Russia
Chapter 4: The Russian Revolution, 1894-1921
Learning Objectives
Understand the causes and outcomes of the 1905 and 1917 Revolutions.
Learn how the Bolsheviks reshaped Russian society and politics after 1917.
Understand the conditions promoting revolutionary events.
Assess the importance of social, economic, and political factors.
Timeline of Key Events
Nov 1894: Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.
May 1896: Khodynka Tragedy - 1300 killed in a stampede during Nicholas II's coronation.
1897: The only national census to take place in Tsarist Russia
1903-06: Wave of anti-Jewish pogroms results in 2000 deaths.
Jan 1905: Start of the 1905 Revolution.
Oct 1905: October Manifesto issued; Sergei Witte becomes prime minister.
Apr 1906: New constitution - the Fundamental Laws; First Duma.
Jul 1906: Pyotr Stolypin becomes prime minister.
Sep 1911: Assassination of Stolypin.
July 1914: First World War begins.
Feb 1917: February Revolution - Nicholas II abdicates; Provisional Government established.
Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia from exile.
Oct 1917: October Revolution - Lenin leads Bolsheviks to seize power.
Jan 1918: Constituent Assembly meets and is dissolved.
Mar 1918: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk; Bolshevik Russia withdraws from WWI.
Jul 1918: Nicholas II and family murdered by Bolsheviks.
1918-21: Civil War; imposition of terror and War Communism.
Mar 1921: Crushing of sailors' uprising; one-party state established.
Note on Dates
Dates up to February 1918 are in the Julian Calendar (13 days behind the Gregorian Calendar).
The Russian Empire on the Eve of WWI
Largest state in Europe, diverse population, difficult to govern.
4.1 Causes and Outcomes of the 1905 Revolution (up to 1914)
Key Terms
Autocrat: A ruler with total power, making decisions without any other legal body's approval.
Orthodox Christianity: The official faith, a vital support of the Tsarist system, independent of foreign influence.
Pogroms: Mob violence against Jews, often authorities approved.
Emancipation of the Serfs: Serfs granted legal freedom in 1861 by Tsar Alexander II, but many remained poor with limited freedom.
The Tsarist Regime: Pressures for Change and Nicholas II's Reaction
From 1894 to 1917, the country was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II, an autocrat with unlimited power.
He belonged to the Romanov dynasty, which had governed Russia since the early 17th century.
Nicholas was staunchly opposed to reforms which might have reduced the inequalities that plagued Russian society.
A Multiracial, Multifaith Empire
Only 45% of the population were ethnic Russians.
Other groups included Armenians, Germans, Georgians, Poles, and Ukrainians, as well as many Asiatic peoples.
The Tsarist regime alienated ethnic groups via 'Russification' (enforcing Russian language, Orthodox Christianity, and laws).
Almost 70% of the empire's population followed the Orthodox faith, with Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish minorities.
5 million Jews endured persecution (pogroms); many fled to Western Europe or the United States; those who stayed were often drawn into revolutionary activity.
Social Hierarchy in Russia
Tsar governed with landowning aristocracy's support.
Nobility owed its social position largely to military and civil service to the state.
Leaders of the Orthodox Church, appointed by the Tsar, exercised great influence.
Vast majority (82%) were peasants.
Peasants technically free since 1861, but changes were limited.
Peasants belonged to communes/mirs (agricultural cooperatives) distributing land.
Peasants made 'redemption payments' for land received.
Most peasants loyal to the Tsar but disliked tax officials and forced service.
Famines were frequent due to poor transport infrastructure.
Widespread poverty and low production levels.
Peasants encouraged to move to Siberia, but conditions were harsh.
A Land Bank was founded in 1882 to provide money for local communities and individual peasants to buy land.
In 1905, redemption payments were cancelled, but this made little difference to the peasants.
Data from the Russian National Census in 1897:
Ruling class: 0.5%
Upper class: 12.0%
Middle class: 1.5%
Working class: 4.0%
Peasants: 82.0%
This data indicates that Russia was a very agrarian society with a huge gap between the rich and the poor.
