On March 12, 1917 (New Style / Gregorian calendar), the Russian Empire was in the midst of the February Revolution (O.S. March 8–16). It was a period of mass unrest that would end centuries of Romanov rule. The date falls within the critical phase when Tsar Nicholas II faced mounting pressure from soldiers, workers, and the Duma to end his autocratic reign. He did, and the world was changed forever. Communism took root.
Russia was an autocracy with Tsar Nicholas wielding absolute power. The Bolsheviks ruled in much the same way, and 100 million people died in China and Russia.
When the Unrest Turned to Revolution
On January 22, 1905, a group of workers led by the priest Georgy Gapon marched to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. They only wanted to present a petition to the Tsar. The peaceful demonstrators were met with gunfire from soldiers, killing over 100 people in what became known as Bloody Sunday. The massacre sparked a wave of strikes, riots, and uprisings across the country.
By October of that year, Nicholas II was forced to issue the October Manifesto, which promised civil liberties and an elected parliament. However, the concessions were limited, and the Tsar soon reasserted his authority. Lenin and the Bolsheviks argued that only a workers‘ revolution could bring genuine change. They were a minority.
World War I helped the Tsar reassert himself until the losses piled up.
The February Revolution began on March 8, 1917 (February 23 in the old Russian calendar) with strikes and demonstrations in Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg). When soldiers sent to suppress the unrest mutinied and joined the protesters, the Tsar‘s authority collapsed.
By 1917, it seemed to Lenin that the war would never end and that the prospect of revolution was rapidly receding. But in the week of March 8–15, the starving, freezing, war-weary workers and soldiers of Petrograd (until 1914, St. Petersburg) succeeded in deposing the Tsar. He was caught off guard and was living in exile in Switzerland. The Germans helped him rush back to Russia.
On March 15, Nicholas II abdicated, ending centuries of Romanov rule.
100 Million People Died in the Russian and Chinese Revolutions
Russia was then ruled by the Provisional Government, led by liberal politicians, and the Petrograd Soviet, representing the workers and soldiers.
Throughout most of 1917, the Bolsheviks remained a minority party, overshadowed by more moderate socialists like the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.
The Bolsheviks‘ promised immediate peace, land redistribution to the peasants, and workers‘ control of factories resonated with many Russians weary of war and poverty.
Their message caught on.
By the fall of 1917, the Bolsheviks sensed their moment had arrived. On October 10, the Central Committee voted 10-2 in favor of launching an armed uprising. Trotsky, the head of the Petrograd Soviet, formed a Military Revolutionary Committee to prepare for the insurrection.
On the night of October 24-25, Bolshevik Red Guards and allied soldiers seized key buildings in Petrograd with virtually no resistance. The Provisional Government, holed up in the Winter Palace, was arrested. The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, meeting on October 25-26, approved the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks.
From 1918 to 1921, the Bolsheviks‘ Red Army battled the anti-communist White Army. The White Army was backed by Britain and the United States, along with various nationalist and anarchist groups. The conflict cost over 7 million lives and caused widespread destruction and famine.
The Red Army prevailed. Lenin established a dictatorship. Stalin followed. More than 100 million people died in Russia and China. Both revolutions occurred about the same time. Most died from starvation. Communist totalitarianism never works. In the ideal communist world, after the select few gain all the power, they give it up to the people. That never works. They don’t give it up.
