Russia 1917: Bolshevik Revolution & USSR Formation
Dual Power Period (March-Oct 1917)
Following the February Revolution, the liberal Provisional Government, initially led by Prince Lvov, found itself overwhelmed by the popular movement embodied by the Soviets (councils of workers and soldiers). The Soviets demanded significant reforms and an immediate end to Russia’s involvement in World War I.
Upon returning from exile in April 1917, Vladimir Lenin argued that the revolution must move beyond its bourgeois-liberal stage towards a proletarian revolution. He called for “All power to the Soviets!” and the immediate withdrawal from the war, opposing the Provisional Government.
As the government’s promised reforms stalled, Lvov was replaced by Alexander Kerensky, a socialist who favored speeding up reforms but remained committed to the war effort. Kerensky promised elections for a Constituent Assembly but faced increasing opposition from the Petrograd Soviet and began a systematic persecution of the Bolsheviks.
Difficulties mounted in August 1917 following an attempted coup by the Tsarist General Kornilov, aimed at restoring order and crushing the Soviets. Kerensky managed to suppress the coup but required the support of the Soviets and the armed Bolshevik Red Guards, significantly boosting their influence.
Convinced the time was right, Lenin persuaded the Bolshevik Party leadership and the key Soviets in Petrograd and Moscow of the need to move towards an armed insurrection.
Bolshevik October Revolution (1917)
Key Events of the Uprising
By the autumn of 1917, although the Bolshevik Party had faced repression during the summer (with Lenin forced back into hiding), their influence within the Soviets grew dramatically. Led by the Bolsheviks and supported by Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and Menshevik Internationalists, the Petrograd Soviet’s Military Revolutionary Committee planned the insurrection, relying on the support of the Red Guard.
On October 25th (November 7th according to the Gregorian calendar), rebel forces systematically seized key strategic locations and services in the capital, Petrograd. The assault on the Winter Palace, the seat of the Provisional Government, became the decisive act. The government collapsed after Kerensky fled the city. The revolution’s triumph in Petrograd was crucial, and it spread rapidly, with Moscow falling into Bolshevik hands after intense fighting.
Initial Revolutionary Measures
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets convened and formally dismissed the Provisional Government. It approved the formation of a new revolutionary government, the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom), headed by Lenin.
This new government immediately initiated the establishment of a socialist order through several revolutionary decrees:
- The Decree on Land: Transferring land from the nobility, church, and crown to peasant committees.
- The Decree on Peace: Calling for an immediate armistice and a just peace without annexations or indemnities.
- Workers’ control over factories was established.
- Banks were nationalized.
- The old Tsarist army structure was abolished.
The government also proclaimed the right of self-determination for the peoples of the former Russian Empire, inviting them to associate as republics with the new Soviet government. Seeking to fulfill their promise of peace, the government entered negotiations with Germany and its allies, ultimately signing the punitive Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. Russia ceded vast territories, including the Baltics, Finland, Poland, and Bessarabia.
Civil War and War Communism (1918-1921)
Advocates of the old Tsarist order, along with other anti-Bolshevik groups (collectively known as the White Army), initiated armed resistance to prevent the consolidation of the Soviet state. They received support from several foreign powers.
In response, the revolutionaries decided to create a formidable military force, the Red Army, largely organized by Leon Trotsky. A brutal Russian Civil War ensued between the Reds and the Whites. During the conflict, the former Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed by local Bolshevik authorities in Yekaterinburg in July 1918.
By 1921, the Red Army emerged victorious. During the war, the entire national economy was geared towards supplying the army and winning the conflict. This phase of extreme state control, nationalization of all industries, grain requisitioning from peasants, and suppression of private trade became known as War Communism. The state directed the entire economy.
Consolidating Power & Forming the USSR
The Civil War, foreign intervention, and the international boycott heavily influenced the political development of the new Soviet state. The democratically elected Constituent Assembly, intended to transform the Tsarist empire into a democratic republic, met for its first and only session in January 1918. However, the Bolsheviks dissolved it when the Assembly refused to subordinate its authority to the Congress of Soviets.
Power became concentrated in the hands of the Bolshevik Party, renamed the Communist Party (CPSU). It was led by a Central Committee and its elite inner circle, the Politburo. Increasingly, the Party and the State became intertwined, with party membership becoming essential for holding significant office. Political opposition was systematically suppressed and eliminated.
The supreme organ of state power was declared to be the Congress of Soviets (acting as the legislature). Executive power resided with the Presidium, whose chairman acted as Head of State. Day-to-day governmental affairs were managed by the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom).
Initially conceived as a federation of Soviet republics, this structure was formalized in December 1922 with the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The Soviet Union’s structure, defining the competencies of the Union government and the federated republics, was codified in the Constitution of 1924.