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The militarization of the economy led to the concentration of control levers in the hands of the state, which worked closely with private entrepreneurs. This was the case, for example, in Germany. The state participated in the management of industry, regulated production and manufacturing process in all industries. This allowed the Germans to achieve growth in the military industry, but in the end, overexertion, shortages of personnel, raw materials and food took their toll: the German economy could not stand the test of war.

Russia in economically was ill-prepared for war. Only by 1917, thanks to the activities of the “Special Conference on Defense” and the military-industrial committees, which united entrepreneurs, trade unions and officials, it was possible to supply the army with everything necessary. Russia, along with Germany, lost the most soldiers. Significant territories in the west of the country, where important industrial centers, were occupied by the enemy. Exorbitant war costs caused frustration financial system. At the end of 1916, shortages of bread, unusual for Russia, arose in the cities.

Women's labor at a military factory

In the warring countries, the social conflicts, anti-war sentiment grew. In Russia, left-wing parties intensified their activities, and the workers' strike movement expanded.

A confrontation arose between the emperor and the State Duma: despite the incompetent actions of many ministers, Nicholas II refused to allow “people’s representatives” to form a government. In opposition to the tsar were not only the leftists and the Cadets, but also the Octobrists, the former support of the monarchy. An opposition Progressive bloc was formed in the Duma. In February - March 1917, under the pressure of a new revolution, the monarchy collapsed.

The end of the First World War. The slogan “Down with war!” was one of the main slogans under which the overthrow of the monarchy in Russia was carried out. Attempts by the Provisional Government to raise soldiers to " revolutionary war", the goals of which were unclear to them, were not crowned with success. Russia, exhausted by the war, gripped by dramatic revolutionary events, could no longer continue the fight. The call of the Bolshevik government that came to power in October 1917 to democratic world without annexations and indemnities, it did not find support either from Russia’s allies or from the countries of the German bloc. But at the same time, Russia’s opponents agreed to conclude a truce with it and enter into negotiations, putting forward the most difficult peace conditions. Realizing the impossibility of continuing the war in conditions of complete collapse of the army, in March 1918 the Bolshevik government concluded a separate Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. Anti-war slogans put forward during the Russian revolution found wide support among the peoples of the warring countries.

Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana in the uniform of sisters of mercy

US President William Wilson, in turn, put forward a peace plan known as the “14 points”. American President at first he was a strong opponent of the United States entering the war, but then, in 1917, he insisted on his country’s participation in the war on the side of the Entente. He proposed concluding peace on the terms of the withdrawal of troops of the German bloc from all occupied territories. An important point of his proposals was the restoration of the independence of Poland and the granting of autonomy to the peoples of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The German command, led by generals P. Hindenburg and E. Ludendorff, after the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, freed from the need to fight on two fronts, prepared a new offensive in France in the spring of 1918. Initially, the Germans were successful; in the summer they again found themselves on the Marne, just 70 km from Paris. However, this was their last success. Germany has exhausted its strength. The Entente turned out to be better prepared in military-technical terms, the morale of its armies was higher. Finally, fresh American units arrived on the European front. In July 1918, Entente troops under the command of French General F. Foch launched a counteroffensive. The prospect of transferring hostilities to German territory arose. Hindenburg demanded that Emperor Wilhelm II conclude a truce with the Entente.

Losses in the First World War

The course of the war was influenced by the revolutionary actions of the soldiers. In September 1918, there was an uprising in the Bulgarian army, which had suffered a series of defeats, and Bulgaria left the war. Gave up in October Ottoman Empire. National revolutions in Czechoslovakia and Hungary in October 1918 led to the disintegration of Austria-Hungary and its military collapse. Following its allies, Germany also surrendered. The uprising of military sailors who broke out on November 3 in Kiel, whom the command sent to certain death, became the beginning of the German revolution. New government key role in which the Social Democrats played, agreed to conclude a truce with the Entente. It was signed near Paris, in the Forest of Compiègne, on November 11, 1918. This is how the First World War ended.

Signing of the truce in the Compiègne forest

Let's sum it up

The cause of the war was the desire of the great powers to redistribute the world. For the first time, humanity found itself drawn into a global confrontation; the war affected most countries of the world. The loss of life was unprecedented. An unexpected result for the initiators of the First World War was the collapse of European empires, which were previously considered unshakable. The world has entered new strip revolutions and upheavals opened by the revolution of 1917 in Russia.

QUESTIONS

1. What reasons led to the First World War?

2. What were the goals of the warring parties at the beginning of the war? Were they achieved in the end? Why?

3. Tell us about the most important military operations of the First World War.

4. What changes did the First World War lead to in the economies of the warring countries?

5. Why do you think Germany and its allies were defeated in the war?

TASKS

1. Fill out the table “Goals of the participants in the First World War.”

2. Using map No. 3 (pages IV - V), determine which territories on the Western Front were captured by Germany in the first months of the war. How did the front line change in 1915 - 1918? What do these changes indicate? Determine which areas of Russia were occupied by Germany during the period of the greatest advance of its troops. On which fronts did military operations develop successfully for Russia?

3. Based on the data in the table (page 51), determine between the troops of which states the bloodiest battles of the First World War took place.

§ 8–9. RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917

Fall of the monarchy. There are not many events in history that would have such an impact strong influence for the entire course of human development, like the Russian revolution of 1917. The reforms of Alexander II put on the agenda the question of replacing the absolute monarchy with a constitutional system. However, the implementation of urgent reforms was delayed - this became one of the main reasons for the revolution of 1905 - 1907. But she did not completely solve the problem. It is obvious that the regime of the “transitional” type, which arose in 1907, could have existed in Russia longer, but the war accelerated the maturation of social contradictions. In an era of military upheaval public consciousness came to the conclusion that inevitable changes were coming. Moreover, in 1916 many in Russia, even at the very top, were talking about a future revolution. But no one could have guessed in what forms it would be embodied and what its consequences would be. February 1917 drew a line under almost thousand years of history Russian monarchy.

On February 23, 1917, mass strikes and demonstrations began in Petrograd, which soon developed into an armed uprising. But the troops of the capital's garrison refused to shoot at the people, and the city got out of the control of the tsarist officials. Revolutionary unrest began in Moscow, as well as in the Baltic Fleet.

On February 27, the Temporary Committee of the State Duma was formed, which included the leaders of the Duma factions. This body was the basis for the soon formed liberal government headed by G. E. Lvov.

On the same day, February 27, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies began to operate. Soon representatives of the garrison joined him. Workers and soldiers used the revolutionary experience of 1905. Soviets began to emerge throughout the country; as a rule, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries predominated in them. The Menshevik N. S. Chkheidze became the Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. In the words of V.I. Lenin, a dual power arose - the Provisional Melting and the Soviets.

On March 2, Nicholas II signed an act of abdication in favor of his younger brother Mikhail, who soon also renounced power. The centuries-old bastion of the Russian monarchy has fallen. Obviously, the country is already “ripe” for change. The people were embittered by the troubles of the protracted war, and the reserve of patriotic enthusiasm had dried up. The leaders realized the need to replace the incompetent government - even in liberal circles there was talk of preparing a coup. It is no coincidence that virtually no one came out in support of the monarch. There was nothing like this in 1917 Black Hundred movement since the first revolution.

The army played a decisive role in the development of the February events - both the rank and file and the generals. The soldiers refused to perform punitive functions. It became clear that if the conflict between the people and the authorities deepened, they would turn their bayonets against the throne. The generals “for the sake of saving the independence of the country” called on the tsar to abdicate the throne. We must also give Nicholas his due - in critical hours, he did not make feverish efforts to maintain his power, saving the lives of a large number of people.

