International Conference "Internet and Modern Society" (IMS-2020).

CEUR Proceedings 117

Russian Literature Around the October Revolution:

A Quantitative Exploratory Study of Literary Themes
and Narrative Structure in Russian Short Stories
of 1900–1930

Tatiana Sherstinova1,2 [0000-0002-9085-3378] and Tatiana Skrebtsova2[0000-0002-7825-1120]

1National Research University Higher School of Economics,
123 Griboyedova Canal Emb., St Petersburg 190068, Russia
2 St. Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia

[email protected]; [email protected]

Abstract. The paper reveals the thematic content and plot structure of the Rus-
sian short stories written in the 20th century’s first three decades. It presents
part of the ongoing project aimed at a comprehensive study of the Russian short
stories of this period, encompassing their thematic, structural and linguistic fea-
tures. This particular period is targeted because it was marked by a series of
dramatic historical events (Russo-Japanese war, World War I, February and Oc-
tober revolutions, the Civil War, formation of the Soviet Union) that could not
but affect Russian literature and language style. Within the project, a corre-
sponding text corpus has been created, currently containing several thousands
stories and thus allowing for a wide coverage of texts and their computer pro-
cessing. On its basis, a random sample has been selected, serving as a testbed to
probe preliminary observations and hypotheses. It is used in the paper to identi-
fy prevailing themes, both major and minor, manifest and latent, as well as
characteristic narrative structures and to trace the way they kept changing over
the three decades. This helps to pinpoint certain features and tendencies which
may be of interest to literary theorists and other scholars.

Keywords: digital humanities, Russian literature, Russian short stories, literary

themes, revolution, social changes, literary history, narrative structure, literary
corpus.

Introduction

In this paper, we present recent results obtained within the ongoing project “The Rus-
sian language on the edge of radical historical changes: the study of language and
style in pre-revolutionary, revolutionary and post-revolutionary artistic prose by the
methods of mathematical and computer linguistics (a corpus-based research on Rus-
sian short stories)” [1; 2]. The project’s overall goal is to give a comprehensive ac-
count of the early 20th century Russian short stories from the thematic, structural and
linguistic perspectives [3].

Copyright ©2020 for this paper by its authors.

Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
118 Computational Linguistics

This particular period is targeted because it was marked by a series of dramatic his-
torical events (Russo-Japanese war, World War I, February and October revolutions,
the Civil War, formation of the Soviet Union) that could not but affect Russian litera-
ture and language style. In particular, the October Revolution of 1917 is known to be
one of the key topics of Russian literature of the XX century [4]. However, the liter-
ary scholars have usually approached this topic from a purely qualitative viewpoint
[5; 6; 7]. In our research, we set a goal to obtain preliminary quantitative assessment
of literary changes in 1900–1930 in terms of themes distributions and narrative struc-
ture modifications by dynamically comparing different chronological periods [8].
To accomplish this, a text corpus was created, containing several thousands of
short stories written in Russia and later, the Soviet Union, and published in the
timespan from 1900 to 1930 in literary journals or story books. This timespan is di-
vided into 3 parts, 1900–1913, 1914–1922 and 1923–1930, the first covering the time
before the great cataclysms, the second embracing World War I, February and Octo-
ber revolutions and the Civil War, and the third accounting for the post-war socialist
period. Each author may be represented by a single, randomly selected, story per pe-
riod. To ensure robustness of the results, the corpus aims to take account of as many
professional writers as possible, both famous (e.g. Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan
Bunin, Maxim Gorky) and lesser-known ones, metropolitan and provincial alike [3].
From this corpus, a random sample was taken, containing 310 stories by 300 au-
thors (some writers featuring in more than one period, this accounts for a slight dis-
crepancy in numbers) [ibid.]. This sample serves as an initial testbed for linguists and
literary scholars enabling them to put forward and prove (or disprove) preliminary
conceptions concerning the Russian short stories of the early 20th century as a special
genre, with its specific themes, plot structure and stylistic features.

1 Thematic Tagging

1.1 General Approach

Identifying themes in works of literature is a rather difficult and controversial issue

[9; 10]. First and foremost, the problem is that literary texts are often heavily laden
with implicit meanings, as opposed, say, to academic or mass media discourse [11].
Thus there are no common statistical or computational techniques to be used for such
a goal. Instead, a careful qualitative analysis and interpretation are needed, at least,
initially. Automatic theme extraction procedures [12; 13] could be considered or de-
vised later, once there is a certain amount of data at hand, but still it would be futile to
fully rely on them. Thematic tagging which we are going to discuss here was done
manually.
Another difficulty concerning the thematic content of a literary text is that it nor-
mally contains a handful of themes, like love, war, death and desolation, or, say, art,
poverty, and suicide. In fiction, unlike other text types, themes are not hierarchically
arranged, so that one cannot definitely tag one of them as dominant, or global, and
others as subordinate, or local.
International Conference "Internet and Modern Society" (IMS-2020). CEUR Proceedings 119

In theory, they can all be brought together in a single proposition, as suggested by

Teun van Dijk [14: 134ff] for discourse topics in general, e.g. A poverty-stricken art-
ist desperately needs money and, unable to sell his paintings, commits suicide. Obvi-
ously enough, each story then will have an individual topic and there will be little
chance for checking out regularities.
We take a different approach. The basic idea is that thematic tagging of short sto-
ries presupposes the identification of all semantic components that contribute to the
plot, determine the protagonist’s motives and actions and directly bear on the conflict
and its resolution. Each story thus is provided with a set of themes, similarly to the
way componential analysis presents word meaning as a bundle of semantic features.
The difference, though, is that while componential analysis aims to bring out the
complete semantic content of a word, the set of themes does not fully define the short
story plot.
We proceeded as follows. A rough set of themes was drawn from the first period
stories. It was subsequently tested against the short stories of the two other periods,
with inevitable corrections, deletions and additions. The final set for the whole sample
currently numbers 89 themes, ranging from political to personal, and from philosoph-
ical to mundane.
In the next section, we briefly touch upon some of them and comment on the fre-
quency rates over the three periods. It is important to note that themes pertaining to
socio-political agenda are likely to be evoked in fiction long after the events con-
cerned. Thus, the Civil War is a theme in twice as many stories of the third period as
those of the second one. The greater the event, the stronger the postponed effect. One
should be aware of it when comparing the figures.

1.2 Theme Rates over Three Periods

The initial three decades of the 20th century proved a difficult time in the Russian
history. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese war (1904–1905), the subsequent political and
social unrest, World War I, February and October revolutions of 1917, resulting in a
radical transformation of economic, political and social life, and finally the Civil War
(1917–1922) with its aftermath period could not fail to affect the Russian literature. It
is but natural that these events are used in many stories as settings. We treat such
political events as themes in case they play a key role in the plot. This is often the
case with the war themes. With the revolutions, however, things are different. In a
sense, almost all stories of the third period and some of the second could be marked
by this tag since their contents would be deemed unrealistic had not the revolutions
taken place. Nevertheless, we think it completely unnecessary to introduce a February
revolution theme. As for the October revolution theme, only a couple of stories, spe-
cifically highlighting the role of this event for the plot, are tagged with it (Fig. 1).
Another thematic block closely associated with the sociopolitical context compris-
es issues dealing with the country’s development policy adopted after the October
revolution, such as technical progress, mass education, women’s emancipation, ex-
plorations and inventions. They became particularly relevant after the end of the Civil
War, during the third period (1923–1930) (Fig. 2).
120 Computational Linguistics

Fig. 1. 1 – Russo-Japanese war, 2 – World War I, 3 – October revolution, 4 – Civil War

Fig. 2. 1 – Technical progress, 2 – Mass education, 3 – Women’s emancipation, 4 – Explora-

tions and inventions

The process of instituting a new social order is a key theme in many stories of the
third period. Sometimes the new order is explicitly set against the old one, with the
former always evaluated positively and the latter, negatively. Such a neat divide is
due to the fact that people disapproving of the October revolution and the subsequent
transformations either had to leave the country or keep silent. It was impossible for
authors denying new ideas and values to get their work published (Fig. 3).
It was perhaps the peasant life that underwent the greatest transformations at this
time. The October revolution totally eliminated the familiar pre-revolutionary pattern
of the well-to-do families dwelling in large cities during the winter and moving to
their countryside estates in the summer (where they naturally may have met peasants,
but such encounters did not normally constitute a story theme). Instead, the protago-
nists of the third-period stories either reside in the city (workers, clerks) or, most of-
ten, are to be found in the rural settlements. There they are trying to survive in the
absence of food, cattle, seeds, agricultural implements, horses or any other facilities.
International Conference "Internet and Modern Society" (IMS-2020). CEUR Proceedings 121

Fig. 3. 1 – New ways of life, 2 – The old and the new

Besides, there is a split between the poorer farmers who supported the revolution and
sided with the Red Army during the Civil War and the wealthier ones, who do their
best to retain the traditional lifestyle. The two groups fight over land and the new
ways of things in general, sometimes with violence (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. 1 – Rural life vs. city life, 2 – Peasants life, 3 – Violence, 4 – Murder

A major change can be seen in the relative frequency of such themes as Christian God
(incorporating the concepts of faith, saints, sin and even devil) and religion as a social
institution across the second and third periods. During the “military” period from
1914 to 1922, the concept of God, quite naturally, was among the key ones. After the
ultimate victory of the Red Army, a peace time ensued, marked by an active anti-
religious policy of the Soviet government. Spiritual issues are seldom (if ever) men-
tioned in the literature of the third period. This is not the case, however, with religion
as a social institution. Although from the quantitative viewpoint the third period looks
exactly as the second one, the situation is different in two respects. First, in the third-
period stories, the Christian church no longer enjoys the monopoly and has to make
room for the Jewish and Buddhist religions. Second, the references to the church,
priests, worshippers, etc. are outright derogatory or ironic, at best (Fig. 5).
122 Computational Linguistics

Fig. 5. 1 – Christian God, 2 – Religion as a social institution

One might think that there are timeless, core values in the human life, unlikely to be
affected by political whirlpools and social life transformations. This may well be so as
regards individual lives, but in the literature of tumultuous periods the focus is shifted
towards large-scale public events. As a result, strictly personal topics like marriage,
romantic love, unfaithfulness, jealousy, children, parental love gradually decline,
becoming less prominent and frequent (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. 1 – Romantic love, 2 – Marriage, 3 – Unfaithfulness, 4 – Jealousy, 5 – Children,

6 – Parental love

Interestingly, the sexual aspect of love and, more broadly, the body life over the three
periods is on the rise (Fig. 7).
Poverty, hunger, lack of money plagued people’s life more or less steadily. During
the war the hardships obviously increased. They did not diminish after the end of the
Civil War as the country was exhausted and near ruin. The economy was devastated,
people were starving and dying from epidemics and lack of health-care. The number
of stories highlighting the contrast between the rich and the poor and the crucial role
of money after the revolution slightly went down, as there were no more wealthy peo-
ple (Fig. 8).
International Conference "Internet and Modern Society" (IMS-2020). CEUR Proceedings 123

Fig. 7. 1 – Mutual sexual love, 2 – Body life

Fig. 8. 1 – Poverty, hardships, 2 – The rich and the poor, money

Fig. 9. 1 – Death in the war, 2 – Natural death, 3 – Monotonous everyday life, boredom
124 Computational Linguistics

The difference between the times of war and peace is most obviously reflected in the
figures related to the death-in-the-war theme. An increase in this theme runs parallel
to the decrease in the number of stories involving death from natural causes. Surpris-
ingly, there is yet another thematic marker of peace times, and that is boredom. In the
epoch of cataclysms, people do not have the luxury of monotonous everyday life
(Fig. 9).

