Unit 3 - The Russian Revolution of October 1917

AOS 1 - Causes of Revolution

Events and conditions that contributed to the outbreak of revolution

Tensions in Tsarist Russia

Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II - May 14th 1896

- 1300 subjects trampled to death
- Crowned Tsar of All Russias
- Was only answerable to God, not the people
- Detested democracy
- “I know nothing of the business of ruling” - Nicholas II
- “Must be preserved from democracy”
- Doesn’t have popular consent
- No parliament or democracy
- “those who believe they can share in government dream senseless dreams” - Tsar Nicholas II
- Wanted to resist modernisation of democracy and preserve autocracy
- Anachronistic - belonging to another era
- John Hite - Nicholas’ “weakness of will” led to his demise
- Figes - “not a ‘weakness of will’ … but … a wild determination to rule from the throne, despite
the fact he clearly lack the necessary qualities to do so”

Geography, Demography and Social Structure

- “Russia is not a state, but a world”
- 20 million kilometres squared
- Multiple terrain types - forest in North, desert in SE, bitter winters in central and North
- Made communication and defence difficult
- Needed to implement projects to improve it - strengthened Tsar’s control as only major
government projects could succeed
- Crosses 2 continents, 11 timezones, 5 vegetation zones
- In central and Northern Russia, winter lasts over half the year
- Major cities, St Petersburg and Moscow, were both in European Russia were most of the
population lived
- Ruling elite and upper classes established in the European side
- 1897 census - 126 million people, largest in Europe
- Rapid increase in the 19th century
- 1914 - 165 million
- Population quadrupled in a century
- Diverse ethnic population - over 60 different nationalities
- Social Classes
- Ruling class - 0.5%
- Tsar and family
- Member of government - state council of Russia, ministers senate
- Upper class - 12%
- Nobility, gentry, hereditary land owners, wealthy merchants, church leaders, bureaucratic
leaders, high ranking army officials
- High income and privilege with low work load
- Exempt from some oppressive laws
- Some were appointed by the tsar to keep other groups of the upper class under control
- Commercial and Professional Middle Class - 1.5%
- Small scale manufacturers, factory managers, clerks, educated thinkers, writers, artists -
intelligentsia
- Developed at the end of the 19th century as a result of industrialisation
- Lack of unity between professions
- Government viewed merchants with suspicion
- Industrial Working Class - 4%
- Urban workers
- Grew rapidly as Russia industrialised
- Concentrated in limited number of city centres
- Worked in overcrowded factories with poor conditions
- Low, fluctuating wages
- Called “proletariat” by Marxist revolutionary theory
- Peasants - 82%
- Agricultural workforce
- Extremely poor living and working conditions
- Overcrowding and poverty
- High illiteracy - resistant to changes
- Financially dependent on landowners and subsistence farming
- Underdeveloped agrarian economy
- Not enough productive land
- Growing season only lasted 4-6 months
- Outdated equipment and techniques
- Little opportunity for social mobility
- Fast growing population
- Biggest issue was social structure of privilege
- Utility - usefulness to society
- Merit - personal skills and abilities
- “Your majesty has 130 million subjects. Of them, barely more than half live, the rest vegetate” -
Sergei Witte
- Daily conditions for factory workers and peasants fed into anti-government sentiment

Russification
- Multicultural and multilingual country
- Different groups were let along as long as they conformed to laws
- Authorities were concerned about their potential to destabilise Russia
- The “Russian” nationality made up less than half of the total population
- 1890s - Tsar Alexander introduced program of Russification
- Ensuring allegiance to Russia
- Shared language and culture
- Enable modernisation
- Most people still identified as separate ethnic groups - Poles, Jews, etc
- Hard to impose “Russian-ness”
- Konstantin Pobedonostev - chief advisor to the tsar
- Very conservative, strong advocate for autocracy
- Opposed to any form of democracy or liberal reform
- Directly prevented Russia’s modernisation and reform
- Led to the persecution and alienation of other minorities
- Many groups resorted to extreme action
- Russian nationalist groups emerged - fuelled by rampant anti-Semitism
- Staged massacres on non-Russians
- “The marvel is that the country can be held together, even by autocratic means”
- “Many nationalities, many languages, and a nation largely illiterate” - Sergei Witte

Tsarist Political Structures

- Sergei Witte - “The outside world should not be surprised that we have an imperfect
government, but that we have a government at all.”
- Based on the theory of absolute authority
- Tsar was divinely appointed, with direct authority from God
- Unlimited executive, legislative and judicial power - unquestionable
- Maintained an old fashioned form of governance, despite Europe moving away from autocratic
rule
- 3 key bodies - State Council of Imperial Russia, Cabinet of Ministers and the Senate
- State Council - comprised of the tsar’s personal advisors
- Directly appointed by the tsar and directly answerable to him
- Reduced the legitimacy and accountability
- Cabinet of Ministers - managed individual portfolios
- Appointed by and responsible to tsar only
- In reality, members of cabinet worked separately in individual departments
- Senate - turned will of the Tsar into law
- Non of the bodies or individuals could restrict or questions the power of the tsar
- Alan Wood - “a word from the tsar was sufficient to alter, override or abolish any existing
legislation or institution”
- Did not support or facilitate parliament in any form or employ democratically elected officials
- Political parties were officially banned
- Protest was met with censorship, imprisonment or exile
- Evidence suggested that rights were granted by the tsar to groups of people
- Types of officials were allowed certain freedoms and in term policed behaviour of other groups
- Jane Burbank described this as an “imperial rights regime”
- Preservation of the tsarist system relied on four key groups - bureaucracy, provincial
governments, Russian Orthodox Church and the police
- Bureaucracy
- Civil service to coordinate and administer government services
- Became corrupt and ineffective
- Controlled most areas of life - responsible for government administration, law, police, militia at
local and national levels
- 14 levels with unique uniforms - symbol of rank and social status
- Opposed to reform, preferred to maintain position in noble upper class created by the
institution - came with prestige and higher income
- Corruption and inefficiency made it pointless to challenge civil service without connections
within organisation or ability to pay bribes
- Proizvol - arbitrariness, created a sense of inconsistencies and inequities - burdened the general
population
- Provincial Governments
- Figes - “to lovers of liberty the provincial government was the very personification of tsarist
oppression and despotism”
- Appointed by tsar and directly answerable
- Considerable power in day to day organisation
- Mostly noble and favoured their class
- Responsible for administration of key local services like local police, public works, education,
health
- Could create laws at local level - inconsistent and often self serving
- Russian Orthodox Church
- Under state control since 1721 - closely linked to tsar
- Couldn’t officially intervene but could influence Holy Synod - high regulating body
- Church had strong influence, reinforcing rule of Tsar and preaching obligation, duty and service
- Reinforced conservative values, supporting strict autocracy promoted by the tsar and opposing
political change
- Police
- National military was used for defence and repression
- Okhrana - secret police force
- Designed to protect political interests of the state
- Monitored agitation, suspected enemies of the state and revolutionaries
- Dealt with these groups through imprisonment, exile and execution
- Had limited numbers so severe oppressive action was used to control the large population
- Cossacks - elite militia
- Operated on horseback and were rewarded for loyalty with land

Modernisation and Industrialisation

- Was seen as key to promoting military growth and strength
- “Great Spurt” saw substantial industrialisation under Sergei Witte, minister for Finance
- Modernising Russia in line with Western Europe standards but also protect local industries
- Believed this could be achieved through state run capitalism - entrepreneurial principles
employed while the state maintained overall control
- Relied heavily on foreign loans to develop economy
- 1897 - Rouble was placed on gold standard - attempt for stability
- Foreign goods were limited and heavy government tariffs were introduced
- Had adverse impacts on ordinary people - rising prices, taxes, interest rates
- Agriculture was still primary livelihood of majority
- Remained unprotected and underdeveloped
- Railway investment was considered crucial
- Trans-Siberian railway began construction in 1891 and was designed to connect isolated areas
of central and eastern Russia with industrialised West - abandoned in 1914 due to WW1
- Conservative and radical opponents believed Witte’s reforms were too dependent on foreign
capital and too focussed on development of heavy industry
- Coincided with world wide industrial boom but followed by a recession
- Combined with failure to meet rising class expectations led to growing public discontent
contributing to revolution action in 1905
- Many peasants moved to industrial centres for work - result of harsh agricultural conditions,
financial burdens of land ownership after the Edict of Emancipation in 1861
- Facilitated desired growth of industry
- 1860-1905 - industrial labour force triples - birth of Proletariat
- Low emphasis on improvement of machinery - maximising profit for new commercial class
though low cost labour
- Allowed poor conditions for industrial workers
- Rapid industrialisation led to exploitation of the oppressed industrial working class - lack of
legal workplace protection and prohibition of trade unions
- Unsupervised and unplanned growth led to severe overcrowding and poor living conditions
- 1904 - 16 people lived in one apartment with 6 people per room
- Led to political discontent
- Military suppressed industrial strikes grew from 19 in 1893 to 522 in 1902
- Recession led to widespread unemployment
- Peasant hopes for a better life in urban centres were quashed leading to increasing social unrest
developing into a revolutionary response

Formation of the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

- Divided into 2 factions - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
- Founded by George Plekhanov - too theoretical, lost popularity
- Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, Lenin, was editor of the party newspaper and began voicing opinions
about leadership
- 1902 - Lenin publishes “What is to be done?”
- Figes - becomes “the founding text of international Leninism”
- Membership should be “confined” to people “trained in the art of combating the political
police” and “professionally engaged in revolutionary action”

- 1903 - Second Party Congress

- Lenin challenged Plekhanov and the notion of right to membership
- Party split into two factions after a vote was taken due to tensions between Lenin and Martov
- Bolsheviks - Lenin, majority
- Mensheviks - Martov, minority
- Initial vote was fairly even but subsequently Lenin had a small majority
- Approaching the revolution, the Mensheviks outnumbered the Bolsheviks
- Fires considered it, “very foolish” to adopt these names as the Mensheviks were branded the
minority and faced disadvantage as a result
- 1912 - factions officially separate