The provisional government announced an amnesty for political and religious affairs, proclaimed freedom of speech, unions, meetings and strikes, abolished the death penalty, as well as all class, religious and national restrictions. The tsarist police were replaced by the people's militia, subordinate to local authorities authorities. Along with them, local administration was carried out by commissioners appointed by the Provisional Government. It was announced that preparations were being made for the convening of the Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage.

On the way to the Constituent Assembly. Smooth transformation political system did not happen in Russia - absolute monarchy did not become constitutional. In fact, a republican system was established (however, the republic was officially proclaimed only on September 1). Despite general enthusiasm, almost immediately after the departure of the Romanov dynasty from the historical scene, the growth of revolutionary expectations began to split society. The masses, inexperienced in political battles, wanted quick and simple solutions.

The question of ending the war was especially acute. So when is April 18 new minister Foreign Affairs P. N. Milyukov assured Russia's allies that the Provisional Government would fight to the bitter end; the threat of civil war was in the air. Under these conditions, trying to prevent a catastrophe, liberals and moderate socialists (Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries) put forward the slogan of “unifying all the living forces of the country.” It became the basis for the creation of a coalition government, which was formed on May 5. A month later, this decision was approved by the majority of delegates at the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The civil war was postponed for a while.

But the coalition was unable to gain lasting authority among the masses. In addition, the government, composed of representatives of business circles, Cadets, Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, was not distinguished by coherence of action. Many people thought that new government does too little to solve the main problems that trouble the country. The soldiers wanted to go home, but the war did not stop. The peasants dreamed of land, but the landowners' lands were not given to them. The preparations for a new offensive at the front caused a massive surge of dissatisfaction with government policies. On June 18, demonstrations under anti-war slogans took place in Petrograd, Moscow, Kyiv and many other cities.

Did the government not understand the importance of solving the most pressing problems? On the contrary, it was precisely the awareness of this importance that delayed the adoption of these decisions. It was not by chance that the government was called Provisional. His main task was to prepare the country for the Constituent Assembly. There was a lot behind this: it was necessary, under the most difficult conditions, to ensure the free expression of tens of millions of people who had the vaguest ideas about parliamentarism. The Provisional Government believed that it was the Constituent Assembly that would have the right to adopt final decisions on key issues of political, economic and national structure states. The leaders of February did not want to arrogate this right to themselves. At the same time they were preparing legislative framework new system (especially a lot of work was done on agrarian issues), because it seemed that it would ensure the functioning of Russian democracy for centuries to come.

The coalition government experienced a number of crises and its composition changed several times. Since July 1917, the head of the cabinet was a popular Duma figure, the lawyer Socialist Revolutionary A.F. Kerensky. Gradually, more and more power was concentrated in his hands. However, this occurred against the backdrop of a continuing decline in the popularity of coalition politics.

The future of democracy: parliament or Soviets? With all the intensity of the political struggle in 1917, among all its more or less prominent participants, there were practically no people who did not stand for democratic ideals. Even the commander-in-chief, General L.G. Kornilov, who marched to the capital at the end of August, was not their enemy at all. On the contrary, the “son of a Cossack peasant” promised to do everything possible to bring the country to the Constituent Assembly, which would determine the “way of life of the new state life" His actions had their own logic: it was necessary to restore order, end the war, and then calmly decide internal problems. The general’s attempt on the “revolutionary government” met with decisive rebuff from the socialists who came out in unison. Kornilov's campaign against the capital ended in failure.

The suppression of the “Kornilovism” is perhaps the only example in 1917 of joint actions of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. Immediately after the victorious February, attempts were made to unite in the grassroots organizations of the Social Democrats, and some of them did not even split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. But the struggle between the leaders of the two parts of the RSDLP (actually two independent parties) made the unification unrealistic. Moreover, the contradictions within the ranks of the socialists intensified. Some of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries increasingly insistently demanded a rejection of the “rotten” coalition policy. As a result, the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party (PLSR) left the Socialist-Revolutionary organization; in the ranks of the Mensheviks, a group of “internationalists” declared themselves more and more loudly, speaking not only against the coalition, but also against the war.

Oath of the women's “death battalion” formed by the Provisional Government. Moscow, 1917

But the main line in the disputes of the socialists, who undoubtedly became the leading political force in the country (this was confirmed by the elections to the Constituent Assembly), was on the line that divided their ideas about the nature of the revolution and the future political system Russia. All of them - Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries - were revolutionaries and dreamed of socialism. But at the same time, the essence of the era was assessed differently.

On April 3, 1917, after many years of emigration, V. I. Lenin returned to Russia. At a rally organized by the Bolsheviks and the Petrograd Soviet, he called on workers and soldiers to carry out a socialist revolution. In their " April Theses“Lenin spoke about the possibility of transferring power into the hands of the proletariat and the poorest strata of the peasantry. The Bolsheviks pinned their hopes for the victory of socialism on the spread of the revolution on a worldwide scale. The Western proletariat, in their opinion, would help backward Russia in creating an advanced economy. After all, the socialization of production on a socialist basis, as Marxists believed, was possible only in the presence of a highly developed industry and a large working class. The victory of the new system in Russia was to be ensured by the dictatorship of the proletariat in the form of the Soviets - it would mean true democracy for the working people and would provide an opportunity to carry out economic transformation. Lenin emphasized: “Not a parliamentary republic—a return to it from the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies would be a step backward—but a republic of Soviets of workers’, farmhands’ and peasants’ deputies throughout the country, from bottom to top.”

The Mensheviks argued that the level of development of Russian capitalism does not yet allow us to talk about the maturity of the prerequisites for the transition to socialism. This means that the bourgeoisie will retain power, and the proletariat needs to fight for a democratic system (they, like the Bolsheviks, referred to Marx, but in a different interpretation of him). The Socialist Revolutionaries thought approximately the same way. Therefore, moderate socialists, although they stood at the cradle of the Soviets and actively worked in them, opposed the transfer of state power to them. After all, this would mean democracy not for everyone, but for part of the people - and this is no longer democracy. From such power there is one step to a bloody dictatorship. The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries saw the Soviets as scaffolding, the need for which would disappear when the building of parliamentary democracy was built.

The Bolsheviks come to power. Under the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” On July 3–4, massive armed demonstrations took place in the capital. Sailors from Kronstadt arrived to help the demonstrators. Despite the impressive support for his positions, Lenin did not dare to call on workers and soldiers to overthrow the government - he did not yet have full confidence in victory.

Things were different in the fall of 1917. In Petrograd, Moscow and a number of other Soviets, the Bolsheviks took leading positions. During the armed uprising on October 24–25, armed detachments of the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) created by the capital's Council occupied key positions in the city. Created on the initiative of moderate socialists, the Provisional Council Russian Republic(The Pre-Parliament) was dispersed, government members were arrested in the Winter Palace. The coalition political regime collapsed almost as easily as the tsarist regime did in February. The helm of the ship of state passed into the hands of the Bolsheviks. Their victory in the capital was unconditional; on November 3, Soviet power won in Moscow. In the provinces, the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks managed to resist in some places, but this did not affect the general course of events. The workers supported the Bolsheviks, even the leader of the Menshevik internationalists, Yu. O. Martov, was forced to admit that a significant part of the proletariat was following the Bolsheviks. The decisive condition for the victory of Lenin's party was the participation of soldiers in the coup. The call to immediately end the “imperialist” war found support at the front, and it gained even greater popularity in the rear garrisons. Their soldiers were in no hurry to go to the front. They became the main support of the Bolsheviks in the capital and large provincial cities.

