Russian Revolution

Preface
The First World War marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution, a
period of political and social change in the former Russian Empire.
Following two consecutive revolutions and a terrible civil war during this
time, Russia abolished its monarchy and transitioned to a socialist system
of governance. The first revolution took place in 1905. It was followed by the
Russian Revolution of 1917.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was actually two revolutions. The first
revolution in February overthrew the imperial government. The second
revolution in October placed the Bolsheviks in power.
One of the most important historical events of the 20th century brought an
end to Russia's centuries-long monarchy and gave birth to the world's first
constitutional communist state.
Background
The Russian Empire in 1914
In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its empire. Besides the territory
around Moscow, the Russian empire included current-day Finland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. It stretched to the
Pacific and comprised today’s Central Asian states, as well as Georgia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan. The majority religion was Russian Orthodox
Christianity – which had grown out of the Greek Orthodox Church – but the
empire also included Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists.

Economy and Society

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the vast majority of Russia’s people
were agriculturists. About 85 percent of the Russian empire’s population
earned their living from agriculture. This proportion was higher than in most
European countries
Industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were St Petersburg
and Moscow. Craftsmen undertook much of the production, but large
factories existed alongside craft workshops. Many factories were set up in the
1890s, when Russia’s railway network was extended, and foreign investment
in industry increased.. By the 1900s, in some areas factory workers and
craftsmen were almost equal in number.
Most industry was the private property of industrialists. Government
supervised large factories to ensure minimum wages and limited hours of
work. But factory inspectors could not prevent rules being broken.
Workers were a divided social group.Workers were divided by skill.Workers
were divided by skill. Despite divisions, workers did unite to strike work (stop
work) when they disagreed with employers about dismissals or work
conditions. These strikes took place frequently in the textile industry during
1896-1897, and in the metal industry during 1902.
In the countryside, peasants cultivated most of the land. But the nobility, the
crown and the Orthodox Church owned large properties. Like workers,
peasants too were divided. Nobles got their power and position through their
services to the Tsar, not through local popularity. In Russia, peasants wanted
the land of the nobles to be given to them. Frequently, they refused to pay rent
and even murdered landlords. In 1902, this occurred on a large scale in south
Russia. And in 1905, such incidents took place all over Russia.
Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in another
way. They pooled their land together periodically and their commune (mir)
divided it according to the needs of individual families

Socialism in Russia
Before 1914, all political parties were forbidden in Russia. Socialists who
valued Marx's ideas created the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party in
1898. However, it was forced to function as an unlawful organisation due to
government policing. It established a newspaper, organised strikes, and rallied
the workforce.
Some Russian socialists believed that because Russian peasants regularly
divided their land, they were socialists by nature. Russia could transition to
socialism more swiftly than other nations because peasants, not workers,
would be the driving force behind the revolution. In the late nineteenth century,
socialists were active in rural areas. In 1900, they established the Socialist
Revolutionary Party. This group fought for the rights of peasants and
requested that peasants receive land that belonged to aristocrats.Regarding
peasants, Social Democrats disagreed with Socialist Revolutionaries. Lenin
believed that the peasantry was not an united entity. Some were labourers
while others were capitalists who employed employees; some were destitute
while others were wealthy. Given their internal "differentiation," they could not
all be associated with a socialist movement.
The organisational strategy divided the party. The leader of the Bolshevik
movement, Vladimir Lenin, believed that in a society as oppressive as Tsarist
Russia, the party needed to maintain discipline and keep tabs on the calibre
and quantity of its members. Others (Mensheviks) believed that everyone
should be able to join the party (as in Germany).
The February Revolution was the first of two revolutions that took place in
Russia in 1917.

At the time of the revolution Russia was an autocracy, with Tsar Nicholas II
holding absolute power over his people. Its political, social and economic
structures were extremely backward in comparison to other countries in
Europe. Food shortages and military failures at the start of the twentieth
century had caused strikes and riots that were often brutally suppressed.
The 1905 Revolution had led to some reforms, including the establishment
of a State Duma (legislative assembly), but there was still no real
democracy in Russia.

Russia's entry into the First World War was initially supported by most
Russians. However its infrastructure struggled to cope with the demands of
war. Russia's industry depended almost entirely on foreign imports. When
Germany and its Turkish allies blockaded Russia's Eastern ports, its
railway, electricity and supply systems broke down. There were not enough
laborers to collect the harvests and there were serious food shortages.

The war was going badly for Russia with a string of defeats. In 1915, the
Tsar attempted to boost moral by taking personal command of the army.
This move had disastrous results. The Tsar was a poor military leader and
he was now blamed for every defeat. He had also left his wife, the
German-born Tsarina Alexandra, in charge at home. The Tsarina was very
unpopular and seemed to be under the control of the equally unpopular
mystic Grigori Rasputin.

With little food, no ammunition or even proper uniforms, Russian soldiers

began to mutiny in their thousands. Strikes and protests in Russia saw no
reforms from the government. Trade unions were banned and
'troublemakers' were sent into exile. By early 1917 most Russians had
completely lost faith in the Tsarist regime.
On 22 February 1917, metal workers in Petrograd went on strike. They
were joined the next day, International Women's Day, by female
protesters marching against food rationing. More protestors and strikers
took part and around 200,000 filled the streets of the city, demanding the
replacement of the Tsar and an end to the war. Eventually nearly all
industry in Petrograd was shut down. The Tsar ordered the commander of
the Petrograd garrison, General Khahalov, to suppress the rioting by force.
But troops in the city refused. They mutinied and joined the protesters.
Having lost the support of the army and under the advice of his army chiefs
and ministers, the Tsar abdicated for himself and his son on 2 March 1917.
His brother refused to succeed the throne, marking the end of the Tsarist
regime.