Russo-Japanese War
- February 1904 - September 1905
- “The Japanese are infidels. The might of Holy Russia will crush them”- Tsar Nicholas II
- Desire to expand influence into Manchuria - Japan had similar plans
- Russia underestimated military and naval power of Japan
- Gained permission to build a railway in Manchuria
- Japan proposed to recognise Russia in Manchuria if they recognised Japanese influence in Korea
- rejected by Russia
- 8 February 1904 - Siege of Port Arthur
- Admiral Togo sent naval fleet to Korean harbour of Chemulpo to disperse Russian ships
- Port Arthur was surrendered to Japan in January 1905
- Ice free port - enabled movement of ships
- Russia lost 31000 men and majority of fleet
- February 1905 - Battle of Mukden
- Russia lost 90 000 men - land army defeated
- Battle of Tsushima - May 1904
- Russian Baltic Fleet defeated in less than 24 hours after sailing 8 months to reach battle
- Public reacted angrily to defeats
- 1905 - US mediate and sign armistice
- Treaty of Portsmouth - September 1905
- Japan retained Port Arthur and maintained sphere of influence in Korea
- Russia had to evacuate Manchuria and cede the Liaoching Peninsula and the Southern half of
Sakhalin to Japan
- Sergei Witte negotiate so Russia avoided paying compensation

Domestic Impacts
- “The Japanese are giving it to us with shells; we’re giving it to them with icons” - Russian
soldier
- Disillusionment with government because Russia had not modernised, lacking technology
- Plehve - encouraged the tsar to provide “a victorious little war to stem the revolution”
- Pipes - “origins of the Russo-Japanese war have long been distorted by the self serving accounts
of Sergei Witte” - bore a great deal of blame for the war due to his vigorous economic policy in
the East
- Tsar wanted to avoid conflict but was encouraged by people like General Kuropatkin, Minister
for War
- A short war to win an easy victory and boost national pride
- Initially public was brought together in patriotic enthusiasm - disenchanted with humiliating
defeats
- Instead of diverting attention from economic and social situation, it highlighted Russia’s poor
technological infrastructure
- Became clear that Russia was under equipped for military engagement
- Led to social, political and economic upheaval
- 15 July 1904 - Plehve is assassinated
- Minister of Interior - domestic affairs
- Seen as the driving force behind the war

Bloody Sunday
- 9 January 1905
- 3 main groups opposed Tsarist regime - reformist middle class, peasants and industrial workers
- “There is no God any longer. There is no tsar” - Father Georgiy Gapon
- Falling wages and rising cost of living increased discontent
- Oct 1903 - Oct 1904 - real wages decreased by up to a quarter
- Industrial recession, poor working conditions and poor harvests led to growing worker
restlessness
- December 1904 - 4 workers in Putilov steel works are dismissed, masses from the plant strike
in support of fellow workers
- January 1905 - Industrial workers on strike increased to 120 000
- Led to first chapter of Russian Revolution - Bloody Sunday
- Father Georgiy Gapon - “a renegade priest with police connections” - rumour he was a police
spy and working with the Okhrana
- Prohibited from university due to minor involvement with revolutionary groups
- Trained as a priest, worked with underprivileged in St Petersburg- worker and convict groups
- 1904 - established Assembly of Russian Factory Workers
- Encouraged by Minister of Interior, Mirski as it channelled worker discontent away from
politically motivated groups
- Designed to support local workers and pursue industrial reform
- End of 1904 - 6000-8000 workers
- Gapon established himself as a prominent member of the St Petersburg workers “community”
- Planned to approach tsar on Sunday, 9 January 1905 to present a petition outlining grievances
of the people
- Peaceful march to the Winter Palace
- Reportedly, Gapon sent letters to the tsar and Mirskii, informing them of the march
- Tsar had left for his country home, suggested that Gapon believed he would return for his
people
- Saturday 8 January - Gapon met with justice minister Muraviev who met with Mirskii, police
department and chief of staff of troops
- Tsar learnt of the march by nightfall and troops were sent to reinforce garrison
- Up to 150 000 people marched peacefully to the Winter Palace
- Figes - “[they] formed something more like a religious procession than a workers’
demonstration” - led by Father Gapon, carrying religious icons and singing hymns
- Hoped to present the tsar a petition for improved conditions for workers
- Gapon carried a crucifix and a poster - “Soldiers do not shoot at the people”
- Police panicked and peaceful protestors were shot and charged at
- Reported that warning shots were fired and then direct shots at the crowd
- Nevsky Prospekt - cavalry and cannons blocked entrance to Palace square
- At the time, journalist estimated 4600 people killed or wounded by tsarist troops and cossack
cavalry
- Recent estimates suggest up to 200 killed and 800 injured
- Nicholas II was held directly responsible despite not being present and not directly ordering the
troops to fire
- “On the day, the workers received a bloody lesson. It was their faith in the tsar that was riddled
with bullets” - Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Instead of “Little Father”, Nicholas became known as “Nicholas the Bloody”
- Petition included demands for:
- negotiation of wages
- 8 hour working days
- proper medical care
- examination of disputes
- raising wages of unskilled workers and women to one rouble a day
- construction of shops that protect from elements

Impact
- Clear message sent hat the Tsar will not reform or compromise
- Public image and reputation of tsar deteriorates - “Little Father” becomes “Nicholas the
Bloody”
- Increase in strikes - doesn’t quell strikes, increases numbers
- 400 000 workers on strike by end of January
- Uprisings and attacks on properties by peasants
- Nations demand independence - Finland, Poland
- Revolutionary and nationalist groups emerge
- Solider and sailor mutinies
- Trans-Siberian railway - soldiers mutiny on the way back from the Russo-Japanese war
- June 1905 - Potemkin battle ship crew mutinies
- University strikes - Moscow University, 3000 students rallied
- Railway strikes
- General strikes
- Society is halted - economy, infrastructure and sections of the military are crippled
- 14 October - economies of St Petersburg and Moscow are paralysed
- Advisors realise change is needed to ensure survival of Tsarist

St Petersburg Soviet
- Formed in 1905 revolution
- To protect workers, soldiers and sailors
- Initial aim is to organise general strikes
- Trotsky - key leader in Soviet
- Began to emerge in other cities
- Eventually developed into a revolutionary organisation
- End of 1905 - approximately 80 Soviets

1905 Revolution
- “Collapse of the autocracy was rooted in a crisis of modernisation”
- Smith - “Effect of industrialisation, urbanisation, internal migration and the emergence of a
new social class was to set in train forces that served to erode the foundations of the autocratic
state”
- “Streets of St Petersburg ran with workers’ blood”
- “Workers received a bloody lesson. It was their faith in the tsar that was riddled by bullets that
day”
- “Came to realise that they could win their rights only by struggle”

- “Rioting and disturbances in the capitals and in many localities of Our Empire fill Our heart
with great and heavy grief ” - Tsar Nicholas II
- Bloody Sunday had crippling effect on regime - demonstrating widespread contempt
- Peasants lashed out against government officials and landowners
- Feared government would take property - seized estates, crops and livestock of landowners
- Faced very little opposition - lack of troops and isolation
- By October - locals governments were paralysed
- Minority groups launches campaigns for independent or equality - Poles, Jews, etc.
- Local government were corrupt and ineffective due to arbitrariness of governors - did not get
information in time to avert crises
- Rights of minority groups had been suppressed, allowing them to demand autonomy while the
system was vulnerable
- Troops returning from Manchuria mutinied - seized Trans-Siberian railway for several weeks
- Mutinies continued in navy and military
- 14 June 1905 - Potemkin Mutiny
- Stationed in Odessa in the Black Sea
- Murdered officers and deserved their squadron
- Sailed out of Russia waters for Romania
- University campuses became “centres for political agitation”
- Moscow University - over 3000 students rallied, burning pictures of the tsar
- 18 March 1905 - authorities close all institutions of higher learning for the year

Impact of 1905 Revolution

- October Manifesto - 17th October 1905
- Drafted by Witte and Obolensky
- Promised an elected assembly - British model
- Tsar was unwilling but convinced by Witte as the only way to preserve Tsarist
- Duma - representative parliament
- PM - Witte
- Expansion of civil rights and freedoms - “principles of genuine inviolability of the person,
freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association”
- Votes given to groups that couldn't vote yet
- “No law shall take effect without confirmation by the State Duma” - responsible for state
legislation
- Considered by some to only be appeasement to quell the revolution
- Soviets, socialist parties and workers felt changes were not actual reform
- Tsarist could not survive - new system must be created
- Octobrists - moderate conservatives - pleased with overdue changes
- Liberal parties, Kadets - divided, happy with some aspects but pursued further legitimate
reform
- Gap between factions is further divided - lack of cooperation between revolutionary groups
- Industrial workers - focussed on immediate needs - 8 hour working day, workers councils,
medical care which were unmet
- Peasants - immediate concerns, land and tax reform
- Were largely disengaged with push for political reform and civil liberties
- Uprising continued
- Tsar would not compromise - crushing opposition
- 6th December 1905 - Soviet uprising in Moscow
- Ended by troops on 18th December
- Over 1000 people killed
- Soviet headquarters stormed
- Trotsky and key figures arrested
- Severely limited Soviet influence
- “disturbances … may caused grave tension in the nation and may threaten the integrity and
unity of our state” - October Manifesto
- “Loyal sons to Russia to remember their duties toward the country”
- Significant - first step towards democracy
- Radical change for Nicholas
- Reactionary document - “rioting and disturbances in the capital”

- 14 October 1905 - economic standstill

- October Manifesto and 1905 reforms had potential to appeal to many - legislative Duma,
liberalisation of censorship, gradual unlocking of land
- Divided liberals - Octobrists accepted reforms while Kadets pressured further reform
- St Petersburg Soviet - greatest opposition to the Manifesto
- Saw it as “a fraud on the people, a trick of the tsar to gains one sort of respite in which to lull
the credulous and to win time to rally his forces and then to strike at the revolution” - CPSU
- Had gained influence - called for further revolutionary action, continuance of general strikes
- Most workers return to work - satisfied with possibility of reform and being unable to support
themselves financially