In the fall of 1917, the Leninists found themselves at the very crest of a wave of popular discontent. They unmistakably coordinated their slogans (peace to the peoples, land to the peasants, power to the Soviets) with the sentiments of “spontaneous Bolshevism” that permeated the masses. In the consciousness of the revolutionary masses, not clouded by the subtleties of political doctrines, Lenin’s party was presented as a miracle worker who would lead the country onto the path of happiness. In addition, the RSDLP(b) was the only major party that did not compromise itself in any way by participating in the post-February government. After all, immediately after returning to his homeland, Lenin declared: “No support for the Provisional Government!” The Bolsheviks constantly criticized government policies, but they themselves were not responsible for what was happening in the country.

The message that appeared during the July events that the Bolsheviks were destroying the front with the money of the German authorities did not frighten the masses too much. The idea of ​​defending the “revolutionary fatherland” did not evoke mass enthusiasm, and the accusation itself did not look very conclusive; it looked more like a political “bandwagon.”

Storm of the Winter Palace. Artist P. P. Sokolov-Skalya

One of the reasons for the victory of the Bolshevik Party was the discipline characteristic of the RSDLP(b), the absence of serious internal contradictions in its ranks. The group of “moderate” Bolsheviks who did not believe in the possibility of victory in an armed uprising was insignificant. The authority of its leaders L. B. Kamenev and G. E. Zinoviev could not be compared with the popularity of V. I. Lenin. His role in the victory of the RSDLP(b) cannot be overestimated. The Bolshevik leader had a colossal thirst political power, was the most prominent party leader of his time. Even in the most seemingly losing situations, he could lead the party, convince doubters, and “suppress” opponents with his authority. There was another one in the ranks of the Bolsheviks strong personality– L. D. Trotsky, elected in September 1917 chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. It was he, a talented speaker and administrator, who took upon himself the strengthening of " morale"soldiers and workers, as well as organizational issues of the October uprising.

New political regime. At the Second Congress of Soviets, held from October 25 to 27, the Bolsheviks gained a numerical superiority. This allowed the congress delegates to legislate the results of the armed uprising. Power in the country passed into the hands of the Soviets, and the decrees written by Lenin on peace and land were adopted. Within a few months, in many parts of the country, the Bolsheviks managed to disperse the former local authorities. A new political system was emerging. Its shell was the system of Soviets from bottom to top - from local (rural and urban) to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. It was he who became the main legislative body authorities. In the intervals between congresses, the All-Russian Central executive committee(VTsIK). In October, L. B. Kamenev became its chairman, and later Ya. M. Sverdlov. Executive power was concentrated in the hands of the new government - the Council of People's Commissars - headed by V.I. Lenin.

The Soviet system became a camouflage for the real power - the Bolsheviks. At the top of the RSDLP(b) all the most important government decisions. The fact that representatives of the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party entered the Council of People's Commissars in November 1917 did not change the situation. For a short time, the new coalition created only the appearance of some kind of democracy in the Soviet leadership.

In the first weeks after October, the country was engulfed in transformation. A truce was concluded at the front, and peace talks. In accordance with the decree on land, landowners' lands were transferred to the peasants. Workers' control was introduced at enterprises, and the nationalization of transport, the banking system, and industry began. The long-delayed elections to the Constituent Assembly took place. Despite the sabotage by officials, the work of the renewed ministries - the People's Commissariats - was getting better. To break the resistance of the “class enemies”, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (VChK) was created. Workers and soldiers were actively involved in the process of governing the state.

The hopes of the broad masses of the population of a country that had been oppressed for centuries for freedom and a decent life came true. Should we pay attention here to the dispersed Soviet, where the “compromisers” - the Mensheviks - were entrenched, or to the two cadets - “enemies of the people” who were stabbed to death with sailor bayonets in the hospital? After all, the true people’s power has won, the “workers’ and peasants’ government” rules. The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly on January 6, 1918 did not cause a social explosion. The few demonstrations of workers and intellectuals in his support were dispersed by soldiers and Red Guards. Having received a relative majority in the assembly, the Socialist Revolutionaries had neither the strength nor the political will to provide armed resistance. Many soldiers and workers followed the Bolsheviks and believed in the success of their reform plans.

A few days after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, the III All-Russian Congress Soviets. Having approved the activities of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, the delegates adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People. It proclaimed the abolition of the exploitation of man by man and set the task of building socialism.

Points of view on the revolutionary events of 1917. From the volumes written by historians and political scientists of our country and the whole world about the events of 1917, it is possible to construct, perhaps, a decent mountain peak. Much more will be written, but it is unlikely that researchers will ever come to a common point of view.

Supporters of monarchical views believed that February marked the beginning of the catastrophe, and in October the country fell into the abyss. With the departure of the Romanov dynasty, the tradition of Russian statehood was interrupted; the power of the Bolsheviks plunged Russia into anarchy, and subsequently led to millions of deaths and the spiritual collapse of the nation.

Liberals and socialists (Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks) believed that February opened the way to freedom and democracy. They considered the Bolsheviks “counter-revolutionaries on the left.” Soviet power again enslaved the people - not a dictatorship of the proletariat was established, but a “dictatorship over the proletariat.”

The Bolsheviks themselves considered February to be the prologue to October. They saw in the course of events a reflection of their rightness - the revolution “expanded” and “deepened”, from the first stage - bourgeois-democratic - it went to the second - socialist.

On one of the Moscow streets after the fighting in October - November 1917.

Only Soviet power, the Bolsheviks argued, met the fundamental interests of the people, only it provided salvation from economic disaster, eliminated exploitation, and opened the way to democracy and social justice.

Today, many historians are inclined to not separate the “February” and “October” revolutions. Obviously, it is more appropriate to talk about the Russian Revolution of 1917 (more precisely, it ended as a whole in January 1918, when the Constituent Assembly was dissolved and the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets declared the final and irrevocable approval of the new order). Our Motherland has become an endless field for the unprecedented social experiment. For the first time in history, people came to power whose goal was to eliminate private property and “build” a new social order– socialism. They laid the foundation for a new state - the Soviet one.

The revolution was the beginning of a new era not only for Russia. The radical change in the life of the largest country in the world could not but affect all of humanity. For the revolutionary forces, the struggle and victory of the Bolsheviks was a stirring example; opponents of radicalism became wary - the glow of a “world revolution” was rising.

Let's sum it up

The Russian Revolution of 1917 abolished the monarchical state system. After a short stay in power by liberals and moderate socialists, the Bolsheviks, supporters of the Soviet Republic and socialism, came to power.

QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think that in January 1905 the troops unquestioningly carried out the order and dealt with the demonstrators in the capital, and in February 1917 they went over to the side of the people?

2. What was the reason for the emergence of the liberal-socialist coalition government?

3. Why did the parties that were part of the Provisional Government lose their positions in the summer and early autumn of 1917, while the Bolsheviks, on the contrary, strengthened them?

4. What changes in the political system of Russia occurred between February 1917 and January 1918?

5. How can we explain that the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly did not cause mass discontent in the country?

TASKS

1. This is the telegram sent by one of the army committees to the Moscow Regional Bureau of Soviets during the elections to the Constituent Assembly: “...We don’t know how and who to elect. Comrades! Don't leave us in such darkness.

