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Russian Revolution of 1917, series of events in imperial Russia that culminated in 1917 with the
establishment of the Soviet state that became known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR). The two successful revolutions of 1917 are referred to collectively as the Russian
Revolution.
The first revolution overthrew the autocratic imperial monarchy. It began with a revolt on
February 23 to 27, 1917, according to the Julian, or Old Style, calendar then in use in Russia. (On
January 31, 1918, the Soviet government adopted the Gregorian, or New Style, calendar, which
moved dates by thirteen days; therefore, in the New Style calendar the dates for the first
revolution would be March 8 to 12. Events discussed in this article that occurred before January
31, 1918, are given according to the Julian calendar.)
The second revolution, which opened with the armed insurrection of October 24 and 25,
organized by the Bolshevik Party against the Provisional Government, effected a change in all
economic, political, and social relationships in Russian society; it is often designated the
Bolshevik, or October, Revolution.
Background
The underlying causes of the Russian Revolution are rooted deep in Russia's history. For
centuries, autocratic and repressive czarist regimes ruled the country and most of the population
lived under severe economic and social conditions. During the 19th century and early 20th
century various movements aimed at overthrowing the oppressive government were staged at
different times by students, workers, peasants, and members of the nobility. Two of these
unsuccessful movements were the 1825 revolt against Nicholas I and the revolution of 1905, both
of which were attempts to establish a constitutional monarchy (see Russia: History). Russia's
badly organized and unsuccessful involvement in World War I (1914-1918) added to popular
discontent with the government's corruption and inefficiency. In 1917 these events resulted in the
fall of the czarist government and the establishment of the Bolshevik Party, a radical offshoot of
the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, as the ruling power (see Bolshevism).
The February Revolution
The immediate cause of the February Revolution of 1917 was the collapse of the czarist
regime under the gigantic strain of World War I. The underlying cause was the backward
economic condition of the country, which made it unable to sustain the war effort against
powerful, industrialized Germany. Russian manpower was virtually inexhaustible. Russian
industry, however, lacked the capacity to arm, equip, and supply the some 15 million men who
were sent into the war. Factories were few and insufficiently productive, and the railroad network
was inadequate. Repeated mobilizations, moreover, disrupted industrial and agricultural
production. The food supply decreased, and the transportation system became disorganized. In
the trenches, the soldiers went hungry and frequently lacked shoes or munitions, sometimes even
weapons. Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any army in any previous war.
Behind the front, goods became scarce, prices skyrocketed, and by 1917 famine threatened the
larger cities. Discontent became rife, and the morale of the army suffered, finally to be
undermined by a succession of military defeats. These reverses were attributed by many to the
alleged treachery of Empress Alexandra and her circle, in which the peasant monk Grigory
Yefimovich Rasputin was the dominant influence. When the Duma, the lower house of the
Russian parliament, protested against the inefficient conduct of the war and the arbitrary policies
of the imperial government, the czar—Emperor Nicholas II—and his ministers simply brushed it
aside.
Mounting Crisis
At first all parties except a small group within the Social Democratic Party supported the
war. The government received much aid in the war effort from voluntary committees, including
representatives of business and labor. The growing breakdown of supply, made worse by the
almost complete isolation of Russia from its prewar markets, was felt especially in the major
cities, which were flooded with refugees from the front. Despite an outward calm, many Duma
leaders felt that Russia would soon be confronted with a new revolutionary crisis. By 1915 the
liberal parties had formed a progressive bloc that gained a majority in the Duma.
As the tide of discontent mounted, the Duma warned Nicholas II in November 1916 that
disaster would overtake the country unless the "dark" (treasonable) elements were removed from
the court and a constitutional form of government was instituted. The emperor ignored the
warning. Late in December a group of aristocrats, led by Prince Feliks Yusupov, assassinated
Rasputin in the hope that the emperor would then change his course. The emperor responded by
showing favor to Rasputin's followers at court. Talk of a palace revolution in order to avert a
greater impending upheaval became widespread, especially among the upper ranks.
Strikes and Demonstrations
The Revolution of 1917 grew out of a mounting wave of food and wage strikes in
Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) during February. On February 23 meetings and demonstrations
in which the principal slogan was a demand for bread were held, supported by the 90,000 men
and women on strike in the national capital. Encounters with the police were numerous, but the
workers refused to disperse and continued to occupy the streets. Tension steadily increased but
no casualties resulted.
