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The Russian Revolution of 1917




 

Socialist Worker marks the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution with this series of articles outlining its course and consequences.

Part 1
How the stage was set for revolution
The Russia of the Tsars was one of history's most terrible dictatorships. Yet it was the setting for a revolution in which millions of people made history.

Part 2
The February Revolution
In a matter of one week, the actions of Russian workers and soldiers put an end to three centuries of Tsarist rule.

Part 3
Lenin prepares the Bolsheviks
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was largely fought out over the question of which half of "dual power"--the Provisional Government or the soviets--would replace the other.

Part 4
How workers power was organized
The workers' councils that arose during the revolution were both a weapon of workers' power against the old system and the beginning of a democratic replacement.

Part 5
The revolt against the Tsar's empire
How did the Russian Revolution affect the vast empire of the Tsar, with tens of millions living under an occupation by a government whose language and laws were not their own.

Part 6
The revolution gains strength
As other parties in Russia compromised themselves in the eyes of the masses, the Bolsheviks faced difficult tactical questions related to the uneven character of the struggle.

Part 7
Repression and resurgence
The period of reaction that followed the July Days was relatively short-lived, and the movement bounced back in a matter of a month--stronger, deeper and broader.

Part 8
How Kornilov was defeated
With the government paralyzed, the defense of Petrograd from the threat of a military coup depended on a mass popular mobilization led by Russian workers.

Part 9
The party and the revolution
Hundreds of studies by Russia "experts" portray Lenin and Bolsheviks as ruthless and authoritarian. But the truth is the party won the allegiance of Russia's most militant workers.

Part 10
The final act of the revolution
In the end, the process by which workers and soldiers took power in Petrograd was simple. "It was not necessary to employ force," Trotsky later wrote, "for there was no resistance."

Part 11
The legacy of 1917
Even as a memory of a struggle from a distant time under very different conditions, the Russian Revolution remains a threat to defenders of the status quo.

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