Economic Structure
Russia had enough agricultural resources but was stunted by underdeveloped methods; neither peasants nor landowners modernized.
Wheat exports second only to America, but profits did not benefit peasants; government relied on indirect taxes on goods.
Rail network expanded, aiding wheat export, but money was unequally shared.
Taxation system disadvantaged peasants/poor (income and land taxed less than commodities/food).
Tax collection was corrupt; regime spent generously on army/police, not economy.
Nicholas II uninterested in modernization/reform, committed to autocracy.
The Russian populace became increasingly alienated from the government and their landlords.
Tsarist Political System
Nicholas II became Tsar in 1894, maintaining autocracy.
Nicholas II was disastrously out of touch with the feelings of his subjects.
In May 1896, More than 1300 people were crushed to death, and a similar number injured, when the crowd stampeded as rumours spread that there was insufficient food and drink for them all. The authorities proved unable to control the situation.
The Tsar appointed/dismissed ministers; no parliament limited his authority.
The army suppressed unrest; secret police (Okhrana) monitored political dissidents.
Orthodox Church supported the Tsar.
Tsar was a kind man devoted to his family, but his son Alexei suffered from hemophilia, causing succession uncertainties.
Nicholas lacked qualities of an effective ruler, uninterested in government matters.
Ministers chosen for social position, competed for Tsar's attention.
Nicholas claimed power without possessing the personality needed for the role.
State Council (senior advisors) and Senate (overseeing law) were appointed by the Tsar and had no real powers.
Russia had 97 administrative regions.
Local councils (zemstvos) existed but were overruled by governors.
Cities/towns governed by appointed officials.
Russia administered less efficiently than Western Europe.
Witte's Reforms
Sergei Witte believed Russia's problems needed foreign loans/exports.
Russia rich in raw materials but lacked factories/railways.
Industrial growth needed to compete with the West and increase military strength.
Witte increased taxes/tariffs and linked the rouble to the gold standard.
Railway lines almost doubled, including the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Coal production in southern Russia trebled; Russia became the world's fourth-largest steel and second-largest petroleum producer.
However, twice as much was spent on repaying the foreign loans as was expended on education.
These policies led to impressive increases in industrial growth, with coal production in southern Russia more than trebling.
Russia became the world's fourth largest producer of steel and the second largest producer of petroleum.
Nicholas II gave Witte little support, and he was despised among members of the court and other nobility, who considered his ideas dangerous. They were suspicious of his support for rapid industrialisation, which they feared would destabilise rural society.
Rise of Opposition
Liberals pressed for constitutional political change and civil liberties.
They formed the Union of Liberation but lacked peasant support.
The political system consisted of 'autocracy tempered by assassination'.
The Socialist Revolutionaries (founded in 1901) aimed to redistribute wealth among the peasants.
The All-Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (founded in 1898) drew ideas from Karl Marx.
Marx called for a revolution by the proletariat to overthrow the capitalist system.
Key Terms
Socialist: A person who wants to create a more equal society, based on cooperation, rather than on the capitalist concept of competition.
Proletariat: The urban, industrial working class. They generally had no savings or property, and their only source of income was their own labour.
The industrial growth of the 1890s made Marxist ideas appealing to many revolutionaries who wanted to transform Russian society.
Key figure - Georgi Plekhanov who aimed to build a broad alliance of pro-reform, anti-tsarist activists.
Lenin argued that only a centralized, disciplined revolutionary party could lead the revolution.
Second congress of the Social Democrats - Lenin decided to restrict membership to those active in the cause of revolution and socialism.
Leon Trotsky and Julius Martov disagreed.
Lenin's group won by two votes and took the name Bolsheviks (majority).
Martov's group became the Mensheviks (minority).
Key Terms
Bolshevik: A member of the more radical faction of the Russian Social Democrat Party, which seized power in the revolution of October 1917. The party was renamed the Russian Communist Party in 1918.
The tsarist system was strong and stable at the beginning of the 20th century; it could rely on the army and secret police to suppress opposition but faced serious threats.
