What happened in 1917? This is not a test USE question and I believe that most readers still remember the Soviet school curriculum on history and even, perhaps, the words of Lenin about the event that took place 99 years ago:
"The socialist revolution, about the necessity of which the Bolsheviks spoke so much, has come to pass."
These words were spoken by the leader of the Bolshevik Party immediately after the storming of the Winter Palace at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which began simultaneously with the storming. By the way, the assault on the palace, which was defended only by a company from the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion, was practically bloodless. The company did not show significant resistance, no one shot the women from this company after the assault. They were disarmed, and a couple of days later the entire battalion was disbanded and the women were sent home. How did it happen that Winter Palace so poorly guarded? How did it happen that almost the entire Petrograd garrison took part in the assault on Zimny and the capture of the city, and only the women's battalion guarded the palace from rebellious soldiers?
The Cossack regiments, on which Kerensky had high hopes, declared their neutrality and refused to obey the Provisional Government. On the afternoon of October 24, the soldiers of the 1st scooter battalion left the Winter Palace. The cars of the armored and reserve divisions, which had guarded the Winter Palace around the clock, also left. Two Bolsheviks from this division, soldiers I. Zhdanovich and A. Morozov, persistently urged their comrades to refuse to support the counter-revolutionary government. Despite the resistance of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who were many in the unit, the general meeting of the division, after lengthy disputes, accepted the proposal of the Bolsheviks. Armored vehicles equipped with machine guns and three-inch guns left Palace Square.
In other words, there was no support for the Provisional Government either among the people or in the army. Agitators of the Bolsheviks and other leftist opposition parties split the army from the Provisional Government, swaying it in favor of subordination to the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which had already been created by that time. Of course, the officer corps mostly kept the oath, but after February, the abdication of the king from the throne, and the oath did not bind them too much. In addition, you can’t go against your own soldiers, they can shoot you. By decision of his Soldiers' Council. Soviets were everywhere, and they were the most effective weapon of the revolution. In October 1917, there were 1,429 Soviets in Russia, including over 700 Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Attempts to present the events of 1917 as a coup are completely unsuccessful. A handful of revolutionaries could not break a rather powerful state mechanism without the support of the bulk of the people, without the creation of alternative power structures. In general, it is not correct to say that it was the Bolsheviks who seized power in October 1917. The Soviets seized power - new organizational structure people. Created, of course, under the influence of the Bolsheviks, but not only them, but several left opposition parties - the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks took part in them. Only the further development of the revolution separated these parties in different directions and brought to power precisely the Bolshevik wing of the opposition. And in this the most consistent program of the Bolsheviks played a role, its greatest correspondence to the interests of the bulk of the population. By creating an alternative democratic power structure - the Soviets and putting forward a program that is attractive to the majority of the country's population, the Bolsheviks were doomed to success.
What was attractive in the program of the Bolsheviks? What tempted the people so much? Why were the Bolshevik agitators able to win over the army to their side? What was the "technology" of that revolution? Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was an agrarian country, where more than 80% of the population was a peasantry. The army, accordingly, also consisted mainly of representatives of the village. And the main issue for the peasants then was the question of land. The land was mostly owned by the landowners. On average, one landowner had as much land as 300 peasant households. And I must say that this was not always a sign of wealth, the nobility, who owned estates and lands, was in debt. Solonevich calls these debts one of the reasons for the February Revolution:
The Russian nobility stood on the eve of a complete economic catastrophe, just as it stood before Peter the Great on the eve of a political one. IN prewar years noble landownership lost up to three million acres a year. The debt of the nobility to the state reached a monstrous sum of three billion rubles. If this amount is translated even into the price of a pound of meat (about two hryvnia in Russia then and about a dollar in the USA (USA - USA. - Ed.) now), then it will equal 12-15 billion dollars. Two or three Marshall Plans combined. The nobility had no way to cover this debt - it faced complete bankruptcy.
Solonevich, being a monarchist, is almost like Lenin calls the social causes of the revolution. The aristocracy, being all in debt, could no longer hold power. The new bourgeoisie was rushing to power.
"The aristocracy and the bourgeoisie had perfectly clear and class motives." Solonevich writes.
And if a monarchist writes such words, then obviously it was not the leftist ideology that dictated them. Even in the revolution of 1905, the peasantry showed itself in revolts against the nobility. Not against the king, but against the aristocracy. Even then the land issue was the main one. What exactly aggravated him so much? Solonevich, referring to Oldenburg, writes about "tragic contradictions", almost like Marx:
The main of these tragic contradictions was that at the beginning of the 20th century a completely clearly expressed estate system continued to exist in the country. That at the same time, the bulk of the country's population - its peasantry was deprived of rights either economically or politically, or in everyday life, and, moreover, in administrative terms. The bill on peasant equality was introduced to the Legislative Chambers by P.A. Stolypin. The State Council shredded and postponed this bill as best it could, and only in the autumn of 1916, that is, quite on the eve of the revolution, did this draft come under consideration. State Duma- yes, it has remained unconsidered ... and still (Oldenburg, p. 180). I formulated this position almost fourteen years ago in the Theses of the Headquarters Movement (p. 9):
"The genius of the Russian people was squeezed into the iron grip of serfdom and those of its remnants that existed before 1917."
