The Russian Revolution of 1917 laid the blueprint for the course of the 20^th century. It was an event which set the stage for a century of violence, tension, and bloodshed on a level previously unseen in the entire human catalogue of history. The revolution itself is divided into two distinct phases; the February Revolution and the October Revolution. It is widely known that the Russian Revolution was a rebellion of the proletariat working class, supported by the revolutionary Bolshevik and Menshevik parties, against the bourgeoisie upper class, supported by the ruling tsarist regime. Before delving into the actual events that encompass the Russian Revolution, one must understand the climate and the causes for which the revolution was necessary.

Most people view World War I as the spark that ignited the Russian people into revolution, but there were many reasons as to why the entire old world order of the Russian nation was overthrown and replaced with a new, communist state. In the years leading up to the revolution, Russia was ruled by Tsar Nicholas II. It was not just what was being done that caused the problems. Perhaps even more important were the things not being done. (Read 24). As soon as he took power, the Tsar immediately dismissed any hope for social change. In a speech to representatives of the gentry gathered in 1896, he declared that any hopes for change under his reign were “senseless dreams.”(Read 25). It was the Tsar’s reluctance to change and adapt to current domestic and international issues that would eventually lead to his regime’s downfall.

For example, Russia’s economy lagged far behind the rest of industrialized Europe. While other nations advanced and made progress with new economic innovation, Russia stayed a serf owners state until the revolution in 1917. Effects of serfdom could be seen throughout the country. Christopher Read wrote:

“It had inculcated deep seated attitudes on the part of the peasants that included in-built hostility to the masters and a disastrously inefficient attitude to work… at the deepest level the failure to overcome the cultural, political, economic and social legacy of serfdom was the prime cause of the revolution.” (Read 28).

The peasants of Russia had grown a strong distaste for any existing authoritative figure in the current regime. That, coupled with Nicholas’ staunch refusal to adapt to social and political change did not bode well for the Tsarist government.

The Revolution of 1905 served as a warning to Tsar Nicholas II and his regime. Luckily for their sake, even though there were scattered mutinies across the country, the armed forces as a whole remained loyal. Survival of the regime was also largely due to Sergie Witte, author of the October Manifesto which promised democratic reform to Russia. From its system of Fundamental Laws, the Duma (Russian Congress) was formed. Witte believed that it was the revolutionaries, not the monarchy, that lacked mass support. He assumed that the right (conservatives) spoke for the silent majority of Russia. (Read 31). In order to save the regime, Witte adopted democratic policies in which he felt would help the Tsar maintain his power, not harm his sovereignty. Some policies included granting “the unshakable foundations of civil liberty” without specifying what that meant or how it could be achieved. (Read 30). As a result, he both appeased the revolutionaries by imposing apparent liberalizing reforms, and secured the Tsar’s power. Said results would prove to be short lived.

While Witte made a pledge to democratize Tsarist Russia, his successor would institute a system of direct repression. Peter Stolypin, governor of the Saratov province, introduced a policy with two main points; punitively repress any and all popular uprisings and circumscribe the Duma. (Read 32). Rather than converting to liberalism, they showed signs of moving further towards a military dictatorship based on authoritarianism, Russian nationalism, and anti-Semitism. Bernard Pares put it best, saying, “It was under the leadership of such a government that the lives of millions of peasants were thrown into the furnace of the World War.”(Adams 14) It was the peasants who were thrown into war, and ultimately it was the peasants who would lead the final revolt against the Tsarist system.

Just as the Russians distrust in the Tsarist system was a long term cause of the revolution of 1917, the Russians poor showing in World War I served as the nail in the coffin for Nicholas II and the old regime. The war actually began as a positive for the regime. Clashing rivals pushed their trivial quarrels aside as all of Russia focused their efforts on defeating their enemy. Initially, the Russian army scored victories against their German counterparts. This early success was short lived, however, and quickly ended when the Germans called reinforcements from the Battle of Paris in order to defend East Prussia, an area invaded by Russia. Now, any positive vibes felt by the clashing parties of Russia began to deteriorate. The first months of the war had been marked by an unaccustomed industrial truce, based on a near universal desire to support the national war effort. This soon began to break down and strikes became more and more frequent. (Read 37) By 1916, the country began to experience critical food shortages. Since all of Russia’s industrial production was directed into war channels, the government policy deprived the country of its supply goods, of both the producer and consumer type. Also, the government was forced to print a seemingly limitless supply of paper money in order to finance the war effort. As a result of the consequential inflation, not only did mean wages decrease in value, but the country’s farmers lost interest in selling grain due to the increased output of paper money.(Adams 18). With this domestic turmoil, the number of strikes increased greatly, amounting to more than 1, 300 in January and February of 1917 alone. By this time, the country was in disarray, the economy was collapsing from within, and the war casualties continued to mount. The time was ripe for revolution.

As mentioned earlier, the Russian Revolution of 1917 was divided into two distinct phases; the February and the October revolutions. The February Revolution began on the 23^rd of February, when militant woman textile workers initiated a massive strike in Petrograd. Led by the Bolshevik upper echelon, 128,000 workers took to the streets, and their primary demand was to bring their husbands and sons home and put a stop to the World War. In addition, they demanded an increase in food production and distribution from the government. This series of protests became known as the “Bread riots.” By the 24^th, the strike doubled in size to over 200,000 workers, amounting to nearly half of all Petrograd workers. Now, demands shifted from food production to overall abolition of the Tsarist regime. The following day, the Bolshevik-led workers stormed into police stations and cut the telephone lines connecting to Governmental offices. As a result, the Tsar threatened to use force, if necessary, to quell the rebellion. (Basgen 2). Early morning on the 26^th, the Tsarist police arrested over 100 Bolshevik leaders, killed 169 workers, and injured nearly 1000 others. Then next evening, 66,000 men of the Petrograd army garrison joined the striking workers, joining the already converted Volynsky, Litovsky and Preobrazhensky Regiments. The now “traitorous” units proved to be a valuable asset to the Revolution. With the enhanced firepower and increased legitimacy provided by the support of the army, the old order’s days were numbered.

