High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Council of the People's Commissars was the highest government authority under the Bolshevik system after the success of the Russian Revolution By September 1917, the councils (soviets) of workers, peasants and soldiers acquired considerable political and military power. The leaders of the Petrograd Soviet conspired to overthrow the Russian Provisional Government; the uprising started on 7 November 1917, when Red Guards units captured the Winter Palace. On the next day, 8 November 1917, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets recognized the success of the uprising, and formally established the new government that reflected the capture of the soviets by the Bolsheviks.