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In1905itappearedthat a democratic revolution might happen in Russia. In January 1905 in Saint Petersburg, then the capital of Russia, the tsar’s troops fired on a peaceful labor demonstration of workers and their families. This massacre sparked a massive uprising of workers. Radical ferment, strikes, and insurgencies spread throughout the countryside, the towns, and the cities. All the revolutionary parties suddenly gained mass followings. The tsarist regime felt sufficiently threatened to offer a variety of concessions, which included an expansion of civil liberties and the creation of an elected legislative body (with very limited powers) called the Duma. It was in this period that workers established the first soviets (democratic councils) in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and other cities. See Russian Revolution of 1905.
WithintheRSDLP,many Mensheviks and Bolsheviks alike thought that revolution was at hand. Lenin envisioned what he called an uninterrupted revolution. This process would involve the democratic revolution being pushed forward by a new workers’ and peasants’ government—what Lenin called a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry. Such a government would be a radical regime that would abolish the tsarist system and clear the way for thoroughgoing democracy and modernization. Leon Trotsky, the president of the Saint Petersburg soviet (and at this time a left-wing Menshevik) put forward a theory of “permanent revolution.” According to this theory, the democratic revolution could only be won if the workers took political power, with support of the peasants; the working-class government would then begin Russia’s transition to socialism; and this transition would spark both attacks against Russia by capitalist countries and also revolutionary upsurges that could overturn capitalism throughout the world. In 1919 this theory would become an influential outlook among Russia’s revolutionaries.
Bytheendof1905,however, the tsarist regime reasserted its authority through military and paramilitary violence. It quelled peasant unrest, victimized non-Russian ethnic minorities, and repressed workers’ organizations—especially the soviets that had been organized in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The regime arrested or drove into exile thousands of revolutionary activists. But the experience and ideas of 1905 contributed to later revolutionary developments in Russia.
Asthetsaristregime reestablished complete control over Russia, divisions among the revolutionaries deepened. The liberal Cadets made many compromises with the regime in order to set a course for the enactment of reforms through the Duma. The SRs, on the other hand, were inclined toward a resumption of terrorist activities. Within the RSDLP, the gap between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks became wider. For the most part, the Mensheviks sought to ally themselves politically with the reformers in the Duma who wanted to develop the capitalist economy. They also tended to focus more on legislative work rather than on traditional underground activity such as publishing illegal newspapers and organizing strikes. The Bolsheviks insisted on building a more radical political alliance between the workers and peasants. Although the Bolsheviks sent deputies to the Duma and engaged in legislative work, they focused on developing their underground organization.
In1912theBolsheviks split away from the Mensheviks altogether to build their own separate revolutionary party. This split coincided with further industrial development and an upsurge of working-class radicalization. Consequently the Bolsheviks were able to dramatically increase their influence in Russia’s industrial centers until the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918).
TheeruptionofWorld War I in August 1914 halted Russia’s political development toward a working-class revolution. Russia joined with Britain, France, and other nations in waging war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Issues of economic gain and political power motivated the governments and upper classes of the contending countries. In Russia, as elsewhere, enthusiasm for the war effort among the masses was whipped up under patriotic slogans of saving the nation from foreign aggressors. Opponents of the war were denounced as traitors and suppressed. The prowar patriotism swept up the Cadets, many Mensheviks, and even some SRs. Lenin’s Bolsheviks opposed the war. They found themselves isolated and severely repressed, along with those Mensheviks, SRs, and others who spoke out against the war.
WorldWarIturnedinto a disaster for both the Russian people and the tsarist regime. Russian industry lacked the capacity to arm, equip, and supply the 15 million men who were sent into the war. Factories were few and insufficiently productive, and the railroad network was inadequate. Repeated mobilizations, moreover, disrupted industrial and agricultural production. The food supply decreased, and the transportation system became disorganized. In the trenches, the soldiers went hungry and frequently lacked shoes, munitions, and even weapons. Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any army in any previous war. Behind the front, goods became scarce, prices skyrocketed, and by 1917 famine threatened the larger cities. Discontent became rife, and the morale of the army suffered, finally to be undermined by a succession of military defeats. These reverses were attributed by many to the alleged treachery of Empress Alexandra and her circle, in which the peasant monk Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin was the dominant influence. When the Duma protested against the inefficient conduct of the war and the arbitrary policies of the imperial government, the tsar and his ministers simply brushed it aside.
Asthewardraggedon, Russia’s cities experienced increasing inflation, food shortages, bread lines, and general misery. The growing breakdown of supply, made worse by the almost complete isolation of Russia from its prewar markets, was felt especially in the major cities, which were flooded with refugees from the front. Despite an outward calm, many Duma leaders felt that Russia would soon be confronted with a new revolutionary crisis. By 1915 the liberal parties had formed a progressive bloc that gained a majority in the Duma.
Asthetideofdiscontent mounted, the Duma warned Nicholas II in November 1916 that disaster would overtake the country unless the “dark,” or treasonable, elements were removed from the court and a constitutional form of government was instituted. The emperor ignored the warning. In December a group of aristocrats, led by Prince Feliks Yusupov, assassinated Rasputin in the hope that the tsar would then change his course. The tsar responded by showing favor to Rasputin's followers at court. Talk of a palace revolution in order to avert a greater impending upheaval became widespread, especially among the upper classes.
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