February Revolution

The bourgeois-democratic revolution which occurred in Russia in February 1917. During the World War I, the Russia’s national economy was seriously damaged, the troops fighting in the fronts lacked modern weaponry, ammunition and sufficient economic sources to continue the war—the people of Russian Empire faced hunger, cold and extreme poverty, therefore the social contradictions had increasingly intensified, and the broad masses of the people had an increasingly strong and urgent desire to overthrow the Tsar’s autocratic regime and end the imperialist war. The Bolshevik Party of Russia overcame many difficulties and carried out in-depth and meticulous work, and while it educated the masses on the one hand, it won over soldiers fighting in the fronts and accelerated the revolutionary process on the other. In early 1917, a series of demonstrations took place in Petrograd and Moscow, and workers’ strikes erupted all over the country. On February 18 of the Russian calendar, the workers of Putilov factory in Petrograd went on strike, and by February 25, the local strike developed into a general strike which spread to the whole city, the slogans of “Down with the Tsar”, “Bread” and “Stop the war” were the most prominent slogans.

On February 26, workers responded to the call of the Bolshevik Party and turned their strike into an armed uprising. On February 27th, 60,000 soldiers took part in the uprising, the insurgents arrested the Tsar’s ministers and generals, opened the gates of prisons and released the revolutionaries, thus, the Romanov Dynasty, which had ruled Russia for 300 years was overthrown and the Tsar’s autocratic regime was abolished. On the evening of that day, the first Congress of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was convened, which acted as the central core of the All-Russian Congresses of Soviets all across Russia.

As the Bolshevik party mainly engaged in leading the masses in the street barricade fights, some of the Bolshevik leaders were locked up in prisons and some were still in exile outside Russia, thus the Mensheviks and the Social Revolutionary Party usurped the leadership, the Petrograd uprising promoted the struggle to spread to whole Russia, consequently various localities rose up to overthrow the local and rural power of the Tsarist regime and led to the organization of the Councils of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, which are commonly known as the “Soviets”.

The success of the uprising on February 27 marked the victory of the bourgeois-democratic revolution with the support of the Mensheviks and the Social Revolutionary Party, and the bourgeoisie, formed a provisional government, creating a new status quo wherein two regimes, or “dual power” existed side by side in Russia.