October Revolution
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- For other uses, see October Revolution (disambiguation).
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"Red October" redirects here. For other uses, see Red October (disambiguation).
The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution or sometimes the November Revolution,[1] was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. The October Revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks with the Mensheviks, Left Socialist-Revolutionaries and anarchists. It was the first Marxist communist revolution in history.
The crucial revolutionary activities in Petrograd were under the command of the Petrograd Soviet headed by Leon Trotsky and the Military Revolutionary Committee headed by Adolph Joffe. The revolution was widely regarded as a reaction to the strains that had been placed upon Tsarist Russia as a result of the Great War.
The revolution overthrew the Russian Provisional Government, which led to the Russian Civil War from 1917–1920, followed by the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.
Initially, the event was referred to as the October uprising or the Uprising of 25th, as seen in contemporary documents, for example, in the first editions of Lenin's complete works. With time, the October Revolution was seen as a hugely important global event, the first in a series of events that lay the groundwork for an epic Cold War struggle between the Soviet Union and Western capitalist countries, including the United States.
The Great October Socialist Revolution (Russian: Великая Октябрьская социалистическая революция, Velikaya Oktyabr'skaya sotsialisticheskaya revolyutsiya) was the official name for the October Revolution in the Soviet Union since the 10th anniversary celebration of the Revolution in 1927. Today this name is used mainly by Russian Communists. The term Red October (Красный Октябрь) has also been ascribed to the events of the month; this name has in turn been lent to a tractor factory made notable by the Battle of Stalingrad, a Moscow sweets factory that is well-known in Russia, and a fictional Soviet submarine.
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[edit] Causes
The mounting frustration of workers and soldiers erupted in July with several days of rioting on the streets, in what became known as the July Days. This event was sparked by the June offensive against Germany, in which War Minister Alexander Kerensky sent troops in a major attack on the Germans, only to be repelled. The July Days were also sparked by the workers' anger at their economic plight. A group of 20,000 armed sailors from "Red Kronstadt", as it was known, marched into Petrograd and demanded that the Soviet take power. The capital was defenceless for two days. After suppressing the riots, the government blamed the Bolsheviks for encouraging the rebellion and many Bolshevik leaders, including Lenin and Grigory Zinoviev, were forced to go into hiding. Although the Bolshevik party had to operate semi-legally throughout July and August, its position on the far left end of the political spectrum was consolidated. Radical anti-war social democrats, who had joined the Mezhraiontsy earlier in the year, merged with the Bolsheviks in August. Many of them, particularly Trotsky, Joffe and Konstantin Yurenev would prove vital to the Bolsheviks' eventual seizure of Petrograd.
The Kornilov Affair was another catalyst to Revolution. Alexander Kerensky, who held positions in both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet, felt he needed a trustworthy military leader. However, on appointment, Lavr Kornilov saw this as an opportunity to take control of Petrograd himself and seize the city through his own troops. When Kerensky realised what was happening, he panicked and the Bolsheviks' Red Guard offered to defend the capital. Kerensky was even good enough to give them arms. Kornilov's troops never attempted a seizure in the end and were persuaded by delegations from the soldiers defending the city to stop at the railway stations, against the will of their commander. However, this was a big turning point towards the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks were seen as the "defenders of the city" and their support increased immensely, as the support for Kerensky and the Provisional Government eroded. Following the Kornilov affair, Kerensky's reputation was "irretrievably damaged" (Kerensky's wife). Bolsheviks became the majority party in the Petrograd Soviet in early September 1917 with Trotsky becoming the Soviet's Chairman.