The War with Japan and its Consequences for Russia
Both Japan and Russia aimed to expand their influence in Manchuria/Korea.
War broke out in 1904 after Japan attacked Port Arthur.
Poor quality of Russian navy demonstrated at Battle of Tsushima in May 1905.
Russia had to agree a humiliating peace in the Treaty of Portsmouth, arranged by the United States, in 1905.
Japan became regarded as more modern and efficient; Russia's weaknesses revealed.
The Russo-Japanese war was a cause of the 1905 Revolution.
Key Events of the 1905 Revolution
The 1905 Revolution was a culmination of years of discontent.
Economic condition of the peasantry, and economic recession in the 20th century.
Growing nationalist unrest, autocratic nature of Nicholas II's/Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War were the main causes of the 1905 Revolution
When unrest broke out, Trotsky and other Mensheviks and radicals tried to promote strikes and other workers' actions.
Lenin was in exile and returned to Russia 11 months after Bloody Sunday.
Key Term
Soviets: Workers' councils, which first appeared in industrial cities in 1905. They were to play an important part in the October 1917 Revolution.
Bloody Sunday
In January 1905, Father Gapon led a march to the Tsar’s Winter Palace in St Petersburg, asking for reforms.
Cossack soldiers violently dispersed the crowd, killing an estimated 130 people.
The Tsar was blamed for the repression.
Other Disturbances in 1905
Strikes began in Moscow and spread to other cities.
Workers’ soviets were formed in St Petersburg and Moscow.
Sailors on the battleship Potemkin mutinied.
Middle-class liberals (Kadets) wanted the Tsar’s powers limited.
Peasants refused to pay rent and attacked property.
The revolutionaries were disorganised, with protests geographically scattered across the empire.
The army remained loyal to the Tsar.
The October Manifesto, 1905
Nicholas II made concessions, on the advice of Witte.
The October Manifesto promised free speech, voting rights, and an elected assembly (Duma).
Reaction was divided; moderate liberals ('Octobrists') were pacified.
Peasant unrest calmed by phasing out redemption payments.
A minority of extreme revolutionaries (Bolsheviks) felt the Manifesto didn't go far enough.
The Reassertion of Tsarist Authority: The Dumas and Stolypin's Reforms
The Fundamental Laws, 1906
Nicholas II issued the Fundamental Laws, asserting his full autocratic powers despite the October Manifesto.
'Supreme autocratic power belongs to the tsar'.
The Tsar could introduce laws and veto those passed by the Duma.
Elected Duma balanced by the State Council (appointed by the Tsar).
Ministers appointed by the Tsar, who also controlled military and foreign affairs.
The Duma had no way of enforcing its decisions.
Police and army harassed critics; 15000 killed and 70000 arrested within a year.
Stolypin's Reforms
Nicholas appointed Pyotr Stolypin as minister of the interior/prime minister.
Stolypin focused on improving the peasants' situation.
Stolypin saw agriculture as the primary problem and wanted to work towards improving the peasants' situation.
Stolypin believed strict law and order was needed and repressed peasant uprisings.
He aimed to encourage a wealthy peasant class (kulaks) by making peasants independent from the mirs.
Peasant Land Bank lent peasants money to buy land.
Those who had little or poor land were encouraged to move to unfarmed land in the east.
Some peasants took advantage of these developments, as a result of which Russia began to experience regional changes
Agricultural production increased; kulaks more prosperous.
Output might have increased by 14% between 1900 and 1914, and the income of some landowners and kulaks rose by as much as 80%.
Reforms needed 20 years to see results; in 1906-14, only 15% of peasant households were consolidated into farms.
Stolypin was assassinated in September 1911.
Stolypin’s successors lacked his drive and commitment for reform.
The Frustration of Political Reform: The First Duma, May-July 1906
The Duma represented only a section of the population; franchise wasn’t universal.
Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries boycotted the elections.
Kadets won 153 of the 448 seats, and proceeded to demand more powers for the Duma. This was unacceptable to the tsar, who dissolved it barely two months later.
