At the time of the February revolution, on 28 February, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was formed. Like the previous soviets, this one attempted to establish itself as a political force, and while they did not try to overthrow the new Provisional Government, they were a powerful influence, especially on the working class.

Their most important early activity was to issue what became known as Order No. 1, which proclaimed that military troops would be run by committee, with officers entitled to command troops only during military operations in the field. Clearly, this undermined the power of the officer corps, most of whom were from the nobility or the gentry. The first leaders of the Petrograd soviet were men like Leon Trotsky, who was one of the leading Mensheviks of the day.

The Provisional Government in Power

While all of these maneuvers were being carried out, the Provisional Government was attempting to run the country, with limited success. All citizens had been declared equal, and have been given freedoms of press, religion, speech, etc., much in line with the traditional demands of revolutionaries. Ethnic minorities were given autonomy, and Poland was declared an independent state. The leadership of the Provisional Government included Prince L'vov, who had been one of the few liberal members of the nobility; Pavel Milukov, one of the leading Kadets who became the foreign minister; and Alexander Kerensky, who served both in the Provisional Government and in the soviet. However, what the Provisional Government failed to do was to pull Russia out of World War I, which was becoming increasingly disastrous. In addition, the Provisional Government neglected to call the Constituent Assembly, which had been elected as the new legislative body, until it was too late and Bolsheviks had already seized power.

The Bolsheviks Seize Power

The Bolsheviks had largely been biding their time; Lenin had been smuggled back into the country from Switzerland in April, with the help of the Germans (who thought that he would foment revolution and help get Russia out of the war); Trotsky, who had been forced to go into exile returned from New York in May, and when L'vov resigned in July, it appeared that the time was ripe for revolution.

The Bolsheviks, without Lenin's approval, attempted to attack the government in July, declaring that the government was simply going to continue to push for the war; one of the Petrograd garrisons came out in support of the Bolsheviks, but the majority did not, and Lenin, who had returned briefly from Finland, was forced to return as the July Days coup was put down. Lenin probably could have seized power if he had really pushed, and many of the other social democrats, including Trotsky, criticized his decision not to do so.

Kerensky replaced L'vov as the head of the Provisional Government but still refused to pull Russia out of World War I; an attempted military coup, led by General Kornilov, failed in August/September.

Elections were taking place to fill the soviets in the towns, and the Bolsheviks actually won a majority of seats: their political agenda, promising an end to the war, nationalization of all land, banks and industry, and the elimination of the bourgeoisie, was a popular one among the urban dwellers. Trotsky was chosen as the head of the Petrograd soviet.

In the meantime, Lenin returned from Finland and began to plan for an insurrection against the Provisional Government. Kerensky attempted to fuel countermeasures against the Bolsheviks, but he was unsuccessful. The October Revolution began with Lenin and the Bolsheviks seizing control of most of the communications centers, transportation, and so on, and on the night of October 25th, the Bolsheviks found themselves in power. The victory over Petrograd was fairly peaceful, with the Bolsheviks announcing their success at seizing the government at the Constituent Assembly the next day; most of the members of the Provisional Government were arrested at the Winter Palace, although Kerensky escaped. Lenin declared the victory of socialism, and the Bolsheviks set about changing the government and society to fit the Marxist model.