Dissent and revolution

• Bolshevik Party


  • Small party with only 23,000 members in Feb 1917
  • Largely agreed with whatever the Petrograd Soviet said
• The Bolsheviks didn't expect the February revolution
• Lenin said in January that he didn't expect a revolution in his lifetime
• What the Bolsheviks did following Feb Rev

  1. Kamenev and Stalin returned from exile in Siberia

  2. Lenin returned to Russia from Switzerland on a sealed train, with the help of the German government –he arrived with Zinoviev

  3. Bukharin arrived in May
• MRC


  The Military Revolutionary Committee - established to protect Petrograd and allowed socialists to infiltrate the army
• Red Guard


  A Bolshevik militia formed from armed factory workers, soldiers and sailors
• Soviet


  An elected local, district, or national council
• Lenin's ideology differed from Marxism because

  • The Russian middle classes were too weak, the workers and peasants needed to do it
  • The Soviets were a good model for new government and Russia was primed for revolution
  • The rest of Europe seemed poised to join the revolution –Russia would be supported
• Lenin's April Thesis


  • His two main demands were: "Peace, Bread, Land" and "All Power to the Soviets"
  • These slogans were catchy and appealed to the majority of Russians
• Initially, Lenin had little impact with the party and workers within the first month
• His policies started to gain more traction when the Provisional Government began making mistakes
• Economic issues faced by the Provisional Government

  • The price of goods continued to increase
  • Food was in short supply
  • Fuel shortages made living conditions unbearable, especially during the harsh Russian winter
  • The government could not guarantee enough grain, ammunition or weapons for troops fighting
  • The government did not to solve the land issue in the countryside - Seizures of land from landowners became widespread
• The June Offensive


  1. Kerensky, Minister of War, ordered the June Offensive of 1917, an attempt to push the Austrians back

  2. The morale of the army declined further and there were huge increases in desertions

  3. The soldiers became more receptive to Bolshevik propaganda and the loyalty of a number of units to the Provisional Government was now uncertain
• The July Days


  1. In July 1917, sailors from the Kronstadt naval base organized an armed demonstration that spread to Petrograd

  2. Workers and soldiers joined them driven by rising prices and unemployment

  3. The Bolsheviks encouraged the workers to protest, which led to them being blamed for the violence

  4. The Provisional Government used the army to crush the demonstrators with the support of the Petrograd Soviet

  5. Bolshevik newspapers were shut down, Lenin & Stalin fled, Trotsky was arrested

  6. Prince Lvov resigned –leaving Kerensky in charge
• The Kornilov Coup


  1. By August 1917, Kerensky's new government wanted to restore order

  2. They put General Kornilov in charge of the Russian army, but they soon begin to criticize his methods and right-wing views –even though he had support from landowners and businessmen

  3. Kornilov ordered troops to march on Petrograd in an attempted military coup

  4. Kerensky panicked, was forced to ask the Petrograd Soviet to defend the capital and agreed the newly freed Bolsheviks to arm workers to fight Kornilov
• By the beginning of September, the Bolsheviks had majorities in both the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets
• Membership of the Bolshevik party had risen to 200,000 by the beginning of October
• Trotsky's role


  • In September, Trotsky became Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet and was head of the MRC
  • Trotsky had superb organisational and improvisational skills
  • His position in the Soviet allowed him to create the Red Guard
  • Trotsky took charge of planning the Bolshevik coup that was intended for the end of October
• Lenin's role


  • From mid September onwards, Lenin pushed for the Bolsheviks to seize power –Kamenev and Zinoviev disagreed
  • Lenin returned to Petrograd in early October, determined to seize power quickly. The Provisional Government had announced that elections would take place in November and he was certain that the Bolsheviks would perform poorly
• The MRC were formed on 16th October
• 15/18 of the Petrograd garrisons declared allegiance to the MRC, not the Provisional Government
• By 23rd October Kerensky was worried about the growing power of the MRC and tried to limit their power
• How Kerensky tried to limit the MRC

