Those who moved to the cities ended up living in worse conditions than they had before. They were in cramped, smelly and disease ridden slums. They worked for around 11 hours a day doing dangerous jobs in factories for very little pay. The industrialising Russia bought in news from other countries via media and the railway. The news of democracy became very appealing to the few literate peasants in the cities. When hearing of this Tsar Nicholas made it illegal to hold meetings and have strikes in attempt to overhaul him. After the humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese war the workers decided to do something.
In 1905 there was a famous incident known as Bloody Sunday. Father Gapon led a peaceful strike with a petition, signed by over 150,000 workers, to the winter palace, where Tsar Nicholas was meant to be. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. 100 workers were killed and 300 were injured when the Cossacks rode out to deter a ‘riot.’ This broke down all trust between the workers and Tsar Nicholas.
His next bad decision was after Bloody Sunday in 1905. To regain support he agreed to have a Duma. He then dismissed the first Duma and replaced it with his own men. He then did the same thing twice more. This, again, led to public outrage as he’d broken yet more promises. Between 1905 and 1914 he attempted to make things better for the workers. He introduced Agrarian reforms and Factory reforms but these were both too small to abolish the discontent of the workers.
The next major event was World War I. It was during this Tsar Nicholas made his biggest mistake. In the beginning it united the Russians. The army Generals, however, were very stubborn and fought the way they always had although World War I was a completely different type of war to any before it. This resulted in a quarter of the army being killed in 1914. This was very bad for morale on the battle ground and in Russia. In 1915 the Tsar decided to take control of the army, leaving the Tsarina behind to rule Russia. Nicholas taking over the army was a catalyst for the inevitable collapse of the autocratic regime in Russia.
Tsarina Alexandra was not popular with the Russian public. They thought that she was spying for the Germans because of her German background. With the help of Rasputin, her sons ‘healer,’ they managed to turn the country into chaos. Rasputin dismissed ministers and replaced them with friends. Nothing was organised. Food, already in short supply, was being left to rot. This led to food prices rising, what had bought 5 bags of potatoes in 1914 only bought ¾ of a bag in 1917. Russia couldn’t import food because of the war, Rasputin’s meddling had collapsed the transport systems, factories were producing military goods for the war and 37% of the male working force had been conscripted to the army reducing the amount of food Russia was able to produce. This led to a very unhappy and hungry work force; they hated the Tsar and Tsarina and wanted change. They began to strike and demand more pay. The Tsar told the Duma to get any food they could to the workers. Many people were killed in riots by the police and the army ended up mutinying joining the riots. All order in Russia had gone. Tsar Nicholas told the Duma not to meet anymore. However, they did, by some this is seen as the first act of the revolution. They managed to secure 250,000 soldiers to help restore order in Russia. It was after this Tsar Nicholas abdicated.
After Nicholas abdicated the Provisional Government took over. It was mostly made of the old Duma which was associated with the middle classes. This meant the peasants didn’t trust them as they were associated with Tsar Nicholas. They managed to anger the peasants even more. They refused to give them more land to grow food and refused to pull out of the war. This made them very unpopular, both of these were the exact opposite of what the peasants wanted.
At the same time another party was attempting to take power. Lenin, their leader, had been in and out of Russia for months. In April the Germans funded his campaign and got him into Russia. They did this because they knew that he would pull Russia out of the war meaning the Germans had more of a chance of defeating France and Britain as they would have all their force against them instead of being split in the east and the west. Lenin introduced anti-war propaganda, his slogan was, ‘Peace, Bread, Land,’ the three things the peasants wanted. As the other opposing parties had joined with the Provisional Government it meant that the Bolsheviks were the only opposing party. Thus, the public supported them.
By July the peasants and workers were fed up of the Provisional Government, they started striking and demonstrating against them. This led to a new Provisional Government with Kerensky as leader. Lenin was exiled again.
The next event was a major spark for the revolution. General Kornilov attempted a right wing dictatorship with a section of the Russian army against the Provisional Government. Kerensky was forced to go to the Bolsheviks and ask for the Red Guard to use against Kornilov. The Bolsheviks were not keen to help but agreed. Kerensky armed and trained the Red Guard who defeated Kornilov. The Red Guard were now seen as heroes. Kornilov had, effectively, just trained the army who would later over throw him.
After this Lenin returned. Kornilov’s revolt, yet more defeats in the war and the lack of solutions from the Provisional Government had led to more support for the Bolsheviks. They now had the majority of seats in Petrograd and Moscow. With 800,000 members and supporters including half the army and sailors at the naval base in Kronstadt, Lenin decided it was time for the revolution. He had to persuade the Mensheviks, Liberals and many of his own party that it was the right time.
As you can see all the events up to the revolution were important. They do all seem to be connected. For example without the unhappiness of the peasants, Nicholas may never have had to abdicate, or without the Provisional Government not taking the peasants’ wants and needs into account the Bolsheviks would never have been so popular. This makes it very difficult to pick out a main cause for the revolution. If you take one out the whole thing collapses. So I believe there was no major cause of the Bolshevik revolution, each cause was as important as the next.