Simply put, the cauldron of popular anger warmed up, warmed up, and finally boiled. And, it should be noted that it was not just social inequality that warmed him. After all, for hundreds of years the peasantry was in actual slavery to the nobles. But endured. Because there were some justifications for this inequality. Nobility served sovereign. Not just obeyed, but literally fought and died for the king and the fatherland. It was a military class, professional military, as they say now. In the Middle Ages, the nobility carried out permanent military service, while the rest of the population was called to serve it only in cases of special danger to the country.. For this service, the sovereign gave land to the nobles. In the Muscovite state at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, the “local system” took shape. Grand Duke handed over the estate to a servant, who was obliged for this military service. Peter I for the first time founded a permanent army of noblemen who were in compulsory service and the collection of dependent people, the so-called recruits. In 1762 on a short time Peter III, who lingered on the throne, issued the most important document regulating the legal status of the nobility in Russia - the Manifesto "On the Liberty of the Nobility" dated February 18, 1762. This document was adopted in order to satisfy the requirements of the nobility, who considered themselves "infringed", since it was obliged to serve the state . The fact that he was given in exchange for the service of the land was forgotten for some reason. The manifesto freed the nobles from military service. Prior to this, during the reign of Elizabeth, a Decree was issued that forbade anyone, except for the nobles, to buy "people and peasants without land and with land." Land ownership and soul ownership began to become the exclusive right of the nobles.
Little by little, first the nobles were exempted from military service (1762), then merchants, honorary citizens, the clergy, so that the burden of it lay, finally, exclusively on the peasants and philistines. However, the nobility was not deprived of the lands that they had once received from the sovereign for their service. Thus, freed from compulsory service to the state, the landowners from the service class turned into an idle, purely consumer class of slave owners. The military reform of Alexander II reintroduced universal military service in 1872. From the statute:
"1. The defense of the throne and the fatherland is the sacred duty of every Russian subject. The male population, without distinction of condition, is subject to military service.
- Cash redemption from military service and replacement by a hunter is not allowed. ... "
After the reforms of Alexander II, the nobility was forced to pay the peasants for their work. Capitalism began to make its own adjustments. As a result, from 1877 to 1914. the nobility lost almost two-thirds of its land fund. Particularly active noble lands were sold in 1906–1909. And the new bourgeois owners did not at all add legitimacy in owning land in the eyes of the peasants. Alexander's reforms eliminated slavery, which in essence was serfdom, but did not improve the economic situation of the peasants, who formed the backbone of the Russian people. In general, the history of the emergence of serfdom, which for some reason appeared after the liquidation Tatar-Mongol yoke and two independent republics with veche government (Novgorod and Pskov) raises many questions. Almost the entire population of the country becomes slaves after leaving the "Tatar captivity" and the elimination of veche forms of government, isn't it strange? Even Rome made only foreigners slaves, why in Rus' did their fellow peasants become slaves?
How did the Bolsheviks attract the sympathy of the people before the revolution of 1917? The slogan "Land to the peasants!". Together with the slogan "All power to the Soviets!". April theses of V.I. Lenin:
1. The bourgeois-democratic revolution is over. The provisional government is unable to solve problems, hence the slogan of the Bolsheviks: "No support for the provisional government."
2. The course towards the socialist revolution: "All power to the Soviets." Get the resignation of the government and the Soviets take power into their own hands. The possibility of a peaceful revolution, the transfer of power into the hands of the workers.
3. Immediate nationalization of land, beginning peace treaties and making peace with Germany.
4. The right of nations to self-determination. United and indivisible Russia.
That is, power - to the Soviets, land - to the peasants, and peace with Germany. Isn't that what the peasantry wanted? Soldiers tired of the war and worried about their abandoned farm? The Bolsheviks until June 1917 did not have a majority in the Soviets. Essers and Mensheviks were in the first roles there. But the re-election of deputies in June brought victory to the Bolsheviks in the Soviets. And they earned this victory with just such a program. And they, unlike modern parties, fulfilled this program. Power was transferred to the Soviets, peace was concluded with Germany, and the land was transferred to the peasants. The first decrees of the Soviet government were "Peace Decree", "Land Decree", "Decree on the Formation of the Workers' and Peasants' Government" And … "Decree on the Abolition of the Death Penalty". Such were the bloodthirsty Bolsheviks.
On November 7, the country celebrates the 101st anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The event is old, but important, which played a significant role in the development of Russia and the whole world as a whole. Do people remember what happened on this day 101 years ago?
Storming of the Winter Palace on October 25, 1917. Petrograd. Frame from the film "October". Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, Grigory Alexandrov. 1927
With this question, he took to the streets of Vyborg a year ago and tried to find out from passers-by what happened on November 7 (October 25, according to the old style) more than 100 years ago. Someone remembered the confrontation between the "Reds" and the interim government. One person remembered the overthrow of the old regime by the new one. It was not without embarrassment: not everyone was able to give at least an approximate description of the events of a hundred years ago.
