The Russian Revolution: From Tsarism to Bolshevik Rule
Political Clashes in the Russian Empire
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Russian Empire remained an absolute monarchy. Despite the difficulties, emerging political groups demanded profound changes and the end of absolutism. The new urban middle class wanted to introduce a parliamentary monarchy and grouped together in the Constitutional Democratic Party. In rural areas, discontent and the desire to access land herded the population around the Socialist Revolutionary Party. They spread the revolutionary ideas of Marxism and established the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, which split into the “Bolsheviks,” led by Lenin, and the “Mensheviks.”
Revolution of 1905
The economic crisis of 1902-1903 led to the emergence of worker strikes and terrorist actions. The trigger for the revolution was the war of 1904 between Russia and Japan. Japan defeated Russia, which caused a huge stir in the country and facilitated the outbreak of the revolution of 1905. In 1905, a peaceful demonstration of workers went to the imperial palace to present the Tsar with a plea for protection and justice. The demonstration was broken up by force, causing hundreds of deaths. This event, which became known as “Bloody Sunday,” ignited the revolution.
Unable to stop the protests, Tsar Nicholas II agreed to the establishment of a representative assembly, the Duma, and labor and social improvements. However, the Tsar, an enemy of liberalism, boycotted the operation of the Duma. The opposition realized that only the elimination of the Tsar could change the situation in the country.
The February Revolution
In 1914, Russia entered World War I alongside France and Britain. Russia could not defeat powerful enemies like Germany and Austria-Hungary due to its economic backwardness and the Tsar’s failures. As the war dragged on, unrest spread among the population. Ammunition and food did not reach the front due to a lack of raw materials, and the townspeople were hungry and cold. They increasingly blamed the Tsar and Nicholas II for these disasters.
In 1914, only the Bolsheviks had opposed Russia’s entry into the war. Discontent in the army and the cities multiplied due to shortages. In February 1917, protests took place in Petrograd, especially among women. They joined striking workers, and the police were powerless to control the city. The government sent the army to suppress the revolt. The chairman of the Duma asked the Tsar to appoint a new government that enjoyed the confidence of the country. Nicholas II responded by closing the Duma.
On February 27, the troops sent against the demonstrations joined the protest. The next day, the government resigned. The vacuum created by the resignation of the government led the deputies of the Duma to create the Interim Committee of the Duma. The Petrograd Soviet, controlled by the Mensheviks, was also created. Thus arose two powers: the Duma and the Petrograd Soviet.
Interim Governments
The first provisional government’s main objective was to establish a democratic regime. The government’s first decisions were to continue the war and adopt democratizing measures. The interim government was accepted in Russia, but major problems were postponed. The people were tired of years of death and suffering. Yet, successive governments kept Russia in the war. The army began to decompose. The Bolsheviks’ propaganda for peace spread across the country. Military commanders were disobeyed, and desertions grew every day. The power of the Soviets grew. In practice, the Soviets became a second power, parallel to the government. The interim government faltered, and protest demonstrations filled the streets again.
Kerensky formed a government with a majority of Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks remained critical of these governments, opposing the continuation of the war.
October Revolution
Russia rebelled against absolutism, culminating in the first socialist revolution in the world. The Bolsheviks were initially a party with few militants, but their prestige increased in the following months. A month after the overthrow of the Tsar, Lenin returned to Russia from exile in Switzerland. After his arrival, he summarized his ideas about the future of Russia in his “April Theses.”
The provisional government began persecuting the Bolsheviks, accusing them of instigating rebellion. By late summer, the army chief, General Kornilov, attempted a coup. Kerensky had to gather all his forces to defeat the insurgency, and the support of the Bolsheviks was decisive.
The worsening situation led Lenin to decide to move towards revolutionary action. He returned from exile and convinced his party’s committee of the chance of a coup to defeat Kerensky. Between October 24 and 25, Bolshevik troops easily occupied strategic points in Petrograd. The ministers, except Kerensky, were arrested. Lenin handed power to the Second Congress of Soviets. The Mensheviks left the Congress. The Congress of Soviets elected the new government and Lenin as its chairman. The Bolshevik revolution had triumphed.
Lenin’s Succession
Lenin died in 1924 without specifying his preferred successor in his will. There were two main candidates: Trotsky and Stalin. Trotsky was chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, organizer of the October Revolution, and creator of the Red Army. Stalin played an active role in the Revolution of 1905, was among the first Bolshevik government members, and occupied the party Secretariat in 1922. From this position of trust, he placed loyal people in key locations and eliminated his enemies. Trotsky insisted on the idea of exporting revolution worldwide, while Stalin defended the thesis of “socialism in one country.” Since Lenin’s death, Trotsky’s position had weakened. He was arrested and finally killed by a Spanish agent of Stalin.