it should be run was not just an unselfish attempt to give the people what they wanted but that he also wanted to run it for his own benefit. He would send letters to the Central Commitee and the Bolsheviks trying to get them to seize the opprotunity of the unstable government and the dislike the people have for it to go all the way through the plans and plan another coup. He also wanted to do away with the democratice process (3). He said " It would be naive to wait for a 'formal' majority... no revolution ever waits for that... History will not forgive us if we do not take power now." (3) This was his excuse to do away with the democratic process. However, he knew that the Bolsheviks were a minority and there amount of votes in a democratic election would not be enough to pass certain laws and plans for the government that Lenin thought was necessary (3).
Also the Bolsheviks, not completely controlled by Lenin but greatly influenced by him, used many military tactics to gain control over Russian. They used the MRC as a front to send rumors to the troops that the provisional government and the General Staff were weapons of the counterrevolution. They also used the front as MRC to send small armed detachments to strategic areas in the capital to wait for an act by Kerensky that could be taken as a sign that the counterrevolution had begun. They took control of railroad stations, telephone exchange, electricty plants, post offices, the state bank, and important bridges (3).
When Lenin finally gained control of Russia however, he began his harsh tactics and first began to stop uprisings against him. He began "stamping out civil liberties." He took away freedom of speech and press (3). Without this, he was able to stop people from writing and publishing stories against him. This would stop ordered protest. He also enlisted a secret police or the Cheka who would report back to Lenin if they witnesses someone speaking out against him (2). It benefitted these people as well because they would become on the good side of the government (2). This was a good way to keep people from banning against him while awarding the secret police without really costing him anything.With revolts no longer a threat, Lenin began to start concentration camps and using extreme measures to crush the opposition to strike fear into the people and make them obey him through fear of what he might do to them if they do not (2).
None of these results, concentration camps, secret army, or less liberties were the desires of the Russian people. They only wanted out of the war,a redistribution of land, and food and Lenin used promises of these things to gain control over the country (2). Because of this and his and the Bolshevik's strong armed tactics, the October Revolution was a successful attempt by an extremist group to seize power through the use of strong armed tactics.