On November 7 (October 25, old style), 1917, the armed overthrow of the Provisional Government of Russia took place and the Bolshevik Party came to power, proclaiming the establishment of Soviet power.
Why did the overthrow of power happen?
Protracted First World War(1911 - 1918) became a kind of catalyst for radical revolutionary sentiments in society. Russia in this war was the defending side, and a significant shortage of ammunition, uniforms, military equipment greatly undermined the morale of the army. So, at the beginning of the war, Russia had only 13 cruisers, while Germany and Austria-Hungary had 42. Russia also lagged behind in the number of heavy guns - at the beginning of hostilities there were about 240 of them in the country, and in Germany alone - 2076. Russia was inferior both in aviation and in tanks.
The beginning of the revolution accelerated and national movement which intensified after the February Revolution. After the abdication of Nicholas II, the state was left without an autocrat and leader. The country was actually ruled by two bodies: the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and the Provisional Government. The provisional government was unable to solve the pressing issues: workers, agrarian, nationalist.
Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky (1881-1970), Prime Minister of the Provisional Government. Petrograd, August 21, 1917. Source: RIA Novosti Landownership continued to exist . An important issue for the peasantry had not yet been resolved - the common people wanted to acquire ownership of the land and arbitrarily dispose of it. The martial law only delayed consideration of the demands of the peasant population. The provisional government did nothing to implement the agrarian program. The "Reds" promised at the rallies to solve the agrarian problem and give the peasants land. Their slogans "land to the peasants", "factories to the workers" attracted more and more supporters.
As a result, the peasants, who constituted the majority of the population Russian state, supported the Bolsheviks and refused to trust the Provisional Government. Supported the revolutionary movement and the workers, who are tired of living, not unbending, under the yoke of the monarchy. The real wages of the working population by the autumn of 1917 fell to 40-50% of the pre-war level.
The provisional government also did nothing to resolve the national question. On the national question, tsarist Russia defended the slogan "one and indivisible" and pursued a policy of forcible Russification, which was expressed, in particular, in the planting of the Russian language. The nations, in turn, demanded cultural-national autonomy. Due to the multinationality of the country and the rigidity public policy national question becomes the sharpest. At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 200 peoples lived on the territory of Russia, speaking 146 languages and dialects. The Bolsheviks proposed the right of nations to self-determination, the abolition of national privileges and restrictions, the free development of national minorities. Therefore, the Provisional Government, which did not pay due attention to national minorities, lost their support.
V.I.Lenin. To understand when there was a revolution in Russia, it is necessary to look back at the era. last emperor From the Romanov dynasty, the country was shaken by several social crises that caused the people to protest against the government. Historians single out the revolution of 1905-1907, the February revolution and the October year.
Background of revolutions
Until 1905, the Russian Empire lived under the laws of an absolute monarchy. The king was the sole autocrat. The adoption of important state decisions depended only on him. In the 19th century, such a conservative order of things did not suit a very small stratum of society from intellectuals and marginals. These people were guided by the West, where for a long time as good example the French Revolution took place. She destroyed the power of the Bourbons and gave the inhabitants of the country civil liberties.
Even before the first revolutions took place in Russia, society learned about what political terror is. Radical supporters of change took up arms and staged assassination attempts on top government officials in order to force the authorities to pay attention to their demands.
Tsar Alexander II ascended the throne during Crimean War, which Russia lost due to the systematic economic lagging behind the West. The bitter defeat forced the young monarch to embark on reforms. The main one was the abolition of serfdom in 1861. Zemstvo, judicial, administrative and other reforms followed.
However, the radicals and terrorists were still unhappy. Many of them demanded a constitutional monarchy or even annihilation. royal power. The Narodnaya Volya organized a dozen assassination attempts on Alexander II. In 1881 he was killed. Under his son, Alexander III, a reactionary campaign was launched. Terrorists and political activists were severely repressed. This calmed the situation for a while. But the first revolutions in Russia were still just around the corner.
Mistakes of Nicholas II
Alexander III died in 1894 in the Crimean residence, where he improved his failing health. The monarch was relatively young (he was only 49 years old), and his death came as a complete surprise to the country. Russia froze in anticipation. The eldest son is on the throne. Alexander III, Nicholas II. His reign (when there was a revolution in Russia) from the very beginning was overshadowed by unpleasant events.
First, one of the first public speaking the tsar declared that the progressive public's desire for change was a "meaningless dream". For this phrase, Nikolai was criticized by all his opponents - from liberals to socialists. The monarch even got it from the great writer Leo Tolstoy. The count ridiculed the emperor's absurd statement in his article, written under the impression of what he heard.
Secondly, during the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II in Moscow, an accident occurred. The city government organized celebratory event for the peasants and the poor. They were promised free "presents" from the king. So thousands of people ended up on the Khodynka field. At some point, a stampede began, which killed hundreds of passers-by. Later, when there was a revolution in Russia, many called these events symbolic allusions to a future big trouble.