Send us the programs of each socialist party, especially the Bolshevik, since we are not very familiar with it, that is, before we were intimidated by the Bolsheviks, they were portrayed to us as some kind of traitors, but now, as far as we understand, they are defenders of the revolution. LONG LIVE BOLSHEVISM."

Based on the document, explain the content of the concept of “spontaneous Bolshevism.”

2. Analyze data on the elections to the Constituent Assembly (page 62). Representatives of which ideological and political movements received an advantage? How can this be explained? How did the alignment of party forces differ in the city and in the countryside? What does this indicate?

3. The philosopher F. Stepun noted: “It is impossible to contrast “February” with “October” as two periods of the revolution, as a nationwide revolution - with the party-conspiratorial disruption of it.... “October” was not born after “February”, but along with it, maybe even before it.”

How do you understand this statement?

October 1917 – revolution or coup?

A revolution is often called a social explosion. In Russia's historical past, the most significant revolution was the October 1917 revolution. More recently, the concept of "Great October socialist revolution"was proclaimed "the main event of the twentieth century", and therefore could not be the subject of criticism. However, in Lately There is an increasing tendency to reconsider the role and place of this period of our history. Instead of the generally accepted Soviet times From the term “Great October Socialist Revolution” the expression “October revolution” appeared. This was accompanied by a reassessment of the significance of the event that happened in October 1917 - from positive to almost negative. It should be noted that this radical reassessment of the significance and consequences of the October events of 1917 occurred mainly as a result of changes that occurred in public sentiment under the influence of the political struggle that unfolded in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s - early 1990s. and especially after its collapse. It should be noted that the emergence of various new versions of the October events of 1917 is often a consequence of an arbitrary interpretation of the very concept of “revolution”. As you know, the essence of a revolution lies in changing the state of society, in a sharp transition to a new stage of its development. A coup d'état, usually carried out by force, essentially represents a struggle for power between separate groups of forces, while society continues to remain in its previous state. A real revolution sharply divides society, drawing large masses of people into political struggle, bringing new classes or social groups, changes the form of ownership, that is, it carries out an essential transformation of the system. A coup is limited, as a rule, to changes in the balance of political forces that are at the helm of state or seeking to seize it. Unlike a coup, which the forces interested in it plan and organize in advance, it is impossible to develop a “scenario” for the revolution, because, as evidenced by historical experience, revolutions develop according to their own “laws” and logic, which people are practically unable to master.

It is known that Russia became pregnant with revolution long before October 1917. Urgent tasks social development remained unresolved for decades. Among them the most important were:

• * agrarian question;
• * completion of industrialization;
• * raising the cultural and educational level of the people;

In addition, the world war of 1914 - 1918. extremely aggravated all social contradictions and led to economic devastation unprecedented in comparison with other warring states. The autocracy once again demonstrated its helplessness, for which it was “punished” by the February Revolution. The social crisis reached such depth that in the spring of 1917 Russia actually collapsed as a state, and Russian capitalism as a social system. After the abdication of the tsar, it seemed that the Russian bourgeoisie, having come to state power, had a chance to overcome the crisis, but its representatives in the Provisional Government did not take advantage of this chance. In the fall of 1917, the progressive paralysis of state power became obvious, which turned out to be unable even to hold the promised elections to the Constituent Assembly, which was supposed to determine further direction development of the country. Moreover, another - truly terrible - alternative has begun to emerge. Almost ten million wild and enraged soldiers, with weapons in their hands, en masse refused to carry out the orders of the command, left the front and, having captured the echelons, moved deeper into the country.

Thus, the main reasons for October 1917 were deep-seated contradictions that accumulated in the political, economic, social, national spheres of public life, which were no longer possible to resolve through reformist means, especially due to the position of the ruling circles, which were slowing down the necessary process of modernization. Immediate results October revolution were real and undeniable: she pulled Russia out of a bloody, exhausting war; prevented a national catastrophe that threatened a society that was increasingly plunging into a state of chaos; preserved the territorial integrity and independence of the country, protecting its sovereignty; freed the working people from exploitation and oppression by giving land to the peasants, transferring factories and factories to the management and control of the workers; installed new uniform authorities - the Soviets - as truly people's power.

Among those who do not agree to count October events 1917 revolution, popular assertions are that the organizers of the armed uprising in Petrograd themselves - Lenin and Trotsky - called the Bolsheviks’ coming to power a coup. Indeed, in the works of Lenin and Trotsky one can find the expression “coup” or “October revolution”, but even more often - and much more often! - they used the expression “October revolution”. Moreover, they used the term “October revolution” precisely in the meaning of the concept “revolution”, that is, implying a radical change in the social system.

The social revolution developed gradually, in completely different forms. Large-scale peasant war; deep moral decay of the army; workers' struggle for their rights; movement for national independence of non-indigenous peoples of Russia - all these are components social revolution in Russia; and each of these movements supported popular Bolshevik slogans: “Peace to the peoples!”, “Land to the peasants!”, “All power to the Soviets!”, “Factory workers!” Therefore, to claim that in October 1917 there was only a coup in Petrograd means deliberately ignoring historical facts. We must not forget that this event undermined the centuries-old foundations of Tsarist Russia and radically changed the vector of its historical development, laying the foundation for the creation of a completely new society. No coup d'etat unable to give birth to a new society.

The October Revolution can be viewed in different ways, and everyone has the right to their own point of view and their own assessment of its significance. However, deny obvious fact that in October 1917 a revolution began in Petrograd - namely a revolution, and not just a coup - means not to understand the essence of the very concept of “revolution”. And although the form of the uprising and seizure of power organized by the Bolsheviks did resemble a coup d'etat, in fact it was the beginning of one of the most profound and dramatic social revolutions in history. Historical facts irrefutably indicate that the revolutions in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century were the result of a relatively long development Russian life, where October became the final phase. It is impossible to imagine the 20th century without the October Revolution in Russia, because without it the very history of this century would have been different.

Signs of both revolution and coup and conspiracy took place in the days of October. The events of October represented the most acute form of struggle between emerging new and moribund old forms of social relations. But after completing the work, I came to the conclusion that the events of October 1917 are called revolution, since in my essay I highlighted the following signs:

growing contradictions in society;

the desire to change the existing order in Russia;

What happened in 1917? This is not a test Unified State Exam question and I believe that most readers still remember the Soviet school curriculum on history and even, perhaps, Lenin’s words about the event that happened 100 years back:

“The socialist revolution, the need for which the Bolsheviks talked so much about, has taken place.”

These words were spoken by the leader of the Bolshevik Party immediately after the storming of the Winter Palace at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which began simultaneously with the storming. By the way, the assault on the palace, which was defended only by a company from the 1st Petrogradsky women's battalion, was practically bloodless. The company did not offer significant resistance; no one shot the women from this company after the assault. They were disarmed, and after a couple of days the entire battalion was disbanded and the women were sent home. How did it happen that the Winter Palace was so poorly guarded? How did it happen that almost the entire Petrograd garrison took part in the storming of the Winter Palace and the capture of the city, and only the women’s battalion guarded the palace from the mutinous soldiers?

Cossack regiments, which Kerensky entrusted big hopes, declared their neutrality and refused to obey the Provisional Government. On the afternoon of October 24, soldiers of the 1st Scooter Battalion left the Winter Palace. The vehicles of the armored and reserve divisions, which had previously guarded the Winter Palace around the clock, also left. Two Bolsheviks from this division, soldiers I. Zhdanovich and A. Morozov, persistently convinced their comrades to abandon their support for the counter-revolutionary government. Despite the resistance of the Socialist Revolutionaries, of whom there were many in the unit, general meeting division, after lengthy disputes, accepted the Bolshevik proposal. Armored vehicles equipped with machine guns and three-inch guns left Palace Square.

