HOW IT WAS: RESULTS AND LESSONS OF THE MAIN EVENTS OF 1917 IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA

DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2022-3-2-5-19

УДК 94(470)“1917”

ББК Т3(2)611

Igor V. KALLIN, Valentina I. SOKOLOVA

Key words

February bourgeois-democratic and October revolutions, seizure of power, Provisional government, Council of People’s Commissars, All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Bolsheviks, Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, cadets, race for power, overthrow of autocracy, deputies, Petrosovet, armed revolt, Kerensky, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Sverdlov, Dzerzhinsky, state of dictatorship of the proletariat, Left-wing radical revolution, the II congress of Councils, mutiny, counterrevolution, Secretariat of Central Committee RCP(b), Politburo, Communist Party, Constituent Assembly

Abstract

The article considers the main events that occurred in Russia in 1917. In February 1917, a revolutionary crisis arose in the country, which led to the overthrow of the 300-year-old Romanov`s empire. The old state apparatus was broken. At the end of winter of 1917, at a meeting of the State Duma, the Provisional Committee of the State Parliament (Duma) was created. The Provisional Government headed by Duke G.E. Lꞌvov had been formed by March 1. On March 2, Emperor Nicholas II signed the “Manifesto on the abdication of the throne of the Russian state and the resignation of the Supreme power.” As early as February, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was created, it being headed by N.S. Chkheidze. Thus, dual power was established in the country. The newly formed government was unable to resolve the most important issues related to the life of the peoples of Russia. In early October 1917, V.I. Lenin began preparing an armed uprising in order to seize power. A course was taken for an armed coup. The conspiracy of the Bolsheviks was a success: the Winter Palace was taken, the ministers of the Provisional Government were arrested. At the II Congress of Soviets, a new government was created – the Council of People’s Commissars. The first decrees were adopted – the Decree on Peace, the Decree on Land, the decree on Power, proclaiming the establishment of the power of the Soviets. There was the only task on the agenda – the retention of power. The Constituent Assembly, for which alternative parties had high hopes, was dispersed by the Bolsheviks in early 1918.

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Information about the authors

Igor V. Kallin – Post-Graduate Student, Russian History Department, Chuvash State University, Russia, Cheboksary (history20182022@mail.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8335-9200).

Valentina I. Sokolova – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of Russian History Department, Chuvash State University, Russia, Cheboksary (Sokolova-cheb@mail.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0220-1482).

For citations

Kallin I.V., Sokolova V.I. HOW IT WAS: RESULTS AND LESSONS OF THE MAIN EVENTS OF 1917 IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. Historical Search, 2022, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 5–19. DOI: 10.47026/2712-9454-2022-3-2-5-19 (in Russian).

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