The Russian revolutions also had objective reasons. What were they? In 1904, Nicholas II got involved in the war against Japan. The conflict flared up due to the influence of two rival powers on Far East. Inept preparation, extended communications, a capricious attitude towards the enemy - all this became the reason for the defeat of the Russian army in that war. In 1905, a peace treaty was signed. Russia gave Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island, as well as lease rights to the strategically important South Manchurian Railway.
At the beginning of the war, there was a surge of patriotism and hostility to the next national enemies in the country. Now, after the defeat, the revolution of 1905-1907 broke out with unprecedented force. in Russia. People wanted fundamental changes in the life of the state. Discontent was especially felt among the workers and peasants, whose standard of living was extremely low.
Bloody Sunday
The main reason for the start of the civil confrontation was the tragic events in St. Petersburg. On January 22, 1905, a delegation of workers went to the Winter Palace with a petition to the tsar. The proletarians asked the monarch to improve their working conditions, increase salaries, etc. There were also political demands, the main of which was to convene a Constituent Assembly - a people's representation on the Western parliamentary model.
The police dispersed the procession. Firearms were used. According to various estimates, between 140 and 200 people died. The tragedy became known as Bloody Sunday. When the event became known throughout the country, mass strikes began in Russia. The dissatisfaction of the workers was fueled by professional revolutionaries and agitators of leftist convictions, who until then had carried out only underground work. The liberal opposition also became more active.
First Russian Revolution
Strikes and strikes had different intensity depending on the region of the empire. Revolution 1905-1907 in Russia, it raged especially strongly on the national outskirts of the state. For example, the Polish socialists managed to convince about 400,000 workers in the Kingdom of Poland not to go to work. Similar riots took place in the Baltic States and Georgia.
The radical political parties (Bolsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries) decided that this was their last chance to seize power in the country with the help of an uprising of the masses. The agitators worked not only on peasants and workers, but also on ordinary soldiers. Thus began the armed uprisings in the army. The most famous episode in this series is the uprising on the battleship Potemkin.
In October 1905, the united St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies began its work, which coordinated the actions of the strikers throughout the capital of the empire. The events of the revolution took on a most violent character in December. It led to battles on Presnya and other parts of the city.
October 17 Manifesto
In the autumn of 1905, Nicholas II realized that he had lost control of the situation. He could suppress numerous uprisings with the help of the army, but this would not help get rid of the deep contradictions between the government and society. The monarch began to discuss with those close to him measures to reach a compromise with the dissatisfied.
The result of his decision was the Manifesto of October 17, 1905. The development of the document was entrusted to a well-known official and diplomat Sergei Witte. Prior to that, he went to sign peace with the Japanese. Now Witte needed to have time to help his king as soon as possible. The situation was complicated by the fact that two million people were already on strike in October. Strikes covered almost all industries. Rail transport was paralyzed.
The October 17 Manifesto made several fundamental changes to political system Russian Empire. Nicholas II had previously held sole power. Now he has transferred part of his legislative powers to a new body - the State Duma. It was supposed to be elected by popular vote and become a real representative body of power.
Also established such public principles as freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, as well as the inviolability of the person. These changes have become an important part of the main state laws Russian Empire. Thus, in fact, the first domestic constitution appeared.
Between revolutions
The publication of the Manifesto in 1905 (when there was a revolution in Russia) helped the authorities to take the situation under control. Most of the rebels calmed down. A temporary compromise was reached. The echo of the revolution was still heard in 1906, but now it was easier for the state repressive apparatus to cope with its most implacable opponents who refused to lay down their arms.
The so-called inter-revolutionary period began, when in 1906-1917. Russia was a constitutional monarchy. Now Nicholas had to reckon with the opinion of the State Duma, which could not accept his laws. The last Russian monarch was a conservative by nature. He did not believe in liberal ideas and believed that his sole power was given to him by God. Nikolai made concessions only because he no longer had a way out.
The first two convocations of the State Duma never completed their legal term. A natural period of reaction set in, when the monarchy took revenge. At this time, Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin became the main associate of Nicholas II. His government could not reach an agreement with the Duma on some key political issues. Because of this conflict, on June 3, 1907, Nicholas II dissolved the representative assembly and made changes to the electoral system. III and IV convocations in their composition were already less radical than the first two. A dialogue began between the Duma and the government.
World War I
The main reasons for the revolution in Russia were the sole power of the monarch, which prevented the country from developing. When the principle of autocracy remained in the past, the situation stabilized. Economic growth has begun. Agrarian helped the peasants to create their own small private farms. A new social class has emerged. The country developed and grew rich before our eyes.
So why did subsequent revolutions take place in Russia? In short, Nicholas made the mistake of getting involved in World War I in 1914. Several million men were mobilized. As in the case of the Japanese campaign, at first the country experienced a patriotic upsurge. When the bloodshed dragged on, and reports of defeats began to arrive from the front, society began to worry again. No one could say for sure how long the war would drag on. The revolution in Russia was approaching again.