In other words, there was no support for the Provisional Government either among the people or the army. Agitators of the Bolsheviks and other left-wing opposition parties split the army from the Provisional Government, persuading the Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies that had already been created by that time to submit to the Soviets. Certainly, officer corps Mainly kept the oath, but after February and the abdication of the king, the oath did not bind them too much. Besides, you can’t go against your own soldiers; they can shoot you. By decision of its soldiers' council. The Soviets were everywhere, and they were the most effective weapon of the revolution. In October 1917, there were 1,429 Soviets in Russia, including over 700 Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Attempts to present the events of 1917 as a coup are completely unsuccessful. A handful of revolutionaries could not break a fairly powerful state mechanism without support from the bulk of the people, without creating alternative power structures. In general, it is not correct to say that it was the Bolsheviks who seized power in October 1917. The Soviets seized power - new organizational structure people. Created, of course, under the influence of the Bolsheviks, but not only them, but several left-wing opposition parties - Essers and Mensheviks took part in them. Only the further development of the revolution drove these parties in different directions and it was the Bolshevik wing of the opposition that brought to power. And the most consistent program of the Bolsheviks, its greatest correspondence with the interests of the bulk of the population, played a role in this. By creating alternative democratic structures of power - the Soviets - and putting forward a program that was attractive to the majority of the country's population, the Bolsheviks were doomed to success.

What was attractive about the Bolshevik program? What seduced the people so much? Why were Bolshevik agitators able to win the army over to their side? What was the “technology” of that revolution anyway? Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was an agricultural country, where more than 80% of the population was peasantry. The army, accordingly, also consisted mainly of representatives of the village. And the main issue for the peasants then was the question of land. The land mainly belonged to landowners. On average, one landowner had as much land as 300 peasant households. And it must be said that this was not always a sign of wealth; the nobility who owned estates and lands were in debt. Solonevich names these debts as one of the reasons for the February revolution:

The Russian nobility stood on the eve of a complete economic catastrophe, just as it stood before Peter the Great on the eve of a political one. In the pre-war years, noble landownership lost up to three million dessiatines a year. The debt of the noble landowners to the state reached the monstrous amount of three billion rubles. If this amount is translated into at least the price of a pound of meat (about two hryvnia in Russia then and about a dollar in the USA (USA - USA - Ed.) now), then it will equal 12-15 billion dollars. Two or three Marshall Plans combined. The nobility had no way to cover this debt - it faced complete bankruptcy.

Solonevich, being a monarchist, calls the social causes of the revolution almost like Lenin. The aristocracy, being completely in debt, could no longer maintain power. A new bourgeoisie was rushing to power.

"The aristocracy and the bourgeoisie had very clear class motives."- writes Solonevich.

And if a monarchist writes such words, then obviously it was not leftist ideology that dictated them. Back in the revolution of 1905, the peasantry showed itself in riots against the nobility. Not against the king, but against the aristocracy. Even then, the land issue was the main one. What exactly aggravated it so much? Solonevich, referring to Oldenburg, writes about “tragic contradictions”, almost like Marx:

The main one of these tragic contradictions was that at the beginning of the 20th century, a completely clearly defined class system continued to exist in the country. That at the same time the bulk of the country's population - its peasantry - had no rights either economically, politically, in everyday life, or, moreover, in administratively. The bill on peasant equality was introduced into the Legislative Chambers by P.A. Stolypin. State Council shredded and postponed this bill as soon as he could, and only in the fall of 1916, that is, just on the eve of the revolution, did this draft come up for consideration State Duma- yes, it remained unexamined... and still does (Oldenburg, p. 180). I formulated this position almost fourteen years ago in the “Theses of the Staff-Captain Movement” (p. 9):

“The genius of the Russian people was squeezed in the iron grip of serfdom and those of its remnants that existed before 1917.”

Simply put, the cauldron of popular anger heated and heated and finally boiled. And, it should be noted that it is not easy here social inequality he was warm. After all, for hundreds of years the peasantry was in virtual slavery to the nobles. But he endured. Because there were some justifications for this inequality. Nobility served to the sovereign. They did not just submit, but literally fought and died for the Tsar and the Fatherland. It was military class, career military men, as they say now. In the Middle Ages, the nobility carried out permanent military service, while the rest of the population was called upon to serve it only in cases of special danger to the country.. For this service, the sovereign gave land to the nobles. In the Moscow state at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, this is how the “local system” took shape. Grand Duke transferred the estate to a servant who was obliged for it military service. Peter I for the first time founded a permanent army of nobles who were in compulsory service and a collection of Danish people, the so-called recruits. In 1762 on a short time Peter III, who lingered on the throne, issued the most important document regulating legal status nobility in Russia - Manifesto “on the freedom of the nobility” dated February 18, 1762. This document was adopted in order to satisfy the demands of the nobility, who considered themselves “infringed”, since they were obliged to serve the state. For some reason, what was given to him in exchange for his service was forgotten. The manifesto freed the nobles from military duty. Before this, during the reign of Elizabeth, a Decree was issued that prohibited anyone other than nobles from buying “people and peasants without land and with land.” Land ownership and soul ownership began to become the exclusive right of the nobles.

Little by little, first the nobles were exempted from military service (1762), then the merchants, honorary citizens, the clergy class, so that its burden finally lay exclusively on the peasants and townspeople. However, the nobility was not deprived of the lands that they had once received from the sovereign for their service. Thus, the landowners, freed from compulsory service to the state, turned from the service class into an idle, purely consumer class of slave owners. The military reform of Alexander II reintroduced universal conscription in 1872. From the charter:

"1. Defense of the throne and fatherland is the sacred duty of every Russian subject. The male population, regardless of condition, is subject to military service.

2. Cash ransom from military service and replacement by a hunter is not allowed. ..."

After the reforms of Alexander II, the nobility was forced to pay peasants for their work. Capitalism began to make its adjustments. As a result, from 1877 to 1914. the nobility lost almost two-thirds of its land fund. The noble lands were sold especially actively in 1906–1909. And the new bourgeois owners did not at all gain any legitimacy in owning land in the eyes of the peasants. Alexander's reforms eliminated slavery, which in essence was serfdom, but did not improve economic situation peasants who formed the backbone of the Russian people. In general, the history of the emergence of serfdom, which for some reason appeared after the liquidation of the Tatar-Mongol yoke and two independent republics with veche government (Novgorod and Pskov), raises many questions. Almost the entire population of the country becomes slaves after leaving the " Tatar captivity“and the elimination of veche forms of government, isn’t it strange? Even Rome made slaves only of foreigners, why did they make their fellow peasants slaves in Rus'?

How did the Bolsheviks attract the sympathy of the people before the revolution of 1917? The slogan “Land to the peasants!” Together with the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” April theses of V.I. Lenin:

1. The bourgeois-democratic revolution is over. The Provisional Government is unable to solve problems, hence the Bolshevik slogan:"No support for the interim government."

2. Course towards socialist revolution: “All power to the Soviets.” Achieve the resignation of the government and the Soviets take power into their own hands. The possibility of a peaceful revolution, the transfer of power into the hands of the workers.