Role of The Dumas

- “Curse the Duma. It’s all Witte’s fault” - Tsar Nicholas II
- 1906-1917 - Russia is ruled by Tsar as God’s representative on Earth and the Duma as the
representative of the people
- “Period of uneasy and ambiguous experimentation with quasi-constitutional politics” - Alan
Wood
- 24 November 1906 - Abolition of censorship
- 11 December 1906 - New electoral laws
- Men over 25 can vote indirectly
- Only landowners with estates bigger than 200 hectares can directly vote
- Peasants voted indirectly in 3 stages - more fundamentally conservative, idealised by authority
- Exclusions - factory works in businesses with less than 50 employees, building labourers and
tradesmen
- Over 60% of urban working population was ineligible
- PM with became ambivalent about representative Duma despite initiating it
- Tsar began to lose trust in Witte
- Wit’s last action was to ensure a loan from France to fund local law and order
- 22 April 1906 - Witte resigns and is replaced by Ivan Goremykin
- Ministers of Interior, Pyotr Durnovo, enforces strict policies to aggressively counter social
revolutionary action and control press - soon replaced by Pyotr Stolypin
- Early 1906 - Tsar upgrades State Council of Imperial Russia - advisory board working in
conjunction with the Duma
- Created a 198 member upper chamber of parliament - half appointed by the tsar, half elected
representatives from wealthy noble, church and zemstvso assemblies
- Undermined the October Manifesto which outlined a single legislative body, the Duma
- Tsar considered the Dumas as consultative, not legislative
- “I created the Duma, not to be directed by it but to be advised” - Tsar Nicholas II

- Fundamental State Laws - 23 April 1906

- Restrict Dumas - elected but restricted legislative authority
- Reasserted tsar’s absolute authority
- All laws required the tsar’s approval
- Can appoint ministers only accountable to tsar
- Complete control over foreign affairs, military supervision, state of emergency, etc.
- Avoided use of the word “constitution”, reflecting belief of autocracy
- Cemented shared authority of Duma and Imperial Council - both houses needed agreement to
pass laws
- Article 87 - Tsar could legislate along in “exceptional circumstances” or when the Duma was
not in session, only requiring Duma approval within 2 months - often overlooked as it was hard
to overturn laws once passed
- “All-Russian Emperor possess supreme autocratic power”
- “God himself, commands obedience”
- “No law can come into effect without his approval”

- Initial elections began late February 1906

- 4 March 1906 - unions and political parties are legalised
- Boycotts by left wing political parties
- Rejected what Pipes called “the very principle of constitutional monarchy and parliamentary
government”
- Russians were enthusiastic to vote - produced largely peasant based body
- Fundamental laws led to growing conservatism
- Was a central forum for the critique of the regime with parliamentary privilege - immunity from
legal proceedings and right to question ministers
- Became training ground for people who took positions of responsibility in the Provisional
Government of 1917
- Undermined by the Fundamental State Laws
- First Duma - April - July 1906
- Opened April 27th
- 38% peasants, 37% Kadets
- Very radical - not what the tsar wanted
- Demanded rights for the people
- Freedom to strike, to publicly assembly, abolition of capital punishment, political amnesty,
abolition of State Council of Imperial Russia, significant reform to civil service, ministerial
responsibility to be handed to the Duma, universal and direct voting, universal and free
education, seizure of large estates and redistribution to peasants, more equitable distribution of
tax burden
- Dismissed after 10 weeks - too radical, wanted extensive reform
- Increase in violence
- Half of Kadets move to Finland and call for others to undermine the system
- Second Duma - February - June 1907
- More radical than the first - SRs and SDs participate
- Divided ideologies
- New PM - Stolypin - attempted land reforms that were largely unsupported
- Dissolved by the Tsar after arrest of SD who allegedly planned to overthrow regime - used as a
front for dissolving it
- Closure did not cause the same backlash
- Did not would Stolypin’s land reforms
- 3 June 1907 - further changes to electoral system
- Designed to further restrict radical elements from gaining power
- One in six males can vote
- Voting was suspended in areas where, according to the tsar, population “had not yet reached
sufficient levels of civic development”
- Violated the constitution but was implement when the Duma was not in session so was
technically legal
- Drastically reduced number of peasants, urban workers, small landowning and national
minority background members
- Increased number of landowning gentry
- 1% of population responsible for electing 300 out of 441 deputies
- Third Duma - November 1907 - June 1912
- More conservative and complainant - due to change in electoral laws
- Dominated by right wing parties willing to work with tsar
- Stolypin said it was full of ”responsible and statesmanlike people” - could pursue his land
reforms
- Was a forum for political discussion and proposal
- Served the full five year term
- Pursued Stolypin’s land reform
- Fourth Duma - November 1912 - August 1914
- Most conservative - grew in criticism of the tsar during WWI
- Prorogued in 1914 due to war but resumes after
- Coincided with assassination of Stolypin - increasing tension and crises
- 1 September 1911 - Stolypin is assassinated
- Coincided with radial protests and strikes
- 1912 - Lena Goldfields Massacre
- Workers strike and over 500 people are killed
- Resurfacing of workers’ movements In 2 years - 9000 strikes, 3 million workers
- Severe repression and heavy handed tactics
- Increased repression but strikes continued to increase in number
- 1911 - 24 strikes, 1914 - 2401 strikes
- Gave experience to future leaders in February 1917
- Gave liberal reformists experience to create atmosphere to encourage tsar to abdicate

World War One

- August 1914 - Defeats in WWI
- Poor training, morale and discipline in Russian army
- Failed to properly equip soldiers
- 1 in 3 soldiers did not have a rifle in 1914
- Battles of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes led to loss of 400 000 men in two weeks
- 4 million soldiers lost in the first year - killed, wounded, captured
- Russian army appeared incapable of defending Russia
- Loss of faith in tsarist regime’s competence

- August 1914 - Progressive Bloc

- Duma became convinced tsarist regime couldn’t win the war
- Kadets unite 75% of Duma into Progressive Bloc - demands a “government of public
confidence”
- Tsar ignores Duma demands
- Duma becomes increasingly radical and critical

- September 1915 - Nicholas assumes command

- Tsar hopes to revive failing morale in army and escape criticism of Duma
- Assumes command of Russian army in Mogilev - 750km away from Petrograd
- Results in tsar begin unaware of developing political crisis in Petrograd

- “War is the midwife of every old society pregnant with a new one” - Engels
- Preconditions for war - build up of arms and navies, surge in nationalism, small scale conflicts
and disagreements, complex system of alliances
- 23 July 1914 - Serbia requested assistance from Russia as fellow Slavs
- 24 July 1914 - Tsar ordered partial mobilisation
- 30 July 1914 - Full mobilisation ordered
- Size of Russian Empire made it hard to rescind a mobilisation order
- Despite defeat by Japan in 1905, army was feared and called the “Russian Steamroller”
- 1 August 1914 - Germany declared war on Russia due to their mobilisation
- Realised Russia mobilisation would take time so Germany attempted to bypass them - sent a
small force to the East, while larger force when Went to defeat the French and avoid fighting on
two fronts
- 3 August 1914 - Germany invaded Belgium in an unsuccessful attempt to knock France out of
the war - failure led to war on two fronts until 1918
- Everyone misunderstood modern warfare - defending was easier than attacking due to machine
guns, artillery and trenches
- August 1914 - Declaration of war led to increased patriotism
- Workers strikes had stopped while socialists embraced the patriotism and supported Russia in
the war
- St Petersburg - renamed Petrograd in response to nationalist fervour
- Duma dissolved so as to not interfere with war effort
- Lenin was one of few that publicly criticised the war - called for redirection of proletariat war
efforts away from proletariat brothers in Europe and towards the bourgeoisie governments in
Europe
- Broadly unified Russia
- Little understanding of problems the war would bring - war and home front

- 1914
- “I have no rifles, no shells, no boots” - Russian general
- Consequence of Russo-Japanese war was internal rebellion and challenges to tsarism
- Russia agreed to Anglo-Russian Alliance and Franco-Russian Alliance in 1907
- Agreed that France would help find military infrastructure
- Very little improvement by 1914
- Had millions of men to draw on but inadequate military supplies to support them
- End of 1914 - 6.5 million men mobilised, only 4.6 million rifles issued
- Russia officers were the only in Europe with experience in recent conflict - however, positions
of authority were more due to imperial loyalty rather than military skill
- General Sukhomlinov, minister of war, distrusted technology of modern warfare - preferred to
attack with sheer force of troops through use of bayonets
- Russian military, like most others, was unprepared for style and longevity of the conflict
- First army - led by General von Rennenkampf into East Prussia
- Second army - led by General Samsonov further south
- Planned to meet up and drive towards Berlin
- First army covered so much ground initially that their supplies were unable to keep up with
them - forced to use wireless transmissions that were easily intercepted
- 28 August 1914 - Battle of Tannenberg
- Second army were attacked
- Within 4 days, 70 000 men killed or wounded, 100 000 captured
- Germans only lost 15 000 men
- Samsonov shot himself as a result of the humiliation
- German army redirected from Western to Eastern front - arriving in East Prussia shortly after
- September 1914 - Battle of Masurian Lakes
- Attacked first army
- 60 000 men died before they retreated from East Prussia
- Russian elite appeared unfazed, claimed actions required withdrawal of German forces from
Western front
- German withdrawal allowed France to regroup and repel Germany
- Russian elite were less affected by death toll than lower classes
- Mid-August 1914 - 8th army forced Austrian army into retreated
- Capsular or killed a third of the Austrian army
- Maintained threat to Germany but at high Russian cost
- End of 1914 - 1.2 million men killed, wounded or captured
- 1915 - Additional 2.5 million men were lost
- 25% of soldiers were sent to the front unarmed and explicitly told to collect arms from fallen
comrades

- 1915
- Two thirds of German troops were focussed on Eastern front
- Lost 23 million people to German occupation
- August 1915 - Nicholas assumes control of Russian armed forces
- Council of ministers warned against it, having “serious consequences”
- Independently made decision and was highly criticised
- Had little military experience and was unable to inspire troops
- Was blamed for Russian people for subsequent defeats
- Absence from Petrograd led to powerful union between German born tsarina and peasant
Rasputin
- Tsar’s position as supreme ruler of Russia was being questioned and came under public
criticism in the Duma in late 1916

