The Russian Revolution

CONTENTS

Cover

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

PART ONE The Agony of the Old Regime

1 1905: The Foreshock

University disturbances of 1899 as beginning of revolution

Plehve and Zubatov

outbreak of Russo-Japanese War, Plehve assassinated and replaced by Mirskii: the great Zemstvo Congress (November 1904)

“Bloody Sunday”

tsarism tries moderate reforms

the debacle of Tsushima and talk of a representative body

university turmoil resumes and leads to general strike

Witte advises concessions

emergence of St. Petersburg Soviet

the October Manifesto

Witte forms cabinet and represses radicals; nationwide pogroms

1905 as apogee of Russian liberalism

2 Official Russia

Patrimonialism

Nicholas and Alexandra

the bureaucracy

ministries

conservative and liberal officialdom

economic development undermines autocracy

the army

the gentry

the Orthodox church

3 Rural Russia

Household, village, and commune

land shortage

industrial workers

peasant mentality

peasant attitudes to law and property

changes in peasant mood after 1900

4 The Intelligentsia

Its European origins

sociétés de pensée

socialism as ideology of the intelligentsia

the ideal of a “new man”

emergence of Russian intelligentsia

revolutionary movement in nineteenth century Russia

the Socialists-Revolutionaries

Russian liberals

5 The Constitutional Experiment

Monarchy and constitutionalism

the Fundamental Laws of 1906

elections to the Duma

the First Duma

Stolypin

Stolypin represses terror

his agrarian reforms

the Second Duma and the electoral law of June 3, 1907

Stolypin’s political difficulties begin

the Western zemstvo crisis

Stolypins murder

assessment of Stolypin

Russia on the eve of World War I

6 Russia at War

Strategic preparations and Russia’s readiness for war

early campaigns: East Prussia and Galicia

Russian debacle in Poland, 1915

changes in government

emergence of the Progressive Bloc and Nicholas’s assumption of high command

bringing society into limited partnership in the war effort

7 Toward the Catastrophe

Inflation

the Brusilov offensive

rise of tension in the country

food crisis

Protopopov

the liberals decide to attack

Duma sessions of November 1916

assassination of Rasputin

last days at Tsarskoe Selo

plots against the Imperial family

8 The February Revolution

Mutiny of Petrograd garrison

the Duma hesitates to claim power

emergence of Petrograd Soviet and of its Executive Committee

Duma and Soviet agree on formation of Provisional Government

Order No. 1

abdication of Nicholas II

Michael refuses the crown

early actions of Provisional Government

Soviet undermines the government

land, Constituent Assembly, and war aims

revolution spreads nationwide

ex-tsar returns to Tsarskoe Selo

extraordinary rapidity of Russia’s breakdown

PART TWO The Bolsheviks Conquer Russia

9 Lenin and the Origins of Bolshevism

Lenin’s early years

Lenin and Social Democracy

his personality

his disenchantment with Social Democracy

emergence of Bolshevism

final split with the Mensheviks

Lenin’s agrarian and nationality programs

financial affairs of the Bolshevik party

the Malinovskii episode

Zimmerwald, Kiental, and connections with enemy agents

10 The Bolshevik Bid for Power

The Bolshevik Party in early 1917

Lenin returns to Russia with German help

Lenin’s revolutionary tactics

the April 1917 Bolshevik demonstration

socialists enter Provisional Government

Bolshevik assets in the struggle for power and German subsidies

the aborted Bolshevik street action in June

Kerensky’s summer offensive

the Bolsheviks ready another assault

preparation for putsch

the events of July 3–5

the putsch suppressed: Lenin flees, Kerensky dictator

11 The October Coup

Kornilov appointed Commander in Chief

Kerensky asks Kornilov’s help in suppressing anticipated Bolshevik coup

the break between Kerensky and Kornilov

rise in Bolshevik fortunes

Lenin in hiding

Bolsheviks plan their own Congress of Soviets

Bolsheviks take over Soviet’s Military-Revolutionary Committee

the critical decision of October 10

Milrevkom initiates coup d’état

Kerensky reacts

Bolsheviks declare Provisional Government overthrown

the Second Congress of Soviets ratifies passage of power and passes laws on peace and land

Bolshevik coup in Moscow

few aware of what had transpired

12 Building the One-Party State

Lenin’s strategy after power seizure

Lenin and Trotsky rid themselves of accountability to the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet

strike of white collar employees

the Council of People’s Commissars

accord with Left SRs and the breakup of the Peasant Congress

elections to the Constituent Assembly

decision to be rid of it

the dissolution of the Assembly

effects and implications

movement of Worker Plenipotentiaries

13 Brest-Litovsk

Bolsheviks and traditional diplomacy

German and Bolshevik approaches to talks

divisions in the Bolshevik command

initial negotiations

Trotsky at Brest

bitter divisions among Bolsheviks and the German ultimatum

Germans decide to be firm

they advance into Soviet Russia

Allied efforts to win over Bolsheviks

Moscow requests Allied help

Russians capitulate to German terms

Soviet government moves to Moscow

terms of Brest-Litovsk Treaty

first Allied landings in Russia

American reaction to Bolshevik policies

principles of Bolshevik foreign policy

14 The Revolution Internationalized

Small Western interest in Russian Revolution

foundations of Red Army laid

further talks with Allies

German embassy arrives in Moscow

Soviet embassy in Berlin and its subversive activities

the Czechoslovak rebellion

Bolsheviks adopt military conscription

Czech advances

the Kaiser decides to continue pro-Bolshevik policy

the Left SRs plot uprising

they kill Mirbach

suppression of their rebellion

Savinkovs clandestine organization

the Iaroslavl rising

Riezler fails in attempt to reorient German policy

further Allied activities on Russian soil

Bolsheviks request German intervention

Supplementary Treaty with Germany

Russians decide the Germans have lost the war

the problem of foreign “intervention”

15 “War Communism”

Its origins and objectives

“Left Communists”plan implementation

attempts to abolish money

creation of Supreme Economic Council

decline of industrial productivity

decline of agricultural productivity

efforts to abolish the market and the growth of a shadow economy

anti-labor legislation

trade union policy

effects of War Communism

16 War on the Village

Bolsheviks view peasants as class enemy

what peasants gained in 1917–18 and at what cost

food requisition policies and hunger in the cities

campaign against the village begins, May 1918

food supply detachments meet with resistance: massive peasant revolt

“Committees of the Poor”

assessment of the campaign

17 Murder of the Imperial Family

Russian regicide unique

the ex-tsar and family in the first months of Bolshevik rule

Ekaterinburg Bolsheviks want ex-tsar in their custody

Nicholas and Alexandra transported to Ekaterinburg

the “House of Special Designation”

murder of Michael as trial baloon

Cheka fabricates rescue operation

decision to kill ex-tsar taken in Moscow: Cheka takes over guard duties

the murder

disposal of the remains

assassination of other members of the Imperial family at Alapaevsk

Moscow announces execution of Nicholas but not of family

implications of these events

18 The Red Terror

Lenin’s attitude toward terror

abolition of law

origins of the Cheka

Cheka’s conflict with the Commissariat of Justice

Lenin shot, August 30, 1918

background of this event and beginning of Lenin cult

“Red Terror” officially launched

mass murder of hostages

some Bolsheviks revolted by bloodbath

Cheka penetrates all Soviet institutions

Bolsheviks create concentration camps

victims of Red Terror

foreign reactions

Afterword

Glossary

Chronology

Notes

One Hundred Works on the Russian Revolution

About the Author