Sorry I know this is annoying and besides the point, but Lenin famously *did* wait for his party to become popular, that's what the whole 'patiently explain' stuff was about. The Bolsheviks didn't move to take power until they were confident they had a majority in the country

There was no split within the PSR (3 vastly different camps), and the elections didn't include the Soviets (in which the Bolsheviks had 80%+ majority). It is debatable whether Bolsheviks had an actual majority, but they were undeniably the leading working class party.