Results of the February Revolution of 1917. February Revolution: causes, participants and events

The approach of the revolutionary crisis hastened. Having lost 6 million people in a war that lasted more than two and a half years, Russia was a country with a war-weary people, a destroyed economy, fuel and food hunger, a disordered financial system and a huge foreign debt.

The difficult economic situation prompted the government to involve bourgeoisie. Numerous committees and bourgeois unions appeared, the purpose of which was to provide assistance to those affected during the war. Military-industrial committees dealt with issues of defense, fuel, transport, food, etc.

A “ministerial leapfrog” began - six months before the start of the revolution, three Chairmen of the Council of Ministers, two Ministers of Internal Affairs, and four Ministers of Agriculture were replaced. A harmful influence dominated the royal family G. Rasputin, which caused discontent both among liberals and among the upper strata of society. All these facts were components of the “crisis at the top.” The inability of the bourgeoisie to govern the country became obvious.

At the beginning of 1917, the level of the strike movement reached a critical point. In January-February 1917, 676 thousand workers went on strike, making mainly (95% of strikes) political demands. The growth of the workers' and peasants' movement showed "the reluctance of the lower classes to live in the old way."

February 14 at the Tauride Palace A demonstration took place demanding that deputies of the State Duma create a “government of people’s salvation.” At the same time, the Bolsheviks, calling on the workers for a one-day general strike, brought 90 thousand people onto the streets of Petrograd. The revolutionary explosion was facilitated by the introduction of rationing for bread, which caused its rise in price and panic among the population. February 22 Nicholas II went to Mogilev, where his Headquarters was located. On February 23, the Vyborg and Petrograd sides went on strike, and pogroms of bakeries and bakeries began in the city.

The Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries united to jointly lead the revolutionary uprising.

With the slogans “Down with autocracy!”, “Down with war!”, “Bread!” demonstrators moved to the city center. More than 300 thousand people took part in the strike. On February 26, troops opened fire on demonstrators on Nevsky Prospekt.

Success of the revolution began to depend on whose side the Petrograd garrison would take. On the morning of February 26, soldiers of the Volyn, Preobrazhensky and Lithuanian regiments joined the rebels; they captured the armory and arsenal.

Political prisoners held in the Kresty prison were released. By the end of the day, most of the units of the Petrograd garrison had gone over to the side of the rebels.

The corps directed to suppress the demonstrators under the command of N.I. Ivanov was disarmed on the outskirts of the city. Without waiting for support and realizing the futility of resistance, on February 28, all other troops led by the commander of the military district, General S.S. The Khabalovs surrendered.

The rebels established control over the most important objects in the city.

On the morning of February 27 members of the “working group” under the Central Military-Industrial Committee announced the creation of a “Provisional Executive Committee of the Councils of Workers’ Deputies” and called for the election of representatives to the Council.

Nicholas II from Headquarters tried to break through to Tsarskoye Selo. In a situation of a developing revolutionary crisis, the emperor was forced to sign a manifesto abdicating the throne for himself and his young son Alexei in favor of his brother, Mikhail Alekseevich Romanov. However, Mikhail renounced the throne, declaring that the issue of power should be decided by the Constituent Assembly.

Along with his abdication, Nicholas II signed a decree on the formation of a new government. He appointed Prince G.E. as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Lvov. On March 4, documents on the abdication and transfer of power to the Provisional Government were published. Autocracy in Russia fell.

In 1917, the autocratic system that had existed for several centuries collapsed in Russia. This event had a huge impact on the fate of Russia and the whole world.

Russia and World War

In the summer of 1914, Russia found itself drawn into a world war with Germany and its allies.

The Fourth State Duma unconditionally supported the government. She called on the people to rally around Nicholas II - “their sovereign leader.” All political parties, with the exception of the Bolsheviks, put forward the slogan of defense of their fatherland. The liberals, led by Miliukov, abandoned their opposition to tsarism during the war and put forward the slogan: “Everything for the war! Everything for victory!”

The people initially supported the war. However, gradually failures at the fronts began to cause anti-war sentiment.

Growing crisis

The civil peace that all parties except the Bolsheviks called for did not last long. The deterioration of the economic situation of the people, which is inevitable in any war, caused open discontent. A wave of demonstrations with demands to improve their financial situation swept across the country. When dispersing demonstrations, troops used weapons (in Kostroma, Ivanovo-Voznesensk, etc.). Protests against the executions provoked new mass repressions by the authorities.

