Russian Revolution: From Tsarist Autocracy to Soviet Power
Autocracy in Early 20th Century Russia
In the early twentieth century, the Russian Empire was a vast country where absolutist monarchy still prevailed. Moreover, its economy and social structures were among the most backward in the European continent. Agriculture was the main economic activity, and land was in the hands of a few landowners, who belonged to a privileged aristocracy. Most people were farmers. In some parts of the empire, an industrial process had begun, driven largely by foreign capital. A large industrial proletariat had emerged, working in large factories for paltry wages. Among the workers, Marxist ideas had spread, and in 1898, the Russian Social Democratic Party was founded. This party split in 1912, with Lenin advocating the need to promote a social revolution in Russia.
The February Revolution
The First World War created global conditions for a revolutionary explosion in Russia. Neither the economy nor the Russian political and military organization were ready for such a long, hard, and costly war. Consequently, military disasters followed. The mobilization of millions of farmers led to a decline in agricultural production at a time when most economic resources were devoted to the war. Consequently, hunger appeared in cities and spread unrest among the workers and peasants. This discredited Tsar Nicholas II and his government, which proved unable to turn around the situation. The population was demoralized and began to organize soviets, i.e., workers’, peasants’, and soldiers’ councils, who demanded the withdrawal from the war and the end of the aristocracy. Political opposition to the Tsar took advantage of the situation, and both bourgeois parties, as well as farmers and workers, demanded his abdication.
The Fall of Tsarist Rule
In February 1917, a revolution broke out in St. Petersburg that caused the fall of the Tsars. Power shifted to a provisional government headed by Kerensky and supported by the liberal parties of the Duma, which started a series of reforms. Russia became a democratic republic.
The October Revolution
On October 25, the Soviets, promoted by the Bolsheviks, revolted and, in ten days, took power and destroyed the provisional government. With support from the Congress of Soviets of Russia, Lenin formed a workers’ government. The new Soviet government established the first revolutionary measures: land was expropriated to be allocated among the peasants, and factories were placed under the control of workers’ committees. The peace of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Germany, leading to major territorial losses for Russia.
The Civil War and the Creation of the USSR
A totalitarian system was established, in which the state and party were fully identified, and the institutions were not democratically elected. The new political system was justified by the dictatorship of the proletariat: power was exercised by the Communist Party, representing the proletariat, i.e., the majority of the population.
The Struggle for Power
Lenin, the undisputed leader of the revolution, died in 1924 at a time when the best way to consolidate the revolution was being discussed. Different approaches were taken by party leaders, including Trotsky and Stalin. Stalin, who had become general secretary of the CPSU, was in control of the situation from 1927 and became the main leader of the USSR. Trotsky, his rival, was exiled and assassinated in 1940 by order of Stalin himself.