The Revolution in Russia - Assignment Example

Year of Study/Semester: Submitted: Russian Revolution The revolution in Russia that took place in nineteen seventeen is famously referred to as the Bolshevik revolution with some quarters preferring to call it the October Revolution. Two revolutions occurred in Russia in 1917 (Litwin Para 1). The initial revolution is referred to as the February Revolution whereupon the Tsar abdicated his throne and consequently transitional provisional governance came into power. The other revolution in Russia took place in October in which the revolutionists that came into power in February were overthrown by the Bolsheviks. The revolution in Russia that occurred in 1917 has a central place in the history of the world as well, the history of states that fall within the league of Baltic nations. These constitute Lithuania and Latvia as well as Estonia. The people of the Baltic nations also played a central role in the revolution of 1917, with significant stress on the Bolsheviks in Latvia, who primarily constituted a significant majority of the famous Red Guards that made it their duty to take side with the Bolsheviks in Russia which was absolutely critical at the initial times of the revolution. In the earlier revolution periods in 1905, which was the pioneer revolution in Russia, peasants that were scattered all over the Baltic states took advantage of the Russian Revolution to aggress against their leaders. At given varied moments in history, peasants from Latvia as well as Estonia had been under the rule of the Tsarist regime in Russia, the Swedish kingdom as well as the nobility in German. Peasants in Lithuania had been under the rule of Russia and prior to that, the Kingdom of Poland (1569-1791). The peasants in the ruled states took advantage of the revolution in Russia to control their destiny in their respective states by agitating for establishment of self rule. Despite this fact, the revolution did not lead into immediate independence as they had to wait until the period ranging from 1918-1940 for independence. The people that formed the citizenry of Baltic States which primarily are the present Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, had been under the manacles of serfdom that characterised their existence from periods that traced back from the twelfth century to the entire 19th century. The Baltic region has in history formed ground for confrontation. The most notable of its rulers were the nobility in Germany as well as Poland, Sweden as well as the Tsarist regime in Russia. A significant majority of the Baltic Population that constituted Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians did not have the right to own land and consequently lacked the power to be a variable in the political equation of their respective states. This is because; land takes a central place in politics. It is so because politicians, which were mainly nobles from Germany, Sweden and Poland, used land as a control factor over the peasants. As such, citizens who tended to go contrary to the political dispensation that the nobles dictated were stripped of the land, ultimately limiting the peasants within the confines of their own expectations. This endeavour had the consequence of emasculating the peasants and rendering them without political power to establish self rule. In the end, the peasants wetted their chins for the benefit of the nobility in Germany as well as Poland. The onset of the 19th century saw the peasants mildly ease the shackles and grasp of the nobles from Germany, held on them in Estonia and Latvia. All serfs in Lithuania as well as the Russian Empire were also emancipated in 1861. In 1905 in Russia, the belief of the people in Nicholas II who was a Russian Tsar had been on the decline. This year also saw Japan claim victory over Russia in a series of naval encounters. The single most pronounced occurrence that motivated Russian fury and anger which consequently inspired a need for the revolution was the mass murder of a multitude of demonstrators that were unarmed in the Russian historical city of St. Petersburg on the twenty second of January in 1905. The events of this day have branded it Bloody Sunday and consequently they inspired a raging wave of mass demonstrations that were strengthened with strikes that characterised this period in the Russian Empire (Kirby 228). It was not only in Russia that workers reacted with demonstrations and strikes as they were spread through the serfdom empire that included the Baltic States. As such, fifty thousand workers went on strike in Riga in addition to violent torching of a hundred and eighty four estates in Kurland, the now Western Latvia. Moreover eighty two Baltic Germans were also murdered by angry peasants (von Rauch 14). Peasant farmers in Estonia pounced on the opportunity presented by the prevalent revolt that characterised the Baltic States and confiscated land that had been the property of nobles and they only lived off these land as vassals. The reaction of the Tsarist regime to the peasants’ revolt was both harsh and brutal as they attempted to instil fear by sacrificing martyrs