Second of two 1917 revolutions in Russia
The
October Revolution
,
[a]
also known as the
Great October Socialist Revolution
[b]
(in
Soviet historiography
),
October coup
,
[5]
[6]
Bolshevik coup
,
[6]
or
Bolshevik revolution
,
[7]
[8]
was a
revolution
in Russia led by the
Bolshevik Party
of
Vladimir Lenin
that was a key moment in the larger
Russian Revolution of 1917?1923
. It was the second revolutionary change of government in Russia in 1917. It took place through an armed
insurrection
in Petrograd (now
Saint Petersburg
) on 7 November 1917 [
O.S.
25 October
]. It was the precipitating event of the
Russian Civil War
.
The October Revolution followed and capitalized on the
February Revolution
earlier that year, which led to the
abdication
of
Nicholas II
and the creation of a
provisional government
. The provisional government, led by
Alexander Kerensky
, had taken power after
Grand Duke Michael
, the younger brother of Nicholas II, declined to take power. During this time, urban workers began to organize into councils (
soviets
) wherein revolutionaries criticized the provisional government and its actions. The provisional government remained unpopular, especially because it was continuing to fight in
World War I
, and had ruled with an iron fist throughout the summer (including killing hundreds of protesters in the
July Days
).
Events came to a head in the fall as the
Directorate
, led by the
left-wing
Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries
(SRs), controlled the government. The
far-left
Bolsheviks
were deeply unhappy with the government, and began spreading calls for a military uprising. On 10 October 1917 (O.S.; 23 October, N.S.), the
Petrograd Soviet
, led by
Trotsky
, voted to back a military uprising. On 24 October (O.S.; 6 November, N.S.) the government shut down numerous newspapers and closed the city of Petrograd in an attempt to forestall the revolution; minor armed skirmishes broke out. The next day a full scale uprising erupted as a fleet of Bolshevik sailors entered the harbor and tens of thousands of soldiers rose up in support of the Bolsheviks. Bolshevik
Red Guards
forces under the
Military-Revolutionary Committee
began the occupation of government buildings on 25 October (O.S.; 7 November, N.S.), 1917. The following day, the
Winter Palace
(the seat of the Provisional government located in Petrograd, then capital of Russia) was captured.
As the Revolution was not universally recognized, the country descended into the
Russian Civil War
, which would last until 1923 and ultimately lead to the creation of the
Soviet Union
in late 1922. The historiography of the event has varied. The victorious Soviet Union viewed it as a validation of
their ideology
, and the triumph of the worker over capitalism. During Soviet times, revolution day was a national holiday, marking its importance in the country's founding story. On the other hand, the
Western Allies
saw it as a totalitarian coup, which used the democratic Soviet councils only until they were no longer useful. The event inspired many cultural works, and ignited communist movements across Europe and globally. Many
Marxist?Leninist
parties around the world celebrate
October Revolution Day
.
Etymology
[
edit
]
Despite occurring in November of the
Gregorian calendar
, the event is most commonly known as the "October Revolution" (
Октябрьская революция
) because at the time Russia still used the
Julian calendar
. The event is sometimes known as the "November Revolution", after the Soviet Union
modernized its calendar
.
[9]
[10]
To avoid confusion, both O.S and N.S. dates have been given for events. For more details see
Old Style and New Style dates
. It was sometimes known as the Bolshevik Revolution, or the Communist Revolution.
[12]
Initially the event was referred to as the "October coup" (
Октябрьский переворот
) or the "Uprising of the 3rd", as seen in contemporary documents, for example in the first editions of
Lenin
's complete works.
[
citation needed
]
Background
[
edit
]
February Revolution
[
edit
]
The
February Revolution
had toppled Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia
and replaced his government with the
Russian Provisional Government
. However, the provisional government was weak and riven by internal dissension. It continued to wage
World War I
, which became increasingly unpopular. There was a nationwide crisis affecting social, economic, and political relations. Disorder in industry and transport had intensified, and difficulties in obtaining provisions had increased. Gross industrial production in 1917 decreased by over 36% of what it had been in 1914. In the autumn, as much as 50% of all enterprises in the
Urals
, the
Donbas
, and other industrial centers were closed down, leading to mass unemployment. At the same time, the cost of living increased sharply. Real wages fell to about 50% of what they had been in 1913. By October 1917, Russia's national debt had risen to 50 billion
roubles
. Of this, debts to foreign governments constituted more than 11 billion roubles. The country faced the threat of financial
bankruptcy
.
German support
[
edit
]
Vladimir Lenin, who had been living in exile in Switzerland, with other dissidents organized a plan to negotiate a passage for them through Germany, with whom Russia was then at war. Recognizing that these dissidents could cause problems for their Russian enemies, the German government agreed to permit 32 Russian citizens, among them Lenin and his wife, to travel in a
sealed train
carriage through their territory.
According to
Deutsche Welle
:
On November 7, 1917, a
coup d'etat
went down in history as the October Revolution. The interim government was toppled, the Soviets seized power, and Russia later terminated the
Triple Entente
military alliance with France and Britain. For Russia, it was effectively the end of the war.
Kaiser Wilhelm II
had spent around half a billion euros ($582 million) in today's money to weaken his wartime enemy.
[13]
Upon his arrival Lenin gave his
April Theses
that called on the
Bolsheviks
to take over the Provisional Government, usurp power, and end the war.
Unrest by workers, peasants, and soldiers
[
edit
]
Throughout June, July, and August 1917, it was common to hear working-class Russians speak about their lack of confidence in the Provisional Government. Factory workers around Russia felt unhappy with the growing shortages of food, supplies, and other materials. They blamed their managers or foremen and would even attack them in the factories. The workers blamed many rich and influential individuals for the overall shortage of food and poor living conditions. Workers saw these rich and powerful individuals as opponents of the Revolution, and called them "bourgeois", "capitalist", and "imperialist".
[14]
In September and October 1917, there were mass
strike actions
by the Moscow and Petrograd workers, miners in the Donbas, metalworkers in the Urals, oil workers in
Baku
, textile workers in the
Central Industrial Region
, and railroad workers on 44 railway lines. In these months alone, more than a million workers took part in strikes. Workers established control over production and distribution in many factories and plants in a
social revolution
.
[15]
Workers organized these strikes through
factory committees
. The factory committees represented the workers and were able to negotiate better working conditions, pay, and hours. Even though workplace conditions may have been increasing in quality, the overall quality of life for workers was not improving. There were still shortages of food and the increased wages workers had obtained did little to provide for their families.
