Accounts of the peasant movement in the provinces conventionally emphasised spontaneous, violent actions, e. Historian Scott Seregny, however, argues that peasants also began to organise around a programme demanding nationalisation, transfer of all land to the peasantry, local government, education reform, civil rights, and an elected national assembly.
Peasants, along with Socialist Revolutionary activists, liberal gentry, and radical "Third Element", formed local branches of the All Russian Peasant Union, which channeled activism into tactics such as petitions and boycotts of official institutions and orders for taxes or army recruits.
In several borderlands of the empire, notably the Polish kingdom, the Caucasus, and Baltic provinces, national sentiment intertwined with social and political discontent; unrest was particularly ferocious.
Following Bloody Sunday, Nicholas placed swathes of the empire under emergency rule, investing officials with extraordinary powers to imprison, fine, or exile alleged offenders and dismiss local government organs. At the same time, he set up the Shidlovskii Commission to examine worker grievances, which he later disbanded.
Amidst the October strike he finally issued a manifesto promising civil liberties and an elected State Duma to approve legislation. Even so, the regime was reluctant to punish individuals involved in attacks on Jews, the intelligentsia, and critics of the autocracy. Between December and summer it sent out punitive expeditions of troops across the empire to conduct court martials or summary punishments, including executions of supposed anti-government agitators.
The Tsar also undermined the powers of the Duma, dismissing it when it proved incompliant. Vladimir Lenin — famously termed the Revolution the "dress rehearsal" for the October Revolution of Some western historians emphasise the importance of as a revolution in its own right. Virtually all social groups and geographical areas were affected, and in some localities insurgents briefly assumed the powers of government.
The autocracy was driven to the brink of collapse and forced to concede limits on its power for the first time. The ruling class maintained significant political power, however, due in part to the continuing loyalty of most of the army. While some historians believe that fatally weakened the old order, for others it was not until World War I, and its effect on society, the economy, and the army, that a final blow seemed possible.
Peeling, Siobhan: Revolution of Russian Empire , in: online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. Loyal troops were also sent into the countryside to restore law and order. Petersburg, our wives, our children and our parents, helpless and aged women and men, have come to You our ruler, in search of justice and protection. We are beggars, we are oppressed and overburdened with work, we are insulted, we are not looked on as human beings but as slaves.
The moment has come for us when death would be better than the prolongation of our intolerable sufferings. We are seeking here our last salvation. Do not refuse to help Your people. Destroy the wall between Yourself and Your people. It was another major factor contributing to the retaliation of the Russian Communists against their royal opponents.
After the entry of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers in October , Russia was deprived of a major trade route through Ottoman Empire, which followed with a minor economic crisis in which Russia became incapable of providing munitions to its army in the years leading to However, the problems were merely administrative and not industrial, as Germany was producing great amounts of munitions whilst constantly fighting on two major battlefronts.
The war also developed a weariness in the city, owing to a lack of food in response to the disruption of agriculture. Food scarcity had become a considerable problem in Russia, but the cause did not lie in any failure of the harvests, which had not been significantly altered during wartime.
The indirect reason was that the government, in order to finance the war, had been printing millions of ruble notes, and by inflation increased prices up to four times what they had been in The peasantry were consequently faced with the higher cost of purchases, but made no corresponding gain in the sale of their own produce, since this was largely taken by the middlemen on whom they depended.
As a result, they tended to hoard their grain and to revert to subsistence farming, so the cities were constantly short of food.
At the same time rising prices led to demands for higher wages in the factories, and in January and February revolutionary propaganda aided by German funds led to widespread strikes. Heavy losses during the war also strengthened thoughts that Tsar Nicholas II was unfit to rule. The old regime was replaced by a politically moderate provisional government that struggled for power with the socialist-led worker councils soviets.
At the beginning of February , Petrograd Saint Petersburg workers began several strikes and demonstrations. Demonstrations were organized to demand bread, supported by the industrial working force who considered them a reason to continue the strikes. The women workers marched to nearby factories, bringing out over 50, workers on strike. By March 10, virtually every industrial enterprise in Petrograd had been shut down along with many commercial and service enterprises. Students, white-collar workers, and teachers joined the workers in the streets and at public meetings.
To quell the riots, the Tsar looked to the army. At least , troops were available in the capital, but most were either untrained or injured. Historian Ian Beckett suggests around 12, could be regarded as reliable, but even these proved reluctant to move in on the crowd since it included so many women. For this reason, on March 11 when the Tsar ordered the army to suppress the rioting by force, troops began to mutiny.
Although few actively joined the rioting, many officers were either shot or went into hiding; the ability of the garrison to hold back the protests was all but nullified, symbols of the Tsarist regime were rapidly torn down, and governmental authority in the capital collapsed — not helped by the fact that Nicholas had suspended the Duma legislature that morning, leaving it with no legal authority to act.
The response of the Duma, urged on by the liberal bloc, was to establish a temporary committee to restore law and order; meanwhile, the socialist parties established the Petrograd Soviet to represent workers and soldiers. The remaining loyal units switched allegiance the next day. The Tsar directed the royal train, stopped on March 14 by a group of revolutionaries at Malaya Vishera, back to Petrograd.
When the Tsar finally arrived at in Pskov, the Army Chief Ruzsky and the Duma deputees Guchkov and Shulgin suggested in unison that he abdicate the throne. He did so on March on behalf of both himself and his son, the Tsarevich.
Nicholas nominated his brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, to succeed him, but the Grand Duke realized that he would have little support as ruler. He declined the crown on March 16, stating that he would take it only as the consensus of democratic action. The immediate effect of the February Revolution was a widespread atmosphere of elation and excitement in Petrograd.