Agitation grew the following day, February 24, until it involved about half the workers of
Petrograd. The slogans now were bolder: "Down with the war!" "Down with autocracy!" On
February 25 the strike became general throughout the capital. During these two days violent
encounters took place with the police, with casualties on both sides. The dreaded cossack troops,
however, which had been called out to support the police, showed little enthusiasm for breaking
up the demonstrations (see Cossacks). The workers captured several police stations, seized the
small arms inside, and then burned the stations to the ground; the police went into hiding. The
first elections to the Petrograd Soviet (council) of Workers' Deputies were held in several
factories, on the model of the Soviet of 1905, which had been formed during a revolution at the
end of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905).
Confrontation with Troops
On February 26 the troops of the Petrograd garrison were called out to suppress the
uprising. When the workers and soldiers came face to face in the streets, the workers tried to
fraternize with the soldiers. In some of these encounters the troops were hostile and fired on
order, killing a number of workers. The workers fled, but did not abandon the streets. As soon as
the firing ceased they returned to confront the soldiers. In subsequent encounters the troops
wavered when ordered to fire, allowing the workers to pass through their lines. Nicholas dissolved
the Duma; the deputies accepted the decree but reassembled privately and elected a provisional
committee of the State Duma to act in its place. On February 27 the revolution triumphed.
Regiment after regiment of the Petrograd garrison went over to the people. Within 24 hours the
entire garrison, approximately 150,000 men, joined the revolution, and the united workers and
soldiers took control of the capital. The uprising claimed about 1500 victims.
The Petrograd Soviet
The imperial government was quickly dispersed. Effective political power subsequently
was exercised by two new bodies, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and a
Provisional Government formed by the provisional committee of the Duma. The Soviet, a
representative body of elected deputies, immediately appointed a commission to cope with the
problem of ensuring a food supply for the capital, placed detachments of revolutionary soldiers in
the government offices, and ordered the release of thousands of political prisoners. On February
28 the Soviet ordered the arrest of Nicholas's ministers and began publishing an official organ,
Izvestia (Russian for "news"). On March 1 it issued its famous Order No. 1. By the terms of this
order, the soldiers of the army and the sailors of the fleet were to submit to the authority of the
Soviet and its committees in all political matters; they were to obey only those orders that did not
conflict with the directives of the Soviet; they were to elect committees that would exercise
exclusive control over all weapons; on duty, they were to observe strict military discipline, but
harsh and contemptuous treatment by the officers was forbidden; disputes between soldiers'
committees and officers were to be referred to the Soviet for disposition; off-duty soldiers and
sailors were to enjoy full civil and political rights; and saluting of officers was abolished.
Subsequent efforts by the Soviet to limit and nullify its own Order No. 1 were unavailing, and it
continued in force.
The Petrograd Soviet easily could have assumed complete power in the capital, but it
failed to do so. The great majority of its members, believing that revolutionary Russia must wage
a war of defense against German imperialism, did not want to risk disorganizing the war effort.
Taken by surprise, as were all the political parties, by the outbreak of the revolution, the workingclass parties were unable to give the workers and soldiers in the Soviet strong political
leadership. Even the Bolsheviks, who, in a sense, had been preparing for the revolution since at
least the early 1900s, had been unaware of its imminence and had no program to take advantage
of the situation. It was not until April 16, with the return from Switzerland of their exiled leader,
Vladimir Ilich Lenin, that the Bolsheviks put forward a demand for immediate seizure of land by
the peasantry, establishment of workers' control in industry, an end to the war, and transfer of "all
power to the Soviets." In the Petrograd Soviet, however, the Bolsheviks were then a small
minority. The majority was composed of Mensheviks (see Bolshevism) and Socialist
Revolutionaries. The Mensheviks envisioned a period of capitalist development and complete
political democracy as the essential prerequisite for a socialist order; in the main, they supported
continuation of the war. Most of the leading Socialist Revolutionaries, a peasant party with vague
socialist aspirations, also advocated continuation of the war. Under the leadership of the
moderate majority, the Petrograd Soviet recognized the newly established Provisional
Government as the legal authority in Russia.