[14]
By October 1917, peasant uprisings were common. By autumn, the peasant movement against the landowners had spread to 482 of 624 counties, or 77% of the country. As 1917 progressed, the peasantry increasingly began to lose faith that the land would be distributed to them by the
Social Revolutionaries
and the
Mensheviks
. Refusing to continue living as before, they increasingly took measures into their own hands, as can be seen by the increase in the number and militancy of the peasant's actions. Over 42% of all the cases of destruction (usually burning down and seizing property from the landlord's estate) recorded between February and October occurred in October.
[16]
While the uprisings varied in severity, complete uprisings and seizures of the land were not uncommon. Less robust forms of protest included marches on landowner manors and government offices, as well as withholding and storing grains rather than selling them.
[17]
When the Provisional Government sent punitive detachments, it only enraged the peasants. In September, the garrisons in Petrograd, Moscow, and other cities, the Northern and Western fronts, and the sailors of the
Baltic Fleet
declared through their elected representative body
Tsentrobalt
that they did not recognize the authority of the Provisional Government and would not carry out any of its commands.
[18]
Soldiers' wives were key players in the unrest in the villages. From 1914 to 1917, almost 50% of healthy men were sent to war, and many were killed on the front, resulting in many females being head of the household. Often?when government allowances were late and were not sufficient to match the rising costs of goods?soldiers' wives sent masses of appeals to the government, which went largely unanswered. Frustration resulted, and these women were influential in inciting "subsistence riots"?also referred to as "hunger riots", "
pogroms
", or "baba riots". In these riots, citizens seized food and resources from shop owners, who they believed to be charging unfair prices. Upon police intervention, protesters responded with "rakes, sticks, rocks, and fists."
[19]
Antiwar demonstrations
[
edit
]
In a diplomatic note of 1 May, the minister of foreign affairs,
Pavel Milyukov
, expressed the Provisional Government's desire to continue the war against the
Central Powers
"to a victorious conclusion", arousing broad indignation. On 1?4 May, about 100,000 workers and soldiers of Petrograd, and, after them, the workers and soldiers of other cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading "Down with the war!" and "All power to the soviets!" The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for the Provisional Government.
[20]
1 July saw more demonstrations, as about 500,000 workers and soldiers in Petrograd demonstrated, again demanding "all power to the soviets," "down with the war," and "down with the ten capitalist ministers." The Provisional Government opened an
offensive
against the Central Powers on 1 July, which soon collapsed. The news of the offensive's failure intensified the struggle of the workers and the soldiers.
July days
[
edit
]
On 16 July, spontaneous demonstrations of workers and soldiers began in Petrograd, demanding that power be turned over to the soviets. The Central Committee of the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
provided leadership to the spontaneous movements. On 17 July, over 500,000 people participated in what was intended to be a peaceful demonstration in Petrograd, the so-called
July Days
. The Provisional Government, with the support of
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
-
Menshevik
leaders of the All-Russian Executive Committee of the Soviets, ordered an armed attack against the demonstrators, killing hundreds.
[21]
A period of repression followed. On 5?6 July, attacks were made on the editorial offices and printing presses of
Pravda
and on the
Palace of Kshesinskaya
, where the Central Committee and the Petrograd Committee of the Bolsheviks were located. On 7 July, the government ordered the arrest and trial of
Vladimir Lenin
, who was forced to go underground, as he had done under the
Tsarist
regime. Bolsheviks were arrested, workers were disarmed, and revolutionary military units in Petrograd were disbanded or sent to the war front. On 12 July, the Provisional Government published a law introducing the death penalty at the front. The second coalition government was formed on 24 July, chaired by
Alexander Kerensky
and consisted mostly of Socialists.
[22]
Kerensky's government introduced a number of liberal rights, such as
freedom of speech
, equality before the law, and the right to form unions and arrange
labor strikes
.
[
citation needed
]
In response to a Bolshevik appeal, Moscow's working class began a protest strike of 400,000 workers. They were supported by strikes and protest rallies by workers in
Kyiv
,
Kharkiv
,
Nizhny Novgorod
,
Ekaterinburg
, and other cities.
Kornilov affair
[
edit
]
In what became known as the Kornilov affair, General
Lavr Kornilov
, who had been Commander-in-Chief since 18 July, with Kerensky's agreement directed an army under
Aleksandr Krymov
to march toward Petrograd to restore order.
[23]
According to some accounts, Kerensky appeared to become frightened by the possibility that the army would stage a coup, and reversed the order. By contrast, historian
Richard Pipes
has argued that the episode was engineered by Kerensky.
[24]
On 27 August, feeling betrayed by the government, Kornilov pushed on towards Petrograd. With few troops to spare at the front, Kerensky turned to the Petrograd Soviet for help. Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and Socialist Revolutionaries confronted the army and convinced them to stand down.
[25]
The Bolsheviks' influence over railroad and telegraph workers also proved vital in stopping the movement of troops. The political right felt betrayed, and the left was resurgent. The first direct consequence of Kornilov's failed coup was the formal abolition of the monarchy and the proclamation of the
Russian Republic
on 1 September.
[26]
With Kornilov defeated, the Bolsheviks' popularity in the soviets grew significantly, both in the central and local areas. On 31 August, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies?and, on 5 September, the Moscow Soviet Workers Deputies?adopted the Bolshevik resolutions on the question of power. The Bolsheviks were able to take over in
Briansk
,
Samara
,
Saratov
,
Tsaritsyn
,
Minsk
, Kiev,
Tashkent
, and other cities.
[
citation needed
]
Revolution
[
edit
]
Planning
[
edit
]
On 10 October 1917 (O.S.; 23 October, N.S.), the Bolsheviks'
Central Committee
voted 10?2 for a resolution saying that "an armed uprising is inevitable, and that the time for it is fully ripe."
[27]
At the Committee meeting, Lenin discussed how the people of Russia had waited long enough for "an armed uprising," and it was the Bolsheviks' time to take power. Lenin expressed his confidence in the success of the planned insurrection. His confidence stemmed from months of Bolshevik buildup of power and successful elections to different committees and councils in major cities such as
Petrograd
and Moscow.
[28]
Membership of the Bolsehevik party had risen from 24,000 members in February 1917 to 200,000 members by September 1917.
[29]
The Bolsheviks created a revolutionary military committee within the Petrograd soviet, led by the Soviet's president,
Leon Trotsky
. The committee included armed workers, sailors, and soldiers, and assured the support or neutrality of the capital's garrison. The committee methodically planned to occupy strategic locations through the city, almost without concealing their preparations: the Provisional Government's President Kerensky was himself aware of them; and some details, leaked by
Lev Kamenev
and
Grigory Zinoviev
, were published in newspapers.
