Looking Back at History: The Russian Revolution

My first fascination with the Russian Revolution began after watching Warren Beatty's epic film Reds, which is now one of my favorite films. The film centers around John Reed, a passionate American journalist, who covered the Bolshevik Revolution in his book, Ten Days that Shook the World. I was inspired not only by the passionate character of John Reed, yet more-so the actual event of the Revolution. An event where the people were able to successfully unite, bring down the unfair autocracy, and establish a new government of the people. Today we live in such simple times, and I could hardly imagine what it was like for those Russians to experience such a radical and sudden change in government...


The History

• Bloody Sunday (1905): At the start of the 20th century workers began to organize Socialist and Marxist parties to oppose the Russian Empire lead by Czar Nicholas II. On January 22 1905, a group of demonstrators marched to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to deliver a petition to the czar. The troops guarding the palace opened fired on the demonstrators, killing over 100 people. This tragic massacre became known as Bloody Sunday, and the beginning of the Russian Revolution.

• October Manifesto (1905): Following Bloody Sunday, strikes and riots began to spread throughout Russia and in order to avoid total chaos Czar Nicholas passed the October Manifesto. It granted basic civil rights, formed new political parties, and established the Duma as the central legislative body. This was still not enough for the radical socialists, and an uprising began on November 1905, led by Pytor Shdmit. The uprising lasted for nearly a month until the imperial troops were able to squash the resistance.

• The Rise of the Bolsheviks (1907-1912): On June 16, 1907 Czar Nicholas II did away with the State Duma and once again made himself absolute leader. The revolution had come to an end, yet political terrorism was on the rise led by the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. In late 1912 the Bolsheviks broke away from the Mensheviks and elected Vladimir Lenin as their new leader.

• World War I (1914): Russia became a key part of the Triple Entente against Germany and the Central Powers. Yet after three years of war, the Russians began to suffer from scarce commodities and serious famine. They once again pointed their fingers at Czar Nicholas II and blamed him for his incompetence.

• February Revolution (1917): At the beginning of February 1917 workers began to strike and protest in the streets. It wasn't long until the military joined their cause and turned away from the war. Unable to control the chaos in the streets, Czar Nicholas II abdicated his throne on March 2, 1917, and gave control to a new provisional government.

• October Revolution (1917): In April of 1917, Vladimir Lenin returned from exile to undermine the newly established Provisional Government. He came to prominence withing the country after he published his April Thesis, crying out against the war, and explaining his communist ideology. During this period the Bolshevik party grew vast in numbers and were soon joined by other leftist parties and leaders, such as Leon Trotsky. On October 23, 1917 the Bolsheviks began with an uprising in the city of Tallinn and two days later in the city of St. Petersburg. With hardly any opposition the Bolsheviks were able to take control of the Winter Palace on October 25, 1917.

• Decree on Peace and Land (1917): Following the fall of the Winter Palace, the congress ratified the old constitution and gave full power to the Bolsheviks. Vladimir Lenin was chosen as the leader of the new Russia and passed the Decree on Peace and the Decree on Land to favor the peasants and workers... The new government had all the Russians banks nationalized, The Soviets took control of the factories, Private bank accounts were confiscated, The Church's property was seized, Wages were fixed higher, work days were made shorter, and all foreign debt was repudiated...

• And so came the end of the Revolution and the beginning of the Civil War...