The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd - Paperback

by Alexander Rabinowitch (Author)

A landmark work of revolutionary history—now with a new introduction for the centenary of 1917

Alexander Rabinowitch's The Bolsheviks Come to Power stands as one of the most authoritative and meticulously researched accounts of the Russian Revolution, chronicling the tumultuous months from the July Days through the October seizure of power in Petrograd. This classic study dismantles decades of Cold War mythology and Soviet hagiography alike, revealing the revolution not as an inevitable Bolshevik coup, but as a complex, contingent process shaped by mass movements, political miscalculations, and the radical aspirations of workers, soldiers, and sailors.

Drawing on extensive archival research—including party records, factory committee minutes, military unit resolutions, and contemporary newspapers—Rabinowitch reconstructs the revolutionary moment with unprecedented granularity. He demonstrates how the Bolsheviks' success stemmed not from conspiratorial genius or German gold, but from their willingness to align with the increasingly radical demands of Petrograd's lower classes: immediate peace, land redistribution, workers' control of production, and genuine soviet power.

Author Biography

Alexander Rabinowitch is is an affiliated research scholar at St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences, and professor of history at Indiana University. He is the author of Prelude to Revolution and The Bolsheviks in Power.