The Bourgeois February Revolution

In 1914 the Russian Empire joined World War I. Neither the economy nor the army were ready to face the German army. After a series of defeats, in 1916 the Tsar himself took control of the army. This was his biggest mistake. From this moment on, everybody blamed him for the continuous and bloody defeats, the terrible conditions suffered by the soldiers at the front, and the shortages at home’

In February 1917 riots broke out in Petrograd. The Tsar lost support and control: his soldiers refused to fire on the mobs or deserted to join the rioting workers. In March the Tsar gave up the throne (abdicated) and a provisional government was formed under the leadership of Kerensky. A republic was declared.

The provisional government made promises to begin political and social reforms. Yet, on the other hand, they also kept Russia in the war in spite of the fact that most of the Russian population, especially the February protesters, were against the war

This government faced opposition from the revolutionaries, who wanted power for themselves. Among them was the SDLP (Social Democratic Labour Party), a Marxist party: – they wanted to set up a communist state based on the ideas of the 19th century political thinker Karl Marx. – The party split into Bolsheviks (the majority) who wanted a small party and were led by Lenin; and Mensheviks (the minority) led by Martov, who wanted a mass party.

The soviets were dominated by the revolutionaires.

Disputes inside the government and the army led to a coup by general Kornilov. These problems caused a new wave of strikes and demonstrations in July 1917, which were harshly repressed by Kerensky’s government. The new government was repressing workers much like the previous government had done.