Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The Russian Revolution of October 1917 is arguably the most influential event of the twentieth century. The revolution occurred only eight months after the February Revolution , as a workers' insurrection in the capital, supported by the garrison, overthrew the absolute monarchy with the objective of establishing a democratic republic. In the course of the February Revolution the workers and soldiers (who were mostly peasants) elected deputies to city-wide soviets (councils). These soviets held real power, since they alone could command armed force, the soldiers having pledged their allegiance to them. But since the liberal politicians who had come to represent the propertied classes after much hesitation finally rallied to the revolution that had already become an accomplished fact, the Petrograd soviet, which assumed national leadership, decided temporarily to entrust the running of the government to them, until a constituent assembly could be convened. Nevertheless, mindful of the past antagonism of the propertied classes to the aspirations of the workers and peasants, the soviet made its support for the provisional government conditional upon the latter's adherence to the soviet's program: convocation of a constituent assembly to establish a democratic republic, land reform to distribute the large estates to the peasantry without compensation, the eight-hour workday, and an ... log in or subscribe to read full text