Hall- Selfish Attempt by an Extremist Group to Seize Power through Trickery

The October Revolution was definately a successful attempt by an extremist group to seize power throug the use of strong-armed tactics. However, the successful use of strong-armed tactics was only possible through the trickery and lies Lenin used to gain the trust of already troubled people. Because of established instability in Russia, Lenin could not have picked a more perfect time to tell the Russian people exactly what they wanted to hear. While the people for attempting to recover from the overthrow of the Czar and cope with the false promises made by the provisional government, Lenin and the Bolsheviks used the instability of the provisional government to grasp power by correlating directly to the people's wants and needs. For example, the aims and goals of Lenin and the Bolsheviks were clearly stated in Lenin's April Theses, which addressed his aims for Russia. Because the provisional government failed to immediately grant freedom of speech and religion, legalize unions and strikes, declare equality to all Russian citizens, and regulate a Constiuent Assembly as instant gratification for the people, Lenin seized the opportunity to promise each failure of the provisional government. In his April Theses, Lenin cleverly won support by asserting that the provisional government must be overthrown in order to conclude the war and end the same problems the "new government" was making as the Czar. Likewise, he declares that the power needs to be in the hands of the bourgoise rather than the people, he discourages support of the provisional government because of their false promises, he encourages election for an equal representation in the government, and he asserts that private land should be confiscated and given to the poor. With this, Lenin's use of true representation for the people's wants shows his ability to manipulate the vulnerable people. Because the Czar as well as the provisional government neglected to provide the people with bread, peace, and land, they grew weary of waiting, which would allow them to be willing to listen to anyone that offered these three neccessities. Taking advantage of this, Lenin was able to gain supporters to proceed to his idealistic dicatorship.
Having gained the people's trust and support, Lenin and the Bolsheviks were able to accomplish the next mission, to maintain this power, through the use of strong-armed tactics. Because the Bolsheviks represented the minority, Lenin wisely gained enough support to become chairman of The Council of People's Commissars, which in-turn led to a large amount of Bolshevik participants. The trickery Lenin displayed to earn supporters was wise because now that he was in a powerful position, he could administer his plan to establishing dicatatorship, which discouraged opposing revolutionaries to join the council due to the "political terrorism" displayed by the Bolsheviks (Source 3, pg 42). With support as well as political power, Lenin was now able to abandon each of his promises. Lenin's next step on the road to dictatorship was neglecting civil liberties, by initially declaring that no opposing opinions would be tolerated (Source 3, pg 43). Although this sudden change in Lenin's demeanor left the people helpless because his power was strengthening and his opposition groups opposed each other, it was their own fault for having an extreme amount of belief in yet another ruler. They believed the Czar would change after Bloody Sunday, they believed the provisional government would compensate for the Czar, and they believed that Lenin truly represented their desires. To abandon any opposition what-so-ever, opposing groups were targeted, outlawed, and arrested to keep the view of Russia in unison. Lenin's desire became so extreme that the Cheka, or secret police, was created to supposedly defend Russia from counter-revolutionaries (or those against the revoluation) and people of opposing political parties. However, the Cheka created a greater scare than initially intended by Lenin because no one knew who were secret police, people became skeptical of who to talk to, instilling fear and uneasy in Russian Citizens.
Lenin tactfully gained power by targeting vulnerable people, and maintained power by diminishing any group opposing his extremist political ideas.