2 Narrative Structure

2.1 Conflict and Resolution

It is commonly believed that works of fiction, in particular short stories, are bound to
have a standard plot structure consisting of 5 parts: exposition, rising action, conflict,
falling action, resolution [15]. Complications signaled at the beginning tend to in-
crease and reach a climax, a turning point after which the main conflict unravels and
is finally resolved [ibid.]. Curiously enough, this classical framework is rather often
breached in short stories of all the three periods [16].
The non-canonical cases can be roughly divided into two groups. One contains sto-
ries with no or little action, intentionally devoid of changes in the protagonist’s fate.
The other embraces stories filled with small-scale events and local conflicts which,
however, do not translate into a conclusive climax bringing about a new state of af-
fairs in the protagonist’s life. Most often, this is done on purpose, but in some cases
the deficient structure may result from the author’s poor writing skills. The total num-
ber of stories in the two groups is about 30% for the first and second periods, in the
third period it drops to roughly 25%.

Fig. 10. Features of the composition: 1 – No climax, 2 – A number of small climaxes

The short stories marked by a non-standard composition cannot be safely linked to

particular themes. For example, quite often stories about poverty and hardships have
no conflict and thus no resolution. This helps to highlight the protagonist’s hopeless
position. If there were a conflict, it would be followed by a resolution bringing im-
International Conference "Internet and Modern Society" (IMS-2020). CEUR Proceedings 125

portant change in the protagonist’s life, which would run counter to the author’s in-
tentions. The same applies to such themes as monotonous everyday life, boredom,
hard work. But such correlations are by no means a rule.
The deficient structure is regularly found in short stories involving thoughts, remi-
niscences, dreams, fantasies, mysticism, and supernatural. A whimsical temporal
structure and a general lack of coherence characteristic of the phenomena concerned
is reflected in the narrative, preventing a progressive unraveling of the plot.
Many stories dealing with the new social order established after the October revo-
lution have no obvious conflict or a conclusive resolution, either. The writers simply
depicted the new order because it was novel and unusual, sometimes opposing it to
the old way of things.
What may seem strange at first sight is that quite a number of stories about politi-
cal events also lack the canonical narrative structure. This is usually done on purpose
to underline ineffective leadership, hesitation, stalemate, overall confusion or individ-
ual futile efforts and despair. Such literary stories about hopeless, non-heroic situa-
tions actually exhibit similar effects to the everyday stories about ethnic minorities
that were shown to lack resolution more often than not [17].
Another conspicuous factor at work accounting for a loose narrative structure
without a salient conflict and resolution, especially in what regards the short stories of
the second and the third periods, is quite trivial. The October revolution and the sub-
sequent radical transformations resulted in the emigration of many talented Russian
writers, the vacancies being filled by lesser-known or unexperienced young authors
whose professional competence or talent left much to be desired. Short stories by
Dmitri Furmanov and Zinaida Richter mixing up fiction prose with documentary writ-
ing are glaring examples of this sort. Indicative of the tendency are also numerous
third-period stories pervaded by ideological evaluations which bring them close to
newspaper articles of that time.
Finally, it might be presumed that the strength of the short stories’ conflict and res-
olution is partly determined by the national literature periods. Thus, it was shown in
[18] that American 19th century stories tend toward greater resolution on the level of
the plot than those of the 20th century. Closural states referred to in the 19th century-
stories’ terminal sentences deal mostly with objective events (death, parting, mar-
riage, an obstacle removed, a problem solved, a goal achieved) while in the 20th cen-
tury there is a noticeable shift toward subjective and minor things like satisfaction
[ibid.]. Naturally, literature periodization is not the same for different national tradi-
tions, still the overall trend seems clear enough.

2.2 Narrative Modes

Traditionally, third-person narration is the most commonly used narrative mode in

literature. The first-person point of view is rather frequent in short stories, too. This
holds for our sample. However, a few interesting details are worth mentioning
Fig. 11).
126 Computational Linguistics

Fig. 11. Narrative modes: 1 – 1st person narration, 2 – 3rd person narration, 3 – Alternating-
person narration, 4 – Embedded story

To begin with, the ratio of first-person narration to third-person narration is not the
same over the three periods. In the stories written from 1923 to1930, there is an in-
crease by roughly 5% in the former. The narrator thus is placed close to the reader and
the unfolding story, making the latter seem more personal and subjective.
The sense of subjectivity is even stronger felt in alternating-person narration,
which was constantly on the rise starting with 3 for the pre-war stories to 5 in the war
period and then up to 12 in the post-war period. Why such an increase?
In the 1923–1930 period, with the communist control of the country well-assured,
there arose a need to promote the alleged advantages of the new order. In many sto-
ries an ideological component was made explicit by narrator’s first-person comment,
usually placed at the end of the story and separated from the body text by asterisks or
even marked as “Afterword” (e.g. stories by Sivachov and Zorich). In such cases, the
reader initially takes it to be third-person narration, and all of a sudden at the end of
the story comes across a first-person evaluation of the plot. Such structure is not
found in the stories of the other two periods.
Thus, what is most peculiar about the grown number of stories involving alternat-
ing narration, is not the numbers as such but rather the purpose. While this narration
type is generally used mostly to impart a personal note, in the socialist period it often
served to introduce ideology. It may be said that the relatively high percentage of
stories involving alternating narration are due to the need (perceived by the writers) to
express an explicit evaluation of the new order. This is yet one more aspect which
enables to draw a parallel between the literary prose of the 1923–1930 period and
everyday stories (see also above).
A classical way to combine different points of view in narration is embedded nar-
rative, or a story within a story. The number of such cases is more or less stable across
all the three periods. As a rule, it is the embedded story that has a canonical structure
while the frame story lacks conflict and resolution. The only exception found in the
sample is Vladimir Korolenko’s Frost which has a full-fledged composition in both
International Conference "Internet and Modern Society" (IMS-2020). CEUR Proceedings 127

frame and embedded stories. Leonid Leonov’s Tramp is another interesting case in
point as it has two subsequently embedded stories.

Conclusion

In this paper we have touched upon two of the three aspects defining a genre, to wit,
themes and composition. Although the linguistic aspect has been deliberately left out,
the overall picture is clear. The short stories published in the third period are quite
different from those of the first period in both thematic and structural aspects. New
themes emerged while some of the old ones dropped in frequency or radically
changed in evaluation (e.g. religion as a social institution). The latter in particular
illustrates the need for qualitative rather than purely statistical analysis.
Some stories of the third period exhibit a quite special structure, marked by the
narrator’s explicit comment on the ideological gist of the plot. Such weird component,
untypical of the fiction prose in general, was prompted by external factors discussed
above. It is totally absent from the stories of the previous periods and, it might well be
assumed, will be seldom, if ever, found in more recent literature.
The second-period stories cannot be viewed as a “bridge” between the literature of
the two peace periods. They have a distinct character of their own shaped by the
large-scale political and military events. As concerns the composition, however, these
short stories pick up and continue the traditions of the classical Russian literature and
as such are closer to the first-period ones. Due to inertia, this is true for the post-
revolution years as well, including the Civil War. Thus, the above-mentioned post-
poned effect holds not only for the stories’ thematic content but also for their struc-
ture.
The quantitative data obtained should be judged as preliminary, since we have ex-
amined only a small portion of Russian literature of the designated period. The pro-
posed methodology seems promising for the analysis of literary corpora in general,
the number of which is constantly on the rise in the digital humanities research
[20; 21].

Acknowledgement. The research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research,
project # 17-29-09173 “The Russian language on the edge of radical historical changes: the
study of language and style in prerevolutionary, revolutionary and post-revolutionary artistic
prose by the methods of mathematical and computer linguistics (a corpus-based research on
Russian short stories)”.

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www.ck12.org Chapter 1. The Russian Revolution of 1917

C HAPTER
1 The Russian Revolution of
1917

FIGURE 1.1

Student Learning Objectives

At the end of this section the student will be able to

• Identify and describe the major causes and effects of the following important turning points in world history
from 1914 to the present: the world wars and their impact on political, economic, and social systems;
communist revolutions and their impact on the Cold War; independence movements; and globalization.
[WHS.1F]
• Identify the causes of the causes of the February (March) and October revolutions of 1917 in Russia, their
effects on the outcome of World War I, and the Bolshevik establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics.[WHS.10D]

1
 www.ck12.org

• Explain the major causes and events of World War II, including the German Invasion of Poland and Soviet
Union, the Holocaust, Japanese Imperialism, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Normandy landings and the
dropping of the atomic bombs.[WHS.12C]
• Locate places and regions of historical significance directly related to major eras and turning points in world
history. [WHS.16A]

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the most significant events in the 20th century, and marked one of
the most radical turning points in Russia’s 1,300-year history. The Russian Revolution removed Russia from WWI
and brought about the transformation of Russia into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It replaced
Russia’s traditional monarchy with the world’s first Communist state. The new communist government, led by
Vladimir Lenin, would solidify its power only after three years of civil war. The revolution affected economics,
social structure, culture, international relations, industrial development, and most any other benchmark by which
one might measure a revolution. Although the new government would prove to be at least as repressive as the one it
replaced, the country’s new rulers were drawn largely from the intellectual and working classes rather than from the
aristocracy—which meant a considerable change in direction for Russia. Over the next several decades, the Soviet
Union would actively sponsor and assist Communist movements and revolutions around the world in an effort to
broaden its sphere of influence.