The Provisional Government
On February 27 the provisional committee of the Duma announced that it would handle
restoration of order, and on February 28 it placed its commissars (representatives) in charge of
the ministries. The provisional committee formed the Provisional Government and demanded the
abdication of the czar. Nicholas abdicated March 2 in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail
Aleksandrovich. Aleksandrovich, however, stipulated that he would accept the crown only at the
request of a future constituent assembly. The Provisional Government, except for the addition of
the socialist leader Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kerensky, was made up of the same liberal leaders
who had organized the progressive bloc in the Duma in 1915. The prime minister, Prince Georgy
Yevgenyevich Lvov, was a wealthy landowner and a member of the Constitutional Democratic
Party (Kadets), which favored an immediate constitutional monarchy and ultimately a republic.
Lvov was largely a figurehead; the outstanding personality in the Provisional Government until
early May was Pavel Milyukov, minister of foreign affairs and strongest leader of the Kadets since
its founding in 1905. He played the principal role in formulating policy. Kerensky, the minister of
justice, who had been leader of the Trudovik ("laborite") faction in the Duma, was the only
representative of moderate socialist opinion in the Provisional Government.
Spread of the revolution
After the success in Petrograd the Revolution spread throughout the country. Following
the same basic course as it had in the capital, it resulted also in the creation of two parallel
systems of government, in which soviets functioned side by side with authorities who were in
communication with the Provisional Government.
Recognized by the Petrograd Soviet and by the command of the army and navy, the
Provisional Government enjoyed widespread popularity at first. It disbanded the czarist police,
repealed all limitations on freedom of opinion, press, and association, and put an end to all laws
discriminating against national or religious groups. The Provisional Government also recognized
the right of Poland to be a free and independent state, but it had no firm basis of authority. The
Duma, from which it derived, could give no support, for that body was not genuinely
representative of the masses. Unable to command, the government could not appeal to a warweary, impatient people. Its plight was succinctly summed up by the minister of war, Aleksandr
Guchkov: "The government, alas, has no real power; the troops, the railroads, the post, and
telegraph are in the hands of the Soviet. The simple fact is that the Provisional Government exists
only so long as the Soviet permits it."
Postponement of Decisions
With respect to crucial social problems, the Provisional Government claimed that, being
provisional, it could not make fundamental changes such as confiscating land and distributing it to
the peasants. All basic changes had to be postponed for decision by a constituent assembly, but
the election of such an assembly was put off on the grounds that a large part of the country was
under enemy occupation. Actually, the liberals of the Provisional Government realized that power
in the constituent assembly would pass from their hands to the various socialist parties, and that
their only hope of retaining it was to wait for an Allied victory in the war.
War or Peace
The Provisional Government split with the Petrograd Soviet on the question of war aims.
On March 6 the Provisional Government pledged itself to continue the war until victory was won
and to "unswervingly carry out the agreements made with our allies." Milyukov previously had
informed the Provisional Government that these agreements included secret treaties providing for
the acquisition of Constantinople (now called Istanbul) by Russia and the annexation of other
territory. The Petrograd Soviet disclaimed all demands for annexations and reparations and
called upon the peoples of the warring countries to force their governments to negotiate peace.
The Soviet condemned Milyukov's pledge, and although the two bodies found a vague
compromise, the conflict was not resolved during the existence of the Provisional Government.
Not even the Soviet was fully aware then of the widespread unwillingness of the Russian people
to continue the war.
The eight months following the formation of the Provisional Government were marked by
antagonism between the government and the Petrograd Soviet that eventually grew to open
conflict. Essential in this development was the political transformation of the soviets, from
institutions supporting parliamentary democracy into instruments for revolutionary socialism. Two
principal causes of this transformation may be distinguished. The first was the government's
policy of postponing for future determination by a constituent assembly the solution of such
pressing problems as economic disorganization, the continued food crisis, industrial reforms,
redistribution of land to peasants, and the growth of counterrevolutionary forces. The government,
instead, devoted most of its energy to a continuation of the war. The second cause, a logical
consequence of the first, was the growing conviction of the workers and peasants that their
problems could be solved only by the soviets, a conviction that was decisively molded by
Bolshevik propaganda following the April arrival in Petrograd of Lenin.
Before Lenin's return from exile in April, Bolshevik policy had been formulated by such
leaders as Lev Kamenev and Joseph Stalin, who favored conditional support of the Provisional
Government and were in the process of making a political bloc with the Mensheviks and Socialist
Revolutionaries. At the All-Russian Conference of Bolshevik Party Workers, convened in
Petrograd on March 29, the only speaker who advocated seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and
establishment of a proletarian dictatorship was ruled out of order. The conference did consider
the question of unification with the Mensheviks, a process already taking place in the provinces in
consequence of the moderate political program of the Bolshevik leaders.