After February

Army officials, landowners and industrialists were influential in the

Provisional Government. But the liberals as well as socialists among them
worked towards an elected government. Restrictions on public meetings
and associations were removed. ‘Soviets’, like the Petrograd Soviet, were
set up everywhere, though no common system of election was followed. In
April 1917, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his
exile. He and the Bolsheviks had opposed the war since 1914. Now he felt
it was time for soviets to take over power. He declared that the war be
brought to a close, land be transferred to the peasants, and banks be
nationalised. These three demands were Lenin’s ‘April Theses’
Through the summer the workers’ movement spread. In industrial areas,
factory committees were formed which began questioning the way
industrialists ran their factories.Trade unions grew in number. Soldiers’
committees were formed in the army. In June, about 500 Soviets sent
representatives to an All Russian Congress of Soviets. As the Provisional
Government saw its power reduce and Bolshevik influence grow, it decided to
take stern measures against the spreading discontent.
It resisted attempts by workers to run factories and began arresting leaders.
Popular demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks in July 1917 were sternly
repressed. Many Bolshevik leaders had to go into hiding or flee. Meanwhile in
the countryside, peasants and their Socialist Revolutionary leaders pressed for
a redistribution of land. Land committees were formed to handle this.
Encouraged by the Socialist Revolutionaries, peasants seized land between
July and September 1917
The October Revolution was the second and final major part of the 1917 Russian
Revolution. Trotsky led this Military Revolution Committee, which was able to
gain the support of the Petrograd Garrison and Kronstadt sailors. In October, the
Prime Minister ordered the arrest of Bolshevik leaders, sparking an armed
uprising in Petrograd on October 25th, 1917. The Bolsheviks led the revolution,
occupying government buildings on October 25th. The following day, the Winter
Palace was taken. It was the headquarters of the Provisional Government, which
was formed following the overthrow of the Tsars. Vladimir Lenin led the new
government.

October Revolution
As the conflict between the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks
intensified, Lenin became concerned that the Provisional Government would
establish a dictatorship. In September, he started making preparations for a coup
against the government. Bolshevik supporters were gathered in the army,
soviets, and factories. On October 16, 1917, Lenin convinced the Bolshevik Party
and the Petrograd Soviet to approve a socialist coup. To plan the seizure, the
Soviet created a Military Revolutionary Committee under the direction of Leon
Trotsky.The event’s date was kept hidden.
On October 24, the uprising began. Sensing difficulties, Prime Minister Kerenskii
had left the city to call in the military. Military men loyal to the government
stormed the offices of two Bolshevik newspapers at dawn. Pro-government
troops were dispatched to seize telephone and telegraph offices and guard the
Winter Palace. The Military Revolutionary Committee quickly responded by
ordering its supporters to seize government offices and arrest ministers. Late in
the day, the cruiser Aurora bombarded the Winter Palace. Other ships sailed
down the Neva, seizing various military positions. By nightfall, the committee had
taken control of the city, and the ministers had surrendered. The majority of the
All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd approved the Bolshevik action.
Other cities experienced uprisings. There was heavy fighting, particularly in
Moscow, but by December, the Bolsheviks had taken control of the
Moscow-Petrograd region.

Russian Civil War

● The Russian army began to disintegrate after the Bolsheviks ordered

land redistribution. Soldiers, mostly peasants, deserted in order to
return home for redistribution.
● Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals, and autocratic supporters condemned
the Bolshevik revolution. Their leaders relocated to southern Russia
and organized troops to combat the Bolsheviks (the “reds”). The
“whites” (pro-Taarists) and “greens” (Socialist Revolutionaries)
dominated most of Russia in 1918 and 1919.
● They were attacked by troops from France, America, the United
Kingdom, and Japan, all of whom were concerned about the rise of
socialism in Russia. Looting, banditry, and famine became common as
these troops and the Bolsheviks fought a civil war.
 ● Private property supporters among ‘whites’ took harsh measures
against peasants who had seized land. Such actions eroded popular
support for the non-Bolsheviks.
● By January 1920, the Bolsheviks had taken control of the majority of the
former Russian empire. They were successful because of collaboration
with non-Russian nationalities and Muslim jadidists.
● Cooperation did not work where Russian colonists became Bolsheviks.
Bolshevik colonists slaughtered local nationalists in Khiva, Central Asia,
in the name of defending socialism. Many people were perplexed about
what the Bolshevik government represented in this situation.
● To address this, most non-Russian nationalities were granted political
autonomy in the Soviet Union (USSR), the state established by the
Bolsheviks from the Russian empire in December 1922.

After October Revolution

In November 1917, industry and banks were nationalized, which meant that the
government assumed ownership and management. The land was declared social
property, and peasants were permitted to seize nobility land. The Bolshevik Party
was superseded by the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). Elections to the
Constituent Assembly were held in November 1917, but they fell short of a
majority. The Assembly rejected Bolshevik measures in January 1918, and Lenin
dismissed the Assembly.

Despite opposition, the Bolsheviks made peace with Germany at Brest Litovsk in
March 1918. The Bolsheviks ran for election to the All Russian Congress of
Soviets, which became the country’s parliament. Russia has devolved into a
one-party state. This resulted in experiments in the arts and architecture after
October 1917. However, many people became disillusioned as a result of the
censorship promoted by the Party.