So i'm sure we've all heard this accusation. The October Revolution wasn't really a popular social revolution but a coup from the far-left represented by the Bolshevik party. The Bolsheviks, which had to operate under a police-state and laid out how this could work in Lenin's What Is To Be Done (which I would also argue describes the virtue of having a revolutionary organization of the most dedicated regardless of the party's numerical strength along with the course of the October Revolution and the build up to it itself) never came out of operating as a small conspiratorial group and took power in a coup. This way of operating would be institutionalized and culminate in Stalinism. The Bolshevik Revolution is described as Blanquist, as a coup, by anarchists and others, etc. in this same way. There are problems I view with this notion. For starters, the Bolshevik party during the October Revolution was not a small party and experienced a huge influx of workers along with being allied to soviets, factory committees, and other grassroots proletarian organizations. To claim that it was a minority coup is false, as it contained great support from the exploited and oppressed groups of society which actively participated in the revolutionary effort and the construction of the next society. While it is true that the Bolsheviks always seemed to be a very militant group, advocating for a Russian defeat in war, constantly pushing further left than many mainstream Marxists at the time believed, this didn't make them a minority party as many anti-Bolsheviks accuse. In fact, it's militancy and extreme leftism contributed to the growing influx of workers into Bolshevik ranks and Bolshevik domination in the soviets, factory committees, and other organizations. The Bolshevik party contained a majority of workers and represented the interests of the workers in the revolutionary effort and for a time thereafter. The October Revolution was no coup, was not Blanquist, and was a popular social revolution supported by those at the bottom of society.