Kadets assembled at Vyborg in Finland in protest and appealed to the Russian people not to pay taxes or submit to military service.
The Second Duma, February-June 1907
More radical Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries won seats.
Deep divisions over land reform and government law/order policies.
The Tsar dissolved it once again.
He continued to call elections in the belief that an appearance of parliamentary government made his regime more acceptable to Britain and France, with whom he was building closer relationships in order to counter the rise of Germany.
The Third Duma, November 1907-June 1912
Franchise changed to give greater representation to landowners/urban property owners.
Right-wing parties controlled 287 of the 443 seats; progress on land reform.
Radicals denounced it as a ‘Duma of lords and lackeys.’
The Fourth Duma, November 1912-August 1914
Divisions hampered chances of success; suspended on the outbreak of WWI.
Soviet-era historians considered them part of fake democracy - docile puppets of the tsarist regime.
It is impossible to judge whether, given more time, the Dumas might have developed more power and influence in the state.
How Secure Were the Foundations of the Tsarist Regime?
In 1913, elaborate ceremonies in St Petersburg and Moscow to mark the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty.
Nicholas II showed himself in public for the first time since the 1905 Revolution, along with his family, and embarked on an extended tour of Russia.
Celebrations concealed the unrest that lay just below the surface of Russian society.
State officials and the Church remained solidly behind his rule. As we have seen, he survived the upheavals of 1905 because he could rely on the loyalty of the army, although many soldiers were reluctant to fire on peasants and workers, since they came from poor families themselves.
It benefited from upper- and middle-class fears of revolutionary extremism, without successfully tackling the fundamental problems which had caused the uprisings.
Even those who had shown liberal sympathies at the start of the revolution, such as the leaders of the Kadets, rallied to the regime because they feared working-class violence, not because they wanted genuine political reform.
The regime also promoted a sense of Russian nationality in the years prior to the First World War.
How Strong Was the Opposition?
Industrialization created problems for an authoritarian and inefficient government.
Strikes became common as workers demanded increased wages and improved housing and working conditions.
Lena gold mine massacre in Siberia in 1912 where 270 miners were killed and almost as many were wounded by tsarist soldiers. An upsurge in industrial militancy did not, of course, mean that another revolution was inevitable.Unrest simmered within the peasantry.
Radical philosophies such as Marxism began to develop and gain popularity.
Police and army kept radicals under control, but could not eliminate them altogether.
Regimes has effectively bought off the moderate liberals by offering mild political reforms.
The Duma voluntarily dissolved itself on the outbreak of war so that party politics would not prove a distraction at a time of national emergency.
The tsar had failed to support those isolated ministers, such as Witte and Stolypin, who tried to steer Russia along this path.
1905 had severely damaged the tsar's image in the eyes of the people.
4.2 The Causes and Immediate Outcomes of the February Revolution in 1917
Political, Social and Economic Effects of the First World War, and Impact of Military Defeats
Russia claimed it entered WWI to protect Serbia from Austria-Hungary.
Tension with Austria-Hungary and fear of Germany were factors.
The July 1914 crisis was triggered by Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination.
Germany declared war on Russia after Russia went to the aid of Serbia.
Russia's Wartime Weaknesses
The Russian population initially rallied around the Tsar.
All except the five Bolsheviks in the Duma declared their support for the war.
Events soon began to turn against the tsarist regime.
Defeat by Japan in 1904-05 had encouraged the government to address the deficiencies
In 1914, the Russian army was larger than Germany's, and it mobilised more swiftly than expected, invading eastern Germany.
The kaiser's army had invaded Belgium and France and was therefore fighting a war on two fronts.
However, Russian military planning was deficient in important respects.
Methods of modern warfare had not yet been instilled in the Russian army.
The Course of the War
The conflict began badly for Russia.
Defeat at Tannenberg in August 1914 showed the superiority of German forces.
Russian commanders resorted to defensive tactics.
Economic Chaos and the Home Front
Russia lacked organization, prioritizing military needs over the population.
The system could not supply food and supplies from areas of plenty to where there was need.
