The Russian Revolutions of 1917

The Russian Revolutions of 1917

There were two revolutions that occurred in Russia in 1917. The first

one, in February, overthrew the Russian monarchy. The second one, in

October, created the world’s first Communist state.

The Russian revolutions of 1917 involved a series of uprisings by

workers and peasants throughout the country and by soldiers, who were

predominantly of peasant origin, in the Russian army. Many of the

uprisings were organized and led by democratically elected councils

called soviets. The soviets originated as strike committees and were

basically a form of local self-government.

The second revolution led to the rise of the modern Communist movement

and to the transformation of the Russian Empire into what became known

as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The goal of those

who carried out the second revolution was the creation of social

equality and economic democracy in Russia. However, the communist

regime that they established eventually turned into a bureaucratic

dictatorship.

The overthrow of the Russian monarch, Emperor Nicholas II, and the

ruling Romanov dynasty took place after an uprising in February 1917.

The events of late February 1917 are known as the February revolution.

After the overthrow of the Emperor, an unstable coalition of

conservative, liberal, and moderate socialist politicians declared

itself the Provisional Government, on February 27, 1917. That

government initially received the support of the soviets. However, the

Provisional Government proved unable to resolve the problems that had

led to the February revolution. The main problem of these was ending

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...constituent

assembly. Several of their leaders favored setting up a military

dictatorship, but few were outspoken czarists.

Armed opposition to the Soviet regime centered at first in the south

under General Kornilov. The civil war in the east was equally fatal to

the Whites. A government was organized by a group of Socialist

Revolutionaries who had been members of the constituent assembly. By

January 1920, all Siberia except Vladivostok and some other far

Eastern territory was in Bolshevik hands.

The Bolshevik military victory was due partly to the lack of

cooperation among the various anti-Bolsheviks commanders and partly to

the extraordinary organization of the Red forces after Trotsky became

commissar for war. It was won, however, only at the price of huge

sacrifice, Russia by 1920 was ruined and devastated.