Imagine This …

Imagine being in Russia in 1916. The men are off fighting in World War I. They do not have enough guns or supplies. At home, the crops are rotting in the ground. There are not enough people to harvest them. In cities, people wait in long lines for food. There is not enough food to go around.

Now imagine it is 1918. There is a new leader named Vladimir Lenin. He has a plan for peace. He promises to give power to the working classes. Can you see why he brought hope to people in Russia?

The backstory of the Russian Revolution

The 1917 Russian Revolution changed Russia. It can be traced to the 1905 Russian Revolution. People protested the tsar (the emperor of Russia), Nicholas II. This was because he refused to withdraw from a humiliating war with Japan. It ended when the tsar agreed to form a government legislature. It was called the Duma.

The workers organized groups called soviets, which means workers’ groups. They created an identity based on being workers. Russia was a large and diverse country with many ethnic groups. There was very little common “national” identity. Vladimir Lenin wanted to unite workers into one community.

The Russian Revolution of 1917: What happened? Why does it matter?

The revolution began in March 1917. Factory workers and women protested the tsar. They gathered in the capital of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). Nicholas II agreed to step down. He was replaced by the Provisional Committee. It had been created by the Duma.

Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks.¹ They wanted to make Russia a communist nation. They had the support of many people. The Provisional Committee agreed to share power with the Soviet councils.

This was the first phase of the Russian Revolution. The second phase was a struggle between the Provisional Committee and the Bolsheviks.

The Bolsheviks took control in November 1917. They arrested their political opponents. They also pulled Russia out of World War I. But there was a civil war in Russia until 1921. The Bolsheviks were victorious. The Russian people were still suffering. 

Communism is a form of government in which the state controls the economy. Lenin ended the private ownership of land and factories. He wanted everyone to be unified by their class. Everyone would work for the common good of one another.

The revolution reshaped Russia. It also changed the world. It resulted in the first communist country. Communism was a huge political force during the twentieth century. 

After the Russian Revolution

By 1922, Russia’s civil war was over. Russia was now a nation-state. It was now called the Soviet Union (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or U.S.S.R.). Under Lenin, there was more bread and land. There was peace. There was also repression. Lenin died in 1924. He was replaced by Josef Stalin.

There were many challenges for the Communists in the Soviet Union. How would they keep control? How could they unite the country? How would they deal with capitalist countries? These challenges would change world history in the 20th century.

1 The Bolsheviks began as a workers’ party that wanted socialist reforms for Russia. Lenin led this branch of the Socialist Party. He called for the public ownership of the means of production (factories) and the elimination of capitalism, or the private ownership of businesses. The Bolsheviks would later become the Russian Communist Party. Communism is a political ideology that advocates for public (state) control of the economy. In theory, communism calls for the community to own all properties, including businesses, and the people share in the profits based on their contributions and needs.