| | | When the Bolsheviks seized power during the October Revolution in 1917, they did not represent a majority of the Russian population — far from it.
Key Points: - Population of Russia (approximate, 1917): 150–170 million
- Bolshevik Party Membership (1917): Around 200,000–300,000 members
- This means only about 0.2% of the Russian population belonged to the Bolshevik Party when they took control.
Important Context: - The term Bolshevik actually means "majority" in Russian, but this was based on a vote at a party congress in 1903, not on public support across the country.
- The Bolsheviks seized power through a coup, not a democratic majority. The Provisional Government was still officially in power until it was overthrown.
- In the Constituent Assembly elections of 1917, the Bolsheviks only received about 24% of the vote — the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) were the actual winners, with about 40%.
Bottom Line: The Bolsheviks were a small, organized minority that gained control through force, strategy, and the disarray of their opponents, not by representing the majority of Russians. |
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