Local government tried to support the war effort in the urban and rural areas respectively with two new organisations, the Union of Towns and the Union of Zemstvos.
The fundamental problem was that Russia was not prepared for a long war.
The conflict cost 15 times more than the Russo-Japanese War.
This led to runaway inflation. Average incomes doubled in 1914-16, yet the price of fuel and foodstuffs quadrupled.
As peasants ceased to get a good price for their produce, they hoarded it, making the food shortages in urban centres worse.
The Duma recalled, demanding a change of direction.
Duma was suspended after less than two months and not recalled until February 1916.
Key Term
Progressive bloc: A group consisting of 236 of the Duma's 442 members, made up of Octobrists, Kadets, moderate nationalists and others, which called for a ‘ministry of confidence’ and an extension of civil liberties.
Nicholas II as a War Leader
In August 1915, Nicholas II decided to go to the front to take personal charge of his armies. This was a fatal mistake: the tsar had no military skill or training, and his presence inspired neither army generals nor common soldiers.
His absence from court left a power vacuum in Russia.
His new position as leader of the military also meant that he was regarded as personally responsible for defeats.
In June 1916, General Brusilov made some headway against the Austro-Hungarian army in western Ukraine, but when the Germans sent support, Russian forces were pushed back, sustaining almost a million casualties.
Pavel Milyukov, delivered a speech in which he repeatedly asked of the government's actions, 'Is this stupidity or treason?'
The Tsarina and Rasputin
Tsraina Alexandra was left in charge of the government but was unable to exercise power effectively.
Factor in the decline of the tsar’s reputation was his association with Grigori Rasputin.
Alexandra sought Rasputin's advice on many matters.
Rasputin was murdered in December 1916 - not by political radicals striking a blow against the monarchy, but by a group of conservative courtiers who wanted to save the tsar's reputation.
The February Revolution and the Abdication of Nicholas II
Traditional Russian Marxists Argued that the Fall of the Romanov Regime and the Triumph of the Bolsheviks Were Inevitable.
It emphasized the importance of the war as an immediate cause of the fall of Nicholas II in February 1917.
On February 18, workers at the Putilov steel works, the most important and most politically active factory in Petrograd, went on strike. They were followed by other workers and, on February 23, by thousands of women demonstrating in the streets on International Women's Day.
Conditions at the front were unbearable and stories spread of hardships at home.
Sergei Khabalov, the governor of Petrograd, proclaimed martial law and ordered his soldiers to restore order. The soldiers refused and opened fire on officers instead. Even the Cossacks - once the most loyal of the Romanovs' soldiers - turned against Nicholas.
Radical Duma members formed a provisonal committee.. At the same time, the Petrograd Soviet of soldiers, sailors and workers was established. Two quite different steps had thus been taken towards an alternative government.
The Abdication of the Tsar
Nicholas decided to return to Petrograd but was forced to divert.
Army leaders and Duma members persuaded him to give up the throne for his own safety.
On March 2, Nicholas decided that abdication was his last remaining option. Feeling that his son was too young and unwell to assume such responsibility, instead he nominated his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as his successor in the hope of preserving the monarchy, but Michael was not willing to accept the throne in these circumstances.
The monarchy was instead replaced by the Duma committee which declared itself the Provisonal Government.
Key Term
Abdication: The act of giving up a public office, in this case, the Russian Imperial crown.
Bolsheviks played no real part in the downfall of the Tsar.
The regime collapsed because those who might have been expected to defend it, in particular the senior military figures, failed to do so.
The Formation and Purpose of the Provisional Government
After the abdication of the tsar, the Provisional Government tried to restore stability and to continue the war.
It consisted mainly of liberals with a small number of socialists, but no members of the Bolshevik Party.
In its eight months of existence it had two prime ministers.
The Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet
Developed from a committee of the Duma itself an institution whose popular credibility had been seriously undermined by government domination and manipualtion of the electoral system.
It was obliged to share power with the Petrograd Soviet, which claimed to speak for workers and soldiers.
Petrograd Soviet was not actually hostile to the Provisional Government and was not initially dominated by the Bolsheviks.