[30]
[31]
Onset
[
edit
]
In the early morning of 24 October (O.S.; 6 November N.S.), a group of soldiers loyal to
Kerensky's government
marched on the printing house of the Bolshevik newspaper,
Rabochiy put
(
Worker's Path
), seizing and destroying printing equipment and thousands of newspapers. Shortly thereafter, the government announced the immediate closure of not only
Rabochiy put
but also the left-wing
Soldat
, as well as the far-right newspapers
Zhivoe slovo
and
Novaia Rus
. The editors and contributors of these newspapers were seen to be calling for insurrection and were to be prosecuted on criminal charges.
[32]
In response, at 9
a.m. the Bolshevik
Military Revolutionary Committee
issued a statement denouncing the government's actions. At 10
a.m., Bolshevik-aligned soldiers successfully retook the
Rabochiy put
printing house. Kerensky responded at approximately 3
p.m. that afternoon by ordering the raising of all but one of Petrograd's bridges, a tactic used by the government several months earlier during the
July Days
. What followed was a series of sporadic clashes over control of the bridges, between
Red Guard
militias aligned with the Military-Revolutionary Committee and military units still loyal to the government. At approximately 5
p.m. the Military-Revolutionary Committee seized the Central Telegraph of Petrograd, giving the Bolsheviks control over communications through the city.
[32]
[33]
On 25 October (O.S.; 7 November, N.S.) 1917, the Bolsheviks led their forces in the uprising in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg, then capital of Russia) against the Provisional Government. The event coincided with the arrival of a pro-Bolshevik flotilla?consisting primarily of five destroyers and their crews, as well as marines?in Petrograd harbor. At
Kronstadt
, sailors announced their allegiance to the Bolshevik insurrection. In the early morning, from its heavily guarded and picketed headquarters in Smolny Palace, the Military-Revolutionary Committee designated the last of the locations to be assaulted or seized. The Red Guards systematically captured major government facilities, key communication installations, and vantage points with little opposition. The
Petrograd Garrison
and most of the city's military units joined the insurrection against the Provisional Government.
[31]
The insurrection was timed and organized to hand state power to the
Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies
, which began on this day.
Kerensky and the Provisional Government were virtually helpless to offer significant resistance. Railways and railway stations had been controlled by Soviet workers and soldiers for days, making rail travel to and from Petrograd impossible for Provisional Government officials. The Provisional Government was also unable to locate any serviceable vehicles. On the morning of the insurrection, Kerensky desperately searched for a means of reaching military forces he hoped would be friendly to the Provisional Government outside the city and ultimately borrowed a
Renault
car from the American embassy, which he drove from the Winter Palace, along with a
Pierce Arrow
. Kerensky was able to evade the pickets going up around the palace and to drive to meet approaching soldiers.
[32]
As Kerensky left Petrograd, Lenin wrote a proclamation
To the Citizens of Russia
, stating that the Provisional Government had been overthrown by the Military-Revolutionary Committee. The proclamation was sent by telegraph throughout Russia, even as the pro-Soviet soldiers were seizing important control centers throughout the city. One of Lenin's intentions was to present members of the Soviet congress, who would assemble that afternoon, with a
fait accompli
and thus forestall further debate on the wisdom or legitimacy of taking power.
[32]
Assault on the Winter Palace
[
edit
]
A final assault against the
Winter Palace
?against 3,000 cadets, officers, cossacks, and female soldiers?was not vigorously resisted.
[32]
[34]
The Bolsheviks delayed the assault because they could not find functioning artillery.
[35]
At 6:15
p.m., a large group of artillery cadets abandoned the palace, taking their artillery with them. At 8:00
p.m., 200 cossacks left the palace and returned to their barracks.
[32]
While the cabinet of the provisional government within the palace debated what action to take, the Bolsheviks issued an ultimatum to surrender. Workers and soldiers occupied the last of the telegraph stations, cutting off the cabinet's communications with loyal military forces outside the city. As the night progressed, crowds of insurgents surrounded the palace, and many infiltrated it.
[32]
At 9:45
p.m, the cruiser
Aurora
fired a blank shot from the harbor. Some of the revolutionaries entered the palace at 10:25
p.m. and there was a mass entry 3 hours later.
By 2:10
a.m. on 26 October, Bolshevik forces had gained control. The Cadets and the 140 volunteers of the
Women's Battalion
surrendered rather than resist the 40,000 strong attacking force.
[36]
[37]
After sporadic gunfire throughout the building, the cabinet of the Provisional Government surrendered, and were imprisoned in
Peter and Paul Fortress
. The only member who was not arrested was Kerensky himself, who had already left the palace.
[32]
[38]
With the Petrograd Soviet now in control of government, garrison, and proletariat, the Second All Russian Congress of Soviets held its opening session on the day, while Trotsky dismissed the opposing
Mensheviks
and the
Socialist Revolutionaries
(SR) from Congress.
Dybenko's disputed role
[
edit
]
Some sources contend that as the leader of
Tsentrobalt
,
Pavlo Dybenko
played a crucial role in the revolt and that the ten warships that arrived at the city with ten thousand
Baltic Fleet
mariners were the force that took the power in Petrograd and put down the Provisional Government. The same mariners then dispersed by force the
elected parliament
of Russia,
[39]
and used machine-gun fire against demonstrators in Petrograd,
[
citation needed
]
killing about 100 demonstrators and wounding several hundred.
[
citation needed
]
Dybenko in his memoirs mentioned this event as "several shots in the air". These are disputed by various sources, such as
Louise Bryant
,
[40]
who claims that news outlets in the West at the time reported that the unfortunate loss of life occurred in Moscow, not Petrograd, and the number was much less than suggested above. As for the "several shots in the air", there is little evidence suggesting otherwise.
Later Soviet portrayal
[
edit
]
While the seizure of the Winter Palace happened almost without resistance, Soviet historians and officials later tended to depict the event in dramatic and heroic terms.
[31]
[41]
[42]
The
historical reenactment
titled
The Storming of the Winter Palace
was staged in 1920. This reenactment, watched by 100,000 spectators, provided the model for official films made later, which showed fierce fighting during the storming of the Winter Palace,
[43]
although, in reality, the Bolshevik insurgents had faced little opposition.