Causes

The Russian Revolution was the culmination of a long period of repression and unrest. From the time of Peter the
Great, the czarist government had increasingly became an autocratic bureaucracy that imposed its will on the people
by force, with wanton disregard for human life and liberty.
In 1881, student revolutionaries who were angry over the slow pace of political change assassinated Alexander II,
a reform-minded czar. When his son, Alexander III took the throne, he halted all reforms in Russia, clinging to
the principles of “autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality.” To wipe out revolutionaries, Alexander III used harsh
measures. He imposed strict censorship on published materials and written documents, including private letters. His
secret police carefully watched both secondary schools and universities. Political prisoners were exiled to Siberia.
To establish a uniform Russian culture, Alexander III oppressed other national groups within Russia. He made
Russian the official language of the empire and forbade the use of minority languages, such as Polish, in schools.
Alexander made Jews the special target of persecution, leading to a wave of pogroms - organized violence against
Jews - where police and soldiers stood by and watched Russian citizens loot and destroy Jewish homes, stores, and
synagogues.
When Nicolas II became czar in 1894, he was determined to maintain the principle of autocracy. Russia, however,
was slowly industrializing, which only further spread discontent. Grueling working conditions, miserably low wages
and child labor were common, while trade unions were outlawed. As the gap between the rich and poor grew,
exploited laborers who worked in factories and built the railway lines organized strikes.
Amid the widespread unrest of workers and other members of Russian society, various revolutionary movements
began to grow and compete for power. The group that would eventually succeed in establishing a new government
in Russia followed the views of Karl Marx. These revolutionaries believed that the industrial class of workers
would overthrow the czar. The industrial class would then form “a dictatorship of the proletariat.” In such a state,
the workers would rule. One such Marxist group the, Bolsheviks, supported the idea that change could best be
brought about by a small number of committed revolutionaries willing to sacrifice everything for radical change.
The major leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who adopted the name of Lenin. He had an
engaging personality, was an excellent organizer, and was ruthless. In the early 1900’s, Lenin fled to Western

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Europe to avoid arrest by the czarist regime. He maintained contact with other Bolsheviks until he believed he could
safely return to Russia.

FIGURE 1.2

Crisis at Home and Abroad

The revolutionaries would not have to wait long to realize their visions. Between 1904 and 1917, Russia faced a
series of crisis. These events showed the czar’s weakness and paved the way for revolution.

Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905

The year 1905 revealed all too clearly Czar Nicholas II’s perceived indifference, brutality, and weakness. On
Sunday, January 9, a crowd of over 100,000 marched peacefully through the center of St. Petersburg, eventually
assembling in front of the Czar’s Winter Palace. Unaware that the tsar was not in town that day, they called for the
tsar to appear so that they could present him with a petition.
The police, who had just finished putting down a series of strikes by industrial workers, followed their standing
orders to get rid of any problems. Their solution was to open fire on the crowd, which included women and children

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as well as church leaders. As the crowd scattered, police pursued them on horseback, continuing to fire on them.
Many in the crowd were trampled to death in the ensuing panic. Estimates of the total death toll range from a few
hundred to several thousand.
News of the massacre spread quickly, and many saw it as a sign that the tsar no longer cared about his people. The
incident earned Nicholas the title “Nicholas the Bloody” even though he did not in fact know about the violence
until it was already over. An unorganized series of demonstrations, riots, strikes, and assorted episodes of violence
erupted across Russia in the following months.

The Russian Constitution and Duma

Any chance for Nicholas II to regain his standing was soon lost, as Russia was rocked by a long series of disasters,
scandals, and political failures. During the first half of 1905, Russia suffered a humiliating military defeat against
Japan in the Russo-Japanese War. Later in the year, the tsar reluctantly gave in to heavy political pressure and
granted Russia its first constitution. Permission to form Russia’s first parliament, called the Duma, was also soon
granted.

FIGURE 1.3
Russian State Duma

The leaders of the first Duma that met in May 1906 were moderates who wanted Russia to become a constitutional
monarchy similar to Britain. Hesitant to share his power, the czar dissolved the Duma after ten weeks. Other Dumas
would meet later. Yet none would have real power to make sweeping reforms.
In the meantime, Nicholas’s own family became the subject of a different sort of crisis. His wife, Alexandra, had
begun consulting with a mystic peasant named Grigory Rasputin in a desperate attempt to help her hemophiliac son,
Alexis. It seemed to her that Rasputin had the ability to ease the boy’s symptoms. In time, the self-proclaimed monk
Rasputin gained political influence over the tsar through his wife, while at the same time engaging in scandalous
sexual escapades throughout the Russian capital. Rumors quickly spread that Rasputin had magical powers and that
he had the entire royal family under some sort of spell.

World War I

It was in the midst of this scandal that Nicholas drew Russia into World War I in the summer of 1914. In 1915,
Nicholas moved his headquarters to the war front. From there, he hoped to rally his discouraged troops to victory.
His wife, Czarina Alexandra, ran the government while he was away, ignoring the czar’s chief advisers and, instead

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continuing to fall under the influence of Rasputin. The war was a disaster for Russia: it caused inflation, plunged
the country into a food shortage, and ultimately cost the lives of nearly 5 million Russian soldiers and civilians, as
well as a series of humiliating military defeats. As in the Russo-Japanese War, Russia’s involvement in World War I
revealed the weaknesses of czarist rule and military leadership.
The war was the final straw for the Russian people. In 1916, a group of nobles murdered Rasputin, fearing his
increasing role in government affairs. But it was too late, as popular discontentment was at an all-time high. Soldiers
mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders. On the home-front, food and fuel supplies were dwindling. Prices were wildly
inflated. People from all classes were clamoring for change and an end to the war. Neither Nicholas nor Alexandra
proved capable of tackling these enormous problems.

The March Revolution

With Russia faring poorly in World War I and facing severe food shortages, strikes and public protests happened
in the country with increasing frequency during 1916 and early 1917. Violent encounters between protesters and
authorities also increased.
On February 23, 1917, a large gathering of working-class women convened in the center of Petrograd to mark
International Women’s Day. The gathering took the form of a protest demonstration calling for “bread and peace.”
While the demonstration began peacefully, the next morning it turned violent as the women were joined by hundreds
of thousands of male workers who went on strike and flooded the streets, openly calling for an end to the war
and even to the monarchy. Feeding on their outrage with each passing day, the demonstrations became larger and
rowdier, and the outnumbered police were unable to control the crowds.
With news of the unrest, Tsar Nicholas II, who was away visiting his troops on the front, sent a telegram to
Petrograd’s military commander on February 25, ordering him to bring an end to the riots by the next day. In
their efforts to carry out the tsar’s order, several troops of a local guard regiment fired upon the crowds on February
26. The regiment fell into chaos, as many soldiers felt more empathy for the crowds than for the tsar. The next day,
more than 80,000 troops mutinied and joined with the crowds, in many cases directly fighting the police.
The events in March of 1917 forced Czar Nicholas II to abdicate his throne. The Czarist rule of the Romanov
dynasty, which spanned over three centuries, had finally collapsed. The March Revolution succeeded in bringing
down the czar, yet it failed to set up a strong government to replace his regime.
Leaders of the Duma established a provisional government under the leadership of Alexander Kerensky. His decision
to continue fighting the war cost him the support of both soldiers and civilians. As the war dragged on, conditions
inside Russia worsened. Angry peasants demanded land. City workers grew more radical. Social revolutionaries,
competing for power formed soviets. Soviets were local councils consisting of workers, peasants, and soldiers. In
many cities especially Petrograd, the soviets had more influence that the provisional government.

The Bolshevik Revolution

The Germans launched their own “secret weapon” that would erode the provisional government’s authority. They
arranged Lenin’s return to Russia after many years of exile. The Germans believed that Lenin and his Bolshevik
supporters would stir unrest in Russia and hurt the Russian war effort. Traveling in a sealed railway boxcar, Lenin
reached Petrograd in April 1917.
Lenin and the Bolsheviks recognized their opportunity to seize power. They soon gained control of the Petrograd
soviet, as well as the soviets in other major Russian cities. By the fall of 1917, people in the cities were rallying to
the call, “All power to the Soviets.” Lenin’s slogan of “Peace, Land, and Bread,” was gaining widespread appeal.
Lenin decided to take action.
In November 1917, without warning, Bolshevik Red Guards made up of armed factory workers stormed the Winter
Palace in Petrograd. They took over government offices and arrested the leaders of the provisional government.

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FIGURE 1.4

The Bolshevik Revolution was over in a matter of hours. Not a single shot was fired, as those appointed to guard
these sites either fled or were disarmed without incident. Even the headquarters of the General Staff—the army
headquarters—was taken without resistance.
After Lenin’s government secured power, one of its first major goals was to get Russia out of the World War. In
November 1917, the new government ordered Russian troops to cease all hostilities on the front. In March of 1918,
Russian and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Russia’s exit from the war was very costly, but Lenin was desperate to end the war at any cost, as the Germans were
threatening to . In the peace, Lenin consented to give up most of Russia’s territorial gains since the time of Peter
the Great. The lost territories included Finland,Poland,Latvia,Lithuania,Estonia,Ukraine,Belarus,Bessarabia, and
the Caucasus region, along with some of the coal-mining lands of . The Soviets would not regain these territories
until the end of World War II.

Civil War Rages in Russia

Still recovering from their painful losses of land to Germany, the Bolsheviks now face a new challenge - stamping
out their enemies at home. Their opponents formed the White Army. The revolutionary leader, Leon Trotsky, who
helped negotiate the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk expertly commanded the Bolshevik Red Army. From 1918 to 1920,
civil war raged in Russia. Several Western nations, including the United States, sent military aid and forces to Russia
to help the White Army.

