The February Revolution in Petrograd - Concepts - Chapter 2 Class 9 History - Socialism in Europe & Russian Revolution - History

• In the winter of 1917 , conditions in the capital, Petrograd , were grim .
• The way the city was laid out seems to highlight the differences among its residents .
• On the right bank of the River Neva were the dormitories and factories for the workers .
• The elegant districts , the Winter Palace, and government buildings , notably the palace where the Duma convened, were located on the left bank.
• In February 1917 , food shortages were deeply felt in the workers’ quarters . 
• There had been a particularly hard frost and an extremely frigid winter .
• Parliamentarians wishing to preserve the elected government opposed the Tsar’s desire to dissolve the Duma.
• A factory on the right bank experienced a lockout on February 22.
• The following day, fifty factory employees declared a sympathy strike.
• Women took the lead in several factory strikes . This came to be called International Women’s Day . 
• Workers on strike crossed the Nevskii Prospekt , the main thoroughfare in the capital , from the factory quarters .
• No political party was actively organising the movement at this point .
• The government enacted a curfew as workers encircled the upscale neighbourhoods and government structures .
• Demonstrators dispersed by the evening , but they came back on the 24th and 25th.  
• In order to keep an eye on them , the government dispatched the cavalry and police .
• On Sunday , 25 February , the government suspended the Duma .
• Politicians spoke out against the measure . 
• On 26th February, demonstrators returned in force to the streets of the left bank.
• On the 27th , the Police Headquarters was ransacked (looted).
• The streets thronged with people raising slogans about bread, wages, better hours and democracy.
• The government called out the cavalry to try to control the situation but the cavalry refused to fire on the demonstrators .
• An officer was shot at the barracks of a regiment and three other regiments mutinied (rebelled), voting to join the striking workers . 
• By that evening, soldiers and striking workers had gathered to form a ‘ soviet’ or ‘council ’ in the same building where the Duma met. This was the Petrograd Soviet . 
• The very next day, a delegation went to see the Tsar .
• Tsar abdicated ( quit ) on the advice of his military general on 2nd March.
• A Provisional Government was established by Soviet and Duma leaders to govern the nation.
• Russia’s future would be decided by a constituent assembly , elected based on universal adult suffrage . 
• Petrograd led the February Revolution which brought down the monarchy in February 1917 .

After February

• Landowners , manufacturers , and army officers had sway in the Provisional Government .
• However, the socialists and liberals among them fought for an elected administration.
• Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed . 
• ‘ Soviets ’ , like the Petrograd Soviet, were set up everywhere, though no common system of election was followed.
• Vladimir Lenin , the founder of the Bolshevik movement , returned to Russia from exile in April 1917 .
• He believed that the soviets should now seize control of the country . He declared that the war is brought to a close, the land was transferred to the peasants , and banks are nationalised.
• These three demands were Lenin’s ‘ April Theses ’ .
• He also argued that the Bolshevik Party rename itself the Communist Party to indicate its new radical aims .
• Most members of the Bolshevik Party were initially surprised by the April Theses . They believed that the Provisional Government needed to be supported and that the timing was not yet right for a socialist revolution . 
• However, the events of the ensuing months altered their perspective .

• Through the summer the workers’ movement spread .
• Factory committees started to criticise how industrialists operated their factories after being founded in industrial districts .
• Trade unions grew in number.
• Soldiers’ committees were formed in the army . 
• A total of 500 Soviets sent delegates to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets in June .
• Seeing its power diminish and Bolshevik influence growing , the Provisional Government decided to take stern action against the spreading of dissatisfaction .
• Workers' attempts to govern factories were met with resistance , and leaders started being detained .
• The Bolsheviks violently suppressed the populist demonstrations they organised in July 1917 . Many Bolshevik leaders had to go into hiding or flee .

• Meanwhile, peasants and their Socialist Revolutionary leaders pressed for a redistribution of land in the countryside.
• Land committees were formed to handle this.
• Peasants seized land between July and September 1917 with the support of the Socialist Revolutionaries .

The Revolution of October 1917

Fun Fact:

• Russia followed the Julian calendar until 1 February 1918 . 
• The country then changed to the Gregorian calendar , which is followed everywhere today. The Gregorian dates are 13 days ahead of the Julian dates . 
• So by our calendar, the ‘February’ Revolution took place on 12th March and the ‘October’ Revolution took place on 7th November.

• Lenin feared the Provisional Government would set up a dictatorship because of the increasing conflict between the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks .
• He started planning an uprising against the government in September .
• In the military , soviets , and workplaces , Bolshevik supporters were gathered .
• Lenin convinced the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party to approve a socialist takeover of power on October 16, 1917 .
• Soviets appointed a Military Revolutionary Committee under Leon Trotskii to organise the seizure .
• The occasion's day was kept a mystery .
• On 24 October , the uprising began.  
• Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the city to send for reinforcements after spotting problems.
• At dawn, military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of two Bolshevik newspapers . 
• To take over the phone and telegraph offices and guard the Winter Palace , pro-government troops were dispatched .
• In a swift response, the Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government offices and arrest ministers . 
• The ship Aurora shelled the Winter Palace in the afternoon. As they went down the Neva , other ships occupied other military outposts .
• By dusk , the committee had taken control of the city , and the ministers had given up.
• The majority of attendees at a gathering of the All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd supported the Bolshevik move.
• Uprisings took place in other cities .
• Although there was fierce combat , particularly in Moscow , the Bolsheviks had taken control of the Moscow-Petrograd region by December .