- Brusilov Offensive
- “Our army is more like an ill-trained militia … such men could not be called soldiers” - General
Brusilov
- When Germany realised they were unlikely to defeat Russia in the East, they refocussed on the
West - allowed Russian forces to regroup and equip each soldiers with a rifle
- Summer of 1916 - launched offensive against the Austrian army
- Nearly collapsed Austrian army - captured and killed nearly 1 million men in 10 weeks
- Germany transferred troops to save Austria but were later unable to conduct any campaigns
without German aid
- Appeared the tsar was correct to assume control - strong military position
- Isolated success didn’t stem home front discontent - growing steadily since beginning of war

- Political Problems on Home Front

- 3 key domestic organisations to coordinate war effort
- 1914 - All-Russian Union of Towns and All Russian Union of Zemstva are established
- Led by Prince Lvov on a wave of nationalism and aristocratic generosity
- To care for wounded and send supplies to frontline soldiers
- 1915 - Central War Industries Committee
- To organise war production due to munitions and arms shortages
- Sought profit by breaking monopoly of big munitions producers
- All 3 groups found the administration and bureaucracy obstructive
- Very little organisation - Russian concluded that the bureaucracy couldn’t manage the war
- Tsar suggested that organising the country would pave the way to organised revolution
- November 1916 - Opening of Duma
- “while government persists in claiming that organising the country means organising a
revolution and deliberately prefers chaos and disorganisation, then what is this; stupidity or
treason?”
- 1915 - Progressive Bloc formed by moderates in Duma
- Had support from Central War Industries Committee, Union of Towns, Union of Zemstva, and
some members of the Council of Ministers
- 25 August 1915 - Bloc released reform program for the change of ministers chosen by the
Duma to work with legislature and separation of military and civilian bureaucracies
- Subtly calling for parliamentary democracy
- Did not directly challenge the tsar but became focus for political resistance in Russia
- Tsar’s response was to prorogue the Duma in August
- Alienated nearly all political figures in Russia and isolating himself on the battlefront
- Following this, rebel ministers siding with the Bloc were systematically dismissed and replaced
with allies of the Romanovs by the tsarina and Rasputin
- “Ministerial Leapfrogging” - saw many poorly considered ministerial changes by the tsarina
- September 1915 - February 1917 - “Russia had 4 Prime Ministers, 5 Ministers of the Interior, 3
Foreign Ministers, 3 War Ministers, 3 Ministers of Transport and 4 Ministers of Agriculture” -
Figes
- Did not know who they were ultimately responsible to - tsar at the front line or tsarina and
Rasputin in Petrograd

- Social and Economic Discontent 1914 - 1917

- Government devoted full attention to the war - reduction in living standing of most Russian,
especially in Moscow and Petrograd
- 1914 - Rouble was strong due to large gold supply
- 1914-1917 - Spent upwards of 1.5 billion roubles on the war
- Forced to increase taxation and borrow from foreign powers to fund expenditure
- Resorted to printing more notes - met wage demands and war expenditure in the short term
- Within several months this led to rampant inflation
- Devaluation of rouble encouraged peasants to hoard grain, instead of selling it for “valueless
paper” - contributed to food shortage at the front and in major cities
- Wages doubled but cost of basic foods quadrupled
- Millions of peasant men were drafted
- Farm equipment and forces requisitioned by armed forces
- Armed forces had priority for transport
- 1915-16 - produced number crops, enough to feed Russia
- Inflation, hoarding of grain and forced requisitioning meant it could not be properly utilised -
food shortages spread throughout the cities
- Calorie intake for the unskilled worker fell by a quarter
- Infant mortality and crime rates increased
- Made worse by the collapse of the transport system - couldn’t cope with strain of mobilisation
and subsequent maintenance required in the lengthy conflict
- Supply to cities was cut back
- 1916 - Petrograd and Moscow received barely half of fuel and food supplies
- Food often rotten carriages awaiting transport
- Brusilov’s success was not matched by success in the north against Germany and was not
indicative of general success
- 1917 - Lost 1.7 million troops, 8 million wounded, 2.5 million captured
- Lack of rifles, ammunition, food, boots, logistic and tactical leadership compounded issues
- 1916-17 - bitter winter on home front - lack of fuel for heating or operating factories
- Middle class savings wiped out by inflation
- Organisations set up by the middle class were undermined by the tsar
- Political attempts to reform to support the war and save the tsar’s position were ignored
- Government ministers not “loyal” to the tsarina and Rasputin were dismissed
- December 1916 - massive discontent in Russia with blame pointed at the Romanovs
-

February Revolution
- Tsarina’s leadership
- Tsar authorised his inept and unpopular wife, Tsarina Alexandra to rule on his behalf
- Tsarina developed a paranoid obsession with loyalty due to constant criticism of the regime
- Was accused of being a German spy - called nemka, German woman
- Constantly appointed and dismissed ministers - 4 PMs in 17 months
- Rumoured to be having an affair with Rasputin
- Led to growing unpopularity of her government
- Milyukov accused tsar and tsarina of being guilty of either “stupidity or treason” - December
1916

- Winter 1916-17 - Supply crisis and protests

- Severe inflation due to cost of war
- Wages doubled but costs quadrupled
- Petrograd supply crisis - food and fuel
- 19 February 1917 - rationing is announced triggering bread riots
- Anti-war protests in Petrograd
- 25 February 1917 - 250 000 protestors - city is gripped by general strike
- Tsar initially fails to act, tsarina dismisses strikes as “hooligan movement”
- Protests grow in size and anger
- Crisis of authority emerged in Petrograd

- 9 January 1917 - 150 000 workers demonstrated in commemoration of Bloody Sunday

- Led to other strikes in January and February
- 1916-17 - coldest winter, -14 in Petrograd
- Affected transport - snow on tracks
- Worsened food and fuel shortages
- 21 February 1917 - Putilov Steel shuts down
- Thousands of workers on the streets
- 21 February 1917 - Tsar decided to leave for war front the following day
- Had benign Tsarhoe around Christmas
- 23 February 1917 - women marched for International Women’s Day
- Demanded equality and bread
- Joined by 100 000 workers protesting for bread
- By 24 February, numbers had doubled - little violence
- 25 February - nearly all factories closed
- 300 000 on the streets
- Referred to as “minor and controllable” so the tsar ordered it to be quashed
- Khabalov - banned public gatherings and warned they would be fired on
- 26 February 1917 - crowds gathering in defiance
- Bloodshed galvanised and emboldened protestors
- 27 February 1917 - Mutiny of Petrograd Garrison
- February 1917 - 160 000 men lived in barracks made for 20 000
- Mostly peasant soldiers - identified with victims rather than enforcers
- Tsar finally acts - orders garrison to disperse protests by force
- 26 February 1917 - 50 protests are killed
- 250 000 soldiers mutiny - chanted “They are shooting at our mothers and sisters”
- 1700 people killed in street fighting
- Control of Petrograd seized by rebellious army units
- Crisis of authority deepens
- Deprived tsar of military authority in the capital
- Gave crowds military capacity and critical organisation
- Rodzianko wrote to Nicholas about situation - lack of bread, distrust of authorities, urged to
summon someone the country had faith in to form a government

- 28 February 1917 - Formation of Provisional Committee

- Power vacuum and chaos in capital
- 12 Duma deputies form Provisional Committee - to restore order
- Met in Tauride palace
- 27 February 1917 - Petrograd Soviet of Soldiers, Sailors, Workers Deputies formed
- Called for immediate elections and temporary support of provisional committee
- Mutinying soldiers and striking workers form Petrograd Soviet - workers’ council
- New governing bodies created - challenges tsar’s right to rule
- Ruled by two differing groups
- Provisional Committee - middle class, progressive bloc
- Petrograd Soviet - lower class workers, soldiers, sailors
- 28 February 1917 - Council of Ministers stepped down
- Proclamation of Provisional Government made

- 2 March 1917 - Abdication of Tsar

- “If it is necessary, for Russia’s good, that I step down, I am prepared to do so.” - Tsar Nicholas
II
- Attempts to return to Petrograd but his train is stopped by mutinying soldiers - train lines
controlled by mutinous groups
- Tsar’s generals fear mutinies will spread to front lines - call on him to abdicate
- 2 March 1917 - travelled to Pskov
- Abdicated to his son
- court Physician said Alexei would not live much longer and that he wouldn’t see his son
- Decided to pass throne to younger brother Grand Duke Mikhail
- “I cannot be separated from [my son]” - Tsar Nicholas II
- Legally could not abdicate to his brother
- Rodzianko told him the Duma would not be able to protect him if he accepted
- Petrograd crowds condemned the Romanov lineage and did not want a monarchy
- Mikhail declined crown and signed formal declaration of abdication
- Non-Russian capitals saw it as a release of long subjugated nations - flew national flags
- Peasants generally accepted revolution, except some older, conservative peasants
- Destroyed old imperial symbols, sign and statues
- Russia became a republic
- System of dual power - Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet rule in conjunction

Provisional Government
- “The Soviets had power without authority … the Provisional Government authority without
power.” - Kerensky
- 2 March 1917 - renamed to the Provisional Government
- PM - Prince Lvov
- Would govern Russia until constituent assembly elections
- Initially to be held in September but pushed back until November
- Mostly made up of members of the fourth Duma
- Liberals and moderates
- Wealthy, noble landowners
- well connected - often freemasons
- Openly opposed the Tsar
- Some Soviet members - Alexander Kerensky
- Liberal reformists - mostly Kadets
- Assumed power - were not elected
- Miliukov - Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Kerensky - Minister of Justice
- “We were appointed by the Revolution itself ” - Miliukov
- Lacked legit authority, failed to gain loyalty of the people - did not have popular support
- Kerensky - Soviet and Government member
- Shared Dual Authority with Petrograd Soviet
- Full immediate amnesty for political prisoners and those in exile
- Civili liberties - freedom of speech, press, assembly and strikes
- Abolition of class, group, religious restrictions
- Election of constituent assembly b universal secret police
- Substitute of police with national militia
- Democratic elections of officials for municipalities and townships
- Retained military units that took place in the revolution
- Recognised trade unions, 8 hour working day, abolition of Okhrana, freedom of speech,
assembly and press, universal suffrage, freeing of political prisoners
- Did not address pressing concerns of the people
- Land concerns, war, fuel, food
- Unable to claim genuine legitimacy as leaders
- Unwilling to have elections quickly - feared losing their power
- “the authority without power” - Kerensky