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Russia’s civil war proved far more deadly than the earlier revolutions, and even deadlier than its involvement in
World War I. Around 15 million Russians died in the three-year struggle and in the famine that followed. The
destruction and loss of life from fighting, hunger, and a worldwide flu epidemic left Russia in chaos.
In the end the Red Army triumphed and finally crushed all opposition to Bolshevik rule. The victory showed that
the Bolsheviks were able both to seize power and to maintain it. Yet in the aftermath of the civil war, Lenin and the
Bolsheviks faced over-whelming problems.

FIGURE 1.5

Lenin’s New Economic Policy

War and revolution destroyed the Russian economy. Trade was at a standstill. Industrial production dropped and
many skilled workers fled to other countries. Lenin, who helped mastermind the Bolshevik Revolution, shifted his
role. He turned to reviving the economy and restructuring the government.
In March 1921, Lenin launched the New Economic Policy (NEP) by temporarily putting aside his plan for a state-
controlled economy. Instead, he resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism. The reforms under the NEP allowed

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peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government. Individuals could buy and sell
goods for profit. The government kept control of major industries, banks, and means of communication, but it let
some small factories, businesses, and farms operate under private ownership. Lenin also tried to encourage foreign
investment.

Political Reforms

The many different nationalities within Russia had always posed an obstacle to national unity. Communist leaders
also saw nationalism as a threat to unity and party loyalty. To keep nationalism in check, Lenin organized Russia
into several self-governing republics under the central government. In 1922, the country was named the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in honor of the councils that helped launch the Bolshevik Revolution. Each
republic was controlled from the new capital, Moscow.

FIGURE 1.6

The Bolsheviks also renamed their party the Communist Party. The name came from the writings of Karl Marx.
He had used the word communism to describe the classless society that would exist after the workers had seized
power. In 1924, the Communists created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles. In reality, the
Communist Party held all the power. Lenin had established a dictatorship of the Communist Party, not “a dictatorship
of the proletariat,” as Marx had promoted. Thanks partly to the new policies and to the peace that followed the civil
war, the USSR slowly recovered. By 1928, the country’s farms and factories were producing as much as they had
before World War I. Lenin did not live to see this recovery. He had several strokes and spent the last 18 months of

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his life as a semi-invalid. His death in 1924 would open a power struggle for control of the party and the country.
Eventually, Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin, would build a totalitarian state in the USSR, dramatically transforming
the government and controlling every aspect of citizen’s life.

Video Assignment

Watch: History vs. Vladimir Lenin by TED Ed

MEDIA
Click image to the left or use the URL below.
URL: http://www.ck12.org/flx/render/embeddedobject/205017

Interactive Student Notebook Assignments

1. Here is a puzzle: why was the "February Revolution" in March and the "October Revolution" in November?
Use the internet to find the answer and write a summary about what you found.
2. Create an illustrated timeline that traces the Russian Revolution. The timeline should include at least five
events that span from the February (March) revolution of 1917 to the establishment of the USSR. Each
illustrated event should be accompanied by a written explanation of the significance of the event.

Review Questions

1. What were the major causes of the 1917 revolutions in Russia and how did they affect World War I?
2. Why did the Russian Revolution happen "later" than other major revolutions?
3. Why did the Russians leave the First World War before the end of the war?
4. What new political, economic, and social patterns emerged in Russia following the communist revolution?
5. What was the U.S.S.R. and who established it?

Vocabulary

TABLE 1.1:
Russian Revolution ended czarist rule in Russia, put into place a provisional
government, and later, brought about Bolshevik com-
munist control of a new Soviet Union.
Nicholas II the last Tsar of Russia and of the Romanov dynasty,
deposed of his powers in the 1917 October Revolution.
Vladimir Lenin leader of the communist Bolsheviks who overthrew the
Russian provisional government in 1917 and ruled the
Soviet Union until 1924.
Bolsheviks the Russian communists, led by Vladimir Lenin, who
overthrew the Russian provisional government in the
October Revolution of 1917.

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TABLE 1.1: (continued)

October Revolution the second of two revolutions taking place in Russia in
1917 in which the Bolshevik communists took control
of Russian government.
Russian Civil War a conflict fought between Bolshevik communist armies
(reds) and those opposed to their takeover of the Rus-
sian government (whites) from 1918 to 1920.
USSR acronym for the United Soviet Socialist Republic, or,
the Soviet Union.

Internet Resources

• The Russian Revolution by Epic History

Vocabulary

13.1 World War I

Student Learning Objectives

At the end of this section the student will be able to:

...

(ISN) Interactive Student Notebook Assignments

1. Copied content specific questions

(ISN) Discussion and Study Questions

1. Guiding Questions

Vocabulary

Quizlet Flashcards for World WarI

References

1. By the lost gallery. .

2. By Art Gallery ErgsArt. .
3. Karl Bulla. Wikipedia Commons . publicdomain
4. by Vasily Smirnov. Bolshevik Revolution.
5. By Sergei Zubkov. V Lenin.
6. by Vasily Smirnov. USSR.

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11
October Revolution
The October Revolution,[a] officially known as the
October Revolution
Great October Socialist Revolution[b] under the Soviet
Union, also known as the Bolshevik Coup, the Part of the Russian Revolution and
Bolshevik Revolution,[2] the October Uprising, the the Revolutions of 1917–1923
October Coup or Red October, was a revolution in
Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that
was instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of
1917–1923. It was the second revolutionary change of
government in Russia in 1917. It took place through an
armed insurrection in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg)
on 7 November 1917 [O.S. 25 October]. It was the
precipitating event of the Russian Civil War.

The October Revolution followed and capitalized on the

February Revolution earlier in the year. The February
Revolution had overthrown the Tsarist autocracy,
The Winter Palace of Petrograd
resulting in a provisional government. The provisional
one day after the insurrection, 8 November
government had taken power after being proclaimed by
Grand Duke Michael, Tsar Nicholas II's younger brother, Date 7 November 1917 [O.S. 25
who declined to take power after the Tsar stepped down. October]
During this time, urban workers began to organize into
Location Petrograd, Russian Republic
councils (soviets) wherein revolutionaries criticized the
provisional government and its actions. The provisional Result Bolshevik victory
government remained widely unpopular, especially
End of the dual power
because it was continuing to fight in World War I, and
had ruled with an iron fist throughout the summer Dissolution of the Russian
(including killing hundreds of protesters in the July Provisional Government
Days). The Second Congress of
Soviets proclaims itself the
Events came to a head in the fall as the Directorate, led by
supreme governing body in
the left-wing Socialist Revolutionary Party, controlled the
government. The left-wing Bolsheviks were deeply the country
unhappy with the government, and began spreading calls Kerensky and Krasnov's
for a military uprising. On 10 October 1917 (O.S.; 23 failed attempt to retake the
October, N.S.), the Petrograd Soviet, led by Trotsky, capital
voted to back a military uprising. On 24 October (O.S.; 6
Constituent Assembly
November, N.S.) the government shut down numerous
newspapers and closed the city of Petrograd in an attempt election held under heavy
to forestall the revolution; minor armed skirmishes broke Bolshevik pressure
out. The next day a full scale uprising erupted, as a fleet Beginning of the Russian
of Bolshevik sailors entered the harbor and tens of Civil War
thousands of soldiers rose up in support of the
Bolsheviks. Bolshevik Red Guards forces under the Belligerents
Military-Revolutionary Committee began the occupation Bolsheviks Russian
of government buildings on 25 October (O.S.; 7 Petrograd Soviet Republic
November, N.S.), 1917. The following day, the Winter Left SRs
Palace (the seat of the Provisional government located in Red Guards
Petrograd, then capital of Russia) was captured.
Commanders and leaders
As the Revolution was not universally recognized, the Vladimir Lenin Alexander
country descended into civil war, which would last until Leon Trotsky Kerensky
1923 and ultimately lead to the creation of the Soviet Nikolai Pyotr Krasnov
Union in late 1922. The historiography of the event has Podvoisky
varied. The victorious Soviet Union viewed it as a
Vladimir
validation of their ideology, and the triumph of the
Ovseyenko
worker over capitalism. During Soviet times, revolution
day was made a national holiday, marking its importance Pavel Dybenko
in the country's founding story. On the other hand, the Strength
Western Allies saw it as a totalitarian coup, which used 10,000 red sailors, 500–1,000 volunteer
the democratic Soviet councils only until they were no
20,000–30,000 red soldiers, 1,000
longer useful. The event inspired many cultural works,
guard soldiers, soldiers of women's
and ignited communist movements across Europe and
globally. Many Marxist–Leninist parties around the world unknown number of battalion
still celebrate revolution day. Contemporary Russia workers
distanced itself from its Soviet past by removing the Casualties and losses
October Revolution as a national holiday.
Few wounded Red All imprisoned or
Guard soldiers[1] deserted

Contents
Etymology
Background
February Revolution
Unrest by workers, peasants, and soldiers
Antiwar demonstrations
July days Red Guard unit of the Vulkan factory
Kornilov affair in Petrograd, October 1917
German support
Insurrection
Planning
Onset
Assault on the Winter Palace
Dybenko's disputed role
Later Soviet portrayal
Outcome
New government established Bolshevik (1920) by Boris Kustodiev
Anti-Bolshevik sentiment
Governmental reforms
Timeline of the spread of Soviet power
(Gregorian calendar dates)
Russian Civil War
Historiography
Soviet historiography
 Western historiography
Effect of the dissolution of the Soviet Union
on historical research
Legacy
See also
Notes
Citations
References
External links

Etymology The New York Times headline from 9

November 1917

Despite occurring in November of the Gregorian calendar, the

event is most commonly known as the "October Revolution" (Октябрьская революция) because at the
time Russia still used the Julian calendar. The event is sometimes known as the "November Revolution",
after the Soviet Union modernized its calendar.[3][4][5] To avoid confusion, both O.S and N.S. dates have
been given for events. For more details see Old Style and New Style dates.

At first, the event was referred to as the "October Coup" (Октябрьский переворот) or the "Uprising of
the 3rd," as seen in contemporary documents (for example, in the first editions of Lenin's complete works).

