The Russian Revolution is one of the most important events of the twentieth century, as it gave way to one of the world’s first socialist governments.
Historical Context of the Russian Revolution:
The fall of Tsarism and the increase in internal conflicts were part of the beginning of this period. The most relevant event was that of 1905, better known as “the Sunday of blood”. Fact in which the police killed a thousand citizens during an event to present a petition to the Tsar.
- Causes:
– Dislike of Tsar Nicholas II, who exercised a lot of power and lived in abundance, while the Russian people were in misery and without resources against Germany in the course of World War I.
– Oppression of the lower classes since the elite people maintained the power of large lands that were worked by peasants.
– The entrance of the foreign capital of the country, which subjugated the factories and production centers of the Soviet Union. Workers who worked in subhuman conditions appeared.
– The appearance of many strikes that later turned into riots.
– Enhancement of Marxist ideas in the Soviet people. - The course of the Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II realized that he did not have enough military power to confront and the only solution was to abdicate. For this, there was at that time a provisional government that had control of the country. Its objective was to provide a solid foundation for the holiday, in the future, of democratic elections.
Initially, the Soviets, which were organizations made up of the most radical workers and sectors, allowed the provisional government to carry out its functions, with the aim of carrying out the revolution and preventing an attempt at a tsarist return. Sometime later, the Soviets separated from the provisional government and a power struggle took place.
The provisional government had the parliament while the soviets had the support of workers and the left sectors. All this ended in the October Revolution, a fact in which the Soviet workers who made up the Bolshevik party (headed by Lenin) overthrew the provisional government and formed a socialist government. The 1917 Revolution thus presented the beginning of a new stage for the USSR that took much of the twentieth century, until its end in 1991.