[34]
Later accounts of the heroic "storming of the Winter Palace" and "defense of the Winter Palace" were propaganda by Bolshevik publicists. Grandiose paintings depicting the "Women's Battalion" and photo stills taken from
Sergei Eisenstein
's staged film depicting the "politically correct" version of the October events in Petrograd came to be taken as truth.
[44]
Outcome
[
edit
]
New government established
[
edit
]
Lenin initially turned down the leading position of
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
when the Bolsheviks formed a new government, after the October Revolution in 1917, and suggested Trotsky for the position. However, Trotsky refused the position and other Bolsheviks insisted that Lenin assume principal responsibility which resulted in Lenin eventually accepting the role of chairman.
[46]
[47]
[48]
The Second Congress of Soviets consisted of 670 elected delegates: 300 were Bolsheviks and nearly 100 were Left
Socialist-Revolutionaries
, who also supported the overthrow of the
Alexander Kerensky
government.
[49]
When the fall of the Winter Palace was announced, the Congress adopted a decree transferring power to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, thus ratifying the Revolution.
The transfer of power was not without disagreement. The center and right wings of the Socialist Revolutionaries, as well as the Mensheviks, believed that Lenin and the Bolsheviks had
illegally seized power
and they walked out before the resolution was passed. As they exited, they were taunted by Trotsky who told them "You are pitiful isolated individuals; you are bankrupts; your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on?into the dustbin of history!"
[50]
The following day, 26 October, the Congress elected a new cabinet of Bolsheviks, pending the convocation of a
Constituent Assembly
. This new Soviet government was known as the council (Soviet) of People's Commissars (
Sovnarkom
), with Lenin as a leader. Lenin allegedly approved of the name, reporting that it "smells of revolution".
[51]
The cabinet quickly passed the
Decree on Peace
and the
Decree on Land
. This new government was also officially called "provisional" until the Assembly was dissolved.
Anti-Bolshevik sentiment
[
edit
]
That same day, posters were pinned on walls and fences by the Socialist Revolutionaries, describing the takeover as a "crime against the motherland" and "revolution"; this signaled the next wave of anti-Bolshevik sentiment. The next day, the Mensheviks seized power in
Georgia
and declared it an independent republic; the
Don Cossacks
also claimed control of their government. The Bolshevik strongholds were in the cities, particularly Petrograd, with support much more mixed in rural areas. The peasant-dominated Left SR party was in coalition with the Bolsheviks. There were reports that the Provisional Government had not conceded defeat and were meeting with the army at the Front.
Anti-Bolshevik sentiment continued to grow as posters and newspapers started criticizing the actions of the Bolsheviks and repudiated their authority. The executive committee of Peasants Soviets "[refuted] with indignation all participation of the organized peasantry in this criminal violation of the will of the working class".
[52]
This eventually developed into major counter-revolutionary action, as on 30 October (O.S., 12 November, N.S.) when
Cossacks
, welcomed by church bells, entered
Tsarskoye Selo
on the outskirts of Petrograd with Kerensky riding on a white horse. Kerensky gave an ultimatum to the rifle garrison to lay down weapons, which was promptly refused. They were then fired upon by Kerensky's Cossacks, which resulted in 8 deaths. This turned soldiers in Petrograd against Kerensky as being the Tsarist regime. Kerensky's failure to assume authority over troops was described by
John Reed
as a "fatal blunder" that signaled the final end of his government.
[53]
Over the following days, the battle against the anti-Bolsheviks continued. The Red Guard fought against Cossacks at Tsarskoye Selo, with the Cossacks breaking rank and fleeing, leaving their artillery behind. On 31 October 1917 (13 November, N.S.), the Bolsheviks gained control of Moscow after a week of bitter street-fighting. Artillery had been freely used, with an estimated 700 casualties. However, there was continued support for Kerensky in some of the provinces.
After the fall of Moscow, there was only minor public anti-Bolshevik sentiment, such as the newspaper
Novaya Zhizn
, which criticized the Bolsheviks' lack of manpower and organization in running their party, let alone a government. Lenin confidently claimed that there is "not a shadow of hesitation in the masses of Petrograd, Moscow and the rest of Russia" in accepting Bolshevik rule.
[54]
Governmental reforms
[
edit
]
On 10 November 1917 (23 November, N.S.), the government applied the term "citizens of the Russian Republic" to Russians, whom they sought to make equal in all possible respects, by the nullification of all "legal designations of civil inequality, such as estates, titles, and ranks."
[55]
The long-awaited
Constituent Assembly
elections
were held on 12 November (O.S., 25 November, N.S.) 1917. In contrast to their majority in the Soviets, the Bolsheviks only won 175 seats in the 715-seat legislative body, coming in second behind the
Socialist Revolutionary Party
, which won 370 seats, although the SR Party no longer existed as a whole party by that time, as the Left SRs had gone into coalition with the Bolsheviks from October 1917 to March 1918 (a cause of dispute of the legitimacy of the returned seating of the Constituent Assembly, as the old lists, were drawn up by the old SR Party leadership, and thus represented mostly Right SRs, whereas the peasant soviet deputies had returned majorities for the pro-Bolshevik Left SRs). The Constituent Assembly was to first meet on 28 November (O.S.) 1917, but its convocation was delayed until 5 January (O.S.; 18 January, N.S.) 1918 by the Bolsheviks. On its first and only day in session, the Constituent Assembly came into conflict with the Soviets, and it rejected Soviet decrees on peace and land, resulting in the Constituent Assembly being dissolved the next day by order of the Congress of Soviets.
[56]
On 16 December 1917 (29 December, N.S.), the government ventured to eliminate hierarchy in the army, removing all titles, ranks, and uniform decorations. The tradition of saluting was also eliminated.
[55]
On 20 December 1917 (2 January 1918, N.S.), the
Cheka
was created by Lenin's decree.
[57]
These were the beginnings of the Bolsheviks' consolidation of power over their political opponents. The
Red Terror
began in September 1918, following a failed assassination attempt on Lenin. The French
Jacobin Terror
was an example for the Soviet Bolsheviks. Trotsky had compared Lenin to
Maximilien Robespierre
as early as 1904.
[58]
In his book,
Terrorism and Communism: A Reply to Karl Kautsky
,
Trotsky argued that the reign of terror began with the
White Terror
under the White Guard forces and the Bolsheviks responded with the
Red Terror
.
[59]
The Decree on Land ratified the actions of the peasants who throughout Russia had taken private land and redistributed it among themselves. The Bolsheviks viewed themselves as representing an alliance of workers and peasants signified by the
Hammer and Sickle
on the
flag
and the
coat of arms of the Soviet Union
.