Background

February Revolution

The February Revolution had toppled Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and replaced his government with the
Russian Provisional Government. However, the provisional government was weak and riven by internal
dissension. It continued to wage World War I, which became increasingly unpopular. There was a
nationwide crisis affecting social, economic, and political relations. Disorder in industry and transport had
intensified, and difficulties in obtaining provisions had increased. Gross industrial production in 1917
decreased by over 36% of what it had been in 1914. In the autumn, as much as 50% of all enterprises in the
Urals, the Donbas, and other industrial centers were closed down, leading to mass unemployment. At the
same time, the cost of living increased sharply. Real wages fell to about 50% of what they had been in
1913. By October 1917, Russia's national debt had risen to 50 billion rubles. Of this, debts to foreign
governments constituted more than 11 billion rubles. The country faced the threat of financial bankruptcy.

Unrest by workers, peasants, and soldiers

Throughout June, July, and August 1917, it was common to hear working-class Russians speak about their
lack of confidence in the Provisional Government. Factory workers around Russia felt unhappy with the
growing shortages of food, supplies, and other materials. They blamed their managers or foremen and
would even attack them in the factories. The workers blamed many rich and influential individuals for the
overall shortage of food and poor living conditions. Workers saw these rich and powerful individuals as
opponents of the Revolution, and called them "bourgeois", "capitalist", and "imperialist".[6]
In September and October 1917, there were mass strike actions by the Moscow and Petrograd workers,
miners in the Donbas, metalworkers in the Urals, oil workers in Baku, textile workers in the Central
Industrial Region, and railroad workers on 44 railway lines. In these months alone, more than a million
workers took part in strikes. Workers established control over production and distribution in many factories
and plants in a social revolution.[7] Workers organized these strikes through factory committees. The
factory committees represented the workers and were able to negotiate better working conditions, pay, and
hours. Even though workplace conditions may have been increasing in quality, the overall quality of life for
workers was not improving. There were still shortages of food and the increased wages workers had
obtained did little to provide for their families.[6]

By October 1917, peasant uprisings were common. By autumn, the peasant movement against the
landowners had spread to 482 of 624 counties, or 77% of the country. As 1917 progressed, the peasantry
increasingly began to lose faith that the land would be distributed to them by the Social Revolutionaries and
the Mensheviks. Refusing to continue living as before, they increasingly took measures into their own
hands, as can be seen by the increase in the number and militancy of the peasant's actions. From the
beginning of September to the October Revolution there were over a third as many peasant actions than
since March. Over 42% of all the cases of destruction (usually burning down and seizing property from the
landlord's estate) recorded between February and October occurred in October.[8] While the uprisings
varied in severity, complete uprisings and seizures of the land were not uncommon. Less robust forms of
protest included marches on landowner manors and government offices, as well as withholding and storing
grains rather than selling them.[9] When the Provisional Government sent punitive detachments, it only
enraged the peasants. In September, the garrisons in Petrograd, Moscow, and other cities, the Northern and
Western fronts, and the sailors of the Baltic Fleet declared through their elected representative body
Tsentrobalt that they did not recognize the authority of the Provisional Government and would not carry out
any of its commands.[10]

Soldiers' wives were key players in the unrest in the villages. From 1914 to 1917, almost 50% of healthy
men were sent to war, and many were killed on the front, resulting in many females being head of the
household. Often—when government allowances were late and were not sufficient to match the rising costs
of goods—soldiers' wives sent masses of appeals to the government, which went largely unanswered.
Frustration resulted, and these women were influential in inciting "subsistence riots"—also referred to as
"hunger riots," "pogroms," or "baba riots." In these riots, citizens seized food and resources from shop
owners, who they believed to be charging unfair prices. Upon police intervention, protesters responded
with "rakes, sticks, rocks, and fists."[11]

Antiwar demonstrations

In a diplomatic note of 1 May, the minister of foreign affairs, Pavel Milyukov, expressed the Provisional
Government's desire to continue the war against the Central Powers "to a victorious conclusion", arousing
broad indignation. On 1–4 May, about 100,000 workers and soldiers of Petrograd, and, after them, the
workers and soldiers of other cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading "Down
with the war!" and "All power to the soviets!" The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for the
Provisional Government.[12] 1 July saw more demonstrations, as about 500,000 workers and soldiers in
Petrograd demonstrated, again demanding "all power to the soviets," "down with the war," and "down
with the ten capitalist ministers." The Provisional Government opened an offensive against the Central
Powers on 1 July, which soon collapsed. The news of the offensive's failure intensified the struggle of the
workers and the soldiers. A new crisis in the Provisional Government began on 15 July.

July days
On 16 July, spontaneous demonstrations of workers and soldiers
began in Petrograd, demanding that power be turned over to the
soviets. The Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic
Labour Party provided leadership to the spontaneous movements.
On 17 July, over 500,000 people participated in what was intended
to be a peaceful demonstration in Petrograd, the so-called July
Days. The Provisional Government, with the support of Socialist-
Revolutionary Party-Menshevik leaders of the All-Russian
Executive Committee of the Soviets, ordered an armed attack A scene from the July Days. The
against the demonstrators, killing hundreds.[13] army has just opened fire on street
protesters.
A period of repression followed. On 5–6 July, attacks were made
on the editorial offices and printing presses of Pravda and on the
Palace of Kshesinskaya, where the Central Committee and the Petrograd Committee of the Bolsheviks
were located. On 7 July, the government ordered the arrest and trial of Vladimir Lenin, who was forced to
go underground, as he had done under the Tsarist regime. Bolsheviks were arrested, workers were
disarmed, and revolutionary military units in Petrograd were disbanded or sent to the war front. On 12 July,
the Provisional Government published a law introducing the death penalty at the front. The second
coalition government was formed on 24 July, chaired by Alexander Kerensky.[14]

In response to a Bolshevik appeal, Moscow's working class began a protest strike of 400,000 workers.
They were supported by strikes and protest rallies by workers in Kiev, Kharkov, Nizhny Novgorod,
Ekaterinburg, and other cities.

Kornilov affair

In what became known as the Kornilov affair, General Lavr Kornilov, who had been Commander-in-Chief
since 18 July, with Kerensky's agreement directed an army under Aleksandr Krymov to march toward
Petrograd to restore order.[15] Details remain sketchy, but Kerensky appeared to become frightened by the
possibility that the army would stage a coup, and reversed the order. By contrast, historian Richard Pipes
has argued that the episode was engineered by Kerensky.[16] On 27 August, feeling betrayed by the
government, Kornilov pushed on towards Petrograd. With few troops to spare at the front, Kerensky turned
to the Petrograd Soviet for help. Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and Socialist Revolutionaries confronted the
army and convinced them to stand down.[17] The Bolsheviks' influence over railroad and telegraph
workers also proved vital in stopping the movement of troops. Right-wingers felt betrayed, and the left-
wing was resurgent. The first direct consequence of Kornilov's failed coup was the formal abolition of the
monarchy and the proclamation of the Russian Republic on 1 September.[18]

With Kornilov defeated, the Bolsheviks' popularity in the soviets grew significantly, both in the central and
local areas. On 31 August, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies—and, on 5 September,
the Moscow Soviet Workers Deputies—adopted the Bolshevik resolutions on the question of power. The
Bolsheviks won a majority in the soviets of Briansk, Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Minsk, Kiev, Tashkent,
and other cities.

German support

Vladimir Lenin, who had been living in exile in Switzerland, with other dissidents organized a plan to
negotiate a passage for them through Germany, with whom Russia was then at war. Recognizing that these
dissidents could cause problems for their Russian enemies, the German government agreed to permit 32
Russian citizens, among them Lenin and his wife, to travel in a sealed train carriage through their territory.
According to Deutsche Welle:
 On November 7, 1917, a coup d'état went down in history as the October Revolution. The
interim government was toppled, the Soviets seized power, and Russia later terminated the
Triple Entente military alliance with France and Britain. For Russia, it was effectively the end
of the war. Kaiser Wilhelm II had spent around half a billion euros ($582 million) in today's
money to weaken his wartime enemy.[19]

Insurrection

Planning

On 10 October 1917 (O.S.; 23 October, N.S.), the Bolsheviks'

Central Committee voted 10–2 for a resolution saying that "an
armed uprising is inevitable, and that the time for it is fully
ripe."[20] At the Committee meeting, Lenin discussed how the
people of Russia had waited long enough for "an armed uprising,"
and it was the Bolsheviks' time to take power. Lenin expressed his
confidence in the success of the planned insurrection. His
confidence stemmed from months of Bolshevik buildup of power
and successful elections to different committees and councils in
major cities such as Petrograd and Moscow.[21] Cruiser Aurora

The Bolsheviks created a revolutionary military committee within

the Petrograd soviet, led by the soviet's president, Trotsky. The
committee included armed workers, sailors, and soldiers, and
assured the support or neutrality of the capital's garrison. The
committee methodically planned to occupy strategic locations
through the city, almost without concealing their preparations: the
Provisional Government's president Kerensky was himself aware
of them; and some details, leaked by Lev Kamenev and Grigory
Zinoviev, were published in newspapers.[22][23]

Forward gun of Aurora that fired the

Onset signal shot

In the early morning of 24 October (O.S.; 6 November N.S.), a

group of soldiers loyal to Kerensky's government marched on the printing house of the Bolshevik
newspaper, Rabochiy put (Worker's Path), seizing and destroying printing equipment and thousands of
newspapers. Shortly thereafter, the government announced the immediate closure of not only Rabochiy put
but also the left-wing Soldat, as well as the far-right newspapers Zhivoe slovo and Novaia Rus. The editors
and contributors of these newspapers were seen to be calling for insurrection and were to be prosecuted on
criminal charges.[24]

In response, at 9 a.m. the Bolshevik Military-Revolutionary Committee issued a statement denouncing the
government's actions. At 10 a.m., Bolshevik-aligned soldiers successfully retook the Rabochiy put printing
house. Kerensky responded at approximately 3 p.m. that afternoon by ordering the raising of all but one of
Petrograd's bridges, a tactic used by the government several months earlier during the July Days. What
followed was a series of sporadic clashes over control of the bridges, between Red Guard militias aligned
with the Military-Revolutionary Committee and military units still loyal to the government. At
approximately 5 p.m. the Military-Revolutionary Committee seized the Central Telegraph of Petrograd,
giving the Bolsheviks control over communications through the city.[24][25]
On 25 October (O.S.; 7 November, N.S.) 1917, the Bolsheviks led their forces in the uprising in Petrograd
(now St. Petersburg, then capital of Russia) against the Provisional Government. The event coincided with
the arrival of a pro-Bolshevik flotilla—consisting primarily of five destroyers and their crews, as well as
marines—in Petrograd harbor. At Kronstadt, sailors announced their allegiance to the Bolshevik
insurrection. In the early morning, from its heavily guarded and picketed headquarters in Smolny Palace,
the Military-Revolutionary Committee designated the last of the locations to be assaulted or seized. The
Red Guards systematically captured major government facilities, key communication installations, and
vantage points with little opposition. The Petrograd Garrison and most of the city's military units joined the
insurrection against the Provisional Government.[23] 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 this day.