February Revolution
In historiography, there is the term "Great Russian Revolution". Usually, this generalized name refers to the events of 1917, when two coup d'etat took place in the country at once. The First World War hit hard on the country's economy. The impoverishment of the population continued. In the winter of 1917 in Petrograd (renamed because of anti-German sentiment) mass demonstrations of workers and townspeople began, dissatisfied with the high prices for bread.
This is how it happened February Revolution in Russia. Events developed rapidly. Nicholas II at that time was at Headquarters in Mogilev, not far from the front. The tsar, having learned about the unrest in the capital, boarded a train to return to Tsarskoye Selo. However, he was late. In Petrograd, the disgruntled army went over to the side of the rebels. The city was under the control of the rebels. On March 2, delegates went to the king, persuading him to sign his abdication. So the February Revolution in Russia left the monarchy in the past.
Restless 1917
After the beginning of the revolution was laid, the Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd. It included politicians previously known from the State Duma. They were mostly liberals or moderate socialists. Alexander Kerensky became the head of the Provisional Government.
Anarchy in the country allowed other radical political forces, such as the Bolsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, to become more active. The struggle for power began. Formally, it was supposed to exist until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, when the country could decide how to live on by a general vote. However, the First World War was still going on, and the ministers did not want to refuse to help their allies in the Entente. This led to a sharp drop in the popularity of the Provisional Government in the army, as well as among the workers and peasants.
In August 1917, General Lavr Kornilov tried to organize a coup d'état. He also opposed the Bolsheviks, regarding them as a radical left-wing threat to Russia. The army was already moving towards Petrograd. At this point, the Provisional Government and Lenin's supporters briefly united. Bolshevik agitators destroyed Kornilov's army from within. The rebellion failed. The provisional government survived, but not for long.
Bolshevik coup
Of all domestic revolutions, the Great October Socialist Revolution is best known. This is due to the fact that its date - November 7 (according to the new style) - has been a public holiday on the territory of the former Russian Empire for more than 70 years.
At the head of the next coup stood Vladimir Lenin and the leaders of the Bolshevik Party enlisted the support of the Petrograd garrison. On October 25, according to the old style, the armed detachments that supported the communists captured the key communication points in Petrograd - the telegraph, post office, and railway. The Provisional Government found itself isolated in the Winter Palace. After a short assault on the former royal residence, the ministers were arrested. The signal for the start of the decisive operation was a blank shot fired on the Aurora cruiser. Kerensky was not in the city, and later he managed to emigrate from Russia.
On the morning of October 26, the Bolsheviks were already the masters of Petrograd. Soon the first decrees of the new government appeared - the Decree on Peace and the Decree on Land. The provisional government was unpopular precisely because of its desire to continue the war with Kaiser Germany, while Russian army I was tired of fighting and was demoralized.
The simple and understandable slogans of the Bolsheviks were popular with the people. The peasants finally waited for the destruction of the nobility and the deprivation of their landed property. The soldiers learned that the imperialist war was over. True, in Russia itself it was far from peace. The Civil War began. The Bolsheviks had to fight for another 4 years against their opponents (whites) throughout the country in order to establish control over the territory of the former Russian Empire. In 1922 the USSR was formed. The Great October Socialist Revolution was an event that heralded a new era in the history of not only Russia, but the whole world.
For the first time in contemporary history, radical communists came to power. October 1917 surprised and frightened Western bourgeois society. The Bolsheviks hoped that Russia would become a springboard for starting a world revolution and destroying capitalism. This did not happen.
The February Revolution of 1917 in Russia is one of the most controversial moments national history. For a long time it was perceived as the overthrow of the "hated tsarism", but today it is increasingly called a coup d'état.
foreshadowing
As early as the end of 1916, there were all the prerequisites for a revolution in Russia: a protracted war, food crisis, impoverishment of the population, unpopularity of the authorities. Protest moods seethed not only at the bottom, but also at the top.
At this time, rumors of treason began to spread intensively, in which Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin were accused. Both were credited with spying for Germany.
Radical members of the State Duma, officers and representatives of the elites believed that with the elimination of Rasputin it would be possible to defuse the situation in society. But the situation after the murder of the "Tobolsk elder" continued to escalate. Some members of the imperial house stood up in opposition to Nicholas II. Especially sharp attacks in the direction of the king were from the Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich (grandson of Nicholas I).
In a letter sent to the emperor, he asks to remove Alexandra Feodorovna from governing the country. Only in this case, in the opinion of the Grand Duke, would the revival of Russia begin and the lost confidence of the subjects would return.
Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko in his memoirs claimed that there were attempts to "eliminate, destroy" the Empress. He calls the initiator of this idea Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who allegedly made such a proposal in one of the private conversations.
Messages about the conspiracy are reported to Nikolai regularly.
“Ah, conspiracy again, I thought so. kind, simple people everyone is worried. I know they love me and our mother Russia and, of course, they don’t want any coup, ”the emperor reacted to the fears of the adjutant wing A. A. Mordvinov.
However, information about the conspiracy is becoming more and more real. On February 13, 1917, Rodzianko informs General V.I. Gurko that, according to his information, “a coup has been prepared” and “the mob will carry it out.”
