Why was there a revolution in Feburary 1917?

The Russian revolution of 1917 was a series of events in imperial Russia that culminated in 1917 with the establishment of the Soviet state that later became known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The sequences of the events prior to 1917, and their consequences lay at the core of understanding the reasons for the Russian revolution.

The first revolution overthrew the autocratic imperial monarchy. It began with a revolt on February 23rd, 1917, according to the old style calendar then used in Russia. The second revolution, which opened with the armed insurrection on October 24th, organised by the Bolsheviks, effected a change in all economic, political, and social relationships in Russian society; it is often named the Bolshevik, or October revolution.

The underlying, long-term reasons for the Russian revolution are rooted deep in Russia's history. One of them was that the Tsarist family had ruled Russia for nearly three hundred years. Despite the fact that there was a parliament, the Duma, it had little influence. In effect it was an autocracy. This meant that the Tsar had total power. Some politicians and non-politicians aspired to making Russia more democratic. During the l9 th and early 20th century students, workers, peasants, and members of the nobility staged various movements aimed at overthrowing the oppressive government. Two of these unsuccessful movements were the 1825 revolt against Nicholas I and the revolution of 1905, both of which were attempts to establish a constitutional monarchy.

Tsar Nicholas II was a weak and incompetent ruler. He fell easily under the influence of those who did not want any changes in the country. The people, on the other hand, were resolved to live under severe economic and social conditions. The differences between rich and poor were huge. About four-fifths of the population were peasants many of whom could not read or write. In the towns workers were squashed into very poor accommodation. There were violent revolts against the regime, such as assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, the murder of Stolypin, the prime minister in 1911, but these occurrences did not lead to any changes in the political situation in the country. The Tsar's government used violence against the people, and a great number of people died. Therefore, the historical background in Russia 'paved' the way for significant changes for the future of Russia.

In addition to long-term reasons for the revolution there were also short-term reasons, which developed in the years preceding 1917. One of them was distrust of people towards the Tsar. Nicholas II kept dismissing the Duma and changing its organisation. The Russian parliament was a dysfunctional body. In addition to this, the Tsarina came under the influence of a peasant monk Gregory Rasputin, which only added to her unpopularity with Russians; she was a German, and her connections with Rasputin made perception of the Tsarist family even worse.

But the most important reason for the revolution in the years preceding the 1917, was

Russia's badly organised and unsuccessful involvement with World War I (1914-1918), which added to the popular discontent with the government's corruption and inefficiency.

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But the most important reason for the revolution in the years preceding the 1917, was

Russia's badly organised and unsuccessful involvement with World War I (1914-1918), which added to the popular discontent with the government's corruption and inefficiency.

At first, all parties, except a small group within the Social Democratic Party, supported the war. The government received much aid in the war effort from voluntary committees, including representatives of business and labour, but it did not last long. The backward economic condition of Russia made it impossible to sustain the war effort against powerful, industrialised Germany. Russian industry lacked the capacity to arm, equip, and supply war materials for some 15 million men who were sent to war. Factories were few and insufficiently productive, and the railroad network was inadequate. Moreover repeated mobilisations disrupted industrial and agricultural production. The food supply decreased, and the transportation system became disorganised. As a result, goods became scarce, prices rocketed, and by 1917 famine threatened the larger cities.

In the trenches, the soldiers went hungry and frequently lacked shoes, sometimes even weapons; some soldiers went into battle without weapons and were told to pick up rifles from their comrades who were killed. Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any army in any previous war. Discontent became widespread, and the morale of the army suffered, finally to be undermined by a succession of military defeats. These misfortunes were connected by many to the alleged treachery of Empress Alexandra and her circle, in which Rasputin was the dominant influence.

The growing breakdown of supply, made worse by the almost complete isolation of Russia from its pre-war markets, were felt especially in the major cities, which were flooded with refugees from the front. Many Duma leaders felt that Russia would be soon confronted with a new revolutionary crisis. When the Duma protested against the inefficient conduct of the war and the arbitrary policies of the imperial government, the Tsar Emperor Nicholas II simply brushed it aside, dismissed the commander-in-chief of the army and took command himself. When Nicholas left Petrograd for the front, he relied on information about the situation in the capital from Tsarina. She often did not tell the truth and made out that everything was fine. In fact by late 1916 the situation was desperate.

In February 1917 workers in Petrograd began to go on strike. A mounting wave of food and wage strikes in Petrograd followed. On February 23rd meetings and demonstrations, in which the principle slogan was a demand for bread, were held. 90,000 men and women supported these demonstrations by going on strike in the national capital. Tension steadily increased but no casualties resulted. Solders sent to deal with the strikers refused to obey orders. Agitation grew the following two days, when violent encounters took place with the police and casualties occurred on both sides. The slogans were now bolder: "Down with the war!" "Down with autocracy!" (1) The tiny spark that started a blaze of public disorder occurred when an angry old woman threw a stone and broke a baker's shop window. Others joined in, and the next day more shops were stoned and looted.

On February 26th Nicholas II dissolved the Duma; the deputies accepted the decree but reassembled privately and elected a provisional committee of the State of Duma to act in its place. On February 27th the revolutionary mood triumphed. Regiment after regiment of the Petrograd garrison went over to the people. Within 24 hours the entire garrison, approximately 150,000 men, joined the revolution, and the united workers and soldiers took control of the capital. The uprising claimed about 1500 victims.