Other decrees:
Timeline of the spread of Soviet power (Gregorian calendar dates)
[
edit
]
- 5 November 1917:
Tallinn
.
- 7 November 1917:
Petrograd
,
Minsk
,
Novgorod
,
Ivanovo-Voznesensk
and
Tartu
- 8 November 1917:
Ufa
,
Kazan
,
Yekaterinburg
, and Narva; (
failed
in
Kiev
)
- 9 November 1917:
Vitebsk
,
Yaroslavl
,
Saratov
,
Samara
, and
Izhevsk
- 10 November 1917:
Rostov
,
Tver
, and
Nizhny Novgorod
- 12 November 1917:
Voronezh
,
Smolensk
, and
Gomel
- 13 November 1917:
Tambov
- 14 November 1917:
Orel
and
Perm
- 15 November 1917:
Pskov
, Moscow, and
Baku
- 27 November 1917:
Tsaritsyn
- 1 December 1917:
Mogilev
- 8 December 1917:
Vyatka
- 10 December 1917:
Kishinev
- 11 December 1917:
Kaluga
- 14 December 1917:
Novorossisk
- 15 December 1917:
Kostroma
- 20 December 1917:
Tula
- 24 December 1917:
Kharkiv
(invasion of Ukraine by the Muravyov Red Guard forces, the establishment of Soviet Ukraine and
hostilities in the region
)
- 29 December 1917:
Sevastopol
(invasion of Crimea by the Red Guard forces, the establishment of the
Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic
)
- 4 January 1918:
Penza
- 11 January 1918:
Yekaterinoslav
- 17 January 1918:
Petrozavodsk
- 19 January 1918:
Poltava
- 22 January 1918:
Zhitomir
- 26 January 1918:
Simferopol
- 27 January 1918:
Nikolayev
- 29 January 1918: (
failed
again in Kiev)
- 31 January 1918:
Odessa
and
Orenburg
(establishment of the
Odessa Soviet Republic
)
- 7 February 1918:
Astrakhan
- 8 February 1918: Kiev and
Vologda
(defeat of the Ukrainian government)
- 17 February 1918:
Arkhangelsk
- 25 February 1918:
Novocherkassk
Russian Civil War
[
edit
]
Bolshevik-led attempts to gain power in other parts of the
Russian Empire
were largely successful in Russia proper?although the fighting in Moscow lasted for two weeks?but they were less successful in ethnically non-Russian parts of the Empire, which had been clamoring for independence since the February Revolution. For example, the Ukrainian
Rada
, which had declared autonomy on 23 June 1917, created the
Ukrainian People's Republic
on 20 November, which was supported by the Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. This led to an armed conflict with the Bolshevik government in Petrograd and, eventually, a
Ukrainian declaration of independence from Russia on 25 January 1918
.
[60]
In
Estonia
, two rival governments emerged: the
Estonian Provincial Assembly
, established in April 1917, proclaimed itself the supreme legal authority of Estonia on 28 November 1917 and issued the
Declaration of Independence
on 24 February 1918;
[61]
but Soviet Russia recognized the executive committee of the Soviets of Estonia as the legal authority in
the province
, although the Soviets in Estonia controlled only the capital and a few other major towns.
[62]
After the success of the October Revolution transformed the Russian state into a soviet republic, a coalition of anti-Bolshevik groups attempted to unseat the new government in the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1922. In an attempt to intervene in the civil war after the Bolsheviks' separate peace with the
Central Powers
(
Germany
and the
Ottoman Empire
), the
Allied Powers
(the
United Kingdom
,
France
,
Italy
, the
United States
, and
Japan
)
occupied parts of the Soviet Union
for over two years before finally withdrawing.
[63]
By the end of the violent civil war, Russia's economy and infrastructure were heavily damaged, and as many as 10 million perished during the war, mostly civilians.
[64]
Millions became
White emigres
,
[65]
and the
Russian famine of 1921?1922
claimed up to five million victims.
[66]
The United States did not recognize the new Russian government until 1933. The European powers recognized the Soviet Union in the early 1920s and began to engage in business with it after the
New Economic Policy
(NEP) was implemented.
[
citation needed
]
Historiography
[
edit
]
There have been few events where the political opinions of researchers have influenced their historical research as significantly as the October Revolution.
[67]
Generally, the
historiography
of the Revolution generally divides into three camps: Soviet-Marxist, Western-Totalitarian, and Revisionist.
[68]
Soviet historiography
[
edit
]
Soviet historiography
of the October Revolution is intertwined with Soviet historical development. Many of the initial Soviet interpreters of the Revolution were themselves Bolshevik revolutionaries.
[69]
Bolshevik figures such as
Anatoly Lunacharsky
,
Moisei Uritsky
and
Dmitry Manuilsky
agreed that Lenin’s influence on the Bolshevik party was decisive but the October insurrection was carried out according to Trotsky’s, not to Lenin’s plan.
[70]
After the initial wave of revolutionary narratives, Soviet historians worked within "narrow guidelines" defined by the Soviet government. The rigidity of interpretive possibilities reached its height under Stalin.
[71]
Soviet historians of the Revolution interpreted the October Revolution as being about establishing the legitimacy of
Marxist ideology
and the Bolshevik government. To establish the accuracy of Marxist ideology, Soviet historians generally described the Revolution as the product of
class struggle
and that it was the supreme event in a world history governed by historical laws. The Bolshevik Party is placed at the center of the Revolution, as it exposes the errors of both the moderate Provisional Government and the spurious "socialist" Mensheviks in the Petrograd Soviet. Guided by Lenin's leadership and his firm grasp of scientific
Marxist theory
, the Party led the "logically predetermined" events of the October Revolution from beginning to end. The events were, according to these historians, logically predetermined because of the socio-economic development of Russia, where monopolistic industrial capitalism had alienated the masses. In this view, the Bolshevik party took the leading role in organizing these alienated industrial workers, and thereby established the construction of the first
socialist state
.
[72]
Although Soviet historiography of the October Revolution stayed relatively constant until 1991, it did undergo some changes. Following Stalin's death, historians such as
E. N. Burdzhalov
and P. V. Volobuev published historical research that deviated significantly from the party line in refining the doctrine that the Bolshevik victory "was predetermined by the state of Russia's socio-economic development".
[73]
These historians, who constituted the "New Directions Group", posited that the complex nature of the October Revolution "could only be explained by a multi-causal analysis, not by recourse to the mono-causality of monopoly capitalism".