Start
The reason for the riots in Petrograd was the dismissal of about 1000 workers of the Putilov factory. The strike of workers, which began on February 23 (March 8, according to the new style), coincided with a demonstration of many thousands of women organized by the Russian League for the Equality of Women.
“Bread!”, “Down with war!”, “Down with autocracy!” – these were the demands of the protesters.
An eyewitness to the events, poetess Zinaida Gippius, left an entry in her diary: “Today there are riots. Nobody knows for sure, of course. The general version that began on Vyborgskaya, because of the bread.
On the same day, a number of metropolitan factories stopped their work - Old Parviainen, Aivaz, Rosenkranz, Phoenix, Russian Renault, Erikson. By evening, the workers of the Vyborg and Petrograd sides had gathered on Nevsky Prospekt.
The number of demonstrators on the streets of Petrograd grew at an incredible rate. On February 23, there were 128 thousand people, on February 24 - about 214 thousand, and on February 25 - more than 305 thousand. By this time, the work of 421 enterprises of the city had actually stopped. Such a mass movement of workers attracted other sections of society - artisans, employees, intellectuals and students. For a short time the procession was peaceful. Already on the first day of the strike, clashes between demonstrators and the police and Cossacks were recorded in the city center. The capital's mayor A.P. Balk is forced to report to the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General S.S. Khabalov, that the police are not able to "stop the movement and the gathering of people."
Restoring order in the city was complicated by the fact that the military did not want to use force against the demonstrators. Many Cossacks, if not sympathetic to the workers, then kept neutrality.
As the Bolshevik Vasily Kayurov recalls, one of the Cossack patrols smiled at the demonstrators, and some of them even “winked nicely.”
The revolutionary mood of the workers spread to the soldiers. The fourth company of the reserve battalion of the Life Guards Pavlovsky Regiment rebelled. Its soldiers, sent to disperse the demonstration, suddenly opened fire on the police. The rebellion was suppressed by the forces of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, but 20 soldiers with weapons managed to escape.
Events on the streets of Petrograd increasingly turned into an armed confrontation. On Znamennaya Square, the bailiff Krylov, who was trying to crawl into the crowd and tear down the red flag, was brutally killed. The Cossack stabbed him with a saber, and the demonstrators finished him off with shovels.
At the end of the first day of unrest, Rodzianko sends a telegram to the tsar, in which he reports that "in the capital there is anarchy" and "parts of the troops are shooting at each other." But the king does not seem to realize what is happening. “Again, this fat Rodzianko writes all sorts of nonsense to me,” he nonchalantly remarks to the Minister of the Imperial Court, Frederiks.
coup
By the evening of February 27, almost the entire composition of the Petrograd garrison - about 160 thousand people - went over to the side of the rebels. The commander of the Petrograd Military District, General Khabalov, is forced to inform Nicholas II: “I ask you to report to His Imperial Majesty that I could not fulfill the order to restore order in the capital. Most of the units, one after the other, betrayed their duty, refusing to fight against the rebels.
The idea of a “cartel expedition”, which provided for the removal of hotel military units and sending them to rebellious Petrograd. All this threatened to turn into a civil war with unpredictable consequences.
Acting in the spirit of revolutionary traditions, the rebels released from prisons not only political prisoners, but also criminals. At first, they easily overcame the resistance of the Kresty guards, and then they took the Peter and Paul Fortress.
The unruly and motley revolutionary masses, not disdaining murders and robberies, plunged the city into chaos.
On February 27, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the soldiers occupied the Tauride Palace. The State Duma found itself in a dual position: on the one hand, according to the decree of the emperor, it should have dissolved itself, but on the other hand, the pressure of the rebels and the virtual anarchy forced them to take some action. A compromise solution was a meeting under the guise of a "private meeting".
As a result, it was decided to form a body of power - the Provisional Committee.
Later, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, P. N. Milyukov, recalled:
“The intervention of the State Duma gave the street and military movement a center, gave it a banner and a slogan, and thereby turned the uprising into a revolution that ended in the overthrow of the old regime and dynasty.”
The revolutionary movement grew more and more. The soldiers capture the Arsenal, the main post office, telegraph, bridges and train stations. Petrograd was completely in the hands of the rebels. A real tragedy broke out in Kronstadt, which was swept by a wave of lynching, resulting in the murder of more than a hundred officers of the Baltic Fleet.
On March 1, the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Alekseev, in a letter implores the emperor "for the sake of saving Russia and the dynasty, put at the head of the government a person whom Russia would trust."
Nicholas declares that by giving rights to others, he deprives himself of the power granted to them by God. The opportunity for a peaceful transformation of the country into a constitutional monarchy had already been lost.
After the abdication of Nicholas II on March 2, a dual power actually developed in the state. official power was in the hands of the Provisional Government, but the real power belonged to the Petrograd Soviet, which controlled the troops, railways, mail and telegraph.
Being at the moment of renunciation in royal train Colonel Mordvinov recalled Nikolai's plans to move to Livadia. “Your Majesty, leave as soon as possible abroad. Under the current conditions, even in the Crimea there is no life,” Mordvinov tried to convince the king. "No way. I would not want to leave Russia, I love her too much, ”Nikolai objected.