The opposition actions of the Duma in August 1915 displeased the Tsar. The Duma was dissolved ahead of schedule for the holidays. A political crisis began in the country.

In 1915, an economic crisis was brewing in Russia. Oil and coal production fell, and a number of industrial sectors reduced production. Due to a lack of fuel, wagons and locomotives, the railways could not cope with transportation. In the country, especially in large cities, cases of shortages of bread and food have become more frequent.

47% of able-bodied men from the village were drafted into the army. The government requisitioned 2.5 million horses for military needs. As a result, the area under cultivation has sharply decreased and yields have decreased. The lack of transport made it difficult to transport food to the cities in a timely manner. Prices for all types of goods grew rapidly in the country. The rise in prices quickly outpaced the rise in wages.

Tension grew in both the city and the countryside. The strike movement revived. The devastation of the village awakened the peasant movement.

Signs of collapse

The internal political situation in the country was unstable. Only six months before the February Revolution of 1917. - three chairmen of the Council of Ministers and two ministers of internal affairs were replaced. The adventurer, “friend” of the royal family, “holy elder” Grigory Rasputin enjoyed unquestioned authority at the top.

Rasputin (real name Novykh) appeared in St. Petersburg in 1905, where he made acquaintances in high society. Possessing the gift of hypnosis, knowing the properties of medicinal herbs, Rasputin, thanks to his ability to stop bleeding in the heir to the throne Alexei, who was sick with hemophilia (blood incoagulability disease), gained enormous influence on the Tsar and Tsarina.

In 1915-1916 Rasputin achieved enormous influence on state affairs. “Rasputinism” was an expression of the extreme decay and decline of morals of the ruling elite. In order to save the monarchy, a conspiracy against Rasputin arose in the highest government circles. In December 1916 he was killed.

By the beginning of 1917, Russia was in a state of revolutionary crisis.

Uprising in Petrograd

The February Revolution broke out unexpectedly for all political parties. It began on February 23, when about 130 thousand workers took to the streets of Petrograd shouting: “Bread!”, “Down with the war!” Over the next two days, the number of strikers increased to 300 thousand (30% of all Petrograd workers). On February 25, the political strike became general. Demonstrators with red banners and revolutionary slogans from all over the city walked towards the center. The Cossacks sent to disperse the processions began to go over to their side.

On February 26, Sunday, the workers, as in previous days, moved from the outskirts to the city center, but were met with rifle volleys and machine-gun fire. The decisive day of the revolution was February 27, when first the Volyn regiment, and then other military units, went over to the side of the workers. The workers, together with the soldiers, captured the train stations, freed political prisoners from prisons, took possession of the Main Artillery Directorate, the arsenal and began to arm themselves.

At this time, Nicholas II was at Headquarters in Mogilev.

To suppress the uprising, he sent troops loyal to him to the capital, but on the approaches to Petrograd they were stopped and disarmed. The Tsar left Mogilev, intending to return to the capital. However, having heard that revolutionary detachments had appeared on the railways, he ordered a turn to Pskov, to the headquarters of the Northern Front. Here, at Dno station, on March 2, Nicholas II signed the Manifesto abdicating the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail. But Michael also abdicated the throne the next day.

Thus, in a matter of days, the 300-year-old autocracy of the Romanov dynasty collapsed.

Establishment of dual power

Even before the overthrow of tsarism, on February 25-26, workers of a number of factories in Petrograd, on their own initiative, began elections of Soviets of Workers' Deputies. On February 27, the Petrograd Soviet (Petrosoviet) was created, which immediately refused any compromises with the autocracy.

He appealed to the population of Russia with a request to support the labor movement, form local cells of power and take all matters into their own hands. The Petrograd Soviet adopted a number of important decisions that strengthened revolutionary power: on the creation of workers' militia at enterprises; about sending commissars to the city districts to organize Soviets there; on control over government institutions; on the publication of the official printed organ “Izvestia of the Petrograd Soviet”. 