- Challenges to Provisional Government

- Internal and external situations were linked
- 1917 - virtually bankrupt
- Survived on war loans and credits from other countries
- If they withdrew, injection of capital would be last and the government would collapse
- Petrograd Soviet - wanted peace that recognised self-determination without aggressive
annexations
- 27 March 1917 - Provisional Government released formal declaration to Allied governments
concerning war aims
- Reinforced desire for “lasting peace”
- Miliukov drafted a note in confirmation - Provisional Government’s desire to “fully carry the
obligations” required
- 20 April 1917 - the statement appeared in press
- Inflamed socialists - saw it as a confirmation the pursuing of imperialist annexations
- “Miliukov note” resulted in street disturbances
- Exploited by Bolsheviks into riots - intended to destabilise government
- Pipes - “the first Bolshevik attempt at a putsch [that] ended in ignominious failure” - no mass
support, later denied responsibility
- Caused the resignation of Guchkov and Miliukov
- Prince Lvov then invited Soviet members to the government to form coalition
- Kerensky became Minister of War
- Tried to characterise the war against Germany as a way to save the revolution- launched
offensive in June
- Did not completely oppose the acquisition of private land by peasants
- Overseeing it was beyond the ability of the bureaucracy
- Concern that there was a lack of money to pay compensation
- Instead of addressing this, determined only body capable restoring the issue was a constituent
assembly
- play did little to stop the seizure of land

The Dual Authority

- Petrograd Soviet
- Formed 28th February 1917 - Tauride Palace with 600 soldiers and workers
- Chkheidze elected as president - Menshevik
- Initially a watchdog for workers
- Had greater credibility, popularity and power than the Provisional Government
- Appealed to workers, soldiers and sailors
- 1st March 1917 - Soviet Order Number 1
- Took control of military, agree to follow Duma “only in such cases as they do not conflict with
the orders and resolution of the Soviet”
- Restrained government
- Allowed them control of armed forces
- Soviet members are elected from each area of military - companies, battalions, etc., military
departments, electing committees
- Immediate election of representatives - meeting on 2nd March 1917
- In all political actions, units are subordinated to the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ deputies
and their own committees
- Soviet is the controlling bodies
- All orders issued by Military commission of the State Duma, except those that run counter to
orders and decrees issues by the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ deputies
- All kinds of weapons are placed at disposal and control of committees and not to officers
- On duty, soldiers all observe military discipline
- Off duty - had right granted to all citizens
- Reducing class rank, creating equality, breaking down class barriers
- Officers are addressed as Mr General, Mr Colonel, etc., instead of Your Excellency, Your
Honour, etc.
- “the power without authority” - Kerensky
- Had the power of the people

- Initially worked well in conjunction to make reforms

- Recognition of trade unions
- 8 hour working day
- Okhrana abolished
- Freedom of speech, assembly, press
- Universal suffrage
- Political amnesty
- Constituent assembly
- Failed to meet immediate demands of the people - Land, WWI, food shortages
- Provisional government - becomes more conservative, right wing
- Soviet becomes more radical left
- Difficult to cooperate - rising tensions
- Contentious issues - war and land
- Provisional government are concerned about land owning gentry

- Failure of Provisional Government

- Lack of legitimacy - weak political and popular foundation
- Delayed elections November 1917
- Felt the people were not ready to vote
- Continued WWI
- Scared of allies withdrawing foreign loans
- Continued economic problems - lacked ability to deal with them
- Alienated both upper and working classes - tried to appeal to both and ended up appealing to
none
- “Dual power proved an illusions, masking something like a power vacuum” - Fitzpatrick
- “Though called democratic, this government had no popular mandate and little popular
support” - AJP Taylor
- “Simply carried on the old system” - AJP Taylor
- “Russia was governed - or rather misgoverned - by a regime of dual power, under which the
Soviets subverted the authority of the administration without assuming responsibility for the
consequences”

Lenin’s Return and April Theses

- “Our tactics: absolute distrust, no support for the provisional government” - Lenin
- Was in Switzerland during February Revolution
- Negotiated path through Germany
- 3rd April 1917 - arrives in Finland station
- Gave his opinion on the revolution
- Was a surprise and affront to most Bolsheviks and an ominous warning to Provisional
Government
- Called the Provisional Government “parliamentary bourgeoisie” - rejected all cooperation
- Astonished Petrograd Bolsheviks that generally accepted the revolution
- Demanded end to “predatory imperialist war”
- “Peace, Bread, Land” - main concerns of the predominantly agrarian population
- “All Power To The Soviets” - Petrograd Soviet should form basis of revolutionary government
- Heavily criticised by socialists and Bolsheviks
- Would soon unite Bolsheviks and identify them as radical opponents to the Provisional
Government
- Lenin’s support of the Soviet provided him a base of power to launch a challenge to the
Provisional Government and transfer power from the bourgeoisie to the proletariat
- “Soviets of Workers’ deputies are the only possible form of revolutionary government”
- “The first stage of the revolution - which, owing to the insufficient class-consciousness and
organisation of the proletariat, placed power in the hands of the bourgeoisie - to the second
stage, which must place power in the hands of the proletariat and the poorest sections of the
peasants”

June Offensive
- “For the sake of the nation’s life it was necessary to restore the army’s will to die” - Kerensky
- May 1917 - Provisional Government declared commitment to a defensive war to achieve piece
without annexations
- June 1917 - Kerensky and Brusilov led major offensive on South Western front to drive
Austrians and Germans from Russian territory
- 170 000 soldiers deserted - in the lead up and increasing at the beginning of the offensive
- 16 June 1917 - some success in the first few days
- Faced with German counterattack
- Russian were without appropriate weapons and poor training
- When Germans advanced they were killed, captured or ran away
- Kerensky was called the “supreme persuader-in-chief ”
- Went between regiments to improve morale but whole regiments mutinied
- Cost the lives of several hundred thousand men
- Several million square miles of territory
- Crisis of Ukrainian authority - coalition of Kadets and socialists dissolved
- Prince Lvov resigned as PM
- 1st Machine Gun Regiment sent to the front in June - main base of Bolshevik support in
Petrograd Garrison
- Local agitators claimed it was to break the power of the garrison so the Provisional Government
can consolidate its position
- Widespread demonstrations occurred with challenged the Provisional Government’s power

The July Days

- “The only way to save the country now is to close down the Soviet and shoot the people. I
cannot do that. But Kerensky can.” - Lvov
- 2nd July 1917 - Trotsky addressed much of the 1st Machine Gun Regiment
- Criticised Kerensky for the June Offensive
- Demanded power be handed over to the Soviet
- Thousands took to the streets demanded the power hand over
- Only half of the 1st Machine Gun Regiment attended - did not receive full support from
Petrograd Garrison
- 4 July 1917 - Supported by 20 000 sailors from Kronstadt naval base
- Carried banners with Bolshevik slogans
- Joined by 20 000 workers from Putilov Steel works
- Pipes - failed Bolshevik coup d’état, failed because Lenin lost his nerve
- Bolsheviks attempted to distance themselves from the event
- Fitzpatrick - exposed weaknesses of Bolsheviks, lack of preparedness rather than failure to seize
power - “caught off balance. They had talked insurrection, in a general way, but they had not
planned it”

The Kornilov Affair

- July 1917 - misunderstandings and conflict between Kerensky and General Kornilov threatened
the stability of Provisional Government
- Kornilov was well known due to his escape of an Austrian POW camp
- Appointed commander of Petrograd Garrison after the February Revolution
- Later demanded to be sent back to front due to conflict with Petrograd Soviet
- After failed June offensive - demanded move the right wing policies to impose order
- Death penalty for discipline breaches, ban on strikes, reduction in power of Soviets
- 18 July - Kornilov is appointed Supreme Commander of Russian Army by Kerensky
- Mid-August - attempted to consolidate Provisional Government’s power but had different
opinions on how
- Conservative Kornilov distrusted socialists, believed they should be purged
- Kerensky - partially a product of the Soviets
- Feared their removal would affect him and lead to a return to monarchism
- 24 August 1917 - V.N. Lvov becomes involved to try to mediate
- Inflamed the situation by misrepresenting each side
- Rex Wade - Lvov “heightened Kornilov’s suspicions about Kerensky’s reliability, while feeding
Kerensky’s anxiety that Kornilov’s idea of restoration of order was a much more sweeping
concept than his own, including even his own destruction”
- Kornilov thought Kerensky was offering him a position as a dictator
- Kerensky thought Kornilov was demanding a dictatorship and his resignation
- 26 August 1917 - Kornilov requested Kerensky’s presence at military headquarters
- Kerensky suspected a plot, called a cabinet meeting, all ministers resigned to give Kerensky
temporary dictatorial powers to meet Kornilov’s right wing coup
- 27 August 1917 - Kerensky sent Kornilov a telegram, dismissing him and requesting his
immediate presence in Petrograd
- Kornilov was outraged - out of context with communications with Lvov
- Suspected Kerensky fell to a Bolshevik coup
- Kerensky turned to Soviets for assistance
- Freed and armed all Bolshevik prisoners
- Were most effective in organising militias and expanding Red Guards
- Kornilov’s troops were stopped by railway workers
- Assured them there was no coup and they were being used for a right wing counter revolution
- Kornilov is arrested and incarcerated by escapes before the October Revolution
- Pipes - believes Kerensky engineered threat “to discredit the general as the ringleader of an
imaginary but widely anticipated counterrevolution, the suppression of which would elevate the
PM to a position of unrivalled popularity and power, enabling him to meet the growing threat
from the Bolsheviks”
- Kerensky appeared compromised, ineffective
- Lost respect and support of armed forces
- Bolsheviks were revived
- Erased July Days
- Shown as defenders of the revolution
- Red Guards were armed
- Provisional Government was publicly struggling
- Bolsheviks maintained uncompromising radical party line when the socialists were uncertain
- Lenin learned of these events from Finland
- Decided it was time to challenge the Provisional Government through armed insurrection

