Russia in 1917 was still primarily an agricultural society. Four-fifths of its population were peasants, many of whom had been born before the abolition of serfdom. The vast majority of the rural population were unschooled and illiterate, kept in ignorance and superstition by the Russian Orthodox church. Private armies such as the Black Hundreds, sponsored by landowners, military officers and church and state officials, had helped Tsarist soldiers and police to crush all dissent. Their
Their favourite targets were radicals, workers’ organisers, anarchists and—above all—Jews. This was the old Russia that Lenin, the Bolsheviks and other left-wing forces wanted to abolish. At 10am on October 25 1917 (November 7 according to our calendar), an appeal ‘To the Citizens of Russia!’ was published in the Russian capital Petrograd. It proclaimed: ‘The provisional government has been deposed. ‘State power has passed into the hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies—the Revolutionary Military Committee, which heads the Petrograd proletariat and the garrison. ‘The cause for which the people have fought, namely, the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landed proprietorship, workers’ control over production and the establishment of Soviet power—this cause has been secured’. Later that afternoon, Lenin addressed the Petrograd Soviet—the council of workers’ delegates—in the Smolny Institute, once an exclusive school for young ladies but then the headquarters of the revolution. Shortly after midnight, revolutionary soldiers and sailors captured the Winter Palace, the seat of Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government. The British ambassador in Petrograd—which was later renamed Leningrad before reverting to St Petersburg—cabled London to predict that the Bolsheviks’ revolution would collapse within two month
The cause for which the people have fought, namely, the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landed proprietorship, workers’ control over production and the establishment of Soviet power—this cause has been secured’. Later that afternoon, Lenin addressed the Petrograd Soviet—the council of workers’ delegates—in the Smolny Institute, once an exclusive school for young ladies but then the headquarters of the revolution. Shortly after midnight, revolutionary soldiers and sailors captured the Winter Palace, the seat of Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government. The British ambassador in Petrograd—which was later renamed Leningrad before reverting to St Petersburg—cabled London to predict that the Bolsheviks’ revolution would collapse within two months….. read more of Robert Griffiths account here
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