Along with the Petrograd Soviet, another government arose in the country - the Provisional Government, consisting of cadets and Octobrists. In the first weeks, the Provisional Government carried out a broad democratization of society: political rights and freedoms were proclaimed, national and religious restrictions were abolished, an amnesty was declared, the police were abolished, and the arrest of Nicholas II was authorized. Immediate preparations began for the convening of a Constituent Assembly, which was to establish “the form of government and constitution of the country.” Therefore, the Provisional Government initially enjoyed the support of the population.

Thus, as a result of the February Revolution, a dual power was formed in the country: the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. At the same time, it was an interweaving of two political directions. The Provisional Government was the power of the bourgeoisie, the Petrograd Soviet - the proletariat and peasantry. Real power was in the hands of the Petrograd Soviet, which was dominated by the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. The dual power was especially clearly manifested in the army, the mainstay of power: the command staff recognized the power of the Provisional Government, and the vast majority of the soldiers recognized the power of the Soviets.

Meanwhile, the war continued, the economic situation in the country was increasingly deteriorating. The delay in reforms and elections to the Constituent Assembly, the indecisiveness of the Provisional Government - all this made popular the slogan of transferring power to the Soviets. In addition, the masses, due to their inexperience in political activity, gravitated not towards parliamentary, but towards “forceful” methods of struggle.

On the way to the October Revolution

The victory of the February Revolution made it possible for revolutionaries who were in exile or exile to return to Petrograd. At the beginning of April, Lenin, Zinoviev and others returned to Russia. Lenin gave a speech to the Bolsheviks known as the April Theses. The main points that he put forward boiled down to the following: it is impossible to end the imperialist, predatory war waged by the Provisional Government in peace without the overthrow of capital. Therefore, we must move from the first stage of the revolution, which gave power to the bourgeoisie, to the second stage, which will give power to the workers and poor peasants. Hence - no support for the Provisional Government. Councils of workers' deputies are the only possible form of revolutionary government. Not a parliamentary republic, but a Republic of Soviets. It is necessary to nationalize (transfer into state ownership) all lands, and all banks should be merged into one national one. Thus, the Bolsheviks set a course for the implementation of a socialist revolution.

In August 1917, the Soviets suppressed an attempt by right-wing forces to establish a military dictatorship with the help of General L. Kornilov. This further strengthened the authority of the Bolsheviks among the masses. Re-elections to the Soviets, which took place in September, consolidated the advantage of the Bolsheviks. The desire of the broad masses, the majority of workers and peasants for democracy in the communal form of the Soviets that they understood (election, collective decision-making, transfer of powers from lower to higher bodies, etc.) coincided with the main slogan of the Bolsheviks - “All power to the Soviets!” However, for the Bolsheviks, the Soviets are organs of the dictatorship of the proletariat. People inexperienced in politics did not understand this. Lenin's supporters were able to use the mood of the masses, their impatience, and thirst for equalizing justice to come to power. In October 1917, the Bolsheviks won not under socialist, but under democratic slogans understandable to the masses.

THIS IS INTERESTING TO KNOW

In the first days of the February Revolution, the Bolsheviks numbered only 24 thousand people, in April - 80 thousand, in July - 240 thousand, at the beginning of October - about 400 thousand people, i.e. in 7 months the number of the Bolshevik Party increased by more than 16.5 times. Workers made up the majority in it - over 60%.

Things were different in the village. There, at the end of 1917, there were only 203 Bolshevik cells, which included a little more than 4 thousand people.

By October 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) numbered about 1 million people.

References:
V. S. Koshelev, I. V. Orzhekhovsky, V. I. Sinitsa / World History of Modern Times XIX - early. XX century, 1998.

In February 1917, the second revolution took place in Russia after the events of 1905. Today we are talking briefly about the February Revolution of 1917: the causes of the popular uprising, the course of events and consequences.

Causes

The revolution of 1905 was defeated. However, its failure did not destroy the prerequisites that led to the very possibility of its occurrence. It’s as if the disease had receded, but did not go away, hiding in the depths of the body, only to strike again one day. And all because the forcefully suppressed uprising of 1905-1907 was a treatment for external symptoms, while the root causes - social and political contradictions in the country continued to exist.

