Bolshevik Revolution

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Bolshevik Revolution

Overview

• For centuries, Russia had been under imperial rule, struggling in a feudal state and in desperate need of change.
• In 1917, two separate waves of revolution rolled through Russia.
• The revolutions of 1917 brought an end to the old system and inspired political and social change across the country.

members called themselves Bolsheviks. The group was led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin. The Bolsheviks garnered enthusiastic support from militants, workers, and peasants who were looking for greater political rights and a voice in the new order. Their actions would lead to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Many militants were tired of the war and wanted to go home. With so much discontent among the people, the Bolsheviks saw an opportunity to launch a second revolution, this time against the Provisional Government in October 1917.

World War I was turning into a major disaster for Russia, with 1.7 million Russians dead and some 5 million wounded. Reeling from food shortages and inflation, Russian citizens began to call for the overthrow of their leader. In what would become known as the February Revolution of 1917, Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, and was later executed. Nicholas II was the last czar of Russia. The czarist autocracy was replaced by a radical provisional government led by Aleksandr Kerensky. The Russian Provisional Government was weak and full of internal conflict. It was unable to address the issues that had brought the new government into power in the first place. World War I was still raging, and Russia was facing financial ruin. Things looked grim. A new political movement arose, whose

Revolution

lenin in power

After gaining control, the Bolsheviks and the All-Russian Congress of Soviets met to discuss terms and determine the new political platform of the group. At first, it had been understood that control of the government would be shared between the Bolsheviks and other political groups. However, Lenin refused to give up sole control and insisted that the new government’s focus be on establishing a socialist order.

Revolution (continued)

The militia under the Bolsheviks and Leon Trotsky—a communist theorist and agitator—seized key governmental facilities in the city of Petrograd, known today as St. Petersburg. Upon storming the Winter Palace—the former royal residence of the czar—on November 7, the Bolsheviks arrested the members of the Provisional Government and officially ousted them from their posts of command. In the Bolshevik Revolution, the overthrow of the government was quick and bloodless.

lenin in power (continued)

The newly elected government became known as the Soviet of People’s Commissars, otherwise known as Sovnarkom. Once in power, Lenin ended Russia’s part in World War I and made peace with Germany. He also arrested all opposition party leaders, and established a secret police force, known as the Cheka. The Cheka’s brutal agents increased the climate of fear in Russia. The Decree of Land, which dictated that the private lands seized during the war be distributed among the peasants, was also passed during the same time. Through these actions, the Bolsheviks believed they were appeasing the country’s peasants and laborers.

Lenin quickly issued several other decrees that affected all of Russia. These changes included:

• nationalizing Russian banks
• confiscating private bank accounts
• seizing the Church’s properties
• absolving all foreign debts
• granting Soviets control of the nation’s factories
• decreasing the average workday to eight hours

Even though the Bolsheviks gained many supporters while in control, many Russian citizens were not satisfied with the idea of communism. From 1917 to 1920, the Bolsheviks renamed themselves the Russian Communist Party and established a political power. Many in Russia quickly came to resent the oppressive rule of Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

lenin in power (continued)

His successor, Joseph Stalin, employed even harsher totalitarianism. His form of communism has been called Stalinism.

In 1918, civil war erupted across the country. The Bolsheviks, otherwise known as the Reds, fought to maintain control, while anti-communist groups banded together to form the Whites. The civil war only lasted until 1922, but its end resulted in the creation of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was made up of Russia and the 15 states that bordered the country. Lenin and his specific form of communism, later known as Leninism, remained in control. His stint as the socialist state’s leader would become known as the Red Terror. As a nationwide famine swept the land, Lenin instituted slave labor camps and mass executions to ensure that all citizens remained loyal to the Soviet Union.

communism

Communism’s influence in Europe grew until it reached a climax in czarist Russia during World War I. The resulting Communist Revolution, which involved two separate revolutions, toppled the czar and planted a communist government in its place. This government lasted almost a century before it finally collapsed from internal failures. Yet, the Communist government that died in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the one born in Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto were vastly different.

The ideas behind the fall of capitalism and rise of communism, and how a state based on its ideals would function, was first formally codified by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their work The Communist Manifesto. Published in 1848, the political pamphlet was created on behalf of and adopted by the Communist League in Europe as its political platform. Later, the Communist Party in many nations also adopted the philosophies in this text. By the mid-19th century, industrialism, colonialism, and mercantilism were combining to create a powerful force to be reckoned with globally. The disparity between the working class and middle class also continued to grow. Workers flocked to urban areas in search of better jobs and