the February Revolution

After the abdication of Nicholas II the provisional government in the Duma began to institute an enormous amount of laws, but there were no functional institutions to make them operational. An ongoing World War, 1 000 years of centralization of power and indifference turned Russia into an anarchy overnight. In just a couple of months the old state machinery totally disappeared, which made the tsars' importance in the old system obvious. When the rural population 4 weeks later found out about the changes in the capital, they started to plunder estates and larger farms, but very little bloodshed were reported. The Socialist Revolutionaries, sitting in the Soviets, begged the peasants to wait for an agricultural reform. However, the government postponed to summon the Duma which led to that it began to lose in legitimacy and trust. 8 weeks after the abdication the Duma acknowledged that it no longer was in control of the country.

The relatively peaceful February Revolution in 1917 meant that the power was handed over to the local Soviets out in the country. 6 socialists from the Petrograd Soviet joined the government, which led to that also they would be responsible for everything that went wrong in the government work. The Bolsheviks were the only party that stood outside the co-operation, as they saw Russia as a springboard towards a world-wide revolution. With this approach they irresponsibly could promise anything to all classes. The Bolshevik Party was also the only party with an armed underground organization.

The Bolsheviks, under Lenin's command, made an attempted coup in July 1917. Phase one, led by Lenin, was to force the government to resign by organizing of mass-demonstrations. During phase two, led by Trotsky, the Bolsheviks' storm troops took several strategic points in St. Petersburg (Petrograd). The coup failed and many leading Bolsheviks escaped abroad (Lenin to Finland). The Bolsheviks were now in deep trouble since it also was known that they probably have had economic support from Germany. The Germans had big interests seeing a weakened Russia, to be able to move troops to the French front.

Epilogue

In the background the World War I was thundering on with Russia as an active part. As late as in January 1917 all parties except the Bolsheviks were for a proceeding of the war. The Bolsheviks were hoping for a civil war.