The February/March revolution of 1917 Flashcards
Who is Leon Trotsky?
Exiled to Serbia in 1898, for his involvement in radical groups and studied the work of Marx and Lenin there. In 1902, he escaped.
He went to London, met Lenin and returned to found the St Petersburg Soviet in 1905. After 15 months in prison, he escaped in 1907, travelled, and was in the USA in 1917 at the time of the first revolution. He returned to Russia in May, became a Bolshevik, chaired the Petrograd Soviet and organised the Military Revolutionary Committee which he used to plan the Bolshevik takeover in October. He became Commissar for Foreign Affairs. In 1929, he was expelled from the party by Stalin and murdered by a Stalinist agent in Mexico City in 1940.
Who was Aleksandra Kollontai?
Aleksandra Kollontai came from an aristocratic background. She studied Marx, took part in the Bloody Sunday march in 1905 and joined the Bolsheviks in 1914. She was exiled but returned from the USA in March 1917, only to be arrested after the July Days.
In government, Kollontai fought for the simplification of marriage and divorce, losing some favour with Lenin, but she later became a prominent political figure under Stalin.
What is La Marseillaise?
The French National Anthem, derived from the singing of the soldiers from Marseilles as they went to war on behalf of revolutionary France; to sing it is to show support for the ideals of the French Revolution - ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’.
Who are the Cossacks?
People of Ukraine and Southern Russia, noted for their horsemanship and military skill, who formed military units and were fiercely loyal to the Tsar
Who were the mutineers?
Many of those ordered to shoot the demonstrators were themselves of peasant or worker background. They were the young and newly enlisted, and had joined the Petrograd garrison to await the dreaded call to proceed to the front line. Furthermore their junior officers included men from the middle - ranking ‘intellectual’ class, rather than from the traditional ‘noble’ background. These were men who had joined the army from a sense of patriotism inspired by war. Their sympathies, like the sympathies of those they commanded, lay with the masses.
Which major Bolshevik leaders were absent during the popular rising that they had long campaigned for?
the Social Democrats
Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov were in Zurich
Leon Trotsky was in New York.
Viktor Chernov of the Social Revolutionary Party was in Paris.
What was the revolutionary opposition?
Soviet historians (writing after the Bolsheviks came to power), interpreted the events of February 1917 as the result of the inevitable class struggle between the bourgeoisie-proletarian forces on one side and traditional aristocratic forces on the urban workers in St Petersburg. Since they could not point to direct Bolshevik leadership (as the leaders were either in prison or exile), they preferred to accept the idea of a spontaneous rising driven by the oppressed working class.
Who was Victor Chekov?
Victor Chekov had been attracted to the Populist cause and became engaged in revolutionary activity as a teenager. In 1894 he joined People’s Will and was arrested, spending some time in exile. He travelled to Switzerland in 1899 and was to provide much of the intellectual input into the founding of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1901. He went on to become the leader of the Socialist Revolutionaries in the Second Duma of 1907 and was Minister of Agriculture in the Provisional Government of 1917. After the Bolsheviks came to power, he settled in the USA.
What were the Soviets?
Soviets had appeared in Russia during the revolution of 1905 and were literally ‘councils’. They were not necessarily supportive of any one particular party and it was not originally a political term. Following the revolution of February/March 1917, soviets sprang up in many cities and towns, but that in Petrograd, often known simply as ‘The Soviet’, was the most important.
What did the Petrograd Soviet agree to after pressure from the soldiers, and from mutineers at the Kronstadt naval base?
That each regiment should elect committees and send representatives to the Soviet. The ‘Order No. 1’ - a charter of soldiers’ rights was produced on 1st of March
What is the Kronstadt naval base?
The headquaters of the Russian Baltic Fleet
What did the Soviet Order Number 1 promise?
All units to elect a deputy to the Soviet and agree to the political control of the Petrograd Soviet.
The Military Commission of the Duma to be obeyed, only if it agreed with the Soviet’s orders.
All weapons to be controlled by elected soldiers’ committiees - not officers.
All soldiers to enjoy full citizens’ rights when off duty - for example, no requirement to salute or stand to attention.
No honorific titles to be used for officers - only Mr General, Mr Colonel, etc.
Officers were not to address soldiers in the ‘ty’ form.
Who was the Tsar under pressure from, to resign from the military?
Chief of General Staff, General Alexeev.
