The Russian Revolution
Overview
Statewide Dual Credit Modern World History: Unit 12, Lesson 8
A discussion of the Russian Revolution, beginning with the conditions in Russia at the start of the 20th century and the causes of the revolution of 1905, and ending with Lenin's death in 1924. Includes the Assumption of Soviet Power proclamation. Includes the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Proclamation to the Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants.
The early 20th century was a period of social, political and cultural change as important revolutions would occur in Iran, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Mexico and China. These revolutions challenged the existing order and sought to create states capable of better serving their citizens and meeting the challenges of modernity.
In the early 20th century, Russia appeared like an unlikely candidate for a communist revolution. Russian troops and the secret police worked in tandem to quell any discontent or calls for reform. Ruled by a czar, the czar’s word was final, and he could, and often did, rule with an iron fist. Russia had no tradition of democracy; there was no freedom of the press or association. This autocratic rule extended over a 5,000-mile expanse and comprised more than a hundred different ethnic and linguistic groups.
Russia had fallen behind the other Great Powers. At the beginning of the 20th century, as other nations had successfully industrialized, nine out of 10 Russians were still peasants. The middle class was small and politically still relatively weak as the czar and a small group of aristocrats continued to hold most of the wealth and power. During the second half of the 19th century, partly due to fears of falling behind, Russia started to invest in industry and had a small urban working class by the turn of the century. Like elsewhere, these workers were poorly paid, had virtually no rights, and worked long hours in often dangerous conditions. The proof of this falling behind could be found in Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Fought over rising tensions and imperial ambitions, especially over access and control over Pacific territories, the Japanese victory confirmed their ascendency while highlighting Russia’s failure to keep pace. This put pressure on the czar and increased demands to reform the Russian state.
Members of Russia’s middle class wanted reform. Although divided over what to reform and how far reform should be carried out, many desired for Russia to become a Western-inspired constitutional monarchy similar to what existed in Britain. They did not ask for the dissolution of the monarchy or the aristocracy but wanted to implement a parliamentary system that would give them some say in how the government operated. Czar Nicolas II (r. 1894-1917) refused to allow significant reform or to alter his position and power.
On January 22, 1905 (known as Bloody Sunday), workers attempted to petition the czar by gathering outside his palace in St. Petersburg. They called for improved working conditions, better pay and an eight- hour workday. They came in peace, singing songs like God Save the Czar. Instead of hearing their demands the unarmed subjects were met with bullets. While the numbers vary widely, hundreds of people were killed by bullets or from being trampled as people tried to flee. This was a turning point for many Russians. After this, the widely held belief that it was not the czar but his ministers responsible for the problems in Russia seemed to go up in smoke.
Coupled with the general discontent and disillusionment with the poor progress against Japan, Bloody Sunday led to a wave of strikes across the Russian Empire. These events are called the Revolution of 1905. Needing to calm the people, the czar agreed to a more limited form of monarchy, a parliament called the Duma, and a new Russian constitution. Czar Nicholas II did not believe in these reforms, and as soon as discontent settled down, he took back much of these concessions and tried to rule as he always had. Going back on his word further undermined the trust many had place in the czar, serving to increase the number of people advocating for reorm or desiring a revolution.
The Revolution would have to wait another 12 years. The catalyst for this event was World War I. To change Russian fortunes, Czar Nicholas went to the front to take direct control of the army. The czar could not change the war’s course as Germany drove deeper into Russian territory.
The only thing keeping the czar on his throne was the forces of law and order which had stayed loyal to him. Even these elements began to waver. The final blow to the czar’s rule came in 1917 when troops, instead of firing on a crowd of protestors in St. Petersburg, joined the protestors. Without power or protection, Czar Nicolas II abdicated his throne. The following year, Nicholas, his wife and five children were executed.
With the czar out of the way, a new Provisional government operated out of the Duma. Dominated by liberal thinkers who wished to modernize Russia without completely altering the current system, the Provisional government failed to bring order to the Russian state. It continued the war effort despite how unpopular it had become. At the same time, the Russian experiment with democracy spread to the local level as workers elected councils called Soviets to govern factories. These Soviets offered a rival government and power structure to the Provisional government.
At this point, a long-time revolutionary named Vladimir Ulyanov (known as Lenin) gained increasing notoriety and power. Exiled for his revolutionary activities, Lenin stayed committed to revolution in Russia. Indeed, Lenin had written numerous influential pamphlets on communism and Russia since leaving the country in 1900. He was critical of capitalism (which he believed, just like Marx, would be done away with) and Russia’s participation in World War I.
Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks, a radical faction of the Russian socialist movement that emerged in the early 20th century. The term Bolshevik comes from the Russian word for "majority," as Lenin's faction won a crucial vote within the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) in 1903. The Bolsheviks believed in a highly disciplined, centralized revolutionary party led by professional revolutionaries who would overthrow the existing government and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat (working-class people). Their ideology was rooted in Marxism, but Lenin adapted it to fit Russia’s conditions, advocating for immediate revolution rather than a gradual transition to socialism.
