Transcript Russian Revolution - JCS Russia in Turmoil

Russian Revolution
IB History
The February Revolution
February 1917
• By 14 February 1917, the President of the
Duma, Rodzyanko told the Tsar that there would
be imminent outbreaks of serious unrest. Most of
those who supported the Tsar had been
dismissed or deserted the government.
• On 18 February a strike was held at a large steel
factory in Petrograd (formerly St Petersburg). As
the strike continued, the workers were joined by
thousands of other workers who had heard
(untrue) rumours that the bread supplies were
under threat.
International Women’s Day
• 23 February was International Women’s Day,
and thousands of women joined the protestors
on the streets calling for an end to the war and
an increase in food supplies. The police had
become sympathetic to the strikers, and even
though not everyone was protesting a political
cause, there was large scale dissatisfaction with
Russian society and the Tsar’s autocratic rule.
Petrograd was paralysed among the confusion.
Petrograd troops desert
• The Tsar was at military headquarters
(400 miles away) while this was occurring
and he was being updated by letters from
the Tsarina. He ordered General Khabalov
to restore order, but he was unable to
because most of the 150,000 Petrograd
garrison troops had deserted. This meant
that martial law could not be enforced, and
the protestors gained strength.
Duma dissolved
• The Duma informed the Tsar that he needed to
make concessions in order to appease the
growing crowd, but the Tsar refused and instead
ordered the dissolution of the Duma. This
occurred, but on 27 February a group of 12
remained and set up a Provisional Committee in
direct defiance of the Tsar. Alexander Kerensky,
a leading SR member of the Duma, called for
the Tsar to stand down or be deposed. The
creation of the Provisional Committee was
significant because it represented the first
constitutional challenge to the Tsar’s authority.
Petrograd Soviet
• The same day, 27 February, was the first
meeting of the Petrograd Soviet of
Soldiers’ Sailors’ and Workers’ Deputies
which met in the same building (Tauride
Palace) as the Provisional Committee.
• The Mensheviks were the group behind
the Soviets.
Provisional Committee
• The Provisional Committee, representing
the reformist elements of the Duma and
the Petrograd Soviet, representing the
striking workers and deserted troops
became the de facto government of
Russia. The alliance was not always easy,
and Lenin referred to them as the Dual
Authority.
Tsar’s ministers
• The Tsar’s ministers who remained soon
realised that they were being
overwhelmed and they quietly left
Petrograd.
Tsar abdicates
• On 28 February the Tsar decided to return
to Petrograd, believing his presence would
calm the crowds. His train was diverted
and met by a group of generals and old
members of the Duma who informed the
Tsar that his return was too dangerous.
They recommended that he abdicate to
save himself and his family. He did. The
304 year reign of the Romanovs was over.
Provisional Government
• The Provisional Committee renamed
themselves the Provisional Government,
and on 3 March they informed the world
that a revolution had taken place.
Bolshevik involvement?
• Almost all Bolshevik leaders were outside
Russia at the time of the February
Revolution.
• In 1916 Lenin said that he didn’t think he
would live to see revolution.
• Lenin was genuinely surprised by the
February Revolution because he didn’t
have any detailed knowledge about the
events in Petrograd.
Historiography
Revisionist View
• Smith: “When the February Revolution
came, it was not as the result of military
defeat, or even war weariness, but as the
result of the collapse of public support in
the government”.
Historiography
Liberal view
• Pipes: “Whatever grievances they may have
harboured – real and fancified – the ‘masses’
neither needed nor desired a revolution; the only
group interested in it was the intelligentsia.
Stress on alleged popular discontent and class
conflict derives more from ideological
preconceptions than from the facts at hand –
namely from the discredited Marxist theory that
political developments are always and
everywhere driven by class conflict”.
Historiography
Revisionist View
• Wood. “Despite the disaffection of the
military, however, it was neither the high
command nor the Duma politicians, still
less the revolutionary parties, which finally
brought about the downfall of ‘Bloody
Nicholas’. It was caused by the
spontaneous upsurge of the politically
radicalized masses”.
Historiography
Soviet View
• History of the CPSU (b.) short-course: “The revolution was
victorious because its vanguard was the working class which
headed the movement of millions of peasants clad in soldiers'
uniform demanding "peace, bread and liberty." It was the hegemony
of the proletariat that determined the success of the revolution…The
First Revolution, that of 1905, had prepared the way for the swift
success of the Second Revolution, that of 1917…The Revolution of
1905 had shown that the Soviets were organs of armed uprising and
at the same time the embryo of a new, revolutionary power. The
idea of Soviets lived in the minds of the working-class masses, and
they put it into effect as soon as tsardom was overthrown, with this
difference, however, that in 1905 it was Soviets only of Workers'
Deputies that were formed, whereas in February 1917, on the
initiative of the Bolsheviks, there arose Soviets of Workers' and
Soldiers' Deputies”.
Historiography
Liberal View
• Pipes: “The record leaves no doubt that
the myth of the Tsar being forced from the
throne by rebellious workers and peasants
is just that. The Tsar yielded not to a
rebellious populace but to generals and
politicians, and he did so from a sense of
patriotic duty”.
Historiography
Revisionist View
• J. P. Nettl: “…for the first time a Tsar had
simply become irrelevant…one factor
emerged with chilling certainty: the
growing consensus among the Duma
leaders, the society of the capital, and a
good many of the ministers that nothing
could be done with the obstinate and
totally unperceptive autocrat”.
Historiography
Marxist View
• Trotsky: “There were not to be found
anywhere in the country any groups of the
population, any parties, institutions, or
military units which were ready to put up a
fight for the old regime”.
Historiography
Revisionist View
• Figes: “Collapse is certainly the right word
to use. For the Romanov regime fell under
the weight of its own internal
contradictions. It was not overthrown”.
Historiography
Revisionist View
• Fitzpatrick: “In February 1917, the autocracy collapsed
in the face of popular demonstrations and the withdrawal
of elite support for the regime. In the euphoria of
revolution, political solutions seemed easy. Russia’s
future form of government would, of course, be
democratic…Yet within eight months the hopes and
expectations of February lay in ruins. ‘Dual power’
proved an illusion, masking something like a power
vacuum. The popular revolution became progressively
more radical, while the elite revolution moved towards an
anxious conservative stance in defense of property and
law and order”.
Historiography
• A.J.P. Taylor: “Though called democratic,
this government had no popular mandate
and little popular support. It simply carried
on the old system, just as a hen continues
to run around the yard when its head has
been cut off. No one knew how to change
direction”.