How accurate is it to say that Lenin’s leadership was the most important reason for the Bolshevik’s success in the revolution of November 1917?

Lenin’s leadership was to a large extent an important cause of the Bolshevik’s success in the November 1917 revolution. This is because of Lenin’s great leadership skills, including his personality and timing, and his use of propaganda. Other factors to why the Bolsheviks succeeded included Trotsky’s role, which was debatably more important, and the problems with the Provisional Government, which made it unpopular, increasing support to the Bolsheviks and meant that any future revolution was inevitable.

Lenin’s leadership was crucial in a number of respects. He was a brilliant orator so the
The slogans, therefore, allowed Lenin to give support to the Bolsheviks that they will have power whilst making the Provisional Government look weak and dependant on the ‘strong’ Bolsheviks. This is linked to how the weakness of the Provisional Government helped the Bolshevik’s support rise.

It was the Provisional Government, which lead to direct attempts to defeat it; the Bolsheviks were lucky that the Provisional Government was weak. General Kornilov, dissatisfied with the Provisional Government and the muddled state of the army, called for its overthrow. He wanted a return of the death penalty for abandonment, the elimination of the Soviets and the appointment of himself as new leader. Kerensky firstly made proposals to Kornilov by asking him to join a coalition. When rejected, he had to ask the Petrograd Soviet to help him defend the capital. They agreed, but only once he had released the Bolshevik prisoners. He was therefore put into an unpleasant position of having to give weapons to a group of people who were wanted to defeat his government. In the end, Kornilov surrendered. The results were disastrous for the government. Politically, it lost support on both Left and Right. The Right-Wing were shocked that Kerensky had armed the communists. The Left were shocked that Kerensky had tried to compromise with Kornilov and turned instead to the organisation of the Bolsheviks. Militarily, the army lost all trust in the government and started to collapse. The