[edit] Events
On October 23, 1917 (by the Julian calendar still in use in Russia at the time; November 5 by the current Gregorian calendar), Bolshevik leader Jaan Anvelt led his leftist revolutionaries in an uprising in Tallinn, the then capital of Estland. On October 25 (November 7), 1917, Vladimir Lenin led his forces in the uprising in Petrograd, the capital of Russia, against the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government. For the most part, the revolt in Petrograd was bloodless, with the Red Guards led by Bolsheviks taking over major government facilities with little opposition before finally launching an assault on the Winter Palace on the night from November 6 to November 7. The assault led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko was launched at 9:45 p.m. signalled by a blank shot from the cruiser Aurora. The Winter Palace was guarded by Cossacks, Women's Battalion, and cadets (military students) corps. It was taken at about 2 a.m. The latter date was made the official date of the Revolution. Later official accounts of the revolution from the Soviet Union would depict the events in October as being far more dramatic than they actually had been. (See firsthand account by British General Knox). Official films made much later showed a huge storming of the Winter Palace and fierce fighting, but in reality the Bolshevik insurgents faced little or no opposition and were practically able to just walk into the building and take it over. The insurrection was timed and organized to hand state power to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies which began on November 7.
[edit] Outcomes
The Second Congress of Soviets consisted of 650 elected delegates; 390 were Bolshevik and nearly a hundred were Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, who also supported the overthrow of the Kerensky Government. When the fall of the Winter Palace was announced, the Congress adopted a decree transferring power to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, thus ratifying the Revolution. The transfer of power was not without disagreement. The center and Right wings of the Socialist Revolutionaries as well as the Mensheviks believed that Lenin and the Bolsheviks had illegally seized power and they walked out before the resolution was passed. As they exited, they were taunted by Leon Trotsky who told them "You are pitiful isolated individuals; you are bankrupts; your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on — into the dustbin of history!" The following day, the Soviet elected a Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom) as the basis of a new Soviet Government, pending the convocation of a Constituent Assembly, and passed the Decree on Peace and the Decree on Land.
The Decree on Land ratified the actions of the peasants who throughout Russia seized private land and redistributed it among themselves. The Bolsheviks viewed themselves as representing an alliance of workers and peasants (smychka) and memorialized that understanding with the Hammer and Sickle on the flag and coat of arms of the Soviet Union.
Bolshevik-led attempts to seize power in other parts of the Russian Empire were largely successful in Russia proper — although the fighting in Moscow lasted for two weeks — but they were less successful in ethnically non-Russian parts of the empire, which had been clamoring for independence since the February Revolution. For example, The Ukrainian Rada, which had declared autonomy on June 23, 1917, created the Ukrainian People's Republic on November 20, which was supported by the Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. This led to an armed conflict with the Bolshevik government in Petrograd and, eventually, a Ukrainian declaration of independence from Russia on January 25, 1918.[2] In Estonia, two rival governments emerged: the Estonian Diet declared independence on November 28, 1917, while an Estonian Bolshevik, Jaan Anvelt, was recognized by Lenin's government as Estonia's leader on December 8, although forces loyal to Anvelt only controlled the capital.[3]
The success of the October uprising completed the phase of the revolution started in February and transformed the Russian Revolution from liberal to socialist in character. A coalition of anti-Bolshevik groups attempted to unseat the new government in the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1922.
The United States did not recognize the new Russian government until 1933, and later would send 10,000 troops to contain a Japanese invasion of Siberia. The European powers recognized the Soviet Union in the early 1920s and began to engage in business with it.
[edit] See also
- Revolutions of 1917-23
- Russian Revolution of 1917
- February Revolution
- Russian Provisional Government, 1917
- Russian Civil War
- Vladimir Lenin
- Leon Trotsky
- Adolph Joffe
- Alexander Kerensky
- Ten Days that Shook the World
- Communism
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ See Adoption of the Gregorian calendar and Old Style and New Style dates. The Gregorian calendar was introduced there much later—on February 14, 1918. Hence the October Revolution of 1917 started on November 7 (Gregorian calendar) and so is sometimes known the November Revolution.
- ^ See Encyclopedia of Ukraine online
- ^ See the article on Estonian independence in the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia online