  1. He send troops to cut of a Bolshevik area and ordered 2 of their newspapers to be shut down

  2. The Bolsheviks saw this as a direct attack
• Timeline of the October Revolution

  1. 24th Oct: The Red Guards capture key positions in Petrograd, supported by soldiers and sailors from Kronstadt

  2. 25th Oct: The Red Guards enter the Winter Palace, the Second Congress of Soviets meets, some Mensheviks and right-wing SRs protest

  3. 26th Oct: All remaining members of the Provisional Government are arrested, the Congress votes to take power into its own hands, the Congress agrees unanimously to Lenin's Decree on Peace

  4. 27th Oct: The Congress agrees to Lenin's Decree on Land, a Central Executive Committee is set up, with the majority of members being Bolsheviks or Left Wing SRs, Sovnarkom is set up
• The October Revolution involved 25,000-35,000 people at the most, which was 5% of the workers and soldiers in Petrograd
• Historians' views on the October Revolution

  • Soviet historians idealized Lenin's role and after Lenin's death they downplayed the importance of Trotsky
  • Critics of Lenin prioritise the failings of the Provisional Government over Lenin's leadership
  • During the Cold War, Western historians claimed that the revolution was a coup d'état not a popular revolution
  • Recent historians have identified that there was some radicalism and spontaneous rebellion that the Bolsheviks exploited
• Power after the October Revolution

  • The October Revolution transferred power to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets
  • When the Bolsheviks won a majority of seats on the Congress' executive committee, the Mensheviks and Right SRs walked out
• Sovnarkom


  • The Sovnarkom was set up to take charge of running the government with Lenin as its chairman
  • The Sovnarkom was reluctant to share power and sidelined the Petrograd Soviet
• How the Bolsheviks dealt with early opposition

  1. At first, civil servants refused to work for the Bolshevik government – e.g. bankers refused the Bolsheviks access to state funds

  2. 10 days later with the threat of armed intervention, they submitted

  3. The Cheka was established and could arrest any counter-revolutionaries

  4. Members of opposition parties were arrested and imprisoned

  5. The Bolshevik shut down opposition newspapers with the Press Decree
• Cheka


  The secret police force of the Bolsheviks
• Decree


  An official statement that something must happen
• Sovnarkom


  The government of the new revolutionary regime
• 4 main Decrees - October to December

  • Decree on Peace: Declared in October, promised an end to war
  • Press Decree: Banned opposition press in October
  • Cheka Decree: Established in December to root out opposition
  • Workers' Decree: Limited the working day to 8 hours in October
  • Social insurance decree: Gave old-age health and unemployment benefits in October
  • Decree on Workers' Control of Factories: Allowed workers to 'supervise' managers in November
  • Judicial decree: Established people's courts in November
  • Decree to outlaw sex discrimination: Gave equal rights for women in November
  • Decrees on the Church: Removed marriage and divorce from Church Control in December
• What problems did the tsar face in ruling russia

  1. Size - Russian empire 1/6 of world’sland surface
  2. communication. - poor roads, same amount of rail track as Britain but 100x its size
  3. diversity - more that 19 different languages were spoken among the many nationalities. Large numbers of Jews, muslims, catholics and protestants
  4. authority - russia only had 1852 police sergeants and 6874 police constables to police a rural population of 100 million
• what was Russian society like?

  1. almost 8-% peasants by 1900
  2. nobility 1% but owned 25% of land
  3. tiny but expanding middle class
  4. working class made up 10% of population and much higher literacy rates than peasants
• how was russia rule?

  autocracy. tsar ruled alone and used okhrana, Cossacks and army to keep order
• which groups opposed the tsar?

  1. liberals -favoured reform and a constitutional monarchy. included the Kadebts, the octoberists and the progressives.
  2. SRs - represented peasant interests. suffered from internal divivsions with left advocating political assassination
  3. SDs - represented the proletariat. split into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in 1903
• 1905


  Bloody Sunday sparks revolution
• 1914


  First World War begins, increasing popularity of the tsar and leading to national unity
• 1915


  progressive bloc is formed in august. tsar goes to the front to command the army in September following a string of embarrassing defeats