The Power of One: The Russian Revolution

By Nicole Magie
Why does one revolution in one place in one year matter so much? The Russian Revolution in 1917 not only transformed Russia, but also set the stage for a changing world over the next one hundred years.

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Painted depiction shows a large crowd of people crowded around a person standing on a platform in the middle of an industrial street.

Imagine This …

Imagine being a Russian in 1916. The crops are rotting in the ground because there are too few people to pick them. The men are off fighting in World War I without enough supplies and guns. In the cities, people wait in long lines outside grocery stores. There is not enough food and fuel to go around.

Now imagine it is 1918. The tsar (the emperor of Russia) has been killed. There is a new leader named Vladimir Lenin. He was a member of a socialist political party called the Bolsheviks.1 He has a plan for peace in order to bring the men home from war. He promises to give power to the poor working classes. Do you see why he brought hope to people in Russia?

Photograph of Lenin, standing on a platform, with crowds of people surrounding him as he speaks. The painting used as the cover image looks to be modeled off of this photograph.

Vladimir Lenin giving a speech in Moscow’s Sverdlov Square to the Red Army who were leaving to fight in the Polish-Soviet War, 1920. By Grigory Goldstein, public domain.

The backstory of the Russian Revolution

To understand the 1917 Russian Revolution, we will look back at 1905. Many Russians protested Tsar Nicholas II in the capital of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). This was because he refused to withdraw from a humiliating war with Japan. The tsar’s military forces killed hundreds of protesters on “Bloody Sunday.” This sparked protests and civil war across the country. The tsar ended it by agreeing to form a government assembly called the Duma.

A painting of a snow-covered street, with groups of people on either side. On one side, a uniformed group of people looks to be attacking the people on the other side, many of whom have fallen.

An unknown artist’s impression of Bloody Sunday, 1905. By Ivan Vladimirov, public domain.

During this 1905 civil war, Russian workers organized groups called soviets (workers’ groups). They created a community identity for 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?

Photograph of many women marching down the street, holding up a banner.

Women gathered for International Women’s Day on 8 March 1917 in Petrograd. As more women joined the crowd, they began protesting and demanding bread from the tsar. This date marks the beginning of the Russian Revolution of 1917. By State Museum of Political History of Russia, public domain.

The Russian Revolution began in March 1917. Factory workers and women protested in Petrograd. Some members of the military joined the protesters. The Duma created a Provisional Committee to govern the country.

On March 15, Nicholas II abdicated or gave up his power. The Provisional Committee took control. Many workers supported the Bolsheviks, who were led by Lenin. The committee agreed to share power with the Petrograd Soviet council.

This was the first phase of the Russian Revolution. It is known as the February Revolution (Russia’s calendar differed from the Western calendar). It was followed by conflict between the Duma supporters and the Soviet council.

The Bolsheviks supported communism. The favored a class struggle between the wealthy and the working class. They supported workers as they continued to protest.

A poster of a woman, standing in front of a building with her arm stretched out toward the building. The poster is intended to show “what the October Revolution gave to the female worker and peasant” with answers like “kindergarten” and “library” written on the buildings.

Soviet propaganda poster,1920. Showing “what the October Revolution gave to the female worker and peasant” with answers like “kindergarten” and “library” written on the buildings. Public domain.

In November 1917, the Bolsheviks took control of Petrograd. This was the second phase, called the October Revolution. Lenin took control of the country. The Bolsheviks began arresting political opponents. In March 1918, they pulled Russia out of World War I.

Russia fought a civil war that lasted until 1921. The Bolsheviks defeated the Provisional Committee and other political parties. After so much fighting, the Russian people were still suffering.

The Bolsheviks formed a communist government. Communism is a type of socialism in which the state controls the economy. Lenin ended the private ownership of land and factories. Lenin wanted everyone to be unified by their class. Everyone would work for the common good of everyone in the nation.

The revolution reshaped Russia and the world. It resulted in the first communist nation-state in the world. Communism became a huge political force during the twentieth century.

After the Russian Revolution

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

There were many challenges facing the Soviet Union. How would the Communists maintain power? How could they unite a large and diverse country? How would the Soviet Union deal with capitalist countries? These challenges would change world history during the twentieth century.


1 The Bolsheviks began as a workers’ party that wanted socialist reforms for Russia. Lenin led this branch of the Socialist Party and 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.

Sources

Brenton, Tony. Was Revolution Inevitable?: Turning Points of the Russian Revolution. London: Oxford UP, 2017.

Bulliet, R.W., Crossley, P.K., Headrick, D.R., Hirsch, S.W., Johnson, L.L., Northrup, D. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History (6th ed). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2015.

Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1998.

Marples, David R. Lenin’s Revolution: Russia, 1917-1921. London: Routledge, 2014.

Millar, James R. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Russian History. New York, NY: MacMillan, 2004.

Rappaport, Helen. Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917-A World on the Edge. New York, NY: Macmillan, 2017.

Reiman, M. About Russia, Its Revolutions, Its Development and Its Present. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang AG, 2016.

Smele, Jonathan. The ‘Russian’ Civil Wars, 1916-1926: Ten Years That Shook the World. London: Oxford UP, 2016.

Nicole Magie

Nicole Magie is an Assistant Professor at Olivet College in Michigan. She is also a long-time member of the World History Association and the Midwest World History Association, and has written for World History Connected.

Image credits

Creative Commons This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:

Cover: Russian Revolution of 1917: Lenin speaking to the workers of the Putilov factory, in Petrograd, 1917. Painting by Isaak Brodsky (1883-1939). National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic © Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images.

Vladimir Lenin giving a speech in Moscow’s Sverdlov Square to the Red Army who were leaving to fight in the Polish-Soviet War, 1920. By Grigory Goldstein, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lenin_Speech_in_May_1920_(cropped).png

An unknown artist’s impression of Bloody Sunday, 1905. By Ivan Vladimirov, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Russian_Revolution,_1905_Q81561.jpg#/media/File:The_Russian_Revolution,_1905_Q81561.jpg

Women gathered for International Women’s Day on 8 March 1917 in Petrograd. As more women joined the crowd, they began protesting and demanding bread from the tsar. This date marks the beginning of the Russian Revolution of 1917. By State Museum of Political History of Russia, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1917_International_Women%27s_Day_-_Petrograd.jpg#

Soviet propaganda poster, 1920. Showing “what the October Revolution gave to the female worker and peasant” with answers like “kindergarten” and “library” written on the buildings. Public domain. https://no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:SovietWoman1920.jpg


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