Russian Revolution
By Achintya and Roshan
A Turbulent Time: The 1905
01 Revolution
02 The First World War and the
Russian Empire
TABLE OF The February Revolution in
CONTENT 03 Petrograd
S
A Turbulent Time: The 1905
Revolution
● Russia was an autocracy. Unlike other European rulers, even at the beginning of the twentieth
century, the Tsar was not subject to parliament. Liberals in Russia campaigned to end this state
of affairs. Together with the Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries, they worked with
peasants and workers during the revolution of 1905 to demand a constitution. They were
supported in the empire by nationalists (in Poland for instance) and in Muslim-dominated areas
by jadidists who wanted modernised Islam to lead their societies.
● The year 1904 was a particularly bad one for Russian workers. Prices of essential goods rose so
quickly that real wages declined by 20 per cent. The membership of workersí associations rose
dramatically. When four members of the Assembly of Russian Workers, which had been formed
in 1904, were dismissed at the Putilov Iron Works, there was a call for industrial action. Over
the next few days over 110,000 workers in St Petersburg went on strike demanding a reduction
in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages and improvement in working conditions
● When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the Winter Palace it was
attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were killed and about 300
wounded. The incident, known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became
known as the 1905 Revolution. Strikes took place all over the country and universities
closed down when student bodies staged walkouts, complaining about the lack of civil
liberties. Lawyers, doctors, engineers and other middle-class workers established the
Union of Unions and demanded a constituent assembly
● During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative
Parliament or Duma. For a brief while during the revolution, there existed a large
number of trade unions and factory committees made up of factory workers. After 1905,
most committees and unions worked unofficially, since they were declared illegal.
Severe restrictions were placed on political activity. The Tsar dismissed the first Duma
within 75 days and the re-elected second Duma within three months. He did not want
any questioning of his authority or any reduction in his power. He changed the voting
laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians. Liberals and
revolutionaries were kept out
IMAGES OF BAD TIMES IN
RUSSIA (1905)
FIRST WORLD WAR
AND THE THE
RUSSIAN EMPIRE
In 1914, war broke out between two
European alliances ñ Germany, Austria and
Turkey (the Central powers) and France,
Britain and Russia (later Italy and Romania).
Each country had a global empire and the
war was fought outside Europe as well as in
Europe. This was the First World War.In
Russia, the war was initially popular and
people rallied around Tsar Nicholas II. As the
war continued, though, the Tsar refused to
consult the main parties in the Duma. Support
wore thin. Anti German sentiments ran high,
as can be seen in the renaming of St
Petersburg a German name as Petrograd.
The Tsarina Alexandraís German origins and
poor advisers, especially a monk called
Rasputin, made the autocracy unpopular
The war also had a severe impact on industry.
Russiaís own industries were few in number and
the country was cut off from other suppliers of
industrial goods by German control of the Baltic
Sea. Industrial equipment disintegrated more
rapidly in Russia than elsewhere in Europe. By
1916, railway lines began to break down. Able-
bodied men were called up to the war. As a result,
there were labour shortages and small workshops
producing essentials were shut down. Large
supplies of grain were sent to feed the army. For
the people in the cities, bread and flour became
scarce. By the winter of 1916, riots at bread shops
were common
The First World War on the eastern frontí differed from that on the
western frontí. In the west, armies fought from trenches stretched
along eastern France. In the east, armies moved a good deal and
fought battles leaving large casualties. Defeats were shocking and
demoralising. Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria
between 1914 and 1916. There were over 7 million casualties by
1917. As they retreated, the Russian army destroyed crops and
buildings to prevent the enemy from being able to live off the land.
The destruction of crops and buildings led to over 3 million refugees
in Russia. The situation discredited the government and the Tsar.
Soldiers did not wish to fight such a war.
The February
Revolution in Petrograd
Right Bank
The right Bank was filled
with factories and worker
quarters.
The Left Bank was filled
with fashionable buildings
like the Winter Palace, and
official buildings, including
the palace where the Duma
met
Left Bank
Causes leading to the rise of
Petrograd Revolution
● In February 1917, food shortages were deeply felt
in the workers quarters.
● On 22 February, a lockout took place at a factory
on the right bank.
● Several workers lost their jobs.
● The next day, workers in fifty factories called a
strike in sympathy.
● In many factories, women led the way to strikes.
This came to be called the International Womenís
Day
● Demonstrating workers crossed from the factory
quarters to the centre of the capital ñ the Nevskii
Prospekt
As the fashionable quarters Demonstrators dispersed by the
Countermeasures by Tsar
and official buildings were evening, but they came back on
the 24th and 25th. The
surrounded by workers, the government called out the
government imposed a cavalry and police to keep an
curfew. eye on them.
On Sunday, 25 February, the
government suspended the
Duma. Politicians spoke out
against the measure.
Demonstrators returned in
force to the streets of the left
bank on the 26th. On the 27th,
the Police Headquarters were
ransacked.
● The streets thronged with people raising
slogans about bread, wages, better hours
and democracy.
● The government tried to control the
situation and called out the cavalry once
again. However, the cavalry refused to
fire on the demonstrators.
● By that evening, soldiers and striking
workers had gathered to form a “soviet”
or “council” in the same building the
Duma met.This was the Petrograd Soviet.
● The very next day, a delegation went to
see the Tsar. Military commanders
advised him to abdicate. He followed
their advice and abdicated on 2 March.
● Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed
a Provisional Government to run the
country.
What will
happen next?