On March 16, the provisional government was announced. The center-left was well represented, and the government was initially chaired by a liberal aristocrat, Prince Georgy Yevgenievich Lvov, a member of the Constitutional Democratic party KD. The Petrograd Soviet and the provisional government competed for power over Russia. It was intended to organize elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention. Despite its short reign of power and implementation shortcomings, the provisional government passed very progressive legislation.
The policies enacted by this moderate government by Russian standards represented arguably the most liberal legislation in Europe at the time. It abolished capital punishment, declared the independence of Poland, redistributed wealth in the countryside, restored the constitution of Finland, established local government on a universal suffrage basis, separated church and state, conceded language rights to all the nationalities, and confirmed liberty of speech, liberty of the Press, and liberty of assembly.
The provisional government lasted approximately eight months, ceasing when the Bolsheviks seized power after the October Revolution in October According to Harold Whitmore Williams, the eight months during which Russia was ruled by the provisional government was characterized by the steady and systematic disorganization of the army.
The provisional government was unable to make decisive policy decisions due to political factionalism and a breakdown of state structures. This weakness left the government open to strong challenges from both the right and the left. Its chief adversary on the left was the Petrograd Soviet, which tentatively cooperated with the government at first but then gradually gained control of the army, factories, and railways.
While the Provisional Government retained the formal authority to rule over Russia, the Petrograd Soviet maintained actual power.
With its control over the army and the railroads, the Petrograd Soviet had the means to enforce policies. The provisional government lacked the ability to administer its policies. A period of dual power ensued during which the provisional government held state power while the national network of soviets, led by socialists, had the allegiance of the lower classes and the political left.
During this chaotic period there were frequent mutinies, protests, and strikes. When the provisional government chose to continue fighting the war with Germany, the Bolsheviks and other socialist factions campaigned for stopping the conflict. In July, following a series of crises known as the July Days strikes by soldiers and industrial workers that undermined its authority with the public, the head of the provisional government resigned and was succeeded by Alexander Kerensky.
Kerensky was more progressive than his predecessor but not radical enough for the Bolsheviks or many Russians discontented with the deepening economic crisis and the continuation of the war. The period of competition for authority ended in late October when Bolsheviks routed the ministers of the provisional government in the events known as the October Revolution and placed power in the hands of the soviets, which had given their support to the Bolsheviks. On October 25, , Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin led his leftist revolutionaries in a successful revolt against the ineffective provisional government, an event known as the October Revolution.
The October Revolution, commonly referred to as Red October, the October Uprising, or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a seizure of state power instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of It took place with an armed insurrection in Petrograd on October 25, It followed and capitalized on the February Revolution of the same year, which overthrew the Tsarist autocracy and resulted in a provisional government after a transfer of power proclaimed by Grand Duke Michael, brother of Tsar Nicolas II, who declined to take power after the Tsar stepped down.
During this time, urban workers began to organize into councils Russian: Soviet wherein revolutionaries criticized the provisional government and its actions.
The October Revolution in Petrograd overthrew the provisional government and gave the power to the local soviets. The Bolshevik party was heavily supported by the soviets. After the Congress of Soviets, now the governing body, had its second session, it elected members of the Bolsheviks and other leftist groups such as the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to key positions within the new state of affairs.
The revolution was led by the Bolsheviks, who used their influence in the Petrograd Soviet to organize the armed forces. Bolshevik Red Guards forces under the Military Revolutionary Committee began the takeover of government buildings on October 24, The following day, the Winter Palace the seat of the Provisional government located in Petrograd, then capital of Russia , was captured.
The long-awaited Constituent Assembly elections were held on November 12, The Bolsheviks only won seats in the seat legislative body, coming in second behind the Socialist Revolutionary party, which won seats. The Constituent Assembly was to first meet on November 28, , but its convocation was delayed until January 5, , by the Bolsheviks. On its first and only day in session, the body rejected Soviet decrees on peace and land, and was dissolved the next day by order of the Congress of Soviets.
As the revolution was not universally recognized, there followed the struggles of the Russian Civil War —22 and the creation of the Soviet Union in Marxist-Leninists espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of Marxism and Leninism, but generally support the idea of a vanguard party, one-party state, proletarian state-dominance over the economy, internationalism, opposition to bourgeois democracy, and opposition to capitalism.
The October Revolution marked the beginning of the spread of communism in the 20th century. It was far less sporadic than the revolution of February and came about as the result of deliberate planning and coordinated activity to that end. Critics on the right have long argued that the financial and logistical assistance of German intelligence via agent Alexander Parvus was a key component as well, though historians are divided since there is little evidence supporting that claim.
The Second Congress of Soviets consisted of elected delegates; were Bolshevik and nearly a hundred were Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who also supported the overthrow of the Alexander Kerensky Government.
The transfer of power was not without disagreement. The center and right wings of the Socialist Revolutionaries as well as the Mensheviks believed that Lenin and the Bolsheviks had illegally seized power and walked out before the resolution was passed. Go where you belong from now on — into the dustbin of history! These would be followed by the arrests of Socialist Revolutionary Party and Menshevik leaders. All in all, the transfer of power was complex and replete with conflict within the revolutionaries.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection. Search this Guide Search. Russian Revolution of Topics in Chronicling America In , Russian strikes, mutinies, and rebellions led to revolutions in their political system.
About Chronicling America Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages from sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. Included in the website is the Directory of US Newspapers in American Libraries , a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since , which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Introduction "Scene during recent rioting in the ancient capital of Russia, where revolutionists and loyal troops are now engaged in a battle which has cost thousands of lives. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.
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