By March 2^nd, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his power. In his stead, he nominated his brother, Mikhail, who in turn refused the throne out of cowardice. As a result, any hope of a continuation of the monarchy was crushed and a new Provisional Government took control. Workers, soldiers, and young people took to the streets, tearing down old statues of the Tsar and disposing of any other remnants of the old regime. One of its first acts of the newly formed Provisional Government was to declare a general amnesty for all political prisoners once persecuted by the Tsarist Regime.

On April 3^rd, Vladimir Lenin and other Bolshevik party leaders arrived in Petrograd from exile in Switzerland. The very next day, he issued his famed April Thesis- an examination into the Bolshevik attitude in regards to the World War, the new Provisional Government, and the future of Russia and the Bolsheviks. Specifically Lenin called for complete non-cooperation with the bourgeois Provisional Government, opposition to the World War on the grounds that it was fought in bourgeoisie interests, and the complete abolition of the police, army, and state bureaucracy in which he felt held the interests of the ruling bourgeoisie in too high regard. Lenin’s April Theses would prove to lay the ground work for what would turn into the October Revolution.

The first all Russian Congress of Soviets held on June 3^rd proved just how divided the country remained. Tensions between the Bolsheviks and their rivals, the Mensheviks, boiled to an all time high. The Mensheviks insisted that the Bolsheviks be disarmed, while the Bolsheviks insisted that all power be given to their party, the true Soviets. Riots supported by the Bolsheviks spread across the country. As a result, on July 7^th the Provisional Government ordered the arrest of Lenin and claimed that he was a German Spy. Due to the accusation and consequential indictment, Lenin went into hiding on July 11^th. (Basgen 9).

Contrary to its intentions, the new Provincial Government failed to provide for the Russian people. By August, real wages had fallen 57.4% and prices had raised an average of 248% compared to 1913 levels. Bread rations had become even more sparing; people in Moscow were allowed no more than two pounds of bread for an entire week. Russia was nearing the breaking point. The Mensheviks continued to discredit the Bolsheviks, and Lenin remained in hiding while his country began to implode once again. Wage values continued to decrease, food production continued to falter, and social unrest began to sweep across the nation yet again. Russia was in dire need of a strong leader to guide them to unity.

Russia wouldn’t hear from Lenin until September 12^th when he illegally published Lessons of Revolution which analyzed the events since the February Revolution. He would then go on to finish his most important work: The State and Revolution, which describes the role the state plays in society in addition to the necessity of a proletariat revolution. Lenin argued that the only cure for the ills of society is a socialist revolution. That revolution would come on the night of October 24^th, when Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky would lead the infamous Red Guards to control all the bridges crossing the Neva River. That same night, Lenin reemerged from hiding and arrived at the town of Smolny, where he took command of the Red Guards and the Workers Soviets, leading them to seize and control the General Post Office, the Nikolaevsky, Varshaysky, and Baltiisky train stations, the power stations, the State Bank, the central telephone exchange, and main Government buildings. At 2 A.M. on the 25^th, the Tsar’s Winter Palace was captured, bringing victory to the revolution in Petrograd. By the 31^st, the Soviets held a total of 17 provincial capitals. On November 5^th, Lenin officially claimed victory, stating “Remember that now you yourselves are at the helm of state. No one will help you if yourselves do not unite and take into your hands all affairs of the state. Your Soviets are from now on the organs of state authority, legislative bodies with full powers.”(Basgen 17-18). An official Soviet Government was soon established in Vladivostok, and before the end of November, the new government was in control of twenty eight provincial capitals, in addition to every major industrial center in the nation. In a final attempt to solidify their power, the Soviets created the Checka in order to combat counter-revolution and sabotage. Its first order of business, appropriately enough, was to check the economic activity of Russia’s wealthiest citizens.

In regards to the Bolshevik rise to power, political scientist Merle Fainsod wrote “In the brief period of eight months, a tiny band of underground revolutionaries, numbering less than 25,000 on the eve of the February Revolution, had catapulted themselves into a governing authority of nearly 150,000,000 people.”(Adams 100). Before the February Revolution, the Bolshevik party was nothing more than a disorganized group of hoodlums. Their leaders were either exiled overseas or imprisoned, and as a result they lacked any and all forms of direction. However, in less than a year, they managed to manipulate and control the entire Russian working population, becoming the leading political party in all of Russia. Through the use of strikes, protest, and armed violence, the Bolsheviks were able to maintain and strengthen their sovereignty, even through the Russian Civil War which lasted until 1922. Lenin’s successor, Josef Stalin, would go even further and establish the Soviet Union as one of the dominant superpowers in the industrial world.

The Revolution of 1917 proved to set the tone for the rest of the 20^th century. The Soviet Union was the first nation to be based on Marxist communist teachings. As a result, the new superpower would come into ideological conflict with the United States on numerous occasions throughout the century, even coming to the brink of nuclear war on numerous occasions. The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991, and with it came an installation of a democratic government for the people of Russia. However, the effect and impression of the Revolution of 1917 are still seen in today’s Russian society and culture. Vladimir Lenin’s body remains on display in Moscow’s infamous Red Square, a tribute to the reverence and respect shown not only to him by the Russian population both during the revolution and to this day.