Events of October 1917

- Decline of the Provisional Government
- September 1917 - Bolsheviks’ militant class rhetoric and uncompromising war stance was
highly accepted by soldiers and workers
- Seemed only government based on Soviet authority could act on demands for “peace, bread and
land”
- Bolsheviks were the most readily identified with these ideals
- Radical socialist left, led by Bolsheviks “become the political alternative for the disappointed
and disenchanted, those looking for new leadership”
- “Soviet power” - became genuine popular aspiration
- Meant establishment of government authority that acts in accordance with wishes of the
working class and in their best interests
- Class tensions, economic hardship, breakdown of law and order by early October
- Provisional Government’s authority was in decline
- Countryside more or less ruled itself due to peasant land seizures

- Meeting of Bolsheviks on October 10th

- Lenin saw that only a Bolshevik insurrection would bring about a true Soviet style government
- Believed only the Bolsheviks had correct program so the Soviet government would have to be
dominated by Bolshevik majority
- Only genuine revolutionary party
- Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev felt the party should wait until elections on 12th November
- Lenin was outraged at the wavering
- 7th October 1917 - Lenin returned to Petrograd from countryside
- 3 days later- called meeting of Bolshevik Central Committee to discuss an insurrection
- “History will not forgive us if we do not take power now.” - Lenin
- Feared delay would lead to a coalition socialist government where Bolsheviks and Lenin would
be marginalised
- Felt the international situation and mood od Proletariat lent itself to revolution
- Trotsky favoured waiting until the 2nd All Russian Congress of Soviets in late October -
Bolsheviks had majority, legitimacy, support by people, representation
- Resolved to agree on principle of armed insurrection but did not set exact day
- Wade - believed it was a declaration of intent to overthrow government at most suitable
opportunity
- Pipes - meeting was a definite resolution to take power coinciding with Soviet Congress -
legitimate smoke screen, not done through Soviet
- New Soviet government would then be presented at the All Russian Congress as a fait accompli
- done deal
- Giving the insurrection appearance of a power transfer rather than a coup d’état
- Lenin - “if we seize power today, we seize it not in opposition to the Soviets but on their
behalf ”
- Zinoviev and Kamenev remained adamantly opposed
- Publicly criticised plans in socialist newspaper Novovia Zhizm
- Lenin was furious - plans for Bolshevik coup were no longer secret
- “We have no right to stake the whole future on the card of an armed uprising” - Kamenev

- Military Revolutionary Committee

- Mid-October 1917 - Kerensky ordered the Petrograd Garrison to the Northern Front
- Allegedly to reinforce capital from advancing German soldiers
- In reality - hoped to rid capital of “troublesome troops” and lure Bolsheviks into an ill-planned
uprising
- Soldiers were strongly opposed
- Bolsheviks accused the Provisional government of plotting to abandon capital and close Soviets
- Inflamed by Mikhail Rodzianko - “To hell with Petrograd”
- Soviet moved to defend city against German invasion and threat of counter revolution
- 16 October 1917 - MilRevCom - led by five man leadership executive, to take control of city’s
garrison
- Democratic centralism
- Soviet gained substantial authority over Petrograd’s soldiers
- Trotsky and two Bolsheviks, Vladimir Antonov-Orseenko and Nikolai Krylenko were key
members - shared power with left SRs
- Created a defence organ of the Soviet but were largely directed by the Bolsheviks
- Announced to Petrograd’s workers and soldiers that it would defend capital against German
advance and Soviet against any Kornilov-style coup

- Bolshevik Takeover of Petrograd

- 23 October 1917 - late in the night, Kerensky ordered bridges linking militant working class to
the rest of the city to be raised
- Gave Lenin and Trotsky excuse to put plan for seizure of power into action
- Troops loyal to Provisional Government shut down printing presses of Bolshevik newspapers -
Rabochi Put and Soldat
- Unsuccessfully attempted to arrest Bolshevik and MilRevCom members
- Trotsky ignored the MilRevCom declaration that decisive measures would be taken against any
perceived threats to the Petrograd Soviet and its members - set the October Revolution into
motion
- 24 October 1917 - Red Guards and MilRevCom take over blockade checkpoints imposed by
Kerensky
- 2pm - printing presses recaptured and new editions of Rabochi Put and Soldat released
- Seized control of strategic offices and buildings
- Trotsky to Soviet, explaining actions of MilRevCom - “This is defence, comrade. This is
defence.”
- Soldiers loyal to Provisional Government often walked away or surrendered without fighting
- By 25th October, controlled main telegraph and post offices, State Bank, electricity station and
train stations
- Provisional Government - confined to Winter Palaces
- Made hasty preparation for defence

Ideas that played a significant role in challenging the existing order

Nationalism

Liberal Reformism
- Liberal reformism is a political ideology focussing on gaining reform without completely
changing the political system, supported by the progressive middle class
- 1904 - following Plehve’s assassination, Prince P.D. Sviatopolk - replaced by Mirskii - more
liberal approach
- Believed that effective governance required respect and trust between state and society
- Well accepted due to relaxing of censorship, abolition of capital punishment and restoration of
some prominent members of zemstvo
- Inspired holding of public congress addressing zemstvo and national issues - including plans for
constitution, in secret
- 17 September 1904 - Paris Conference
- Meeting between oppositional groups
- Union of Liberation and Socialist Revolutionaries
- Proposed united front against autocracy
- 6-9 November 1904 - National Zemstvo Conference
- Met unofficially under guise of dinners and banquets
- Engaged in political meeting for democratic possibilities
- Called for constitution with other reforms
- Mirk presented proposed reforms to Nicholas II who rejected most of them
- “I shall never, under any circumstance, agree to the representative form of government because
I consider if harmful to the people whom God has entrusted to my care” - Tsar Nicholas II
- 12 December 1904 - Tsar’s decree
- Strengthened rule of law
- Easing restrictions on press
- Expanded rights of zemstvos
- Missed opportunity led to mounting tensions

Revolutionary Populism
- Narodniks - narod meaning people
- Established in the 1870s
- Members - peasants
- Led by middle and upper class
- Called for a peasant based revolution as they were the majority of the population
- Believed the future of Russia lay in the hands of the peasants
- Felt a duty of leadership to educate masses and heighten understanding of their potential as
revolutionaries
- Largely unsuccessful in educating the masses
- Main action - 1881 assassination of Tsar Alexander II by the People’s Will - terrorist branch
- Evolved into the Socialist Revolutionary Party - SRs
- Lynch - peasants regarded them as “airy-fairy thinkers and prattlers who had no knowledge of
real life”
- Populists turned to terrorism as the only way to achieve their aims
- 1879 - The People’s Will was founded with an intention to murder members of the ruling class
- Assassination of Alexander II weakened the Populist movement
- Lynch - “What was lasting about populism was the part it played in establishing a violent anti-
tsarist tradition. All the revolutionaries in Russia after 1870 were influenced, if not inspired, by
the example of the Populist challenge to tsardom”
- SRs grew directly out of the Populist movement - widened concept of “people” to encompass
the workers as well as the peasants

Marxism

Marxist-Leninism
- Marxism - proposed for industrialised country
- Russia was still semi-feudal and agrarian - didn't have industrial population
- 3 stages
- Medieval Society
- Bound through mutual obligation and protections
- Social position through birthright
- Capitalist Society
- Feudalism is challenged by the bourgeoisie
- Capitalist production in which bourgeoisie control means of production
- Communist society
- Proletariat overthrows bourgeoisie
- Government controls means of production to empower proletariat
- Lenin wanted to fast track development of communist society - stage 1 to 3
- Marx believed classless utopia would happen inevitably but Lenin wanted to accelerate process
- did not specify when revolution would occur
- Lenin’s suggestions of interpretations and practises were called Leninism
- Industrialisation was occurring alongside capitalist which Lenin wanted to prevent

Role of Individuals

Tsar Nicholas II

Tsarina Alexandra

Count Witte

Pyotr Stolypin
- “Suppression first and then, and only then, reform”
- Feared peasantry due to size and discontent
- Felt land reform would create a conservative class loyal to the tsar
- Prosperous peasantry - less revolutionary sentiment
- Were able to leave Mir
- Introduced private land ownership
- Land bank introduced in 1906 to give money to peasants to buy land
- Resettlement
- Predicted reforms would take 20 years
- Largely unfulfilled - conservative peasants, land shortages, inefficient transport
- Pacified peasants and raised living standards
- Worked efficiently with Duma
- Severe repression
- Military tribunals from 1906
- August 1906 - April 1907 - 1144 executed by tribunals and 2000 by ordinary courts
- Press censorship, searches, surveillance, arrests
- Dedicated to censorship and the preservation of autocracy
- Became PM in July 1906
- Committed monarchist - motivated to protect the tsar from revolution
- Aimed to suppress revolutionary groups and reduce social discontent fuelling them
- Land reforms aimed to transform peasants class into class of independent landowners loyal to
the tsar and conservative
- Some, especially in the West, were able to get more land and adopt modern farming methods
but others were excluded
- Due to policy of redistributing, instead of expanding land ownership
- Forced peasants into cities to look for work