3. Immediate nationalization of the land, the beginning of peace treaties and the conclusion of peace with Germany.

4. The right of nations to self-determination. United and indivisible Russia.

That is, power to the Soviets, land to the peasants, and peace with Germany. Isn't this what the peasantry wanted? Soldiers tired of war and worried about their abandoned farm? The Bolsheviks did not have a majority in the Soviets until June 1917. The Essers and Mensheviks played the leading roles there. But re-elections of deputies in June brought the Bolsheviks victory in the Soviets. And they earned this victory with just such a program. And they, unlike modern parties, fulfilled this program. Power was transferred to the Soviets, peace was made with Germany, and the land was transferred to the peasants. The first decrees Soviet power were , , and… . The Bolsheviks were so bloodthirsty.

The first decrees of Soviet power

From : Adopted at the meeting of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies at 2 o'clock on the night of October 27 - November 9) 1917:

1. Landownership of land is canceled immediately without any redemption.

Landowners' estates, as well as all appanage, monastery, church lands, with all their living and dead inventory, manor buildings and all accessories, are transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies until the Constituent Assembly... The fairest resolution of the land issue should be is: right private property to earth is canceled forever; land cannot be sold, purchased, leased or pledged, or alienated in any other way. The entire land... turns into the national property and goes into the use of all workers on it.

The first decree of Soviet power. Artist A.I. Segal.

After the adoption of these decrees, it is not surprising that, having won in Petrograd, the revolution rapidly spread throughout the country. Power passed into the hands of the newly created Soviets. And it passed bloodlessly. Only in 1918, a group of generals under the leadership of General Alekseev, the last chief of staff tsarist army, begins to form on the Don Volunteer Army. And it’s clear why the Cossacks had land on the Don. This is the only class that was not interested in the decrees of the Soviet government. She didn't give them anything. And the Cossacks opposed it. And it became the backbone of Denikin’s army.

All counter-revolutionary activities of Kolchak, Denikin, Krasnov, Yudenich, Semenov and other leaders " White movement"was paid for by the governments of the USA, Germany, France, England and Japan.

Having met popular resistance and counting their losses, the interventionists decided to destroy young Soviet Russia, plunging it into Civil War.

And in 1917, the Russian peasantry received land and peace,the return of the ancient veche democratic government of the state - the Soviets.

What happened in 1917? Is not test question The Unified State Exam and I believe that most readers still remember the Soviet school curriculum on history and even, perhaps, Lenin’s words about an event that happened 95 years ago: “The socialist revolution, the need for which the Bolsheviks talked so much about, has taken place.” These words were spoken by the leader of the Bolshevik Party immediately after the storming of the Winter Palace at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which began simultaneously with the storming. By the way, the assault on the palace, which was defended only by a company from the 1st Petrograd Women’s Battalion, was practically bloodless. The company did not offer significant resistance; no one shot the women from this company after the assault. They were disarmed, and after a couple of days the entire battalion was disbanded and the women were sent home. How did it happen that the Winter Palace was so poorly guarded? How did it happen that almost the entire Petrograd garrison took part in the storming of the Winter Palace and the capture of the city, and only the women’s battalion guarded the palace from the mutinous soldiers?

The Cossack regiments, on which Kerensky had high hopes, declared their neutrality and refused to obey the Provisional Government. On the afternoon of October 24, soldiers of the 1st Scooter Battalion left the Winter Palace. The vehicles of the armored and reserve divisions, which had previously guarded the Winter Palace around the clock, also left. Two Bolsheviks from this division, soldiers I. Zhdanovich and A. Morozov, persistently convinced their comrades to refuse support for the counter-revolutionary government. Despite the resistance of the Socialist Revolutionaries, of whom there were many in the unit, the general meeting of the division, after lengthy debates, accepted the Bolshevik proposal. Armored vehicles equipped with machine guns and three-inch guns left Palace Square.

In other words, there was no support for the Provisional Government either among the people or the army. Agitators of the Bolsheviks and other left-wing opposition parties split the army from the Provisional Government, persuading the Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies that had already been created by that time to submit to the Soviets. Of course, the officer corps basically kept the oath, but after February and the Tsar’s abdication of the throne, the oath did not bind them too much. Besides, you can’t go against your own soldiers; they can shoot you. By decision of its soldiers' council. The Soviets were everywhere, and they were the most effective weapon of the revolution. In October 1917, there were 1,429 Soviets in Russia, including over 700 Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Attempts to present the events of 1917 as a coup are completely unsuccessful. A handful of revolutionaries could not break a fairly powerful state mechanism without support from the bulk of the people, without creating alternative power structures. In general, it is not correct to say that it was the Bolsheviks who seized power in October 1917. The Soviets, a new organizational structure of the people, seized power. Created, of course, under the influence of the Bolsheviks, but not only them, but several left-wing opposition parties - Essers and Mensheviks took part in them. Only the further development of the revolution drove these parties in different directions and it was the Bolshevik wing of the opposition that brought to power. And the most consistent program of the Bolsheviks, its greatest correspondence with the interests of the bulk of the population, played a role in this. By creating alternative democratic structures of power - the Soviets - and putting forward a program attractive to the majority of the country's population, the Bolsheviks were doomed to success.

What was attractive about the Bolshevik program? What seduced the people so much? Why were Bolshevik agitators able to win the army over to their side? What was the “technology” of that revolution anyway? Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was an agricultural country, where more than 80% of the population was peasantry. The army, accordingly, also consisted mainly of representatives of the village. And the main issue for the peasants then was the question of land. The land mainly belonged to landowners. On average, one landowner had as much land as 300 peasant households. And it must be said that this was not always a sign of wealth; the nobility who owned estates and lands were in debt. Solonevich names these debts as one of the reasons for the February revolution:

The Russian nobility stood on the eve of a complete economic catastrophe, just as it stood before Peter the Great on the eve of a political one. In the pre-war years, noble landownership lost up to three million dessiatines a year. The debt of the noble landowners to the state reached the monstrous amount of three billion rubles. If this amount is translated into at least the price of a pound of meat (about two hryvnia in Russia then and about a dollar in the USA (USA - USA - Ed.) now), then it will equal 12-15 billion dollars. Two or three Marshall Plans combined. The nobility had no way to cover this debt - it faced complete bankruptcy.

Solonevich, being a monarchist, calls the social causes of the revolution almost like Lenin. The aristocracy, being completely in debt, could no longer maintain power. A new bourgeoisie was rushing to power. "The aristocracy and the bourgeoisie had very clear class motives."- writes Solonevich. And if a monarchist writes such words, then obviously it was not leftist ideology that dictated them. Back in the revolution of 1905, the peasantry showed itself in riots against the nobility. Not against the king, but against the aristocracy. Even then, the land issue was the main one. What exactly aggravated it so much? Solonevich, referring to Oldenburg, writes about “tragic contradictions”, almost like Marx:

The main one of these tragic contradictions was that at the beginning of the 20th century, a completely clearly defined class system continued to exist in the country. That at the same time the bulk of the country's population - its peasantry - was not fully empowered either economically, politically, in everyday life, or, moreover, in administrative terms. The bill on peasant equality was introduced into the Legislative Chambers by P. A. Stolypin. The State Council shredded and postponed this bill as best it could, and only in the fall of 1916, that is, just on the eve of the revolution, did this draft come to the consideration of the State Duma - but it remained unconsidered... and to this day (Oldenburg, p. 180). I formulated this position almost fourteen years ago in the “Theses of the Headquarters-Captain Movement” (p. 9): “The genius of the Russian people was squeezed in the iron grip of serfdom and those of its remnants that existed before 1917.”

