1917 Revolution: bloodshed begins
Published 07 November, 2007, 05:55
It was in Petrograd (now known as St Petersburg), that Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks decided to start the Revolution. It was there, in October 1917, that the Winter Palace was stormed and power seized by the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets.
Historian Boris Kagarlitsky from the Institute of Comparative Political Studies says what happened that night had been coming for some time.
“The Bolsheviks accelerated a lot of events and tendencies that had already been developing in Russia,” he said.
Winter Palace in St. Petersburg
All the right ingredients were in place for a power grab: a deposed Tsar, poverty, unrest and an unpopular Provisional Government headed by the moderate Aleksandr Kerensky.
Lenin wanted to overthrow the Kerensky government before it could be legitimised in elections. However the reality was that in Petrograd at that time the government had almost no support at all.
Two days earlier the Bolsheviks in Estonia had led a successful uprising. Now it was Petrograd's turn. Throughout the day Lenin was on the streets and in the barracks, directing forces. As the night closed in the plan was activated.
Lenin's Speech at the 2nd Congress of the Soviets, painted by V.A. Serov (fragment)
At 9.45pm the signal was given. The battleship Aurora, positioned outside the Winter Palace, fired a blank shot. This was a signal to the masses that had surrounded the palace to take action.
Most of the hard work was done by a crack group of about 50 men. The only resistance they met was from Cossacks, Cadets and a women's battalion. They streamed through opulent halls and corridors, looting and destroying.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Petrograd, delegates had been gathering in the Smolny Institute.
Minority and opposition leaders were the first to take the floor. They wanted to backpedal on the revolution they'd started, but with an enormous roar they were shouted down.
Then Lenin arrived and announced a number of decrees: for peace and for the redistribution of land to the people.
Power was soon handed over to the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets. The Revolution was ratified.
The significance of the Bolshevik Revolution
On the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre conducted a poll asking 1,600 people what they thought the impact was of the Revolution on Russia.
22 % of respondents believed the Bolshevik Revolution opened a new era in Russia.
26 % thought it sped up the economic and social development of the country.
17 % said the Revolution hindered development.
And finally 11 % considered it a catastrophe.
Stay with RT to find out how the Revolution spread to today's capital, Moscow, and to see its impact on the rest of Russia and beyond.
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