Grigori Rasputin
- 1904 - Alexei, first born son of tsarina is born
- Had haemophilia - prevented proper blood clotting, led to incontrollable bleeding
- Rasputin was a peasant faith healer
- Introduced to the royal family in 1905 - had some success in treating Alexei
- Resulted in tsarina becoming devoted
- In 1912 - allegedly treated symptoms via telegram
- Influence in palace spread to broader elite in Russian society
- Rumoured to have special powers over women and held orgies with upper class Russians
- Allegedly having an affair with the tsarina but was never proven
- Presence with the royal family discredited their characters - affected popularity with
conservatives and tarnished their reputation
- Both Rasputin and tsarina were strongly active in politics during WWI
- “Ministerial leapfrogging” was often at high request
- December 1916 - plot to kill Rasputin
- Uncertain motion
- Pipes suggests they sought to divide the tsar and tsarina to make Nicholas more open to Duma
demands
- Death may drive tsarina into mental institution
- Figes suggests it may have been a “homosexual vendetta” as he attempt to seduce the main
conspirator, Prince Felix Yusupov
- Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, Grand Ducke Nikolai Mikhailovich lured Rasputin to
Yusupov’s palace were he was fed cake and madeira laced with cyanide
- Failed to respond to poison after 2 hours
- Yusupov shot him in the side
- Found staggering to the fate - shot again and kicked in the temple
- Body was weighted and thrown in the River Neva
- Discovered several days later in ice
- Death brought the rulers closer together
- Bored outside Tsarhoe Selo Palace in January 1917
- Exhumed and burnt after the February Revolution

Alexander Kerensky
Lenin

Trotsky

Contribution of popular movements in mobilising society and challenging the existing

order

Workers’ Protests and Peasants’ Uprisings

- Result of 1905 revolution and October Manifesto
- Revolutionary and rebellious atmosphere due to tsar’s reactionary policies
- Partially caused by misunderstanding the October Manifesto as a license to seize land from
gentry
- 1912 - Lena Goldfields Massacre
- Workers strike and over 500 people are killed
- Resurfacing of workers’ movements In 2 years - 9000 strikes, 3 million workers
- Severe repression and heavy handed tactics
- Increased repression but strikes continued to increase in number
- 1911 - 24 strikes, 1914 - 2401 strikes

- 1905 - industrial strikes spread to major cities and towns

- Prominence of opposition groups grew
- Spurred on by the 2nd National Congress of Zemstvos
- Professional unions organised into Union of Unions
- Provided intelligentsia with connections to the people
- Led by liberal political Pavel Milyukov
- Demanded constituent assembly and voting rights for all
- Parent the way for other organisations like Constitutional Democratic Party/Kadets to seek
representation

Soldier and Sailor Mutinies

Challenges by the Socialist Revolutionaries

- Emerged from Populist movement in 1890s
- 1901 - Viktor Chernov, editor of the newspaper, formed and led the national SR party
- Largest support base were peasants but also represented urban working class
- Intelligentsia developed theoretical base
- Led by Chernov and later Alexander Kerensky
- Mostly fought for lang ownership for peasants
- Advocated violence to overthrow the tsar - revolutionary action
- Left faction called for socialist state based on peasants’ commune
- Believed capitalism would not make progress in Russia
- Did not believe in the overthrow of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat class
- Believed in evolution to socialist society without a class war
- Promise of land was key to maintain peasant support
- Left wing Maximalists engaged in terrorism and economic terror
- Assassinating landlords and factory owners
- 1901-1905 - 2000 assassinations - including minister of interior, Plehve
- Did not appeal to the people
- Following 1905 - moderate right Revolutionaries gained influence
- First Party Congress - 1906, left faction broke off, while right claimed party’s platform was
unworkable
- Led to emergence of radical splinter groups

Bolsheviks and Mensheviks (SDs)

- Established in 1898
- Supported by Marxist party, industrial working class
- Intelligentsia developed theoretical base
- Key leaders - Lenin, Plekhanov, Martov
- Believed “great spurt” in 1890s led to creation of industrial working class - positioned Russia
for revolution
- All revolutionary hopes were directed at the industrial working class, not peasants
- Initially committed to Marxist ideals of class war - industrialisation would create proletariat
class able to carry out socialist revolution
- Divided into 2 factions - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
- Founded by George Plekhanov - too theoretical, lost popularity
- Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, Lenin, was editor of the party newspaper and began voicing opinions
about leadership
- 1902 - Lenin publishes “What is to be done?”
- Figes - becomes “the founding text of international Leninism”
- Membership should be “confined” to people “trained in the art of combating the political
police” and “professionally engaged in revolutionary action”

- 1903 - Second Party Congress

- Lenin challenged Plekhanov and the notion of right to membership
- Party split into two factions after a vote was taken due to tensions between Lenin and Martov
- Bolsheviks - Lenin, majority
- Mensheviks - Martov, minority
- Initial vote was fairly even but subsequently Lenin had a small majority
- Approaching the revolution, the Mensheviks outnumbered the Bolsheviks
- Fires considered it, “very foolish” to adopt these names as the Mensheviks were branded the
minority and faced disadvantage as a result
- 1912 - factions officially separate

- Bolshevik Majorities in the Soviets

- Moderates lost favour in Soviets due to Bolshevik slogan “All power to the Soviets” - taunted
their refusal to seize power
- Before the Kornilov Affair, on 20 August, Bolsheviks had already made agin in the elections
- After the Kornilov affair, they gained nearly half the seats
- General Russian population became increasingly disinterested in politics
- Petrograd elections - voter turnout down by 20%
- Moscow elections - down by nearly 50%
- Political apathy in most major Soviets
- Moscow - SRs decreased 44.2%, Bolsheviks increased 37.8%
- Initially Petrograd Soviet had 3000 deputies attending regularly - by September, only several
hundred, mostly radicals
- Political fervour of Bolsheviks - maintained key presence
- 19 September 1917 - achieved majority in Moscow
- 25 September 1917 - achieved majority in Petrograd
- Trotsky became chairman of the Petrograd Soviet
- Lynch - “The Bolshevik Party exerted an influence out of proportion to its numbers”
- Bolsheviks gained popularity due to capacity to respond to dominant mood
- Wade - Bolsheviks “became the political alternative for the disappointed and disenchanted”
- Wood - “Lenin’s program manifestly reflected and articulated the increasingly radical temper of
the party rank and file and the militant workers and troops”
- Growing popularity and influence of Bolsheviks and decline of Provisional Government led
Lenin to send a letter to the Central Committee titled “The Bolsheviks Must Take Power”

Octobrists
- Established in 1905 - in response to October Manifesto
- Moderates - loyal to tsar
- Commercial and landowning classes
- Led by Alexander Guchkov and Mikhail Rodzianko
- Wanted to preserve tsarism
- Supported the October Manifesto and creation of Duma
- Progress should be pursued through peace and law and order, not violence
- Argued for tsarism in conjunction with legislative Duma
- Influenced Duma to pursue genuine reform
- Members later served in the Provisional Government

Kadets
- Constitutional Democrats
- Established October 1905
- Support by progressive landlords, small independent entrepreneurs, professionals and
academics
- Led by liberal intelligentsia
- Paul Milyukov - later served in Provisional Government
- Pursued constitutional monarchy where tsar’s powers are limited by constituent or national
assembly
- Sought reforms like equality, civil rights, free speech, land redemption payments, recognition of
unions, right to strike and universal education
- Largest of all liberal parties
- First major opposition voice to tsarism in Duma
- Leader in forming Provisional Government in February Revolution
- Vyborg Appeal - July 1906
- Called for revolt against government, following closure of first Duma, and refusal to serve in
the army
- Arrest of Kadet Duma members weakened influence and decreased their numbers in
subsequent Dumas

1905 Revolution Timeline

- 1613 - Creation of Romanov Dynasty
- 1848 - Communist Manifesto released
- Influenced development of Russian political parties
- 1864 - Abolition of Serfdom
- Introduction of zemstvos and Mir
- 1891 - 1901 - Sergei Witte, Minister of Finance
- Leads economic reform
- Led industrial reform, increased foreign investment
- Created poor working conditions, neglected agriculture, over reliance on loans
- 1894 - Nicholas II assumes throne
- Apprehensive but devoted to autocracy
- “Convinced intellectuals could not run the country” - Pipes
- “Weakness of will led to demise” - Hite
- “desperately wanted to hold on to the throne but did not have the necessary qualities” -
Figes
- 1898 - Social Democratic Workers Party established
- 1903 - Social Revolutionary Party established
- 1904-05 - Russo Japanese War
- January 9, 1905 - Bloody Sunday
- July 1905 - Mutiny of Battleship Potemkin
- September 1905 - Army troops mutiny and control section of railway
- September 1905 - Trotsky establishes St. Petersburg Soviet
- October 1905 - October Manifesto
- April 1906 - Fundamental Laws of 1906

- October Manifesto Causes

- 9 January 1905 - Bloody Sunday
- May 1906 - Battle of Tsushima
- May 1905 - Union established by Milyukov - gave voice to industrial workers
- June 1905 - All Russian Union of Peasants
- July 1905 - Mutiny of Potemkin
- September 1905 - Army troops mutiny
- October 1905 - St. Petersburg Soviety established by Trotsky
- October 1905 - Mass strikes halt economy

Quotes
Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II - May 14th 1896
- “Those who believe they can share in government dream senseless dreams.” - Tsar Nicholas II
- Nicholas’ “weakness of will” led to his demise - John Hite
- “Not a ‘weakness of will’… but … a wilful determination to rule from the throne, despite the
fact he clearly lacked the necessary qualities to do so” - Orlando Figes

Tensions in Tsarist Russia

- “Russia is not a state, but a world”
- “Your majesty has 130 million subjects. Of them, barely more than half live, the rest vegetate.”
- Sergei Witte
- “The outside world should not be surprised that we have an imperfect government, but that we
have a government at all. With many nationalities, many languages, and a nation largely
illiterate, the marvel is that the country can be held together even by autocratic means” - Sergei
Witte
- “A word from the tsar was sufficient to alter, override or abolish any existing legislation or
institution” - Alan Wood
- “Imperial rights regime” - Jane Burbank
- “To lovers of liberty, the provincial governor was the very personification of Tsarist oppression
and despotism” - Orlando Figes
- “Great division” in Russian society. “Educated, Westernised [group] … enjoying most, if not
all, of the privileges of a European aristocracy” and “the Russian people … the enserfed
peasants … [who were] sunk in a vast swamp of ignorance, misery, superstition and periodic
famine” - Alan Wood
- “Nicholas was the source of all the problems... In a sense, Russia gained in him the worst of
both worlds: a Tsar determined to rule from the throne yet quite incapable of exercising
power.” - Figes

