1917 onwards- oxford textbook Flashcards
how many workers demonstrated on bloody sunday in january 1917?
150,000
what happened on international women’s day?
•90,000 workers are on strike and 50 factories close
•workers join the march
•roughly 240,000 on the streets
•order is restored by the police in the evening
what happens on the 27th of febuary 1917?
•the soldiers mutiny and a sergeant shoots his commanding officer dead
•66,000 soldiers mutiny
•the duma holds a meeting and sets up a 12 man provisional committee to take over the government
•revolutionaries set up the petrograd soviet
what happened to the tsar after the febuary 1917 revolution?
he was abdicated and his family put on house arrest
what was the state of government after 1917 called?
the dual power system
what were the two sides of the dual power system?
•the provisional government
•the petrograd soviet
what was the provisional government?
a cross section of influential elites which was initially meant to be temporary
what was the petrograd soviet?
viewed as the ‘democratic organisation’
•dominated by mensheviks and social revolutionaries
•it lacked the confidence needed to assume direct control
what were the provisional governments promises?
•general amnesty for political prisoners
•basic civil liberties
•the abolition of legal disabilities based on class, religion and nationality
•the right to organise trade unions and to strike
•that a constituent assembly would be elected
what else did the provisional government allow?
•freedom of religion and the press
•abolished the death penalty at the front
•replaced the tsarist police force with a people’s milita
•dismissed provincial governors, giving their work to the elected zemstva
what did the soviets ‘order No.1’ essentially say?
that the soldiers and workers should obey the provisional government, but only when the soviet agreed with their decisions
an example of disagreements between the PG and the PS
•the PG tried to discipline and restore order in towns and countrysides, but the soviet encourages peasants and workers to defy authority and assert their ‘rights’
what were the july days?
street riots that broke out in july 1917
what was the kornilov affair?
•kornilov ordered six regiments of troops to march on petrograd- presumably intending to crush the soviet and establish a military dictatorship
•this coup failed when kerensky panicked and released imprisoned bolsheviks and provided the soviet with weapons
•kornilov’s supply lines were cut and the coup leaders arrested
by the summer of 1917 what was support like for the provisional government? and why?
•there was little support left
•food supplies were low, eight hour working days, real wages fell rapidly as prices rose
what were the prices like in january/ october 1917 compared to 1914?
•in january 1917 prices were 300% of the 1914 levels
•by october they were 755%
why were the hopes of workers dashed in august 1917?
•the right of factory workers to dismiss workers who went on strike was confirmed
•meetings of factory committees during working hours were forbidden
why did the government lose support in the countryside?
due to the continuation of war and the governments failure to redistribute land
•the peasants seized land anyway
what date did lenin return?
he returned from switzerland on the 3rd of april 1917
who helped lenin back into russia?
the germans, who expected him to seize power and make peace
what did lenin’s ‘april theses’ demand?
•power should be transferred to the soviets
•the war should be brought to an immediate end
•all land should be taken over by the state and re-allocated to peasants by local soviets
what were lenin’s demands summed up as?
‘peace, bread and land’
what were lenin’s views on the provisional government?
he stressed a policy of non-cooperation with them, giving rise to a motto ‘all power to the soviets’
what were some reactions to lenin’s return?
•the bolsheviks feared that lenin’ had grown out of touch and that his radical proposals would do more harm than good
•people thought his plan to oppose the provisional government was unrealistic as the bolsheviks were still a minority
•the bolsheviks were divided on whether to cooperate with the provisional government or not