[74]
For them, the central actor is still the Bolshevik party, but this party triumphed "because it alone could solve the preponderance of 'general democratic' tasks the country faced" (such as the struggle for peace and the exploitation of landlords).
[75]
During the late Soviet period, the opening of select
Soviet archives
during
glasnost
sparked innovative research that broke away from some aspects of Marxism?Leninism, though the key features of the orthodox Soviet view remained intact.
[71]
Following the turn of the 21st century, some Soviet historians began to implement an "anthropological turn" in their historiographical analysis of the Russian Revolution. This method of analysis focuses on the average person's experience of day-to-day life during the revolution, and pulls the analytical focus away from larger events, notable revolutionaries, and overarching claims about party views.
[76]
In 2006, S. V. Iarov employed this methodology when he focused on citizen adjustment to the new Soviet system. Iarov explored the dwindling labor protests, evolving forms of debate, and varying forms of politicization as a result of the new Soviet rule from 1917 to 1920.
[77]
In 2010, O. S. Nagornaia took interest in the personal experiences of Russian prisoners-of-war taken by
Germany
, examining Russian soldiers and officers' ability to cooperate and implement varying degrees of
autocracy
despite being divided by class, political views, and race.
[78]
Other analyses following this "anthropological turn" have explored texts from soldiers and how they used personal war-experiences to further their political goals,
[79]
as well as how individual life-structure and psychology may have shaped major decisions in the civil war that followed the revolution.
[80]
Western historiography
[
edit
]
During the
Cold War
, Western historiography of the October Revolution developed in direct response to the assertions of the Soviet view. As a result, Western historians exposed what they believed were flaws in the Soviet view, thereby undermining the Bolsheviks' original legitimacy, as well as the precepts of Marxism.
[81]
These Western historians described the revolution as the result of a chain of contingent accidents. Examples of these accidental and contingent factors they say precipitated the Revolution included
World War I
's timing, chance, and the poor leadership of Tsar Nicholas II as well as that of liberal and moderate socialists.
[71]
According to Western historians, it was not popular support, but rather a manipulation of the masses, ruthlessness, and the party discipline of the Bolsheviks that enabled their triumph. For these historians, the Bolsheviks' defeat in the
Constituent Assembly elections
of November?December 1917 demonstrated popular opposition to the Bolsheviks' revolution, as did the scale and breadth of the Civil War.
[82]
Western historians saw the organization of the Bolshevik party as totalitarian. Their interpretation of the October Revolution as a violent coup organized by a totalitarian party which aborted Russia's experiment in democracy.
[83]
Thus, Stalinist totalitarianism developed as a natural progression from
Leninism
and the Bolshevik party's tactics and organization.
[84]
Effect of the dissolution of the Soviet Union on historical research
[
edit
]
The
dissolution of the Soviet Union
affected historical interpretations of the October Revolution. Since 1991, increasing access to large amounts of Soviet archival materials has made it possible to re?examine the October Revolution.
[69]
Though both Western and Russian historians now have access to many of these archives, the effect of the dissolution of the USSR can be seen most clearly in the work of the latter. While the disintegration essentially helped solidify the Western and Revisionist views, post-USSR Russian historians largely repudiated the former Soviet historical interpretation of the Revolution.
[85]
As
Stephen Kotkin
argues, 1991 prompted "a return to political history and the apparent resurrection of totalitarianism, the interpretive view that, in different ways…revisionists sought to bury".
[69]
Legacy
[
edit
]
The October Revolution marks the inception of the first communist government in Russia, and thus the first large-scale and constitutionally ordained
socialist state
in world history. After this, the
Russian Republic
became the
Russian SFSR
, which later became part of the Soviet Union.
The October Revolution also made the ideology of communism influential on a global scale in the 20th century. Communist parties would start to form in many countries after 1917.
Ten Days That Shook the World
, a book written by American journalist
John Reed
and first published in 1919, gives a firsthand exposition of the events. Reed died in 1920, shortly after the book was finished.
Dmitri Shostakovich
wrote his
Symphony No. 2 in B major
, Op. 14, and subtitled it
To October
, for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. The choral finale of the work, "To October", is set to a text by Alexander Bezymensky, which praises Lenin and the revolution. The
Symphony No. 2
was first performed on 5 November 1927 by the
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra
and the Academy Capella Choir under the direction of
Nikolai Malko
.
Sergei Eisenstein
and
Grigori Aleksandrov
's film
October: Ten Days That Shook the World
, first released on 20 January 1928 in the USSR and on 2 November 1928 in New York City, describes and glorifies the revolution, having been commissioned to commemorate the event.
The Hollywood film
,
Reds
,
released in 1981 was based on Reed's account of the October Revolution and featured interviews with historical contemporaries from the period for the film.
[86]
The term "Red October" (Красный Октябрь,
Krasnyy Oktyabr
) has been used to signify the October Revolution. "Red October" was given to a steel factory that was made notable by the
Battle of Stalingrad
,
[87]
a
Moscow sweets factory
that is well known in Russia, and a
fictional Soviet submarine
in both
Tom Clancy
's 1984 novel
The Hunt for Red October
and the
1990 film adaptation of the same name
.
The date 7 November, the anniversary of the October Revolution according to the Gregorian Calendar, was the official
national day
of the Soviet Union from 1918 onward and still is a public holiday in Belarus and the breakaway territory of
Transnistria
. Communist parties both in and out of power celebrate November 7 as the date Marxist parties began to take power.
The Russian Revolution was perceived as a rupture with
imperialism
for various civil rights and
decolonization
struggles and providing a space for
oppressed
groups across the world. This was given further credence with the Soviet Union supporting many
anti-colonial
third world
movements with financial funds against European
colonial
powers.
[88]
See also
[
edit
]
Explanatory notes
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
"Russian Revolution"
.
History Channel
. 20 April 2023
. Retrieved
23 August
2023
.
"Июльский кризис"
[July Crisis].
Nabat
(in Russian). No. 1. September 2000. Archived from
the original
on 20 October 2007
. Retrieved
23 August
2023
– via Azarov.net.
- ^
Head, Michael (12 September 2007).
Evgeny Pashukanis: A Critical Reappraisal
. Routledge. pp. 1?288.
ISBN
978-1-135-30787-5
.
- ^
Shukman, Harold (5 December 1994).
The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution
. John Wiley & Sons. p. 21.
ISBN
978-0-631-19525-2
.
- ^
"Russian Revolution"
.
history.com
. 9 November 2009. Archived from
the original
on 26 August 2023.
