The Russian Revolution-

The seeds of 1917 revolution were laid in 1905 itself. Most of the people who participated in the revolution were still there in 1917, importantly the leaders like Lenin and Trotsky.

The immediate cause of the revolution in 1917 was the discontent within working classes and peasantry due to shortages due to World War II. There was severe shortage of bread in industrial cities like Petrograd (St. Petersburg) which brought the workers onto the streets. Their numbers soon swelled and the situation seemed to get out of control. The Tsar who had fantasies of him leading the Russian army was already under pressure due to defeat at the hands of Prussia, reacted in a conservative actions ordering the police to fire at the protestor. However unlike 1905, this time the police and military refused to shoot at their fellow men. This gave further boost to the protestors and soon it escalated into a revolt with military men joining the factory workers. The army had seen huge losses losing nearly 5 million men in all. The hastily trained men were sent off to the front often without proper gear or weapons. This led to the men doubting the Czar’s abilities to lead the nation and discontent had grown, which led them to siding with the protestors.

The Tsar was with no option but to abdicate and with no heirs, the Romanov dynasty ended after 300 years.

After the February revolution the Provisional government took over power. It couldn’t read the mood of the masses and continued the war with Prussia.

The provisional government was dominated with the landowning class which wanted to turn Russia into a capitalist democracy, preserving the right to property like in the western nations. It wasn’t able to improve the immediate conditions on the ground which created space for extremist parties. It also lifted restrictions on exiled political dissidents like Lenin and Trotsky.

There were two socialist factions active at the time; one demanded a gradual shift to socialism: the Mensheviks and the other demanded immediate switch to socialism; the Bolsheviks. Till this time Bolsheviks were a small dedicated group with radical strains, while Mensheviks were moderate socialists with larger base.

A parallel structure was emerging to the provisional government in Russia. It was the soviet (council) of workers. Soviets were organised in all major cities led by Mensheviks and the socialist revolutionaries. These Soviets were not competitors for power but acted as lobbies.

Eventually dual centres of power will be created leading to clash of thoughts. Alexander Terensky of the socialist revolutionary party agreed to join the provisional government. He would rise to become the war minister and later the Prime minister.

This was when Lenin arrived back and the popularity of the Bolsheviks soared. Soldiers and workers swelled the ranks of Bolsheviks who till September had .2 million members and were the majority be both Petrograd and Moscow.

Bolsheviks didn’t have faith in democracy and state Duma. They wanted to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. With the faith in Provisional government falling, the only opposition party: Bolsheviks became the champions of the masses in industrial areas.

On Nov 7 1917 (Oct by Julian calendar), the Bolsheviks ended the short rule of provisional government and established the rule of Soviets. The October revolution unlike the February revolution wasn’t sporadic; rather it was well planned and organised.

In the elections for the Russian Constituent assembly held 2 weeks after the takeover of power, the Bolsheviks came in second with 25 % of the votes after the Socialist Revolutionary party (58%). The Bolsheviks soon disbanded the assembly and SR’s importance in national affairs dwindled. They formed an opposition to the Bolsheviks with agitating army personnel (white army) and tried to create a third revolution in Russia.

Civil war broke out in Russia between the Bolshevik red army and the anti-Bolshevik white army. The war devastated the country with peasants pushed to starving conditions. Eventually the Red army emerged victorious and the various white army generals were defeated.