However, the existence of the Petrograd Soviet potentially presented a challenge to the government’s authority. In ‘Order Number 1’, issued at the beginning of March, it stated that it would obey the orders of the Military Commission of the State Duma only if they did not clash with its own decrees.
Key Term
Military Commission of the State Duma: A body created by the Duma, at the time of the February Revolution, to manage the army.
4.3 How and Why Did the Bolsheviks Gain Power in October 1917?
Crises of the Provisional Government
The Provisional Government lacked the strength to restore order.
Popular uprisings and army unrest.
Food distribution still a problem.
Peasants demanded that land was redistributed.
Lenin adopted the ideas of the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRS) on land redistribution. This meant that they recognised the land seizures on the basis of ‘revolutionary legality’. This was an opportunistic, tactical move by the Bolsheviks, which improved their previously weak support in the countryside, where historically the SRs had been dominant.
The continuation of the war became the most important reason why the Provisional Government eventually failed. The Russian army was suffering huge losses in the ongoing war, and this made the Provisional Government even more unpopular.
He was forced out at the beginning of May and Prince Lvov attempted to broaden the base of the government by including moderate socialists. The war minister, Alexander Guchkov, was replaced by Kerensky.
The soviets became more critical of the government, however, as it failed either to bring about major democratic reforms or to end the war. These events weakened the government by separating it further from the soviets.
The July Days
Sailors at Kronstadt, the naval base close to Petrograd, established their own government in defiance of the
Provisional Government. This was followed between 3 and 6 July by numerous demonstrations by workers and soldiers in Petrograd.
The Provisional Government gathered enough soldiers to put down disorder, and Lenin had to leave the center of action, fleeing to Finland. The episode showed that the Provisional Government - now led by Kerensky as prime minister - still possessed some authority.
The Kornilov Affair
Lavr Kornilov, the commander-in-chief of the army, was a conservative army officer who favored strong action against the Bolsheviks.
He attempted to march on Petrograd at the head of a troop of soldiers known as the 'Savage Division'.
Kerensky quickly accused Kornilov of attempting a takeover to establish a military dictatorship, and dismissed him from his post.
The affair demonstrated the weakness of the Provisional Government. Kerensky had lost the favor of the right by turning against Kornilov, but he had also alienated the left, who suspected him of initially being involved in counter-revolutionary plotting.
By the end of August, the Bolsheviks had a majority on the Petrograd Soviet and, soon after, they gained control of the Moscow Soviet.
Lenin's Leadership of the Bolsheviks
One of Lenin's greatest strengths was his ability to be both idealistic and practical, and his government of Russia after 1917 showed a willingness to compromise when necessary.
His adaptation of Marxism gave rise to a new political philosophy that became known as 'Marxism-Leninism'.
He did not tolerate any challenges to his own leadership.
He was a skilled orator - a fact that contributed to his success in 1917 - but more importantly in developing the Bolshevik movement, he was also a talented writer and a profound political thinker.
Lenin reached two decisions that shaped the future of Russia.
Lenin's Return to Russian
In order to return to Petrograd he would have to travel through Germany which was not normally possible in wartime conditions. Lenin now had a stroke of luck that he could not have calculated.
His isolation in Switzerland ended when the Germans, intending to weaken Russia by stirring up disorder, transported him in a train to the Russian frontier.
Lenin arrived at Petrograd's Finland Station on 3 April, the most important among a number of opposition politicians who were now returning to Russia from exile. As he had spent so much of his life abroad, he did not know Russia and its people well, and he could not automatically assume the leadership of the Bolshevik Party in the country without challenge.
In calling for a second revolution, Lenin was departing from traditional Marxist teaching, which argued that society had to pass through a bourgeois capitalist phase before the proletariat could come to power.
The Role of Trotsky and the Military Revolutionary Committee
Trotsky has been described by historians as the chief organiser of the Bolshevik seizure of power.
He was also a brilliant public speaker who knew how to energise audiences, and was widely recognised as having more charisma than Lenin.