Kerensky and the Provisional Government were virtually helpless to offer significant resistance. Railways
and railway stations had been controlled by Soviet workers and soldiers for days, making rail travel to and
from Petrograd impossible for Provisional Government officials. The Provisional Government was also
unable to locate any serviceable vehicles. On the morning of the insurrection, Kerensky desperately
searched for a means of reaching military forces he hoped would be friendly to the Provisional Government
outside the city and ultimately borrowed a Renault car from the American embassy, which he drove from
the Winter Palace, along with a Pierce Arrow. Kerensky was able to evade the pickets going up around the
palace and to drive to meet approaching soldiers.[24]

As Kerensky left Petrograd, Lenin wrote a proclamation To the Citizens of Russia, stating that the
Provisional Government had been overthrown by the Military-Revolutionary Committee. The proclamation
was sent by telegraph throughout Russia, even as the pro-Soviet soldiers were seizing important control
centers throughout the city. One of Lenin's intentions was to present members of the Soviet congress, who
would assemble that afternoon, with a fait accompli and thus forestall further debate on the wisdom or
legitimacy of taking power.[24]

Assault on the Winter Palace

A final assault against the Winter Palace—against 3,000 cadets, officers, cossacks, and female soldiers—
was not vigorously resisted.[24][26] The Bolsheviks delayed the assault because they could not find
functioning artillery[27] At 6:15 p.m., a large group of artillery cadets abandoned the palace, taking their
artillery with them. At 8:00 p.m., 200 cossacks left the palace and returned to their barracks.[24]

While the cabinet of the provisional government within the palace debated what action to take, the
Bolsheviks issued an ultimatum to surrender. Workers and soldiers occupied the last of the telegraph
stations, cutting off the cabinet's communications with loyal military forces outside the city. As the night
progressed, crowds of insurgents surrounded the palace, and many infiltrated it.[24] At 9:45 p.m, the cruiser
Aurora fired a blank shot from the harbor. Some of the revolutionaries entered the palace at 10:25 p.m. and
there was a mass entry 3 hours later.

By 2:10 a.m. on 26 October, Bolshevik forces had gained control. The Cadets and the 140 volunteers of
the Women's Battalion surrendered rather than resist the 40,000 strong attacking force.[28][29] After
sporadic gunfire throughout the building, the cabinet of the Provisional Government surrendered, and were
imprisoned in Peter and Paul Fortress. The only member who was not arrested was Kerensky himself, who
had already left the palace.[24][30]

With the Petrograd Soviet now in control of government, garrison, and proletariat, the Second All Russian
Congress of Soviets held its opening session on the day, while Trotsky dismissed the opposing Mensheviks
and the Socialist Revolutionaries (SR) from Congress.
Dybenko's disputed role

Some sources contend that as the leader of Tsentrobalt, Pavlo Dybenko played a crucial role in the revolt
and that the ten warships that arrived at the city with ten thousand Baltic Fleet mariners were the force that
took the power in Petrograd and put down the Provisional Government. The same mariners then dispersed
by force the elected parliament of Russia,[31] and used machine-gun fire against demonstrators in
Petrograd, killing about 100 demonstrators and wounding several hundred. Dybenko in his memoirs
mentioned this event as "several shots in the air". These are disputed by various sources, such as Louise
Bryant,[32] who claims that news outlets in the West at the time reported that the unfortunate loss of life
occurred in Moscow, not Petrograd, and the number was much less than suggested above. As for the
"several shots in the air", there is little evidence suggesting otherwise.

Later Soviet portrayal

While the seizure of the Winter Palace happened almost without resistance, Soviet historians and officials
later tended to depict the event in dramatic and heroic terms.[23][33][34] The historical reenactment titled The
Storming of the Winter Palace was staged in 1920. This reenactment, watched by 100,000 spectators,
provided the model for official films made later, which showed fierce fighting during the storming of the
Winter Palace,[35] although, in reality, the Bolshevik insurgents had faced little opposition.[26]

Later stories of the heroic "Storming of the Winter Palace" and "defense of the Winter Palace" were
propaganda by Bolshevik publicists. Grandiose paintings depicting the "Women's Battalion" and photo
stills taken from Sergei Eisenstein's staged film depicting the "politically correct" version of the October
events in Petrograd came to be taken as truth.[36]

Outcome

New government established

The Second Congress of Soviets consisted of 670 elected

delegates: 300 were Bolshevik and nearly 100 were Left Socialist-
Revolutionaries, who also supported the overthrow of the
Alexander Kerensky government.[38] 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 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
Petrograd Milrevcom proclamation
dustbin of history!"[39]
about the deposing of the Russian
Provisional Government
The following day, 26 October, the Congress elected a new cabinet
of Bolsheviks, pending the convocation of a Constituent Assembly.
This new Soviet government was known as the Council (Soviet) of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom),
with Lenin as a leader. Lenin allegedly approved of the name, reporting that it "smells of revolution".[40]
The cabinet quickly passed the Decree
on Peace and the Decree on Land. This
new government was also officially
called "provisional" until the Assembly
was dissolved.

Anti-Bolshevik sentiment

That same day, posters were pinned on

walls and fences by the right-wing
Socialist Revolutionaries, describing the
takeover as a "crime against the
motherland" and "revolution"; this
signaled the next wave of anti-
Bolshevik sentiment. The next day, the
Mensheviks seized power in Georgia
and declared it an independent republic;
the Don Cossacks also claimed control
of their government. The Bolshevik
strongholds were in the cities, The elections to the Constituent Assembly took place in
particularly Petrograd, with support November 1917. The Bolsheviks won 24% of the vote.[37]
much more mixed in rural areas. The
peasant-dominated Left SR party was in
coalition with the Bolsheviks. There were reports that the
Provisional Government had not conceded defeat and were
meeting with the army at the Front.

Anti-Bolshevik sentiment continued to grow as posters and

newspapers started criticizing the actions of the Bolsheviks and
refuted their authority. The Executive Committee of Peasants
Soviets "[refuted] with indignation all participation of the organized
peasantry in this criminal violation of the will of the working
The dissolution of the Constituent
class".[41] This eventually developed into major counter-
Assembly on 6 January 1918. The
revolutionary action, as on 30 October (O.S., 12 November, N.S.) Tauride Palace is locked and
when Cossacks, welcomed by church bells, entered Tsarskoye Selo guarded by Trotsky, Sverdlov,
on the outskirts of Petrograd with Kerensky riding on a white Zinoviev and Lashevich.
horse. Kerensky gave an ultimatum to the rifle garrison to lay down
weapons, which was promptly refused. They were then fired upon
by Kerensky's cossacks, which resulted in 8 deaths. This turned soldiers in Petrograd against Kerensky as
being the Tsarist regime. Kerensky's failure to assume authority over troops was described by John Reed as
a "fatal blunder" that signaled the final end of his government.[42] Over the following days, the battle
against the anti-Bolsheviks continued. The Red Guard fought against cossacks at Tsarskoye Selo, with the
cossacks breaking rank and fleeing, leaving their artillery behind. On 31 October 1917 (13 November,
N.S), the Bolsheviks gained control of Moscow after a week of bitter street-fighting. Artillery had been
freely used, with an estimated 700 casualties. However, there was continued support for Kerensky in some
of the provinces.

After the fall of Moscow, there was only minor public anti-Bolshevik sentiment, such as the newspaper
Novaya Zhizn, which criticized the Bolsheviks' lack of manpower and organization in running their party,
let alone a government. Lenin confidently claimed that there is "not a shadow of hesitation in the masses of
Petrograd, Moscow and the rest of Russia" in accepting Bolshevik rule.[43]
Governmental reforms

On 10 November 1917 (23 November, N.S.), the government applied the term "citizens of the Russian
Republic" to Russians, whom they sought to make equal in all possible respects, by the nullification of all
"legal designations of civil inequality, such as estates, titles, and ranks."[44]

The long-awaited Constituent Assembly elections were held on 12 November (O.S., 25 November, N.S.)
1917. In contrast to their majority in the Soviets, the Bolsheviks only won 175 seats in the 715-seat
legislative body, coming in second behind the Socialist Revolutionary Party, which won 370 seats,
although the SR Party no longer existed as a whole party by that time, as the Left SRs had gone into
coalition with the Bolsheviks from October 1917 to March 1918 (a cause of dispute of the legitimacy of the
returned seating of the Constituent Assembly, as the old lists, were drawn up by the old SR Party
leadership, and thus represented mostly Right SRs, whereas the peasant soviet deputies had returned
majorities for the pro-Bolshevik Left SRs). The Constituent Assembly was to first meet on 28 November
(O.S.) 1917, but its convocation was delayed until 5 January (O.S.; 18 January, N.S.) 1918 by the
Bolsheviks. On its first and only day in session, the Constituent Assembly came into conflict with the
Soviets, and it rejected Soviet decrees on peace and land, resulting in the Constituent Assembly being
dissolved the next day by order of the Congress of Soviets.[45]

On 16 December 1917 (29 December, N.S.), the government ventured to eliminate hierarchy in the army,
removing all titles, ranks, and uniform decorations. The tradition of saluting was also eliminated.[44]

On 20 December 1917 (2 January 1918, N.S.), the Cheka was created by Lenin's decree.[46] These were
the beginnings of the Bolsheviks' consolidation of power over their political opponents. The Red Terror
began in September 1918, following a failed assassination attempt on Lenin. The French Jacobin Terror
was an example for the Soviet Bolsheviks. Trotsky had compared Lenin to Maximilien Robespierre as
early as 1904.[47]

The Decree on Land ratified the actions of the peasants who throughout Russia had taken private land and
redistributed it among themselves. The Bolsheviks viewed themselves as representing an alliance of
workers and peasants signified by the Hammer and Sickle on the flag and the coat of arms of the Soviet
Union. Other decrees:

All private property was nationalized by the government.

