October 1917: Revolution or Coup?

On 25 October 1917 (7 November by the Western calendar), Bolshevik-led forces of the Military Revolutionary Committee seized key points in Petrograd and the Winter Palace, arresting most of the Provisional Government. Historians disagree about how to characterize this. One interpretation, associated with historians such as Richard Pipes, describes it as a coup by a small, disciplined party that exploited chaos.

Another, associated with social historians such as Alexander Rabinowitch and Sheila Fitzpatrick, emphasizes that the Bolsheviks had gained majorities in the Petrograd and Moscow soviets and real support among workers and soldiers. Both agree the takeover itself involved relatively few people. The Bolsheviks then won about a quarter of the vote in elections to the Constituent Assembly, which they dissolved in January 1918. Comparing this with 1789, where an elected assembly drove change, highlights the question of legitimacy.