Growth of Bolshevik Influence
Returning to Russia on April 3, Lenin arrived in Petrograd during the All-Russian
Conference of Bolshevik Party Workers. In his first address to the delegates, he advocated
uncompromising opposition to the war and the Provisional Government and irreconcilable hostility
toward all supporters of both; he proposed that the party struggle for the establishment of a
proletarian dictatorship. At the same time he declared that the Bolsheviks, who were a small
minority, confronted a task, not of the immediate seizure of power, but of patient propaganda to
convince a majority of the workers of the soundness of Bolshevik policy. Opposed at first by
virtually the entire Bolshevik leadership, Lenin quickly succeeded in converting the party to his
course. Bolshevik policy was thereafter directed toward the assumption of full power by the
soviets, immediate termination of the war, planned and organized seizure of the land by the
peasants, and control by the workers of industrial production. Bolshevik propaganda themes were
exemplified in the slogans "Peace, Land, Bread" and "All Power to the Soviets." The exiled
revolutionary Leon Trotsky, who arrived in Petrograd in May from America, agreed with Lenin's
policy and joined the Bolshevik Party.
Developments favored the Bolshevik cause. On April 18 Milyukov sent a note to the
Allied governments, promising to continue the war to a victorious conclusion; in ambiguous
language, the note also pledged his support of the Provisional Government to a policy of
annexing foreign territory and imposing indemnities on defeated nations. This pronouncement, in
sharp contrast with the earlier declaration "to the people of the whole world" issued by the
Petrograd Soviet on March 14 calling for peace without annexations and indemnities, provoked
armed demonstrations of protest by workers and soldiers in the capital. Contrary to the proposal
of General Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov to quell the demonstrations by force, the Petrograd Soviet,
which assumed sole command of the garrison of the capital, ordered all troops to remain in their
barracks. As a result of the political crisis, Milyukov and Guchkov resigned, and the government
was reorganized on May 5 to include representatives of the socialist parties, which received 6 of
the 15 portfolios; Kerensky became minister of war.
First Congress of Soviets
The crisis stimulated considerable growth in the Bolshevik Party, but it still held only a
minority of the delegates to the first all-Russian Congress of Soviets, which convened in
Petrograd on June 3. This congress was dominated by the Mensheviks and Socialist
Revolutionaries. The coalition government, meanwhile, had taken office amid a deepening
economic and social crisis. Failure to provide the cities with grain aggravated the danger of
famine, and inflation and suffering rapidly increased. In industry, the growing power of the
workers induced economic defeatism and lockouts on the part of employers. The more
conservative groups demanded that the government adopt a strong policy and call a halt to the
revolution. The workers responded with economic and political strikes and with demands that the
government institute measures to cope with the crisis. The Congress of Soviets, which supported
the government, declared in favor of state monopolies of bread and other necessary items. The
government, however, like its predecessor, subordinated all problems to the prosecution of the
war. On June 16 Kerensky ordered an offensive that ended in a complete defeat and the virtual
disorganization of the army—all of which added credibility to Bolshevik propaganda. Discipline
broke down, and millions of soldiers streamed home from the front to escape further fighting and
to take part in the division of the land.
The July Uprising
During the ill-fated offensive, the opposition by workers and soldiers in Petrograd to a
renewal of military hostilities forced the Congress of Soviets to adopt a resolution calling for the
abolition of the Duma—that is, the political base of the Provisional Government—and setting
September 30 as the date for the convocation of a constituent assembly. A mammoth
demonstration of about 400,000 Petrograd workers, organized by the Congress of Soviets during
the offensive, unexpectedly revealed that the Bolshevik influence was very strong in the working
class of the capital; the prevailing slogans in the demonstrations were "Down with the Offensive"
and again "All Power to the Soviets." On July 3, 4, and 5, this mounting impatience, perhaps
quickened by the resignation of the Kadet ministers over the issue of Ukrainian autonomy, was
expressed in an impromptu armed demonstration of 500,000 workers, soldiers of the city
garrison, and sailors of the nearby naval fortress of Kronstadt. The demonstrators denounced the
government and converged on the Tauride Palace, where the Congress of Soviets was in
session, to force it to assume sole power.