Leon Trotsky noted that the February uprising was spontaneous:
“No one planned in advance the ways of a coup, no one from above called for an uprising. The indignation that had accumulated over the years broke out to a large extent unexpectedly for the masses themselves.
However, Milyukov, in his memoirs, insists that the coup was planned shortly after the start of the war and before "the army was supposed to go on the offensive, the results of which would radically stop all hints of discontent and would cause an explosion of patriotism and jubilation in the country." “History will curse the leaders of the so-called proletarians, but it will also curse us who caused the storm,” wrote the former minister.
The British historian Richard Pipes calls the actions of the tsarist government during the February uprising "fatal weakness of will", noting that "the Bolsheviks in such circumstances did not stop before executions."
Although the February Revolution is called "bloodless", it nevertheless claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians. In Petrograd alone, more than 300 people died and 1,200 were injured.
The February revolution began an irreversible process of the collapse of the empire and the decentralization of power, accompanied by the activity of separatist movements.
Independence was demanded by Poland and Finland, they started talking about independence in Siberia, and the Central Rada formed in Kyiv proclaimed "autonomous Ukraine".
The events of February 1917 allowed the Bolsheviks to come out of hiding. Thanks to the amnesty announced by the Provisional Government, dozens of revolutionaries returned from exile and political exile, who were already hatching plans for a new coup d'état.
What happened in 1917? This is not a USE test question, and I believe that most readers still remember the Soviet school history curriculum and even, perhaps, Lenin’s words about an event that took place 95 years ago: “The socialist revolution, the need for which the Bolsheviks spoke so much, has taken place.” These words were spoken by the leader of the Bolshevik Party immediately after the storming of the Winter Palace at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which began simultaneously with the storming. By the way, the assault on the palace, which was defended only by a company from the 1st Petrograd Women's Battalion, was practically bloodless. The company did not show significant resistance, no one shot the women from this company after the assault. They were disarmed, and a couple of days later the entire battalion was disbanded and the women were sent home. How did it happen that the Winter Palace was so poorly guarded? How did it happen that almost the entire Petrograd garrison took part in the assault on Zimny and the capture of the city, and only the women's battalion guarded the palace from rebellious soldiers?
The Cossack regiments, on which Kerensky had high hopes, declared their neutrality and refused to obey the Provisional Government. On the afternoon of October 24, the soldiers of the 1st scooter battalion left the Winter Palace. The cars of the armored and reserve divisions, which had guarded the Winter Palace around the clock, also left. Two Bolsheviks from this division, soldiers I. Zhdanovich and A. Morozov, persistently urged their comrades to refuse to support the counter-revolutionary government. Despite the resistance of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who were many in the unit, the general meeting of the division, after lengthy disputes, accepted the proposal of the Bolsheviks. Armored vehicles equipped with machine guns and three-inch guns left Palace Square.
In other words, there was no support for the Provisional Government either among the people or in the army. Agitators of the Bolsheviks and other leftist opposition parties split the army from the Provisional Government, swaying it in favor of subordination to the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which had already been created by that time. Of course, the officer corps mostly kept the oath, but after February, the abdication of the king from the throne, and the oath did not bind them too much. In addition, you can’t go against your own soldiers, they can shoot you. By decision of his Soldiers' Council. Soviets were everywhere, and they were the most effective weapon of the revolution. In October 1917, there were 1,429 Soviets in Russia, including over 700 Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Attempts to present the events of 1917 as a coup are completely unsuccessful. A handful of revolutionaries could not break a rather powerful state mechanism without the support of the bulk of the people, without the creation of alternative power structures. In general, it is not correct to say that it was the Bolsheviks who seized power in October 1917. Power was seized by the Soviets - the new organizational structure of the people. Created, of course, under the influence of the Bolsheviks, but not only them, but several left opposition parties - the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks took part in them. Only the further development of the revolution separated these parties in different directions and brought to power precisely the Bolshevik wing of the opposition. And in this the most consistent program of the Bolsheviks played a role, its greatest correspondence to the interests of the bulk of the population. By creating an alternative democratic power structure - the Soviets and putting forward a program that is attractive to the majority of the country's population, the Bolsheviks were doomed to success.
What was attractive in the program of the Bolsheviks? What tempted the people so much? Why were the Bolshevik agitators able to win over the army to their side? What was the "technology" of that revolution in general? Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was an agrarian country, where more than 80% of the population was a peasantry. The army, accordingly, also consisted mainly of representatives of the village. And the main issue for the peasants then was the question of land. The land was mostly owned by the landowners. On average, one landowner had as much land as 300 peasant households. And I must say that this was not always a sign of wealth, the nobility, who owned estates and lands, was in debt. Solonevich calls these debts one of the reasons for the February Revolution:
The Russian nobility stood on the eve of a complete economic catastrophe, just as it stood before Peter the Great on the eve of a political one. In the prewar years, the nobility lost up to three million acres a year. The debt of the nobility to the state reached a monstrous sum of three billion rubles. If this amount is translated even into the price of a pound of meat (about two hryvnia in Russia then and about a dollar in the USA (USA - USA. - Ed.) now), then it will equal 12-15 billion dollars. Two or three Marshall Plans combined. The nobility had no way to cover this debt - it faced complete bankruptcy.