All Russian banks were nationalized.
Private bank accounts were expropriated.
The properties of the Russian Orthodox Church (including bank accounts) were
expropriated.
All foreign debts were repudiated.
Control of the factories was given to the soviets.
Wages were fixed at higher rates than during the war, and a shorter, eight-hour working day
was introduced.

Timeline of the spread of Soviet power (Gregorian calendar

dates)
5 November 1917: Tallinn.
7 November 1917: Petrograd, Minsk, Novgorod, Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Tartu
8 November 1917: Ufa, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, and Narva; (failed in Kiev)
9 November 1917: Vitebsk, Yaroslavl, Saratov, Samara, and Izhevsk
 10 November 1917: Rostov, Tver, and Nizhny Novgorod
12 November 1917: Voronezh, Smolensk, and Gomel
13 November 1917: Tambov
14 November 1917: Orel and Perm
15 November 1917: Pskov, Moscow, and Baku
27 November 1917: Tsaritsyn
1 December 1917: Mogilev
8 December 1917: Vyatka
10 December 1917: Kishinev
11 December 1917: Kaluga
14 December 1917: Novorossisk
15 December 1917: Kostroma
20 December 1917: Tula
24 December 1917: Kharkov (invasion of Ukraine by the Muravyov Red Guard forces, the
establishment of Soviet Ukraine and hostilities in the region)
29 December 1917: Sevastopol (invasion of Crimea by the Red Guard forces, the
establishment of the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic)
4 January 1918: Penza
11 January 1918: Yekaterinoslav
17 January 1918: Petrozavodsk
19 January 1918: Poltava
22 January 1918: Zhitomir
26 January 1918: Simferopol
27 January 1918: Nikolayev
29 January 1918: (failed again in Kiev)
31 January 1918: Odessa and Orenburg (establishment of the Odessa Soviet Republic)
7 February 1918: Astrakhan
8 February 1918: Kiev and Vologda (defeat of the Ukrainian government)
17 February 1918: Arkhangelsk
25 February 1918: Novocherkassk

Russian Civil War

Bolshevik-led attempts to gain 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 23 June 1917, created the
Ukrainian People's Republic on 20 November, 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 25 January 1918.[48] In Estonia, two rival governments
emerged: the Estonian Provincial Assembly, established in April 1917, proclaimed itself the supreme legal
authority of Estonia on 28 November 1917 and issued the Declaration of Independence on 24 February
1918;[49] but Soviet Russia recognized the Executive Committee of the Soviets of Estonia as the legal
authority in the province, although the Soviets in Estonia controlled only the capital and a few other major
towns.[50]
After the success of the October Revolution transformed the
Russian state into a soviet republic, a coalition of anti-Bolshevik
groups attempted to unseat the new government in the Russian
Civil War from 1918 to 1922. In an attempt to intervene in the civil
war after the Bolsheviks' separate peace with the Central Powers,
the Allied Powers (the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the United
States, and Japan) occupied parts of the Soviet Union for over two
years before finally withdrawing.[51] The United States did not
recognize the new Russian government until 1933. The European
powers recognized the Soviet Union in the early 1920s and began
to engage in business with it after the New Economic Policy (NEP)
was implemented.

Historiography
Historical research into few events has been as influenced by the European theatre of the Russian Civil
War in 1918
researcher's political outlook as that of the October Revolution.[52]
The historiography of the Revolution generally divides into three
camps: Soviet-Marxist, Western-Totalitarian, and Revisionist.[53]

Soviet historiography

Soviet historiography of the October Revolution is intertwined with Soviet historical development. Many of
the initial Soviet interpreters of the Revolution were themselves Bolshevik revolutionaries.[54] After the
initial wave of revolutionary narratives, Soviet historians worked within "narrow guidelines" defined by the
Soviet government. The rigidity of interpretive possibilities reached its height under Stalin.[55]

Soviet historians of the Revolution interpreted the October Revolution as being about establishing the
legitimacy of Marxist ideology and the Bolshevik government. To establish the accuracy of Marxist
ideology, Soviet historians generally described the Revolution as the product of class struggle and that it
was the supreme event in a world history governed by historical laws. The Bolshevik Party is placed at the
center of the Revolution, as it exposes the errors of both the moderate Provisional Government and the
spurious "socialist" Mensheviks in the Petrograd Soviet. Guided by Lenin's leadership and his firm grasp of
scientific Marxist theory, the Party led the "logically predetermined" events of the October Revolution from
beginning to end. The events were, according to these historians, logically predetermined because of the
socio-economic development of Russia, where monopolistic industrial capitalism had alienated the masses.
In this view, the Bolshevik party took the leading role in organizing these alienated industrial workers, and
thereby established the construction of the first socialist state.[56]

Although Soviet historiography of the October Revolution stayed relatively constant until 1991, it did
undergo some changes. Following Stalin's death, historians such as E. N. Burdzhalov and P. V. Volobuev
published historical research that deviated significantly from the party line in refining the doctrine that the
Bolshevik victory "was predetermined by the state of Russia's socio-economic development".[57] These
historians, who constituted the "New Directions Group", posited that the complex nature of the October
Revolution "could only be explained by a multi-causal analysis, not by recourse to the mono-causality of
monopoly capitalism".[58] For them, the central actor is still the Bolshevik party, but this party triumphed
"because it alone could solve the preponderance of 'general democratic' tasks the country faced" (such as
the struggle for peace and the exploitation of landlords).[59]
During the late Soviet period, the opening of select Soviet archives during glasnost sparked innovative
research that broke away from some aspects of Marxism–Leninism, though the key features of the orthodox
Soviet view remained intact.[55]

Following the turn of the 21st century, some Soviet historians began to implement an "anthropological
turn" in their historiographical analysis of the Russian Revolution. This method of analysis focuses on the
average person's experience of day-to-day life during the revolution, and pulls the analytical focus away
from larger events, notable revolutionaries, and overarching claims about party views.[60] In 2006, S. V.
Iarov employed this methodology when he focused on citizen adjustment to the new Soviet system. Iarov
explored the dwindling labor protests, evolving forms of debate, and varying forms of politicization as a
result of the new Soviet rule from 1917 to 1920.[61] In 2010, O. S. Nagornaia took interest in the personal
experiences of Russian prisoners-of-war taken by Germany, examining Russian soldiers and officers'
ability to cooperate and implement varying degrees of autocracy despite being divided by class, political
views, and race.[62] Other analyses following this "anthropological turn" have explored texts from soldiers
and how they used personal war-experiences to further their political goals,[63] as well as how individual
life-structure and psychology may have shaped major decisions in the civil war that followed the
revolution.[64]

Western historiography

During the Cold War, Western historiography of the October Revolution developed in direct response to
the assertions of the Soviet view. As a result, Western historians exposed what they believed were flaws in
the Soviet view, thereby undermining the Bolsheviks' original legitimacy, as well as the precepts of
Marxism.[65]

These Western historians described the revolution as the result of a chain of contingent accidents. Examples
of these accidental and contingent factors they say precipitated the Revolution included World War I's
timing, chance, and the poor leadership of Tsar Nicholas II as well as that of liberal and moderate
socialists.[55] According to Western historians, it was not popular support, but rather a manipulation of the
masses, ruthlessness, and the party discipline of the Bolsheviks that enabled their triumph. For these
historians, the Bolsheviks' defeat in the Constituent Assembly elections of November–December 1917
demonstrated popular opposition to the Bolsheviks' revolution, as did the scale and breadth of the Civil
War.[66]

Western historians saw the organization of the Bolshevik party as proto-totalitarian. Their interpretation of
the October Revolution as a violent coup organized by a proto-totalitarian party reinforced for them the idea
that totalitarianism was an inherent part of Soviet history. The democratic promise of the February
Revolution came to an end with the forced dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.[67] Thus, Stalinist
totalitarianism developed as a natural progression from Leninism and the Bolshevik party's tactics and
organization.[68]

Effect of the dissolution of the Soviet Union on historical research

The dissolution of the Soviet Union affected historical interpretations of the October Revolution. Since
1991, increasing access to large amounts of Soviet archival materials has made it possible to re‑examine the
October Revolution.[54] Though both Western and Russian historians now have access to many of these
archives, the effect of the dissolution of the USSR can be seen most clearly in the work of the latter. While
the disintegration essentially helped solidify the Western and Revisionist views, post-USSR Russian
historians largely repudiated the former Soviet historical interpretation of the Revolution.[69] As Stephen
Kotkin argues, 1991 prompted "a return to political history and the apparent resurrection of totalitarianism,
the interpretive view that, in different ways…revisionists sought to bury".[54]

Legacy
The October Revolution marks the inception of the first
communist government in Russia, and thus the first large-scale
and constitutionally ordained socialist state in world history.
After this, the Russian Republic became the Russian SFSR,
which later became part of the Soviet Union.

The October Revolution also made the ideology of communism

influential on a global scale in the 20th century. Communist
parties would start to form in many countries after 1917. Anniversary of October Revolution in
Riga, Soviet Union in 1988
Ten Days That Shook the World, a book written by American
journalist John Reed and first published in 1919, gives a
firsthand exposition of the events. Reed died in 1920, shortly after the book was finished.

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his Symphony No. 2 in B major, Op. 14, and subtitled it To October, for the
10th anniversary of the October Revolution. The choral finale of the work, "To October", is set to a text by
Alexander Bezymensky, which praises Lenin and the revolution. The Symphony No. 2 was first performed
on 5 November 1927 by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and the Academy Capella Choir under the
direction of Nikolai Malko.

Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov's film October: Ten Days That Shook the World, first released
on 20 January 1928 in the USSR and on 2 November 1928 in New York City, describes and glorifies the
revolution, having been commissioned to commemorate the event.

The term "Red October" (Красный Октябрь, Krasnyy Oktyabr) has been used to signify the October
Revolution. "Red October" was given to a steel factory that was made notable by the Battle of
Stalingrad,[70] a Moscow sweets factory that is well known in Russia, and a fictional Soviet submarine in
both Tom Clancy's 1984 novel The Hunt for Red October and the 1990 film adaptation of the same name.

