The Russian Revolution
The start
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Food shortages hit Russia's people hard, giving rise to political unrest
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Struggling for power
- Because the revolts in Petrograd were successful, the revolution had spread throughout the country which led to the political power in Russia to shift to new agencies: the provisional government and the Petrograd soviet of Workers and Soldiers’ Deputies.
- Soviets, revolutionary councils, appeared during the Russian Revolution for the first time in 1905
- the provisional government and the powerful Petrograd soviet went through a political struggle during the time period of February to October
- At first, the new government was pleased with the public support as it disbanded the tsarist police; repealed all limitations on freedom of speech, press, and association; abolished laws that discriminated against ethnic or religious groups
- This unfortunately did not satisfy popular demands for an end to war and or land reforms
- Being provisional meant that it could not make fundamental changes such as taking away land and distributing them to peasants. Any decisions had to be postponed for future constituent assembly
- The government pledged to unswervingly carry out agreements made with the Allies and promised to continue the war until won
- The Petrograd soviet wanted to call for an immediate peace
Petrograd soviet started to take over as the Russian Revolution progressed
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a marxist who stepped into this tense political tension from (1870-1924)
- He grew up in a prosperous family living in the provincial Russian town of Simbirsk
- When he was little, the police had arrested his brother for trying to assassinate the tsar which seared in Lenins youth
- Throughout the years, he spent his time devoting himself to studying marxist thought and writing political pamphlets. He also viewed the industrial working class as incapable of developing proper revolutionary consciousness that would have an effective political action
- When tension was high, the German High Command transported Lenin in 1917 to Russia hoping that this anti war activist would stir up trouble and bring about Russia’s withdrawal from the war
- In April, he started to call for the transfer of legal authority to the soviets and advocated uncompromising opposition to the war.
- He headed to the Bolsheviks, the radical wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party
- His party first opposed of his radicalism but he soon converted his fellow Bolsheviks to his proposals
- The Bolsheviks, were a small minority among revolutionary working class parties that eventually gained control of the Petrograd soviet
- The government insisted on continuing the war even though they were not able to feed the population and had their refusal to undertake land reform
- The tsarists regime led to growing conviction among the workers and peasants that their issues could be resolved by only soviets
- the Bolsheviks used slogans to help capitalize the mood like “All Power to the Soviets” and “Peace, Land, and Bread”
- Lenin somehow persuaded the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party to organize an armed insurrection and seize power in the name of the All-Russian National Congress of Soviets, which was then convening in Petrograd
- By October 25th, armed workers, soldiers, and sailors went to the provisional government where bloodless insurrection had occurred
- Here, the power had been moved from the provisional government to the hands of Lenin and the Bolshevik party
- Lenin and his believers goal was to destroy the traditional patterns and values of the Russian society and challenge the institutions of liberal society everywhere
- The Bolshevik rulers ended Russia's involvement in the Great War and they signed a treaty called the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany stating Germans could control ⅓ of Russia's land and ¼ of the population
- Although the treaty was quite humiliating, it have the government to deal with internal issues
- Russia’s departure from war caused Germany to concentrate all of its resources on the western front
- Russia’s autocratic no longer tainted the ideological purity of the Allied cause to make the world safe from democracy
This is where the Russian revolution occurred with keys to where major battles and events happened
Popplet: Timeline of the Russian Revolution