Rice. 1. The military joined the rebel workers in February 1917

12 years later, at the very beginning of 1917, these contradictions intensified, which led to a new, more serious explosion. The exacerbation occurred due to the following reasons:

• Russian participation in the First World War : a long and exhausting war required constant expenses, which led to economic devastation and, as a natural consequence of it, worsening poverty and the deplorable situation of the already poor masses;
• A number of fateful mistakes that were made by Russian Emperor Nicholas II in governing the country : refusal to revise agrarian policy, adventurous policy in the Far East, defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, a penchant for mysticism, G. Rasputin’s admission to government affairs, military defeats in the First World War, unsuccessful appointments of ministers, military leaders, and more;
• Economic crisis: war requires large expenses and consumption, and therefore disruptions in the economy begin to occur (rising prices, inflation, the problem of food supply, the emergence of a rationing system, aggravation of transport problems);
• Crisis of power : frequent changes of governors, ignorance of the State Duma by the emperor and his entourage, an unpopular government that was responsible exclusively to the tsar, and much more.

Rice. 2. Destruction of the monument to Alexander III during the events of February 1917

All of the above points did not exist in isolation. They were closely interconnected and gave rise to new conflicts: general dissatisfaction with the autocracy, distrust of the reigning monarch, the growth of anti-war sentiment, social tension, and the strengthening of the role of leftist and opposition forces. The latter included such parties as the Mensheviks, Bolsheviks, Trudoviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists, as well as various national parties. Some called on the people for a decisive assault and overthrow of the autocracy, others led a confrontation with the tsarist government in the Duma.

Rice. 3. The moment of signing the manifesto on the abdication of the Tsar

Despite the different methods of struggle, the goals of the parties were the same: the overthrow of the autocracy, the introduction of a constitution, the establishment of a new system - a democratic republic, the establishment of political freedoms, the establishment of peace, the solution of pressing problems - national, land, labor. Since these tasks to transform the country were of a bourgeois-democratic nature, this uprising went down in history under the name the February bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917.

Move

The tragic events of the second winter month of 1917 are summarized in the following table:

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Today we examined the main causes of the February Revolution of 1917, which became the second in a row since 1905. In addition, the main dates of the events are named and their detailed description is given.

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This is the second revolution, which is also called the Bourgeois-Democratic revolution.

Causes

100 years later, historians argue that the February Revolution was inevitable, since there were many reasons that caused it - defeat at the fronts, the difficult situation of workers and peasants, hunger, devastation, political lawlessness, the decline in the authority of the autocratic government and its inability to carry out reforms.

That is, almost all those problems that remained unresolved after the first revolution, which occurred in 1905.

Democratic transformations in Russia, with the exception of small concessions made by the Manifesto of October 17, 1905, remained unfinished, so new social upheavals were inevitable.

Move

The main events of the February Revolution happened quickly. At the beginning of 1917, interruptions in food supplies to major Russian cities intensified, and by mid-February, due to a shortage of bread and rising prices, workers began to go on strike en masse.

Bread riots broke out in Petrograd - crowds of people destroyed bread stores, and on February 23 a general strike of Petrograd workers began.

Workers and women with the slogans “Bread!”, “Down with war!”, “Down with autocracy!” took to the streets of Petrograd - a political demonstration marked the beginning of the revolution.

Every day the number of striking workers, who were the driving force of the struggle, led by the Bolshevik Party, grew. The workers were joined by students, office workers, artisans, and peasants demanding the redistribution of land. Within a few days, a wave of strikes swept Petrograd, Moscow and other cities of the country.

© photo: Sputnik / RIA Novosti

Executions and arrests were no longer able to cool the revolutionary fervor of the masses. Every day the situation became more and more aggravated, becoming irreversible. Government troops were put on alert - Petrograd was turned into a military camp.

The outcome of the struggle was predetermined by the mass transition of soldiers on February 27 to the side of the rebels, who occupied the most important points of the city and government buildings. The next day the government was overthrown.

In Petrograd, the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and the Provisional Committee of the State Duma were created, which formed the Provisional Government.

The power of the Provisional Government was established in Moscow on March 1, and within a month throughout the country.

Results

The new government proclaimed political rights and freedoms, including speech, assembly, press and demonstrations.

Class, national and religious restrictions, the death penalty, military courts were abolished, a political amnesty was declared, and an eight-hour working day was introduced.

Workers received the right to restore democratic organizations banned during the war, to create trade unions and factory committees.

However, the main political question of power remained unresolved - a dual power arose in Russia, which further split Russian society.