How could the factories have continued production if the people were starving? Basically, the factories couldn’t. Factories were few and insufficiently productive. Mobilizations disrupted industrial and agricultural production. The food supplies continued to decrease. The transport system became disorganised. For example, the railway network was carrying military supplies and couldn’t serve cities.
Nicolas II owned more than half the land in Russia. The Tsar and the landlords together owned 95% of the land. With this, the price rises and shortage of heating material, there was little or no way for the two lower classes to escape from poverty.
The most significant strikes occurred during February 1917. The first took place on 23rd February, International Women’s Day. Women factory workers went on strike demanding bread, peace and liberty. Soon 385,000 of the cities proletariat were on strike. There were no casualties this day but this would soon change.
During the next 2 days about half of the workers in Petrograd became involved. They demanded “Down with the war, down with autocracy”. The strikes became violent, with the police and the strikers both suffering casualties. The first elections of the Soviet Workers’ Deputies were held in several factories. The Soviet Party was one of the two first governments after the fall of ‘Autocratic Russia’.
On the 26th of February, soldiers and workers came face to face. Some troops fired on order, killing a number of workers. Other soldiers mutinied. They refused to fire and this allowed workers to pass through their lines, to the city centre. If the soldiers hadn’t done this, no one could imagine what would have happened. The deaths and strikes may have continued for much longer or the revolution may have failed. On February 27th, the revolution succeeded. Who would be the next Russian rulers, the Soviets or the Bolsheviks? . The living conditions and strikes had a large impact on the fall of Nicholas II. He was both weak and greedy and these lead to his down fall. He didn’t listen to the people or attempt to fix any of the problems. The food shortages, strikes and the mutiny of the soldiers, all played an important role in the development of the revolution.
Above: Nicolas had money to spare. This is one example, of just how much money the Tsar had. – Border Mail Saturday 23rd March 2002.
Bibliography –
Russian Revolution Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopaedia © 1993 – 1996 CD Rom
- Russia and the USSR : Empire of Revolution – © Longman Group
- Marshall Cavendish Encyclopaedia of WWI, Volume 6. © Marshall Cavendish Limited 1984. Editor Brigadiar Peter Young.