On February 27th the provisional committee of the Duma announced that it would handle restoration of order, and on February 28th it placed its commissars in charge of the ministries. The provisional committee formed the Provisional Government and demanded the abdication of the Tsar. The provisional Government faced an appallingly difficult task. In the midst of war and threatening economic collapse and social anarchy, it had somehow to establish itself as the legitimate government. Advised by his generals that he lacked the support of the country, Nicholas II informed the delegates on March 2nd that he was abdicating in favour of his brother, Grand Duke Michael. When Michael in turn refused the throne, the rule of the Tsars and emperors in Russia came to an end. The imperial government was quickly dispersed.

The Provisional Government was meant to be temporary. It was there to govern Russia until a general election was held. Recognised by the Petrograd Soviet and the army and navy, the Provisional Government enjoyed widespread popularity at first. It disbanded the Tsarist police, repealed all limitations on freedom of opinion, press, and association, and put an end to all laws discriminating against national or religious groups. On the other hand, the provisional Government did not take any major decisions, such as to end Russia's involvement in the war, which many Russians expected them to do. Unable to command, the government could not appeal to a war weary, impatient people. The minister of War, Aleksandr Guchkov, summed up its situation: "The government, alas, has no real power; the troops, the railroads, the post and telegraph are in the hands of the Soviet. The simple fact is that the Provisional Government exists only so long as the Soviet permits it." (2)

The reasons for the Provisional Government's indecisiveness in such important matter was because the Provisional Government did not believe that it could take decisions like this as it had not been elected. It also needed the support of the Petrograd Soviet. This was committee of Soldiers and Workers, which was set up soon after the Provisional Government. In the Petrograd Soviet, however, the Bolsheviks were then a small minority. The majority was composed of Mensheviks and Socialist revolutionaries. The Mensheviks envisioned a period of capitalist development and complete political democracy as being essential for a socialist order, but they still supported the continuation of the war. Most of the leading Socialist Revolutionaries, a peasant party with vague socialist aspirations, also advocated continuation of the war.

The leader of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky became more and more unpopular. This was especially as the Kerensky government took no effective steps to overcome the steadily deteriorating economic situation. Unrest continued in the cities and countryside, leading to the increase of Bolshevik influence once again. He also did not take the threat from Bolsheviks very seriously. Convinced that Kerensky could not cope with the situation Kornilov decided to bring loyal troops to Petrograd and establish a military dictatorship. For a time Kerensky was part to the conspiracy, but when learnt that Kornilov's proposal was to remove Kerensky from the government, Kerensky appealed to the Petrograd Soviet for support. As a result, the Provisional Government lost the support of the Army and this led to Kornilov revolt. General Kornilov believed that the new Prime Minister, Alexander Kerensky, was going to seize power himself and tried to arrest him. Kerensky had to ask the Bolsheviks to defend him. This meant that Bolsheviks realised just how weak the Provisional Government really was. In turn, Bolsheviks were well organised and well led by Lenin and Trotsky.

After Kornilov's defeat the Provisional Government was virtually powerless. Subsequently, two new bodies exercised effective political power, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers' Deputies and a Provisional Government. The Soviet, a representative body of elected deputies, immediately appointed a commission to cope with the problem of ensuring a food supply for the capital, placed detachments of revolutionary soldiers in the government offices, and ordered the release of thousands of political prisoners.

Though the Petrograd Soviet easily could have assumed complete power in the capital, it failed to do so. The great majority of its members, believing that revolutionary Russia must wage war of defence against German imperialism, did not want to risk disorganising the war effort. Taken by surprise and by the outbreak of the revolution, the working class parties were unable to give the workers and soldiers in the Soviet strong political leadership. Even the Bolsheviks, who, in a sense, had been preparing for revolution since at least the early 1900s, had been unaware of the mounting tension, and had no program to take advantage of the situation. It was not until 16th of April when the exiled leader, Vladimir Ilich Lenin arrived from Switzerland, that the Bolsheviks put forward a demand for immediate seizure of the land by the peasantry, establishment of workers' control in industry, an end to the War, and transfer of "all power to the Soviets". (3) Lenin supplied the leadership and Trotsky organised the military tale-over. He became the chairman of the Military Committee of the Petrograd Soviet in September 1917.

After the success in Petrograd the revolution spread throughout the country, following the same basic course as it did in the capital. On the night of 25th October 1917 the Bolsheviks seized control of the Winter Palace in Petrograd almost without firing a shot. The authority of the government had virtually collapsed for some weeks before the Bolsheviks seized the Winter Palace with a relatively insignificant group of ill-armed Red Guards. These led to the establishment of the Bolsheviks Party as the ruling power.

For many in the Soviet Union and around the world, the Revolution was an attempt to create a better society, which went dreadfully and cruelly wrong. But for many, including the last leader of the Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev, the ideals rather than the reality had a profound and lasting influence. The impact of the Russian revolution on 20th century history has been profound. Many historians see it as probably the defining event of the century.

BLIOGRAPHY

CARR, E. H. - A History of Soviet Russia, (Macmilan)

CARR, E. H. - The Bolshvik Revolution, 1917-23, Vol. 2 (Pelican, 1966)

HOSKING, G. - A History of the Soviet Union, (Fontanna/Collins, 1985)

McAULEY, M. - The Soviet Union since Ninteen Seventeen (Longmans, 1981)

NOVE, A. - An Economic History of the U.S.S.R. (Penguin, 1989)

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