Still living in Zurich when the czar lost his throne in 1917, the 47-year-old Lenin knew the time was right for his return, but Switzerland, which remained neutral during the war, was surrounded, and it seemed that there was no way to get to Russia. Aware that Lenin was opposed to the war, the Germans agreed to put him on a train home so that Lenin could use his influence to agitate against the war effort. Once he arrived, Lenin announced that the revolution would provide “peace, land and bread.” Despite his years in exile, Lenin judged the mood of Russians perfectly, which helped him win sympathy for the communist cause.
While on the train from Switzerland, Lenin composed his April Theses which called on communists to end any support for the Provisional government. Caught between the communists and those who wanted to re- establish the old system, the Provisional government began to waver.
Called upon to defend the desperate Provisional Government during the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Soviets instead chose to overthrow it. They issued the "Proclamation to the Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants", marking the formalization of Bolshevik power and the establishment of the Soviet Union. These actions ensured that the second revolution was indeed a socialist one.
Lenin worked to establish peace with Germany. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which finally got Russia out of the war, stands as a testament to how badly Lenin wanted peace, for he gave Germany some of Russia’s most fertile and industrialized areas and a third of the Russian population. Lenin defended losing so much territory by stating that it did not matter, for soon, a worldwide communist revolution would make such treaties irrelevant. After years of fighting, losing so much territory to Germany was, for many Russians, a bitter pill to swallow.
Although he promised peace, for the next nearly four years Russia would be involved in a devastating civil war that pitted the communist Bolsheviks (Reds) against an alliance of czarist forces (Whites) and Russia’s former war allies (who hoped to do away with Lenin and force Russia back into the war). Luckily for Lenin, most troops from England, France, Japan and the United States were withdrawn after the war ended in 1918. As Commissar of War, Leon Trotsky’s leadership played a crucial role in suppressing the counterrevolution allowing the communists to claim victory in the civil war.
After the civil war, Lenin turned his attention to reforming Russia. True to his Marxist roots, Lenin abolished private ownership of land and, to better organize Russian industry, confiscated factories and merged them into giant government-controlled trusts. He established the legal equality of women, including making divorce more accessible, while implementing universal education. Lenin did not seek consent for his actions as he had no intention of letting the Soviets direct policy and quickly brought them under the control of the Communist party. He ruled like an autocrat, creating a party dictatorship rather than a communist state along the lines envisioned by Marx. Dying in January 1924, it would be up to Lenin’s successors to bring forward the revolution and the vision of a better and more egalitarian world led by workers.
1 Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. (2024, November 26). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_All-Russian_Congress_of_Soviets_of_Workers%27_and_Soldiers%27_Deputies
Primary Source | Assumption of Soviet Power
Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Proclamation to the Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants (November 7, 1917)
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies has opened. The vast majority of the Soviets are represented at the Congress. A number of delegates from the Peasants’ Soviets are also present. The mandate of the compromising Central Executive Committee has terminated. Backed by the will of the vast majority of the workers, soldiers and peasants, backed by the victorious uprising of the workers and the garrison which has taken place in Petrograd, the Congress takes the power into its own hands.
The Provisional Government has been overthrown. The majority of the members of the Provisional Government have already been arrested.
The Soviet government will propose an immediate democratic peace to all the nations and an immediate armistice on all fronts. It will secure the transfer of the land of the landlords, of the crown and monasteries to the peasants’ committees without compensation; it will protect the rights of the soldiers by introducing complete democracy in the army; it will establish workers’ control over production; it will ensure the convocation of the Constituent Assembly at the time appointed; it will see to it that bread is supplied to the cities and prime necessities to the villages; it will guarantee all the nations inhabiting Russia the genuine right of self-determination.
The Congress decrees: all power in the localities shall pass to the Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, which must guarantee genuine revolutionary order.
The Congress calls upon the soldiers in the trenches to be vigilant and firm. The Congress of Soviets is convinced that the revolutionary army will be able to defend the revolution against all attacks of imperialism until such time as the new government succeeds in concluding a democratic peace, which it will propose directly to all peoples. The new government will do everything to supply all the needs of the revolutionary army by means of a determined policy of requisitions and taxation of the propertied classes, and also will improve the condition of soldiers’ families.
The Kornilovites–Kerenskii, Kaledin and others–are attempting to bring troops against Petrograd. Several detachments, whom Kerenskii had got to move by deceit, have come over to the side of the insurgent people.
Soldiers, actively resist Kerenskii, the Kornilovite! Be on your guard!
Railroad workers, hold up all troop trains dispatched by Kerenskii against Petrograd!
Soldiers, workers and employees, the fate of the revolution and the fate of the democratic peace is in your hands!
Long live the revolution!”
From Michigan State University Seventeen Moments in Soviet History