MIA: History: USSR: Revolution

The October Revolution

Red Army marching

General Overview: In 1917 Russia went through two revolutions: February 24 - 29 and October 24 - 25. The first revolution overthrew the tsarist government and replaced it with a Provisional Government of Duma members (mostly members of the Cadet party), who allowed a Contact Commission of the Petrograd Soviet to advise the government. Protests and strikes against the new government quickly grew as Russia's involvement in World War I lingered on, and the Provisional Government responded by establishing a Coalition Government with the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. This Dual Power however, created a confused bureaucratic quagmire, leading the government to inaction on urgent issues such as the widespread famine and slaughter on the front. Such crisis resulted in opportunities for some to seize autocratic power, as Kerensky and General Kornilov attempted.

On October 24 - 25 the Bolshevik party led Russian workers and peasants to revolution, under the slogan of: "All power to the Soviets". On October 25 - 26, the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets met and created the Soviet Government through the elections of a new Council of People's Commissars and Central Executive Committee. The new government resolved to begin construction on a Socialist society, but soon encountered extreme obstacles: while attempting to come to peace with all warring nations, only Germany agreed to peace (see the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk). When World War I ended, fresh off the battlefields of the Western Front, the Entente powers (US, UK, France, Japan, etc) invaded Russia from all directions, assisted by tsarist generals and provisional government politicians. A four year Civil War ravaged the country with catastrophic famine and casualties, forcing the government to adopt War Communism in order to survive. By the end of the war, a devastated Russia began to slowly rebuild with such programs as the NEP.


Timeline of Events


 

Eye Witness Reports

Ten Days that Shook the World, by John Reed

From July to October, from “My Life” by Leon Trotsky
The October Days, from Krupskaya’s “Reminiscences of Lenin”
History of the Russian Revolution, by Leon Trotsky
The Years of Revolution, from Alexandra Kollontai’s autobiography

Contemporary accounts of the Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution, Karl Kautsky November-December 1917
The Russian Revolution, Rosa Luxemburg 1918
Capitalist Europe and Socialist Russia , Morgan Philips Price November 1918
The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Government, Peter Kropotkin April 1919
Third Anniversary of the Russian Revolution, Georgi Dimitrov 3 November 1920
The Paths of the Russian Revolution , Karl Radek 1922
Lessons of October, Leon Trotsky 1924
Year One of the Russian Revolution, Victor Serge 1925-1928

Glossary of the Russian Revolution

Political Parties
  Social Democrats
        Bolsheviks
        Mensheviks
  Socialist-Revolutionaries
        (Right) Popular Socialists
        Left SRs
        Maximalists
  Cadets

Soviet Government
        Soviets
        Soviet Secret Police

People
        Nikolai Chkheidze
        Fyodor Dan
        Alexander Kerensky
        Lavr Kornilov
        Vladimir Lenin
        Tsar Nicholas II
        Gregori Plekhanov
        Joesph Stalin
        Yakov Sverdlov
        Leon Trotsky
       A compilation of short biographies and essays:
       Building the Old Bolsheviks by Dave Harker
        [Sources and Maps for this document]