Hannah Sell is a member of the Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales). With monotonous predictability the centenary of the Russian revolution has led to an outpouring of bile – not aimed in the main at the ‘acceptable’ February revolution – but at October. A cacophony of slander is attempting to drown out the […]
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This is the eighth in our series on the events of 1917. Dates are given in the old style Julian calendar used in Russia at the time. This was 13 days earlier than the Gregorian calendar (adopted in Russia in 1918). The working class and poor are on starvation rations. Grain prices rocket, provoking food […]
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In October 1917, the workers, with support of the poor peasants, took power in Russia. The ruling minority were out of power. For the first and only time in history, the majority of people were in charge of a country. In the February revolution, as in all revolutions, the mass of people entered the stage […]
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This is the seventh in our series on the events of 1917. Dates are given in the old style Julian calendar used in Russia at the time. This was 13 days earlier than the Gregorian calendar (adopted in Russia in 1918). The Bolshevik party still faces state repression, many of its leaders in prison or […]
Continue ReadingBelow we look at the events of July and August 1917 in Russia. Dates are given in the old style Julian calendar used in Russia at the time. This was 13 days earlier than the Gregorian calendar (adopted in Russia in 1918). The economy is in crisis, with inflation out of control and workers thrown […]
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Niall Mulholland is a member of the Committee for a Workers’ International. May and June: Provisional Government weak but revolutionary movement not yet able to take power The situation is one of dual power: the weakness of the Provisional Government is becoming increasingly clear; the revolutionary movement not yet able to take control. Right-wing social […]
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André Ferrari is a member of Liberdade, Socialismo e Revolução (CWI in Brazil). On 28 April, the Brazilian working class gave a clear sign of its strength and ability to mobilise. A 24-hour general strike was called, as a unified action by all the trade union centres of the country, against the pension and labour […]
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Paula Mitchell is a member of the Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales). On 3 April 1917, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from exile. Lenin’s arrival turned the Bolshevik party upside down and changed the course of history. Just weeks earlier, demanding an end to the bloody slaughter of World War One, the masses of […]
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The February revolution in Russia, started by women striking on International Working Women’s Day, quickly pushed aside the Tsar. The main demands were Bread, Peace and Down with the Autocracy (feudal dictatorship). The next nine months were a living struggle around these slogans. A revolution is not an event; it is a process. Two Opposing […]
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Robert Bechert is a member of the Committee for a Workers’ International. The overthrow of Tsarist rule in February and the winning of some important democratic rights did not mean the end of the revolution. Rather it was the beginning of the struggle to determine what would be the shape of the new Russia that […]
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