that were to be used as warning symbols which consequently would keep the revolting peasants in check. In line with this objective, the tsarist regime brutally murdered more than one thousand people and drove thousands into exile in concentration camps in Siberia. Contrastingly, the brutality of the Tsarist regime did little to deter the compact majority that constituted the peasantry population but on the contrary acted to inspire and motivate them. As a result the Tsarist regime yielded to the peasants’ pressure and ultimately granted them representation in government which ideally was in the form of the renowned Imperial Duma. Despite the fact that the Duma’s lacked significant authority, it was the backdrop against which consequent revolution in the Baltic nations was to be based. The lessons that were referred to constituted leadership in politics, the concept of formation of coalitions in addition to the procedure of debate in parliament. (Von Rouch 15). Estonian Leaders Konstantin Pats as well as Jaan Tonisson went to schools that popularly propagated the Duma concept (Von Rauch 15). Worth noticing is Lenin’s support for LSDP, a Latvian political party for the peasants in 1901 (von Rauch 12) In 1917 the Russian Empire was at war again. In this war the empire was loosing to the Germans which was primarily attributed to the lack of sophisticated modern machinery to match the German war arsenal. Just like the 1905 revolution, the Tsar Nicholas II popularity as well as people’s confidence rating of him was on the decline. In Petrograd, the mood was very dismal for the majority of the population. As a result of the war, many undesirable consequences had been derived which constituted unemployment as well as food shortages in addition to high rates of inflation. Consequently, workers reacted by joining revolutionary movements popularly referred to as soviets, politicising the population which sought to make existence better by agitating for change. The direful situation was further aggravated by three hundred and eighty five thousand workers on strike in Petrograd. Primarily the essence of the revolution was the demand by workers as well as soldiers and peasants for land redistribution. On February twenty eighth, Nicholas II surrendered his throne. Consequently the Tsarist forces also surrendered and all ministers in the regime were arrested. This was the demise of the regime in Russia. The coalition that was to provisionally rule the empire consisted of liberal socialists as well as conservatives together with moderates. Primarily the government was formed by Socialist revolutionaries and Mensheviks. In one perspective, out of the freedom of ownership that had been derived from the February revolution, the classes that had now been empowered to own property tended to be more conservative while the masses were extremely radical (Reed 1). Despite the fact that the provisional government was in power, the difficulties that the peasantry experienced during the Tsarist regime still characterised the empire. The empire continued to perform poorly in the war and food also continued to be scarce and as such the compact majority were still driven to instil change in the system. Radicals that had been freed from Siberia inspired the people to call for change. In response the provisional government embarked on widespread arrest of radicals and muzzled periodicals that they deemed as reporting contrary to their desire. The most significant figure that returned to Russia as a result of the February Revolution was Vladimir IIich Lenin. He inspired and motivated the workers with his famous chants of land, peace and bread (Le Blanc 5). On October twenty forth to twenty fifth in 1917, soldiers that were pro-Bolshevik, Red Guards and Sailors stormed into the Winter Palace and took Provisional Government authorities into custody. Consequently, in the following election, the Bolsheviks claimed the significant majority of sits in parliament whereupon they dissolved the Legislative Assembly and assumed power, an aspect that put them in confrontation with the White Guard Volunteer Army. Latvian troops sided with the Bolsheviks to beat the ‘Whites’. The Bolsheviks, who later came to be known as the communists, survived the onslaught from the Japanese, Americans, French and the British with the assistance of regiments from Latvia. When the allied forces ultimately withdrew from Soviet Russia, the civil war ended (Kirchner 243.) References Kirby, David, The Baltic World 1772-1993: Europes Northern Periphery in an Age of Change. (London: Longman, 1995). Kirchner, Walter, Russian History, 7th Ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1991) Le Blanc, Paul, “Russian Revolutions of 1917”, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia Created 2001. (Accessed  January 9, 2010). Litwin, Peter. The Russian Revolution Accessed January 9 2010. Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/baltic/papers/russianrevolution.htm Rauch, George Von, The Baltic States, trans. Gerald Onn (London: C. Hurst, 1970)  Reed, John, Ten Days That Shook the World (New York: International Publishers, 1934). Read More