The October Revolution of 1917 in Russia was not the result of a coup by a highly disciplined and authoritarian party, as has been portrayed in historical scholarship for many decades. American historian Alexander Rabinowitch demonstrates in his brilliant study that the close relationships of the Bolsheviks with the workers and soldiers, as well as the support they gained in the factories, were the decisive factors for their victory in October. Rabinowitch provides a detailed account of the developments from the July Days to the October uprising of 1917 in Petrograd.