Bolshevik Leadership
Caught by surprise, the Bolshevik leadership at first attempted to restrain the masses, but
when that proved impossible, the party openly placed itself at the head of the movement, with the
declared intention of keeping the demonstration peaceful. In this the Bolsheviks were largely
successful. Their policy was motivated by the consideration that they could have seized power
easily in the capital but could not have held it in the rest of the country without support by a
majority of the soldiers at the front and of the peasants in the provinces. The executive committee
of the Congress of Soviets denounced the demonstration as a counterrevolutionary Bolshevik
insurrection and summoned troops from the front to disperse the demonstrators. The troops,
arriving on July 5, when the demonstration had run its course, placed themselves at the
disposition solely of the Congress of Soviets, in effect recognizing it as the supreme governing
authority in the country. On July 10 Kerensky succeeded Lvov as prime minister, and on July 23 a
second coalition government, including the Socialist and Kadet wings, was formed, with Kerensky
and his political friends holding the decisive posts.
The Kerensky Government
The July demonstration produced a wave of political reaction. Some land committees
were dissolved by the government; the death penalty, abolished during the first days of the
revolution, was restored in the fighting zones although not enforced; and the convocation of the
constituent assembly was postponed to the end of November. Forceful methods were employed
against the Bolsheviks. Lenin was denounced as a paid agent of German imperialism and went
into hiding in Finland; Trotsky and others were arrested. Nonetheless, the Sixth Congress of the
Bolshevik Party opened in Petrograd on July 26, despite the absence of some of its leaders.
Because the Kerensky government took no effective steps to overcome the steadily
deteriorating economic situation, unrest continued in the cities and countryside, and Bolshevik
influence again began to increase. Convinced that Kerensky could not cope with the situation,
some Kadet elements and the general staff, led by Kornilov, the newly appointed commander in
chief, decided to bring loyal troops to Petrograd and establish a military dictatorship. For a time
Kerensky was a party to the conspiracy, but when he learned that Kornilov proposed to remove
him from the government, he appealed to the Petrograd Soviet for support.
While Kornilov's forces advanced on the capital, the workers' and soldiers' militia
prepared to defend it. With the approval of the Congress of Soviets, military organizations were
established throughout the city, and the boldness and initiative of the Bolsheviks in these bodies
made them the leaders of the defense. The railroad workers refused to transport Kornilov's force.
As the troops advanced on foot, they encountered the soldiers and workers of the capital, who
came out of the city to meet them with appeals to fraternize. Kornilov's army dissolved before it
reached the capital; he himself was arrested. These events left the workers of Petrograd
organized and armed. And now, for the first time, the Bolsheviks secured a majority in the
Petrograd Soviet.
After Kornilov's defeat the Provisional Government was virtually powerless. Under
growing Bolshevik pressure the All-Russian Soviet Executive Committee decided on the election
of a new Congress of Soviets to convene on October 20; later it was postponed to October 25. A
Bolshevik majority in the new congress was assured by the rising tide of support for Lenin's party
among the soldiers and workers. Fears that the new political alignment would result in the
creation of a Bolshevik government spurred Kerensky to make a half-hearted attempt to send
some troops from the Petrograd garrison to the front. On October 16 the Petrograd Soviet created
the Military Revolutionary Committee for the defense of the capital against the counterrevolution;
on this committee the Bolsheviks obtained a commanding majority, and the Mensheviks and
Socialist Revolutionaries thereupon refused to participate.
The October Revolution
Foreseeing the course of events, Lenin, from about the end of September, pressed the
central committee of the Bolshevik Party to organize an armed insurrection and seize power.
After some resistance, the committee on October 10 approved Lenin's policy. It is generally
believed that the insurrection was planned by the military organization of the party to coincide
with the opening of the second Congress of Soviets. It was carried out during the night of October
24 to 25 and the following day by the Military Revolutionary Committee under the direction of
Trotsky. Armed workers, soldiers, and sailors stormed the Winter Palace, headquarters of the
Provisional Government. Although the seizure of power involved tens of thousands of men and
women, it was virtually bloodless. On the afternoon of October 25 Trotsky announced the end of
the Provisional Government. Several of its ministers were arrested later that day; Kerensky
escaped and subsequently went into exile.
