Why were many of the Russian people attracted to the Bolsheviks? 1. The Bolsheviks set up schools for the peasants

2. The Bolsheviks wanted the czar to stay in power

3. The Bolsheviks promised peace, land, and bread

4. The Bolsheviks thought religion should be abolished

Led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin, leftist revolutionaries launch a nearly bloodless coup d’État against Russia’s ineffectual Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in the Russian capital of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and within two days had formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Bolshevik Russia, later renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the world’s first Marxist state.

The split in the party resulted from differing views on party membership and ideology. Lenin wanted the party to be a vanguard of those committed to a proletariat-based revolution. This gained the Bolsheviks some favour, and their aggressive stance towards the bourgeoisie appealed to younger members. The new communist government created the country of the Soviet Union. Before the revolution, Russia was ruled by a powerful monarch called the Tsar. The Tsar had total power in Russia. He commanded the army, owned much of the land, and even controlled the church.