Key Term
Soviet Union: Shortened form of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the communist state officially established in 1922 and dissolved in 1991, and comprising Russia and a number of other republics.
Trotsky main contribution to the revolution lay in his involvement in the Petrograd Soviet, whose chairman he became in September. He organised the Red Guards, an armed workers' group, and took the initiative in the formation of a Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC)
The Key Events of the October Revolution
The Provisional Government had no control over events.
It was discredited by disobedience from the soviets and by the Kornilov Affair.
The Russian army was suffering huge losses in the ongoing war, and this made the Provisional Government even more unpopular.
Kerensky could not deliver other reforms, such as the redistribution of land or a new constitution.
As the German army advanced, Kerensky could not provide enough soldiers to defend key points in the major cities.
Rumours began to spread that he was preparing to abandon Petrograd to the Germans
Lenin overruled doubters among the Bolsheviks who believed that Russia was not ready for a revolution. He claimed that he was acting on behalf of the soviets, and demanded that his supporters rise up at this critical juncture.
Key Term
Legitimacy: Legal entitlement (to govern).
The Seizure of Power in Petrograd
The uprising itself was triggered by Kerensky’s government, which decided to take pre-emptive action against the Bolsheviks. Kerensky announced that the
bulk of the Petrograd garrison was to be transferred to
meet the German advance on the northern front.The MRC took over the Petrograd garrison on the grounds
that a counter-revolution was imminent.Taking swift action, the Bolsheviks gained control of
Petrograd and seized the Winter Palace, the former
residence of the tsar.But it was Trotsky, as leader of the Red Guards, who
carried it out
A Revolution or a Coup D'état?
Lenin announced the seizure of the Winter Palace to the delegates at the Congress of Soviets on 27 October.
The right-wing SRS and Mensheviks walked out, angry at what they regarded as a takeover by one party rather than an assumption of power by the soviet. This was a mistake - in doing so, they deprived themselves of any influence over the course of events to come.
The Bolsheviks owed their success to the superior organisation and determination of the MRC, and the weakness of the Provisional Government.
The takeover was the action of a minority, and the kind of mass strikes and demonstrations seen in February were not repeated.
The alternative view is that there was a genuine popular element in the events of 1917. The starting point of this interpretation is the breakdown of central government after the February Revolution. It can be argued that the Bolsheviks would not have been able to overthrow the Provisional Government had its authority not already been undermined by popular uprisings of this kind.
Key Term
Cause and consequence the reasons for the October Revolution are one of the most important questions in modern Russian history.
4.4 Consolidation of Bolshevik Power up to 1921
Aftermath of the October Revolution
Immediate Task Secure Survival of the Barely Established Regime.
Bolsheviks Faced Range of Internal Opponents as a government civil servants and bank clerks went on strike
They Remained True to 'Democratic Centralism'; view only Bolshevik party represented workers, a multi-party electoral politics deception to preserve power of the bourgeoisie
Key government body was the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), chaired by Lenin
The Red Terror and the Police State
Opposition press banned; members of Other Parties Arrested. The opposition press was banned and members of other parties were arrested.
Opposition press banned; members of Other Parties Arrested. This was the beginning of the terror -the use of force to crush any form of opposition to the Bolshevik state. At least 8500 died in the first year of the terror (1918-19), while innumerable others were arrested, imprisoned and tortured.
The family had been kept under house arrest since the revolution and in their final months were moved
to Ekaterinburg in Siberia. They were summarily shot without trial, on the orders of local Bolsheviks and with the approval of the government, in a cellar of the house in which they were being detained.
Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, January 1918
The Bolsheviks did well in Petrograd and Moscow and they were popular in the military but they polled poorly in rural areas.
The constituent assembly meant for only one day, January 5, 1918.
Lenin Solution had the assembly dissolved by Red Guards, an action which meet with almost no resistance. The workers seem content to allow the government to remain in the hands of the Soviets.
This was the end of the most Democratically elected body in Russian history to be convened up to that point. The dispersal of the assembly showed beyond doubt the refusal of the Bolsheviks to give up power. It was justified by Lenin as, a complete