Continuing our week of articles and videos celebrating the centenary anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution, Ben Curry discusses the build up to the insurrection on 25th October (7th November in the new calendar) and the decisive role played by Lenin in the debates surrounding the question of whether the time was right for the soviets to seize power.

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, which took place on the night of 7th November (25th October in the old calendar). To mark this great historic event, we are publishing articles and videos all week looking at different aspects of the Revolution. To begin, we publish here an account of the insurrection as it happened.

To mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, we present this original documentary by the IMT celebrating the life and accomplishments of one of the revolution’s main leaders: Leon Trotsky.