Solonevich, being a monarchist, is almost like Lenin calls the social causes of the revolution. The aristocracy, being all in debt, could no longer hold power. The new bourgeoisie was rushing to power. "The aristocracy and the bourgeoisie had perfectly clear and class motives." Solonevich writes. And if a monarchist writes such words, then obviously it was not the leftist ideology that dictated them. Even in the revolution of 1905, the peasantry showed itself in revolts against the nobility. Not against the king, but against the aristocracy. Even then, the land issue was the main one. What exactly exacerbated it? Solonevich, referring to Oldenburg, writes about "tragic contradictions", almost like Marx:
The main of these tragic contradictions was that at the beginning of the 20th century a completely clearly expressed estate system continued to exist in the country. That at the same time, the bulk of the country's population - its peasantry was not full-fledged either economically or politically, neither in everyday life, nor, moreover, in administrative terms. The bill on peasant equality was introduced to the Legislative Chambers by P. A. Stolypin. The State Council shredded and postponed this bill as best it could, and only in the autumn of 1916, that is, quite on the eve of the revolution, did this draft come to the consideration of the State Duma - and it remained unconsidered ... and to this day (Oldenburg, p. .180). I formulated this position almost fourteen years ago in the “Theses of the Headquarters-Captain Movement” (p. 9): “The genius of the Russian people was clamped in the iron vise of serfdom and those of its survivals that existed before 1917.”
Simply put, the cauldron of popular anger warmed up, warmed up, and finally boiled. And, it should be noted that it was not just social inequality that warmed him. After all, for hundreds of years the peasantry was in actual slavery to the nobles. But endured. Because there were some justifications for this inequality. Nobility served sovereign. Not just obeyed, but literally fought and died for the king and the fatherland. It was a military class, professional military, as they say now. In the Middle Ages, the nobility carried out permanent military service, while the rest of the population was called to serve it only in cases of special danger to the country.. For this service, the sovereign gave land to the nobles. In the Muscovite state at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, the "local system" took shape. The Grand Duke transferred the estate to a servant, who was obliged for this by military service. Peter I for the first time founded a permanent army of noblemen who were in compulsory service and the collection of dependent people, the so-called recruits. In 1762, Peter III, who stayed on the throne for a short time, issued the most important document regulating the legal status of the nobility in Russia - the Manifesto "On the Liberty of the Nobility" dated February 18, 1762. This document was adopted in order to satisfy the requirements of the nobility, who considered themselves "infringed" because it was obliged to serve the state. The fact that he was given in exchange for the service of the land was forgotten for some reason. The manifesto freed the nobles from military duty. Prior to this, during the reign of Elizabeth, a Decree was issued that forbade anyone, except for the nobles, to buy "people and peasants without land and with land." Land ownership and soul ownership began to become the exclusive right of the nobles.
How did the Bolsheviks attract the sympathy of the people before the revolution of 1917? The slogan "Land to the peasants!". Together with the slogan "All power to the Soviets!". April theses of V.I. Lenin:
- The bourgeois-democratic revolution is over. The provisional government is unable to solve problems, hence the slogan of the Bolsheviks: "No support for the provisional government."
- The course towards the socialist revolution: "All power to the Soviets". Get the resignation of the government and the Soviets take power into their own hands. The possibility of a peaceful revolution, the transfer of power into the hands of the workers.
- Immediate nationalization of the land, the beginning of peace treaties and the conclusion of peace with Germany.
- The right of nations to self-determination. United and indivisible Russia.
From the Land Decree:
Adopted at a meeting of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies at 2 o'clock, the night of October 27 (November 9), 1917
1) Landlord ownership of land is abolished immediately without any redemption.
2) Landlord estates, as well as all appanage, monastic, church lands, with all their living and dead inventory, estate buildings and all accessories, are transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies until the Constituent Assembly ... The most just permission the land question should be as follows: the right of private ownership of land is abolished forever; land may not be sold, bought, leased or pledged, or alienated in any other way. The whole earth ... turns into the property of the whole people and passes into the use of all those who work on it.
After the adoption of these decrees, it is not surprising that, having won in Petrograd, the revolution rapidly spread throughout the country. Power passed back into the hands created Councils. And passed without bloodshed. Only in 1918, a group of generals led by General Alekseev, the last chief of staff tsarist army, begins to form on the Don volunteer army. And it is clear why the Cossacks had land on the Don. This is the only estate that was not interested in the decrees of the Soviet government. She didn't give them anything. And the Cossacks opposed it. And it became the backbone of Denikin's army. This is how it started Civil War in Russia. War of class interests. But that's another year, another story. And in 1917 the Russian peasantry received land and peace. And the return of the ancient veche democratic government - the Soviets.
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