revolution+and+social+change+kyzlar

There were two "revolutions" in 1917. One in March (called the February Revolution) and one in November (called the October Revolution). However, they are collectively known as "the Russian Revolution".

The February Revolution started with people rioting over food prices in the capital Petrograd. When the soldiers wouldn't fire on the demonstrators, things got out of hand and it turned into a spontaneous mass uprising.

The result of the February Revolution was that Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He was very unpopular. The First World War was going very badly for Russia and people blamed the Tsar.

After the February Revolution, Russia got a new government called the Provisional Government. This consisted of liberals and moderate socialists who wanted to turn Russia into a parliamentary democracy.

The Bolsheviks opposed the Provisional Government, the hardliner Marxists led by Lenin. Lenin had been in exile in Switzerland but was smuggled into Russia by the Germans in April (a very smart move on their part!).

The Bolsheviks were popular among the workers and the soldiers. This is mainly because Lenin promised to end the war immediately. His slogans were "Peace! Bread! Land!" and "All Power to the Soviets!” The Soviets were councils that were set up after the February Revolution to represent the workers and soldiers.

The other big problem facing the government was the same one that had faced the Tsar: the war. Unfortunately for the Provisional Government, Russia didn't have much of an army left. By now, all the soldiers wanted to do was go home.

The Bolsheviks took advantage of this discontent to launch a second "revolution" against the Provisional Government in November. Unlike the February Revolution, which had been a mass uprising, a few thousand armed Bolshevik supporters, who seized key buildings in Petrograd, carried out this one.

After seizing power, Lenin quickly made peace with the Germans at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but only by surrendering huge amounts of territory.

The Bolshevik seizure of power was only the beginning of a huge struggle for control of Russia, the Russian Civil War, which lasted for another three years. Conservative Russian generals soon raised armies in various parts of Russia to try and overthrow the new Bolshevik government in Petrograd and Moscow. These counter-revolutionaries were the Whites. And the Bolsheviks, of course, were the Reds.

The Tsar and his family were basically caught up in the middle of the Civil War. They had been imprisoned in the Urals by the Provisional Government and fell into Bolshevik hands after the start of the Civil War. In July 1918 Lenin ordered them to be shot.

The key issues to consider about the Russian Revolution are these:

1. Was the Revolution inevitable?

The political system in Russia was obviously behind the times. Russia was still an autocratic monarchy. Also, the Tsar wasn't very smart. So you can argue that sooner or later some sort of revolution was inevitable.

But it's hard to say for sure. Before the war Russia was reforming, and its economy was growing very quickly. What really did it in for the Tsar was the First World War, which was the direct cause of the February revolution.

2. Was the October Revolution popular?

Soviet propagandists always argued, of course, that the Bolsheviks represented the downtrodden masses. But in fact, when free elections were held in Russia in November 1917, the Bolsheviks received just 24% of the vote. After losing the election, the Bolsheviks immediately disbanded the newly elected Assembly at gunpoint.

3. So how did the October Revolution manage to succeed?

If the Bolsheviks had relatively little support, how did they manage to seize power? The answer is that they had support where it mattered: in the big cities and among the rank-and-file of the army.

There are other factors too. The Bolsheviks' opponents were divided, including everyone from moderate socialists to reactionary monarchists. In contrast, Lenin was a decisive leader and the Bolsheviks were very disciplined and organized.