Simply put, the cauldron of popular anger heated and heated and finally boiled. And, it should be noted that it was not just social inequality that warmed him. After all, for hundreds of years the peasantry was in virtual slavery to the nobles. But he endured. Because there were some justifications for this inequality. Nobility served to the sovereign. They did not just submit, but literally fought and died for the Tsar and the Fatherland. It was a military class, career military, as they say now. In the Middle Ages, the nobility carried out permanent military service, while the rest of the population was called upon to serve it only in cases of special danger to the country.. For this service, the sovereign gave land to the nobles. In the Moscow state at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, this is how the “local system” took shape. The Grand Duke transferred the estate to a serving man, who was obliged for this by military service. Peter I for the first time founded a permanent army of nobles who were in compulsory service and a collection of Danish people, the so-called recruits. In 1762, Peter III, who stayed on the throne for a short time, issued the most important document regulating the legal status of the nobility in Russia - the Manifesto “on the freedom of the nobility” of February 18, 1762. This document was adopted in order to satisfy the demands of the nobility, which considered itself “infringed” , since it was obliged to serve the state. For some reason, what was given to him in exchange for his service was forgotten. The manifesto freed the nobles from military service. Before this, during the reign of Elizabeth, a Decree was issued that prohibited anyone other than nobles from buying “people and peasants without land and with land.” Land ownership and soul ownership began to become the exclusive right of the nobles.

How did the Bolsheviks attract the sympathy of the people before the revolution of 1917? The slogan "Land to the peasants!" Together with the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” April theses of V.I. Lenin:

1. The bourgeois-democratic revolution is over. The provisional government is unable to solve problems, hence the Bolshevik slogan: “No support for the provisional government.”


2. Course towards socialist revolution: "All power to the Soviets." Achieve the resignation of the government and the Soviets take power into their own hands. The possibility of a peaceful revolution, the transfer of power into the hands of the workers.


3. Immediate nationalization of the land, the beginning of peace treaties and the conclusion of peace with Germany.


4. The right of nations to self-determination. United and indivisible Russia.

That is, power to the Soviets, land to the peasants, and peace with Germany. Isn't this what the peasantry wanted? Soldiers tired of war and worried about their abandoned farm? The Bolsheviks did not have a majority in the Soviets until June 1917. The Essers and Mensheviks played the leading roles there. But re-elections of deputies in June brought the Bolsheviks victory in the Soviets. And they earned this victory with just such a program. And they, unlike modern parties, fulfilled this program. Power was transferred to the Soviets, peace was made with Germany, and the land was transferred to the peasants. The first decrees of the Soviet government were, "Decree on Land", "Decree on the Formation of the Workers' and Peasants' Governments" and... "Decree on the Abolition of the Death Penalty." The Bolsheviks were so bloodthirsty.

From the Decree on Land:
Adopted at the meeting of the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies at 2 o'clock on the night of October 27 - November 9) 1917.

1) Landownership of land is canceled immediately without any redemption.
2) Landowners' estates, as well as all appanage, monastic, church lands, with all their living and dead inventory, manor buildings and all accessories, shall be transferred to the disposal of volost land committees and district Soviets of peasant deputies until the Constituent Assembly... The fairest resolution the land question should be as follows: the right of private ownership of land is abolished forever; land cannot be sold, purchased, leased or pledged, or alienated in any other way. The entire land... turns into the national property and goes into the use of all those who work on it.

After the adoption of these decrees, it is not surprising that, having won in Petrograd, the revolution rapidly spread throughout the country. Power passed into the hands of the newly created Soviets. And it passed bloodlessly. Only in 1918, a group of generals under the leadership of General Alekseev, the last chief of staff of the tsarist army, began to form a Volunteer Army on the Don. And it’s clear why the Cossacks had land on the Don. This is the only class that was not interested in the decrees of the Soviet government. She didn't give them anything. And the Cossacks opposed it. And it became the backbone of Denikin’s army. Thus began the civil war in Russia. War of class interests. But this is another year, another story. And in 1917, the Russian peasantry received land and peace. And the return of the ancient veche democratic government of the state - the Soviets.

Article on the website: http://malchish.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=435&Itemid=35

Bolsheviks- representatives political trend(factions) in the RSDLP (since April 1917, an independent political party), headed by V.I. Lenin. The concept of “Bolsheviks” arose at the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP (1903), after during the elections to the governing bodies of the RSDLP, Lenin’s supporters received a majority of votes (hence the Bolsheviks), while their opponents received a minority (Mensheviks). In 1917-1952 the word "Bolsheviks" was included in official name parties - RSDLP (b), RCP (b), All-Union Communist Party (b). The 19th Party Congress (1952) decided to call it the CPSU.

Bolshevism, which arose at the beginning of the 20th century. in Russia, a revolutionary, consistent Marxist current of political thought in the international labor movement, which was embodied in a proletarian party of a new type, in the Bolshevik party created by V.I. Lenin. Bolshevism began to take shape during a period when the center of the world revolutionary movement moved to Russia. The concept of Bolshevism arose in connection with the elections at the Second Congress of the RSDLP (1903) of the party's governing bodies, when Lenin's supporters made up the majority (Bolsheviks), and opportunists made up the minority (Mensheviks). “Bolshevism has existed as a current of political thought and as a political party since 1903” (V.I. Lenin, Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 41, p. 6).

The theoretical basis of Bolshevism is Marxism-Leninism. Lenin defined Bolshevism “...as the application of revolutionary Marxism to special conditions era..." (ibid., vol. 21, p. 13). Bolshevism embodies the unity of revolutionary theory and practice, combines ideological, organizational and tactical principles developed by Lenin. Bolshevism, having generalized the experience of the revolutionary movement in Russia and throughout the world, was major contribution Russian working class into the international communist and labor movement.

Bolshevism as a political party is a proletarian party of a new type, fundamentally different from the parties of the 2nd International that existed during the period of its organization and development. Bolshevism is the party of social revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, the party of communism. Bolshevism fought against liberal populism, which replaced the revolutionary liberation movement with petty-bourgeois reformism, against “legal Marxism,” which, under the flag of Marxism, tried to subordinate the labor movement to the interests of the bourgeoisie, against “economism,” the first opportunist trend among Marxist circles and groups in Russia. Bolshevism grew and became tempered in the fight against hostile political parties and movements: Cadets, bourgeois nationalists, Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchism, Menshevism. Greatest historical meaning was the struggle of Bolshevism against Menshevism - the main type of opportunism in the labor movement of Russia, for a proletarian party of a new type, for the leading role of the working class in revolutionary battles against autocracy and capitalism. Bolshevism has always strictly monitored the purity of its ranks and fought against opportunist trends within the Bolshevik Party - otzovists, “left communists”, Trotskyism, “workers’ opposition”, the right deviation in the CPSU (b) and other anti-party groups.