Russo-Japanese War - February 1904 - September 1905

- “The Japanese are infidels. The might of Holy Russia will crush them” - Tsar Nicholas II
- “The Japanese are giving it to us with shell; we’re giving it to them with icons” - Russian
soldier
- Plehve encouraged “a little victorious war to stem the revolution”
- “Origins of the Russo-Japanese war have long been distorted by the self serving accounts of
Sergei Witte.” - Richard Pipes
- “Russia’s dismal performance [in the Russo-Japanese war] was a potent factor in the increasing
tension which eventually led to an open challenge to tsardom - the 1905 revolution” - Michael
Lynch
- “The autocracy has shown itself incapable of defending the national interest and joining the
opposition now came to be seen, in the words of one official as something ‘noble and patriotic’”
- Orlando Figes
- “Not only was Russia’s expansion into Southeast Asia abruptly halted, but more significantly,
this humiliating military disaster became a crucial spark for the revolutionary uprisings of
1905.” - Richard Malone

Bloody Sunday - 9 January, 1905

- “There is no God any longer. There is no tsar.” - Father Georgiy Gapon
- “[They] formed something more like a religious procession than a workers’ demonstration” -
Orlando Figes
- “On that day, the workers received a bloody lesson. It was their faith in the tsar that was riddled
with bullets.” - Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1905 Revolution
- “Collapse of the autocracy was rooted in a crisis of modernisation” - Smith
- “Effect of industrialisation, urbanisation, internal migration and the emergence of new social
class was to set in train forces that served to erode the foundations of the autocratic state” -
Smith
- “Streets of St Petersberg ran with workers’ blood” - CPSU
- “Workers received a bloody lesson. It was their faith in the tsar that was riddled by bullets on
that day.” - CPSU
- “Came to realise that they could win their rights only by struggle” - CPSU
- “Rioting and disturbances in the capitals and in many localities of Our Empire fill Our heart
with great and heavy grief ” - Tsar Nicholas II
October Manifesto - 17 October 1905
- “Principles of genuine inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and
association”
- “No law can come into effect without confirmation by the State Duma”
- “Although with a few broken ribs, tsarism came out of the experience of 1905 alive and strong
enough.” - Trotsky
- “We have been given a constitution, but absolutism remains … everything is given and nothing
is given.” - Trotsky
- The political outcome of the 1905 revolution was “ambiguous and in some ways unsatisfactory
to all” - Pipes
- “Disturbances … may cause grave tension in the nation and may threaten the integrity and
unity of our state”
- “A fraud on the people, a trick of the Tsar to gain some sort of respite in which to lull the
credulous and to win time to rally his forces and then to strike at the revolution” - CPSU

Fundamental State Laws - 23 April 1906

- Article 87 - under “exceptional circumstances” the tsar may legislate independently
- “I created the Duma, not to be directed by it but to be advised” - Tsar Nicholas II
- “All-Russian Emperor possess supreme autocratic power”
- “Gold himself, commands obedience”
- “No law can come into force without his approval”

Stolypin
- “Suppression first and then, and only then, reform” - Stolypin

Dumas
- “Curse the Dumas. It’s all Witte’s fault” - Tsar Nicholas II
- “Period of uneasy and ambiguous experimentation with quasi-constitutional politics” - Alan
Wood
- “The Duma became a training ground for people who later took positions of responsibility in
the Provisional Government of 1917” - Perfect, Ryan and Sweeney
- Duma were an “impotent appendage of tsardom” - CPSU
- “Ironically, it was the creation of the Duma, which saved Nicholas in the short term, that
allowed his enemies to mount an effective challenge to tsardom” - Perfect, Ryan and Sweeney

Revolutionary Populism
- “What was lasting about populism was the part it played in establishing a violent anti-tsarist
tradition. All the revolutionaries in Russia after 1870 were influenced, if not inspired, by the
example of the Populist challenge to tsardom.” - Lynch
- Regarded by peasants as “airy-fairy thinkers and prattlers who had not knowledge of real life” -
Lynch

WWI
- “Had the war gone well for Russia. There is every reason to think that the Bolshevik Party
would have disappeared as a political force. But the war did not go well for Russia, and the
reason was only partly military” - Lynch
- “While the collapse of tsarism was not inevitable, it was made likely by the deep-seated cultural
and political flaws that prevented the tsarist regime from adjusting to the economic and
cultural growth of the country, flaws that proved fatal under the pressure generated by World
War I.” - Pipes
- “The First World War was a titanic test for the states of Europe - one that Tsarism failed in a
singular and catastrophic way.” - Figes
- “Our army is more like an ill-trained militia … such men could not be called soldiers” - General
Brusilov
- Inflation led to money being “valueless paper”

February Revolution 1917

- “stupidity or treason” - Milyukov
- General strikes were a “hooligan movement” - Tsarina Alexandra
- Strikes were “minor and controllable”
- “They are shooting at our mothers and sisters” - mutinying soldiers in Petrograd
- “I cannot be separated from [my son]” - Tsar Nicholas II
- “If it is necessary, for Russia’s good, that I step down, I am prepared to do so.” - Tsar Nicholas
II
- “The revolutionary parties played no part in the making of the revolution. They did not expect
is, and were at first nonplussed by it.” - E.H. Carr
- “I have not the slightest doubt that he [Nicholas] faced no popular pressure to abdicate; the
pressure stemmed exclusively from the ranks of politicians and generals who thought the
Crown’s removal essential to victory … In may opinion, the principal causes of the downfall of
1917 were political and not economic and social … In 1917, you had intellectuals gathered in
political parties that had well formulated plans for change” - Pipes
- “The February Revolution could have been avoided. There remained, even in 1916, a
willingness within the upper classes to rally around the tsar, if only he could bring himself to
create a genuinely constitutional government.” - David Christian
- “It is difficult to see the events of 18 February to 3 March as an overthrow of the Russian
monarchy. What does stand out is the lack of direction and leadership at the top, and the
unwillingness at the moment of crisis of tsarist generals and politicians to fight to save the
system. Tsarism collapsed from within. Revolutionary pressure from the outside had no direct
effect” - Lynch
- “When the February Revolution came, it was not as the result of military defeat, or even war
weariness, but as the result of the collapse of public support in the government” - Smith

Provisional Government
- “The Soviets had power without authority … the Provisional Government authority without
power.” - Alexander Kerensky
- “We were Appointed by the Revolution itself ” - Miliukov
- “Dual power proved an illusion, masking something like a power vacuum” - Fitzpatrick
- “Though called democratic, this government had no popular mandate and little popular
support” - AJP Taylor
- “Simply carried on the old system” - AJP Taylor
- “Russia was governed - or rather misgoverned - by a regime of dual power, under which the
Soviets subverted the authority of the administration without assuming responsibility for the
consequences” - Pipes
- Desire for “lasting peace”, to “fully carry the obligations” required in the war
- Riots following “Miliukov Note” were “the first Bolshevik attempt at a putsch [that] ended in
ignominious failure” - Pipes

Lenin’s April Theses - 7 April 1917

- “Our tactics: absolute distrust, not support for the Provisional Government”
- Provisional Government were “parliamentary bourgeoisie”
- “Peace, Bread and Land”
- “All Power to the Soviets”
- “Soviets of Workers’ deputies are the only possible form of revolutionary government”

June Offensive
- “For the sake of the nation’s life, it was necessary to restore the army’s will to die” - Kerensky

July Days
- “The only way to save the country now is to close down the Soviet and shoot the people. I
cannot do that. But Kerensky can.” - Lvov
- Bolsheviks were “caught off balance. They had talked insurrection, in a general way but has not
planned it.” - Fitzpatrick
- The July days was a failed coup d’état that failed primarily because Lenin lost his nerve, After
the failure of the July Days, the Bolsheviks attempted to distance themselves from that event.” -
Pipes, paraphrased
- The July Days exposed the weaknesses of the Bolsheviks. This was because it exposed their lack
of preparedness, rather than a failure to seize power. The Bolsheviks were “caught off balance”
- Fitzpatrick, paraphrased
- “The Bolshevik party was opposed to armed action at that time, for it considered that the
revolutionary crisis had not yet matured, that the army and provinces were not yet prepared to
support an uprising in the capital … but when it became impossible to keep the masses from
demonstrating, the Party resolved to participate in the demonstration in order to lend it a
peaceful and organised character. This the Bolshevik party succeeded in doing” - CPSU

Kornilov Affair
- Lvov “heightened Kornilov’s suspicions about Kerensky’s reliability, while feeding Kerensky’s
anxiety that Kornilov’s idea of restoration of order was a much more sweeping concept than his
own, including even his own destruction” - Rex Wade
- Kerensky engineered threat “to discredit the general as the ringleader of an imaginary but
widely anticipated counterrevolution, the suppression of which would elevate the Prime
Minister to a position of unrivalled popularity and power, enabling him to meet the growing
threat from the Bolsheviks.” - Pipes

Bolshevik Majorities in the Soviets

- “The Bolshevik Party exerted an influence out of proportion to its numbers” - Lynch
- Bolsheviks “became the political alternative for the disappointed and disenchanted” - Wade
- “Lenin’s program manifestly reflected and articulated the increasingly radical temper of the
party rank-and-file and the militant workers and troops” - Wood

October Revolution
- “[Lenin was a] strange popular leader - a leader purely by virtue of intellect; colourless,
humourless, uncompromising and detached, without picturesque idiosyncrasies - but with the
 power of explaining profound ideas in simple terms, of analysing a concrete situation. And
combined with shrewdness, the greatest intellectual audacity.” - Reed
- “In October 1917, the Bolsheviks were pushing against an already open door.” - Lynch
- “If Lenin has never existed, a socialist government probably would have ruled Russia by the end
of [1917]” - Service
- “The Provisional Government has been deposed. Government authority has passed into the
hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, the MilRevCom,
which stands at the heart of the Petrograd proletariat and garrison.’ - Lenin
- “Final bastion of the Provisional Government haemorrhaged from an ever-increasing flow of
pro-Bolshevik forces” - Perfect, Ryan and Sweeney