7 November, the anniversary of the October Revolution according to the Gregorian Calendar, was the
official national day of the Soviet Union from 1918 onward and still is a public holiday in Belarus and the
breakaway territory of Transnistria. Communist parties both in and out of power celebrate November 7 as
the date Marxist parties began to take power.

See also
February Revolution
Ten Days That Shook the World
Revolutions of 1917–1923
Russian Civil War
Russian Revolution (1917)
Kiev Bolshevik Uprising
Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)
October Revolution Day
Index of articles related to the Russian Revolution and Civil War
 Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War

Notes
a. Russian: Октябрьская революция, tr. Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya, IPA: [ɐkˈtʲabrʲskəjə rʲɪvɐ
ˈlʲutsɨjə].
b. Russian: Великая Октябрьская социалистическая революция, tr. Velikaya Oktyabrskaya
sotsialisticheskaya revolyutsiya.

Citations
1. "Russian Revolution" (https://www.history.com/topics/russia/russian-revolution). history.com.
9 November 2009.
2. Samaan, A.E. (2013). From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848 (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=JkXJZtI9DQoC&q=%22october+uprising%22+%22bolshevik+rev
olution%22&pg=PA346). A.E. Samaan. p. 346. ISBN 978-0615747880. Retrieved
9 February 2017.
3. "Russian Revolution – Causes, Timeline & Definition" (https://www.history.com/topics/russia/
russian-revolution). www.history.com. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
4. "Russian Revolution | Definition, Causes, Summary, History, & Facts" (https://www.britannic
a.com/event/Russian-Revolution). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
5. Bunyan & Fisher 1934, p. 385.
6. Steinberg, Mark (2017). The Russian Revolution 1905–1917. New York: Oxford University
Press. pp. 143–146. ISBN 978-0-19-922762-4.
7. Mandel, David (1984). The Petrograd workers and the Soviet seizure of power : from the
July days, 1917 to July 1918. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-60395-3.
OCLC 9682585 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9682585).
8. Trotsky, Leon (1934). History of the Russian Revolution. London: The Camelot Press ltd.
pp. 859–864.
9. Steinberg, Mark (2017). The Russian Revolution, 1905–1921. New York: Oxford University
Press. pp. 196–197. ISBN 978-0-19-922762-4. OCLC 965469986 (https://www.worldcat.org/
oclc/965469986).
10. Upton, Anthony F. (1980). The Finnish Revolution: 1917–1918 (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=-iTqvnpRXDEC&pg=PA89). Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
p. 89. ISBN 9781452912394.
11. Steinberg, Mark D. (2017). The Russian Revolution 1905-1921. Oxford, United Kingdom:
Oxford University Press. pp. 191, 193–194. ISBN 9780199227624.
12. Richard Pipes (1990). The Russian Revolution (https://books.google.com/books?id=XtE54L
uhFzEC&pg=PA407). Knopf Doubleday. p. 407. ISBN 9780307788573.
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Sharpe. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-87332-676-6.
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CLIO. p. 559. ISBN 9780313385247.
15. Beckett 2007, p. 526
16. Pipes 1997, p. 51: "There is no evidence of a Kornilov plot, but there is plenty of evidence of
Kerensky's duplicity."
17. Service 2005, p. 54
18. "Провозглашена Российская республика" (https://www.prlib.ru/history/619540).
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many-got-the-russian-revolution-off-the-ground/a-41195312). Deutsche Welle. 7 November
2017.
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917/oct/10a.htm).
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22. "1917 – La Revolution Russe" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160201134229/http://www.art
e.tv/guide/fr/037647-000/1917-la-revolution-russe). Arte TV. 16 September 2007. Archived
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24. Rabinowitch 2004, pp. 273–305
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October 24 – November 1, 1917" (https://projects.eh.bard.edu/1917/oct-maps.html).
Retrieved 24 February 2018.
26. Beckett 2007, p. 528
27. Rabinowitch 2004
28. Lynch, Michael (2015). Reaction and revolution : Russia 1894-1924 (4th ed.). London:
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clc/908064756).
29. Raul Edward Chao (2016). Damn the Revolution!. Washington DC, London, Sydney:
Dupont Circle Editions. p. 191.
30. "1917 Free History"
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31. "ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА – [ Мемуары ] – Дыбенко П.Е. Из недр царского флота к
Великому Октябрю" (http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/dybenko/index.html). militera.lib.ru
(in Russian).
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a/russia.html). New York: George H. Doran Company. pp. 60–61. Retrieved 5 December
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33. Jonathan Schell, 2003. 'The Mass Minority in Action: France and Russia'. (http://www.chrisk
night.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/The-Mass-Minority-in-Action.pdf) For example, in
The Unconquerable World. London: Penguin, pp. 167–185.
34. (See a first-hand account by British General Knox.)
35. Sergei M. Eisenstein; Grigori Aleksandrov (1928). October (Ten Days that Shook the World)
(Motion picture). First National Pictures.
36. Argumenty i Fakty newspaper
37. "The Constituent Assembly" (http://www.jewhistory.ort.spb.ru/eng/main/sprav.php?id=1374).
jewhistory.ort.spb.ru.
38. Service, Robert (1998). A history of twentieth-century Russia. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-40347-9 p. 65
39. Reed 1997, p. 217
40. Steinberg, Mark D. (2001). Voices of Revolution, 1917. Yale University. p. 251. ISBN 978-
0300101690.
41. Reed 1997, p. 369
42. Reed 1997, p. 410
43. Reed 1997, p. 565
44. Steinberg, Mark D. (2001). Voices of Revolution. Yale University. p. 257.
45. Jennifer Llewellyn, John Rae, and Steve Thompson (2014). "The Constituent Assembly" (htt
p://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/constituent-assembly/). Alpha History.
46. Figes, 1996.
47. Richard Pipes: The Russian Revolution (https://books.google.com/books?id=XtE54LuhFzE
C&pg=PA789&hl=en&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f)
48. See Encyclopedia of Ukraine (http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/S/T/StruggleforI
ndependence1917hD720.htm) online
49. Miljan, Toivo. "Historical Dictionary of Estonia." Historical Dictionary of Estonia, Rowman &
Littlefield, 2015, p. 169
50. Raun, Toivo U. "The Emergence of Estonian Independence 1917–1920." Estonia and the
Estonians, Hoover Inst. Press, 2002, p. 102
51. Ward, John (2004). With the "Die-Hards" in Siberia. Dodo Press. p. 91. ISBN 1409906809.
52. Acton 1997, p. 5
53. Acton 1997, pp. 5–7
54. Kotkin, Stephen (1998). "1991 and the Russian Revolution: Sources, Conceptual
Categories, Analytical Frameworks". The Journal of Modern History. University of Chicago
Press. 70 (2): 384–425. doi:10.1086/235073 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F235073).
ISSN 0022-2801 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0022-2801). S2CID 145291237 (https://api.s
emanticscholar.org/CorpusID:145291237).
55. Acton 1997, p. 7
56. Acton 1997, p. 8
57. Alter Litvin, Writing History in Twentieth-Century Russia, (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 49–
50.
58. Roger Markwick, Rewriting History in Soviet Russia: The Politics of Revisionist
Historiography, (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 97.
59. Markwick, Rewriting History, 102.
60. Smith, S. A. (2015). "The historiography of the Russian Revolution 100 Years On". Kritika:
Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. 16 (4): 733–749. doi:10.1353/kri.2015.0065
(https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fkri.2015.0065). S2CID 145202617 (https://api.semanticscholar.o
rg/CorpusID:145202617).
61. Iarov, S.V. (2006). "Konformizm v Sovetskoi Rossii: Petrograd, 1917-20". Evropeiskii Dom
(in Russian).
62. Nagornaia, O. S. (2010). "Drugoi voennyi opyt: Rossiiskie voennoplennye Pervoi mirovoi
voiny v Germanii (1914–1922)". Novyi Khronograf (in Russian).
63. Morozova, O. M. (2010). "Dva akta dreamy: Boevoe proshloe I poslevoennaia
povsednevnost ' veteran grazhdanskoi voiny". Rostov-on-Don: Iuzhnyi Nauchnyi Tsentr
Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk (in Russian).
64. O. M., Morozova (2007). "Antropologiia grazhdanskoi voiny". Rostov-on-Don: Iuzhnyi
Nauchnyi Tsentr RAN (in Russian).
65. Acton 1997, pp. 6–7
66. Acton 1997, pp. 7–9
67. Norbert Francis, "Revolution in Russia and China (http://www.ijors.net/issue6_2_2017/pdf/_
_www.ijors.net_issue6_2_2017_article_2_francis.pdf): 100 Years," International Journal of
Russian Studies 6 (July 2017): 130–143.
68. Stephen E. Hanson (1997). Time and Revolution: Marxism and the Design of Soviet
Institutions (https://books.google.com/books?id=wSaLSRHnoygC&pg=PA130). U of North
Carolina Press. p. 130. ISBN 9780807846155.
69. Litvin, Alter, Writing History, 47.
70. Ivanov, Mikhail (2007). Survival Russian. Montpelier, VT: Russian Life Books. p. 44.
ISBN 978-1-880100-56-1. OCLC 191856309 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191856309).

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External links
free books on Russian Revolution (https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28++Ru
ssian+Revolution%29&and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22&sort=-date)
Read, Christopher: Revolutions (Russian Empire) (https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.n
et/article/revolutions_russian_empire), in: 1914–1918 online. International Encyclopedia of
the First World War (https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html).
Peeling, Siobhan: July Crisis 1917 (Russian Empire) (https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-onlin
e.net/article/july_crisis_1917_russian_empire), in: 1914–1918 online. International
Encyclopedia of the First World War (https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html).
The October Revolution Archive (https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/events/revolution/ind
ex.htm)
Let History Judge Russia’s Revolutions (http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/medv
edev4), commentary by Roy Medvedev, Project Syndicate, 2007
October Revolution and Logic of History (https://web.archive.org/web/20110429023539/htt
p://www.ilhs.tuc.gr/en/October%20Revolution%20and%20Logic%20of%20History.pdf)
Maps of Europe (http://maps.omniatlas.com/europe/19171201/) and Russia (http://maps.omn
iatlas.com/russia/19171201/) at time of October Revolution at omniatlas.com
How the Bolshevik party elite crushed the democratically elected workers and popular
councils – soviets – and established totalitarian state capitalism (https://libcom.org/library/the
-bolsheviks-and-workers-control-solidarity-group).

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