Key Events 1917

Question 1

The Feb Rev

Answer 1

• 23 Feb 1917 (International Women’s Day)
• 1000s of women march demanding equal rights and bread
• Joined by 100,000 workers
• 25 Feb 1917: 300,000 workers on strike
• 26 Feb 1917: Tsar orders protesters to be dealt with. General Khabolov orders troops to fire. 100s dead.
• 27 Feb 1917: protesters gather again and the Petrograd Garrison mutinies after being ordered to shoot.
• 28 Feb 1917: A Dual Authority between PS and PC

Question 2

Tsar Abdication

Answer 2

• 1 March 1917: attempts to return to Petrograd via rail but is diverted
• 2 March 1917: abdicates in favour of brother Grand Duke Mikhail
• 3 March 1917: Mikhail declines position

Question 3

The Provisional Government

Answer 3

• 2 March 1917
• Renames itself the Provisional Government
• Prince Lvov appoint Minister-President
  Promises to organise Constituent Assembly elections later in the year
• In March, release populaist decrees (8 hour work day, unions legalised, Okhrana abolished, freedom of speech and press)
• Still the issue of peace, bread, and land
• “The Soviet had power without authority… the Provisional Government authority without power.” (Kerensky)

Question 4

The Provisional Committee

Answer 4

• 27 Feb 1917
• 12 former Duma ministers
• Met in left wing of Tauride palace
• Aim was to control crowds and protect Petrograd
• Majority were Kadets
• Renamed Provisional Government on the 2nd

Question 5

Petrograd Soviet

Answer 5

• 27 Feb 1917
• Soldiers, sailors, workers
• SRs and Mensheviks
• Met in right wing of Tauride palace
• Aim was for soldier/worker’s rights
• Wanted elections and representative assembly

Question 6

Soviet Order No. 1

Answer 6

• 1 March 1917
• Would agree to support P.C. only if Soviets remained in control of military
• And if P.C. orders did not contradict soldier/worker’s rights
• Feb-April 1917: mostly cooperated

Question 7

Lenin’s Return

Answer 7

• 3 April 1917

- Negotiated with Germans to go back to Russia via rail

Question 8

The April Theses

Answer 8

• 7 April 1917
• Calls the P.G. “parliamentary bourgeois”
• Claims only the Soviets can be the true government
• Refuses Bolshevik cooperation
• Must aim for International Socialist Revolution via soviets
• “Peace! Bread! Land!”
• “All Power to the Soviets!”
• Public still sided with the P.G.

Question 9

The July Days

Answer 9

• 2-6 July 1917
• Bolsheviks attempt “a classic coup d’etat” (Pipes)
• 2nd: Trotsky calls for power to be given to Soviet
• Sailors and Bolsheviks protest against PG
• Lenin and the Bols. call for overthrow of the PG
• 6th: Kerensky orders arrest of Bols. For treason
• Lenin escapes to Finland
• Pravda banned and Bols. seen as traitors

Question 10

The Kornilov Affair

Answer 10

• 18 July 1917: Kornilov appointed supreme Commander of Russian Army
• V.N. Lvov misinterpreted Kerensky and Kornilov
• Kornilov thought - Kerensky wanted him to be dictator
  Kerensky thought Kornilov was demanding a dictatorship
• 27 Aug 1917: Kerensky dismisses Kornilov
• Kornilov thought there was a Bols. Coup and ordered troops to march on Petrograd
• Kerensky, in fear, released Bols. From prison, armed them and asked them to defend Petrograd
• Kornilov was stopped by railway workers
• Bols. Seen as heroes and win majority of seats in the Moscow Soviet (19 Sept 1917)

Question 11

The Assault on the Winter Palace

Answer 11

• 25-26 Oct 1917
• After armed attacks on the night of the 25th taking control of key buildings
• Capture palace at 2:00am

Question 12

2nd All Russian Congress

Answer 12

• 25 Oct 1917
• Martov denounces Bols.
• Trotsky to Martov: “go back where you ought to go; to the dustbin of history!”
• Mens. and SRs leave
• Only Bols. and left SRs remain
• 26th 3:00am: Vote held to give all power to the Soviets

Question 13

Sovnarkom

Answer 13

• 27 Oct 1917

- Soviet government led by the Bols.