On October 25, while the insurrection was in progress, the second Congress of Soviets
began its deliberation. Of the 650 delegates, 390 (60 percent) were Bolsheviks. The opening
session, its speeches punctuated by rifle fire in the streets, was the scene of a stormy debate
over the legality of the congress and the character of the insurrection. Most of the Menshevik and
Socialist Revolutionary delegates withdrew from the congress, which continuously received
declarations of support from workers' organizations and military groups; the left wing of the
Socialist Revolutionaries remained in the congress and formed a short-lived coalition government
with the Bolsheviks.
Second Congress of Soviets
Making his first appearance at the Congress of Soviets on November 8, Lenin struck the
keynote of its further deliberations with his opening declaration: "We shall now proceed to the
construction of the socialist order." The congress then took up the three crucial issues of peace,
land, and the constitution of a new government. It unanimously adopted a manifesto appealing to
"all warring peoples and their governments to open immediate negotiations for a just, democratic
peace." To that end the manifesto proposed an immediate armistice for a minimum of three
months.
Ratification of Principles
Decisions on the land question were made in the form of a decree: "The right to private
property in the land is annulled forever … The landlord's property in the land is annulled
immediately and without any indemnity whatever … " All landed estates and the holdings of
monasteries and churches were made national property and were placed under the protection of
local land committees and soviets of peasants. The holdings of poor peasants and of the rank
and file of the cossacks, however, were specifically exempted from confiscation. Hired labor on
the land was prohibited, and the right of all citizens to cultivate land by their own labor was
affirmed. The Congress of Soviets laid down the principle that "the use of the land must be
equalized, that is, the land is to be divided among the toilers according to local conditions on the
basis of standards either of labor or consumption." Since most of these principles had already
been put into practice by the Bolsheviks, however, the decrees were in effect a ratification of an
accomplished fact rather than a new change.
New Government
The Congress of Soviets provided for a governmental structure in which supreme
authority was vested in the congress itself. Execution of the decisions of the congress was
entrusted to the Soviet of People's Commissars, which was made subject to the authority of the
Congress of Soviets and to its Central Executive Committee. Each of the people's commissars
was the chairman of a commissariat (commission) corresponding to the ministries of other
governments. Lenin was elected head of the Council of People's Commissars. Among other
leading Bolsheviks elected to this council were Trotsky and Stalin. With the establishment of the
new government, the Congress of Soviets adjourned.
The decisions of the Congress of Soviets on peace and land evoked widespread support
for the new government, and they were decisive in assuring victory to the Bolsheviks in other
cities and in the provinces. In November the Council of People's Commissars also proclaimed the
right of self-determination, including voluntary separation from Russia of the nationalities forcibly
included in the czarist empire, but made it clear that it hoped that the "toiling masses" of the
various nationalities would decide to remain with Russia. It also nationalized all banks and
proclaimed the workers' control of production. Industry was nationalized gradually. The freely
elected constituent assembly, which convened in Petrograd in January 1918, and in which the
Bolsheviks were only a small minority, was dispersed with armed force by the newly formed
government.
Civil War
Under Bolshevik control, the new government ended Russia's involvement in World War I
by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. Under the treaty Russia had to give up
the Baltic states, Finland, Poland, and Ukraine. Indignation at losing this territory sprang up in
Russia, and opposition to the Bolshevik Party, by then called the Russian Communist Party,
erupted into a civil war that lasted from 1918 until late 1920. Lenin's government, operating out of
the new capital in Moscow, began a policy of crushing all opposition. The Russian Communists
began the "Red terror" campaign in which suspected anti-Communists, known as Whites, were
arrested, tried, and executed. Although the peasantry had become hostile to the Communists,
they supported them, fearing that a victory by the Whites would result in a return to the monarchy.
Poorly organized and without widespread support, the Whites were defeated by the Red Army in
1920.
Lenin and the Russian Communist Party took strict control of the country. Workers'
strikes, peasant uprisings, and a sailors' revolt known as the Kronstadt Rebellion were quickly
crushed. In 1921 Lenin established the New Economic Policy to strengthen the country, which
had been drained by seven years of turmoil and economic decline. On December 30, 1922, the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally established when the ethnic territories of
the former Russian Empire were united with the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic
(RSFSR).
See Also Communism; Socialism.
Contributed By:
Philip E. Mosley