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Coinciding with the rise of Petrograd’s political parties was social and economic turmoil throughout Russia and its subjects. By and large, the Russian industry was doing well (although it was largely financed by German bankers), but the workers were poorly paid in comparison to workers in other European nations. The living conditions were sometimes atrocious, and resentment was growing. Everything came to a brief, but pointed head in 1905, when restless civilians who demonstrated against the regime were brutally put down in an act which became monikered as ‘Bloody Sunday.’ Out of this rose the first State Duma, which Nicholas II allowed only reluctantly and dissolved soon afterwards once it became clear that it was too radical and too contradictory to his own designs. A second was established only to also be hastily dissolved.
A few years passed with only a few murmurings of discontent until The Great War arrived in 1914. In some ways it had its advantages to Nicholas and the ruling power; it promoted togetherness and patriotism, as everybody fought as one against the Central Powers. The production of armaments meant that the industry didn’t suffer as much as people had expected. As an overall effect, though, the Great War only served to weaken Nicholas II’s position, and accelerate a revolution. The Great War, as inevitable as it was throughout Europe, was the worst thing that could have happened to all the ruling powers, despite their own actions instigating it.
The war was mishandled in a few ways by Nicholas II. For him, it was as much about expansion as it was about defence. The socialists decried the war as an ‘imperial conflict’, claiming it was a wretched result of several capitalist nations competing with one another to gobble up the globe. The war, for the socialists as it was for many, presented an opportunity to put a stop to the expansive mindsets of the great powers. It was a chance for revolution, and for the working class to cure capitalism’s innate sickness. Had the fourth State Duma discovered the tsars secretive plans to continue expansion even during the conflict, they would never have thrown their weighty support behind the war effort.
The economy suffered as a result of mismanagement during the war. The government printed off roubles in a bid to sustain the economy, but this only resulted in rapid inflation, with wages not being able to keep pace. Sanitation and housing fell into ruin, with soldiers complaining about harsh, unjust military treatment that was damaging morale on the front. Unemployment rose sharply. By February 26th 1917, virtually all of Petrograd was on strike. The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were sniffing around the political and social debris, imbued with the idea that the monarchy could be overthrown.
On March 2nd, Nicholas II abdicated suddenly. A Provisional Government, led by the Kadets, was formed a day later, but even they continued the monarchy’s expansionist aims. The Mensheviks, who wanted Russia to only defend her borderlands, soon found this out and a new cabinet was set up, with the previous members resigning in shame. The Provisional Government made promises that elections would be held for a Constituent Assembly, and that all adults over 21 could vote. Ruling wasn’t easy; the economy and society continued to suffer, war continued to ravage, people were still miserable, which meant that a change in the guard was hardly felt. The Provisional Government, made up of a few parties, was also divided on numerous issues, including the right of national self-determination. The Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries wanted nations like Ukraine to establish their own government, but the Kadets disagreed.
Kerenski eventually took charge, but he soon resorted to heavy cocaine use after finding it an arduous, virtually impossible task. Unemployment was escalating, with no state welfare to protect those out of work. The war was still raging. People feared that bread and potatoes would soon be unavailable. There was so much for Kerensky and his government to think about that the Bolsheviks, the most individual, troublesome, and confrontational of all socialist parties, had practically been forgotten about. The Bolsheviks were there, watching and waiting.
The Bolsheviks were a different animal to any other socialist party. Led by Lenin, they were uncompromising, refusing to cooperate with any other party. They didn’t want to share power with the Mensheviks, the Socialist Revolutionaries, or the Kadets. Their principles, thoughts and methods were fearsome, with virtually all their leading members former criminals who had served time in Siberia for political agitation. They watched the Provisional Government’s struggles, with Lenin directing constant sniping at the clearly fallible and increasingly flustered Kerenski. Workers began to revolt, taking their bosses captive in some quarters, and a third coalition was formed in September to help quell the unrest. This coalition comprised just 7 socialists, with the rest made up of liberals. This meant that the radical social and economic reforms that had once been at the forefront of the Provisional Government dissipated.
Lenin, who was holed up in Finland, declared that the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries had, by conspiring with liberals, become agents of capitalism. The Provisional Government was to him little different to the monarchy. He returned to Petrograd and convinced his party that they could seize power in light of the fragility of the Provisional Government. He wanted the Bolsheviks alone to be in control, and, as impatient as he was, he wanted the takeover to be swift, fearing that other socialists might seize power first.
The Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks on 25 October 1917. It was rapid, smooth and happened under the noses of the Petrograd civilians, who went about their business like any other day. The insurgents were met with little resistance as they took Winter Palace, with Lenin barely believing his own luck as he took power. The Red Guards, following Trotsky’s orders, trapped Kerenski and his ministers in Winter Palace; they seized the railway stations and took the post offices. Lenin’s plan was to take power before the Congress of Soviets, as he sensed his party would not gain a clear majority. As it happened, the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries were so incensed by this ploy that they denounced the days events as a coup d’etat and walked out of the Congress. This walkout left the Bolsheviks as the clear winners. There were still a few teething snags; the Railwaymen’s Union threatened to go on strike, and a few party members were prepared to leave unless the Bolsheviks formed a coalition with the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries; but these two parties refused to have anything to do with the Bolsheviks, which meant there was nothing left but for the Bolsheviks to assume complete power. As revolutions go, the Russian revolution was bloodless, but that was certainly not a sign for the bloodletting and violence that was to follow over the next few years.]]>