- ^
Orlando Figes
,
Section 6: The October Revolution 1917
- ^
a
b
The Russian Revolution
,
britannica.com
- ^
"What Was the Bolshevik Revolution? | AHA"
.
www.historians.org
. Retrieved
1 June
2024
.
- ^
"Russian Revolution, 1917"
.
encyclopedia.ushmm.org
. Retrieved
1 June
2024
.
- ^
"Russian Revolution ? Causes, Timeline & Definition"
.
www.history.com
. Retrieved
15 October
2020
.
- ^
"Russian Revolution | Definition, Causes, Summary, History, & Facts"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
. Retrieved
15 October
2020
.
- ^
Samaan, A.E. (2013).
From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848
. A.E. Samaan. p. 346.
ISBN
978-0615747880
. Retrieved
9 February
2017
.
- ^
"How Germany got the Russian Revolution off the ground"
.
Deutsche Welle
. 7 November 2017.
- ^
a
b
Steinberg, Mark (2017).
The Russian Revolution 1905?1917
. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 143?146.
ISBN
978-0-19-922762-4
.
- ^
Mandel, David (1984).
The Petrograd workers and the Soviet seizure of power : from the July days, 1917 to July 1918
. New York: St. Martin's Press.
ISBN
978-0-312-60395-3
.
OCLC
9682585
.
- ^
Trotsky, Leon (1934).
History of the Russian Revolution
. London: The Camelot Press ltd. pp. 859?864.
- ^
Steinberg, Mark (2017).
The Russian Revolution, 1905?1921
. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 196?197.
ISBN
978-0-19-922762-4
.
OCLC
965469986
.
- ^
Upton, Anthony F. (1980).
The Finnish Revolution: 1917?1918
. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. p. 89.
ISBN
9781452912394
.
- ^
Steinberg, Mark D. (2017).
The Russian Revolution 1905?1921
. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 191, 193?194.
ISBN
9780199227624
.
- ^
Richard Pipes (1990).
The Russian Revolution
. Knopf Doubleday. p. 407.
ISBN
9780307788573
.
- ^
Kort, Michael (1993).
The Soviet colossus : the rise and fall of the USSR
. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. p. 104.
ISBN
978-0-87332-676-6
.
- ^
Michael C. Hickey (2010).
Competing Voices from the Russian Revolution: Fighting Words: Fighting Words
. ABC-CLIO. p. 559.
ISBN
9780313385247
.
- ^
Beckett 2007
, p. 526
- ^
Pipes 1997
, p. 51: "There is no evidence of a Kornilov plot, but there is plenty of evidence of Kerensky's duplicity."
- ^
Service 2005
, p. 54
harvnb error: no target: CITEREFService2005 (
help
)
- ^
"Провозглашена Российская республика"
.
Президентская библиотека имени Б.Н. Ельцина
(in Russian)
. Retrieved
6 November
2021
.
- ^
"Central Committee Meeting?10 Oct 1917"
.
www.marxists.org
.
- ^
Steinberg, Mark (2001).
Voices of the Revolution, 1917
. Binghamton, New York: Yale University Press. p. 170.
ISBN
0300090161
.
- ^
Stephen Cohen,
Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography 1888?1938
(Oxford University Press: London, 1980) p. 46.
- ^
"1917 ? La Revolution Russe"
. Arte TV. 16 September 2007. Archived from
the original
on 1 February 2016
. Retrieved
25 January
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
Suny, Ronald (2011).
The Soviet Experiment
. Oxford University Press. pp. 63?67.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Rabinowitch 2004
, pp. 273?305
- ^
Bard College: Experimental Humanities and Eurasian Studies.
"From Empire To Republic: October 24 ? November 1, 1917"
. Retrieved
24 February
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Beckett 2007
, p. 528
- ^
Rabinowitch 2004
- ^
Lynch, Michael (2015).
Reaction and revolution : Russia 1894?1924
(4th ed.). London: Hodder Education.
ISBN
978-1-4718-3856-9
.
OCLC
908064756
.
- ^
Raul Edward Chao (2016).
Damn the Revolution!
. Washington DC, London, Sydney: Dupont Circle Editions. p. 191.
- ^
"1917 Free History"
.
Yandex Publishing
. Archived from
the original
on 8 November 2017
. Retrieved
8 November
2017
.
- ^
"ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА ? [ Мемуары ] ? Дыбенко П.Е. Из недр царского флота к Великому Октябрю"
.
militera.lib.ru
(in Russian).
- ^
Bryant, Louise (1918).
Six Red Months in Russia: An Observer's Account of Russia Before and During the Proletarian Dictatorship
. New York: George H. Doran Company. pp. 60?61
. Retrieved
5 December
2021
.
- ^
Jonathan Schell, 2003.
'The Mass Minority in Action: France and Russia'.
For example, in
The Unconquerable World.
London: Penguin, pp. 167?185.
- ^
(See a first-hand account by British General
Knox
.)
- ^
Sergei M. Eisenstein; Grigori Aleksandrov (1928).
October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
(Motion picture). First National Pictures.
- ^
Argumenty i Fakty
newspaper
- ^
"The Constituent Assembly"
.
jewhistory.ort.spb.ru
.
- ^
Pipes, Richard (1990).
The Russian Revolution
. New York : Knopf. p. 499.
ISBN
978-0-394-50241-0
.
- ^
Deutscher, Isaac (1954).
The prophet armed: Trotsky, 1879-1921
. New York, Oxford University Press. p. 325.
- ^
Sukhanov, Nikolai Nikolaevich (14 July 2014).
The Russian Revolution 1917: A Personal Record by N.N. Sukhanov
. Princeton University Press. p. 266.
ISBN
978-1-4008-5710-4
.
- ^
Service, Robert (1998). A history of twentieth-century Russia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
ISBN
0-674-40347-9
p. 65
- ^
Reed 1997
, p. 217
- ^
Steinberg, Mark D. (2001).
Voices of Revolution, 1917
. Yale University. p. 251.
ISBN
978-0300101690
.
- ^
Reed 1997
, p. 369
- ^
Reed 1997
, p. 410
- ^
Reed 1997
, p. 565
- ^
a
b
Steinberg, Mark D. (2001).
Voices of Revolution
. Yale University. p. 257.
- ^
Jennifer Llewellyn; John Rae; Steve Thompson (2014).
"The Constituent Assembly"
. Alpha History
. Retrieved
7 March
2022
.
- ^
Figes, 1996.
- ^
Richard Pipes
:
The Russian Revolution
- ^
Kline, George L (1992).
In Defence of Terrorism in The Trotsky reappraisal. Brotherstone, Terence; Dukes, Paul,(eds)
. Edinburgh University Press. p. 158.
