"The October revolution laid the foundation of a new
culture, taking everybody into consideration, and for that very reason
immediately acquiring international significance. Even supposing for a
moment that owing to unfavourable circumstances and hostile blows the
Soviet regime should be temporarily overthrown, the inexpungable
imprint of the October revolution would nevertheless remain upon the
whole future development of mankind." Trotsky – The History of the Russian Revolution

This instalment, in a series of articles published by Socialist Appeal over the year that marks the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, looks at the tumultuous events of the July days in Petrograd. What attitude Lenin and Trotsky took towards the movement of the workers in the capital is a valuable lesson in the tactical flexibility of the Bolsheviks. The impotence of the Kornilov reaction that followed demonstrates the irresistable power the working class wields when it is united.

In his article (The significance of Lenin’s April Theses
1917 ) Darrall Cozens explained how Lenin rearmed the Bolshevik Party
in 1917. Continuing our series on the Russian Revolution, he tells how the
revolutionaries developed from being a small group when the
February Revolution broke
out, to become the main alternative to the new
establishment by June of that year.