October Revolution in Russia

The „February Revolution“ of 1917 ended Tsarist rule in Russia but did not solve the country’s crushing political and social problems. The country is still embroiled in a war. On the political level the parliament (Duma) with its provisional government under the leadership of Alexandr Kerenski exist side-by-side with the so-called workers’ and soldiers’ councils and their executive committees. The country’s future constitution is to be decided by a constitutional assembly which is to be elected on 25 November 1917. The provisional government is not ready for peace negotiations with the German Reich and its allies.

© AdsD Guards in front of the Smolny Institute; the building was chosen by Lenin as Bolshevik headquarters during the October Revolution

The Bolshevist (Communist) party is divided over whether it should participate at all in the elections planned for the end of November or set its sights on a violent upheaval. After heated debates Vladimir I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky finally prevail with the latter objective: On the night of 7 November or 25 October 1917 – according to the Gregorian calendar used in Russia until 1918 – an uprising known as the „October Revolution“ breaks out in St. Petersburg. Bolshevist troops, supported by sailors from Kronstadt, occupy strategically significant positions in the city and the Winter Palace, seat of the provisional government. Kerenski’s government capitulates. Just days afterward the „Pan-Russian Soviet Congress“, a central workers’ and soldiers’ council in which the Bolshevists had not previously held a majority, is convened in St. Petersburg. To protest the violent putsch by the Bolshevists, many representatives, among them the Mensheviks (Social Democrats), leave the assembly hall. At first, the „October Revolution“ secures the Bolsheviks associated with Lenin and Trotsky a power base only in St. Petersburg. Nevertheless, it is the decisive step on the long way to Communist rule in Russia. Its immediate result is years of gruesome civil war („Reds“ against „Whites“).