ISBN
978-0-7486-0317-6
.
- ^
See
Encyclopedia of Ukraine
online
- ^
Miljan, Toivo. "Historical Dictionary of Estonia." Historical Dictionary of Estonia, Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. 169
- ^
Raun, Toivo U. "The Emergence of Estonian Independence 1917?1920." Estonia and the Estonians, Hoover Inst. Press, 2002, p. 102
- ^
Ward, John (2004).
With the "Die-Hards" in Siberia
. Dodo Press. p. 91.
ISBN
1409906809
.
- ^
"Russian Civil War ? Casualties and consequences of the war"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
.
- ^
Schaufuss, Tatiana (May 1939). "The White Russian Refugees".
The Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science
.
203
.
SAGE Publishing
: 45?54.
doi
:
10.1177/000271623920300106
.
JSTOR
1021884
.
S2CID
143704019
.
- ^
Haller, Francis (8 December 2003).
"Famine in Russia: the hidden horrors of 1921"
.
Le Temps
.
International Committee of the Red Cross
.
- ^
Acton 1997
, p. 5
- ^
Acton 1997
, pp. 5?7
- ^
a
b
c
Kotkin, Stephen (1998). "1991 and the Russian Revolution: Sources, Conceptual Categories, Analytical Frameworks".
The Journal of Modern History
.
70
(2). University of Chicago Press: 384?425.
doi
:
10.1086/235073
.
ISSN
0022-2801
.
S2CID
145291237
.
- ^
Deutscher, Isaac (5 January 2015).
The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky
. Verso Books. p. 1283.
ISBN
978-1-78168-721-5
.
- ^
a
b
c
Acton 1997
, p. 7
- ^
Acton 1997
, p. 8
- ^
Alter Litvin,
Writing History in Twentieth-Century Russia
, (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 49?50.
- ^
Roger Markwick,
Rewriting History in Soviet Russia: The Politics of Revisionist Historiography
, (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 97.
- ^
Markwick, Rewriting History, 102.
- ^
Smith, S. A. (2015). "The historiography of the Russian Revolution 100 Years On".
Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History
.
16
(4): 733?749.
doi
:
10.1353/kri.2015.0065
.
S2CID
145202617
.
- ^
Iarov, S.V. (2006). "Konformizm v Sovetskoi Rossii: Petrograd, 1917?20".
Evropeiskii Dom
(in Russian).
- ^
Nagornaia, O. S. (2010). "Drugoi voennyi opyt: Rossiiskie voennoplennye Pervoi mirovoi voiny v Germanii (1914?1922)".
Novyi Khronograf
(in Russian).
- ^
Morozova, O. M. (2010). "Dva akta dreamy: Boevoe proshloe I poslevoennaia povsednevnost ' veteran grazhdanskoi voiny".
Rostov-on-Don: Iuzhnyi Nauchnyi Tsentr Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk
(in Russian).
- ^
O. M., Morozova (2007). "Antropologiia grazhdanskoi voiny".
Rostov-on-Don: Iuzhnyi Nauchnyi Tsentr RAN
(in Russian).
- ^
Acton 1997
, pp. 6?7
- ^
Acton 1997
, pp. 7?9
- ^
Norbert Francis, "
Revolution in Russia and China
: 100 Years,"
International Journal of Russian Studies
6 (July 2017): 130?143.
- ^
Hanson, Stephen E. (1997).
Time and Revolution: Marxism and the Design of Soviet Institutions
.
University of North Carolina Press
. p. 130.
ISBN
9780807846155
.
- ^
Litvin, Alter, Writing History, 47.
- ^
Berger, Hanno (20 September 2022).
Thinking Revolution Through Film: On Audiovisual Stagings of Political Change
. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 123?130.
ISBN
978-3-11-075470-4
.
- ^
Ivanov, Mikhail (2007).
Survival Russian
. Montpelier, VT: Russian Life Books. p. 44.
ISBN
978-1-880100-56-1
.
OCLC
191856309
.
- ^
Thorpe, Charles (28 February 2022).
Sociology in Post-Normal Times
. Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN
978-1-7936-2598-4
.
General and cited references
[
edit
]
- Acton, Edward (1997).
Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution
.
- Ascher, Abraham (2014).
The Russian Revolution: A Beginner's Guide
. Oneworld Publications.
- Beckett, Ian F. W. (2007).
The Great war
(2 ed.). Longman.
ISBN
978-1-4058-1252-8
.
- Bone, Ann (trans.) (1974).
The Bolsheviks and the October Revolution: Central Committee Minutes of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) August 1917 ? February 1918
. Pluto Press.
ISBN
0-902818546
.
- Bunyan, James;
Fisher, Harold Henry
(1934).
The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917?1918: Documents and Materials
. Palo Alto:
Stanford University Press
.
OCLC
253483096
.
- Chamberlin, William Henry (1935).
The Russian Revolution
. Vol. I: 1917?1918: From the Overthrow of the Tsar to the Assumption of Power by the Bolsheviks.
online vol 1
; also
online vol 2
- Figes, Orlando (1996).
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891?1924
. Pimlico.
ISBN
9780805091311
.
online free to borrow
- Guerman, Mikhail (1979).
Art of the October Revolution
.
- Kollontai, Alexandra
(1971).
"The Years of Revolution"
.
The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman
. New York:
Herder and Herder
.
OCLC
577690073
.
- Krupskaya, Nadezhda
(1930).
"The October Days"
.
Reminiscences of Lenin
. Moscow:
Foreign Languages Publishing House
.
OCLC
847091253
.
- Luxemburg, Rosa
(1940) [1918].
The Russian Revolution
. Translated by
Bertram Wolfe
. New York City: Workers Age.
OCLC
579589928
.
- Mandel, David (1984).
The Petrograd Workers and the Soviet seizure of power
. London: MacMillan.
ISBN
9780312603953
.
- Pipes, Richard (1997).
Three "whys" of the Russian Revolution
.
Vintage Books
.
ISBN
978-0-679-77646-8
.
- Rabinowitch, Alexander (2004).
The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd
.
Pluto Press
.
ISBN
9780745322681
.
- Radek, Karl
(1995) [First published 1922 as "Wege der Russischen Revolution"].
"The Paths of the Russian Revolution"
. In
Bukharin, Nikolai
;
Richardson, Al
(eds.).
In Defence of the Russian Revolution: A Selection of Bolshevik Writings, 1917?1923
. London: Porcupine Press. pp. 35?75.
ISBN
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