A characteristic feature of Bolshevism is consistent proletarian internationalism. From the moment of its inception, Bolshevism led a decisive, principled struggle in the international labor movement for the purity of Marxist-Leninist theory, for the union of scientific socialism with the labor movement, against Bernsteinism, against all kinds of opportunists, revisionists, sectarians, dogmatists, the struggle against centrism and social chauvinism II International. At the same time, the Bolsheviks, faithful to the ideas of proletarian internationalism, tirelessly rallied the left elements of Western European social democratic parties. By guiding the left Social Democrats into the channel of consistent revolutionary struggle, patiently explaining their mistakes and deviations from Marxism, the Bolsheviks contributed to the consolidation of revolutionary Marxists. Since the First World War, on the basis of Lenin’s unification of the left elements of Western European social democratic parties, Bolshevism has led the revolutionary direction in the international labor movement, which took shape after the October Revolution into communist parties and their unification - the Third International (Comintern). As the most consistently implementing the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the socialist revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat and the construction of socialism, as well as the organizational, strategic and tactical principles of socialism, Bolshevism was recognized by the Comintern as a model for the activities of all communist parties. At the same time, the 5th Congress of the Comintern (1924) emphasized that this “... should in no way be understood as a mechanical transfer of the entire experience of the Bolshevik Party in Russia to all other parties” (“The Communist International in Documents 1919-1932", 1933, p. 411). The Congress determined the main features of the Bolshevik Party: in any conditions, it must be able to maintain an inextricable connection with the mass of workers and be an exponent of their needs and aspirations; be maneuverable, i.e. its tactics should not be dogmatic, but, resorting to revolutionary struggle to strategic maneuvers, in no case deviate from Marxist principles; under all circumstances, make every effort to bring the victory of the working class closer; “...must be a centralized party, not allowing for factions, trends and groupings, but monolithic, cast from one piece” (ibid.). The history of Bolshevism has no equal in its wealth of experience. True to its program adopted in 1903, the Bolshevik Party led the struggle of the Russian people against tsarism and capitalism in three revolutions: the bourgeois-democratic Revolution of 1905-1907, the February bourgeois-democratic Revolution of 1917 and the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 .

Putting it into practice revolutionary theory, strategy and tactics, the Bolshevik Party united into one revolutionary stream the struggle of the working class for socialism, the national movement for peace, the peasant struggle for land, the national liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples of Russia and directed these forces to overthrow the capitalist system. As a result of the victory of the socialist revolution of 1917, the dictatorship of the proletariat was established in Russia, and for the first time in history a country of socialism arose. The first party program, adopted in 1903, was implemented.

The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) began to be officially called the RSDLP (Bolsheviks) - RSDLP (b) from the 7th (April) party conference (1917). Since March 1918, the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - RCP (b), since December 1925, the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - CPSU (b). The 19th Party Congress (1952) decided to call the CPSU (b) the Communist Party Soviet Union- CPSU.

G. V. Antonov.

The Bolshevik Party is the organizer of the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution. During the February Revolution, the Bolshevik Party emerged from underground and led the revolutionary movement of the working class and the working masses. Lenin, who returned from emigration, in the April Theses substantiated the course of developing the bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one and determined driving forces revolution: an alliance of the proletariat with the peasant poor against the bourgeoisie of city and countryside while neutralizing the wavering middle peasantry. He discovered a new form political organization society - the Republic of Soviets, as state uniform dictatorship of the working class, put forward the slogan: “All power to the Soviets!”, which in those conditions meant an orientation toward the peaceful development of the socialist revolution.

The Seventh (April) All-Russian Conference of the RSDLP (b) in 1917 approved Lenin’s theses and aimed the party at fighting for the transition to the second, socialist stage of the revolution. The party restructured its inner life on the principles of democratic centralism, quickly began to turn into a mass workers' party (about 24 thousand members at the beginning of March, over 100 thousand at the end of April, 240 thousand in July). The Bolsheviks launched active political activities among workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors, in the Soviets, the majority of which at that time belonged to the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, Soldiers' Committees, trade unions, cultural and educational societies, and factory committees. They waged an energetic political struggle for the masses with the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, anarchists, cadets, and prepared revolutionary army to storm capitalism. By exposing the policies of petty-bourgeois and bourgeois parties, the Bolsheviks liberated more and more layers of urban and rural workers, soldiers and sailors from their influence.

Between February and October 1917, the Leninist party showed a great example of historical initiative, correct accounting the relationship between class forces and the specific features of the moment. On different stages Revolution, the party used flexible and varied tactics, used peaceful and non-peaceful, legal and illegal means of struggle, demonstrated the ability to combine them, the ability to move from one form and method to another. This is one of the fundamental differences between the strategy and tactics of Leninism, both from social-democratic reformism and from petty-bourgeois adventurism.

Important events during the preparation of the socialist revolution in Russia were the April crisis of 1917, the June crisis of 1917, July days 1917, liquidation of the Kornilov revolt. These political crises, expressing deep internal socio-economic and political contradictions, testified to the rapid growth of the national crisis.

After the July events, power was completely in the hands of the counter-revolutionary Provisional Government, which switched to repression; The Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik Soviets turned into an appendage of the bourgeois government. The peaceful period of the revolution is over. Lenin proposed temporarily removing the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” The Sixth Congress of the RSDLP (b), which was held semi-legally, guided by the instructions of Lenin, who was underground, developed new party tactics and headed for armed uprising to gain power.

At the end of August, the revolutionary workers, soldiers and sailors of Petrograd, under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, defeated the counter-revolutionary rebellion of General Kornilov. The liquidation of the Kornilov revolt changed the political situation. The mass Bolshevization of the Soviets began, and the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” was again on the order of the day. But the transfer of power to the Bolshevik Soviets was possible only through an armed uprising.

The national crisis that had matured in the country was expressed in a powerful revolutionary movement the working class, which in its struggle came directly to the conquest of power, in the broad scope of the peasant struggle for land, in the transition of the overwhelming majority of soldiers and sailors to the side of the revolution, in the strengthening of the national liberation movement of the peoples of the outskirts, in the nationwide struggle for just world, in the severe devastation of the country's economy, in the chronic crises of the Provisional Government, in the disintegration of the petty-bourgeois parties. The Bolshevik Party in October 1917 numbered about 350 thousand members and managed to win over the majority of the working class, poor peasants, and soldiers. All the objective conditions are ripe for a victorious socialist revolution.

While preparing an armed uprising, the party treated it as an art. The Red Guard was created (over 200 thousand people throughout the country), the Petrograd garrison (up to 150 thousand soldiers), the Baltic Fleet (80 thousand sailors and hundreds of warships), a significant part of the soldiers of the active army and rear garrisons were politically won over to the side of the Bolsheviks. Lenin developed a plan for the uprising and outlined the most appropriate time to start it. The Central Committee of the party elected a military-revolutionary center to lead the uprising (A. S. Bubnov, F. E. Dzerzhinsky, Ya. M. Sverdlov, I. V. Stalin, M. S. Uritsky), which entered as a leading core into the organized under Petrograd Council Military Revolutionary Committee - legal headquarters for the preparation of the uprising (V. A. Antonov-Ovseenko, P. E. Dybenko, N. V. Krylenko, P. E. Lazimir, N. I. Podvoisky, A. D. Sadovsky , G.I. Chudnovsky and many others). All work on preparing and carrying out the uprising was directed by Lenin. On October 25 (November 7) the uprising was victorious in Petrograd, and on November 2 (15) in Moscow.

On the evening of October 25 (November 7), the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies opened, the majority of which belonged to the Bolshevik Party (the second largest delegation was the delegation of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who stood on the platform of transferring power to the Soviets). The Congress adopted a historic resolution on the transfer of all power in the Center and locally to the Soviets. Based on Lenin's reports, the Congress of Soviets adopted the Decree on Peace and the Decree on Land, which contributed to the consolidation of the working masses around the Bolshevik Party and Soviet power. On October 26 (November 8) at the 2nd Congress of Soviets he was elected supreme body The Soviet state - the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which included the Bolsheviks, left Socialist Revolutionaries, etc. The first Soviet government was formed - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK), headed by Lenin. It consisted entirely of Bolsheviks (the Left Socialist Revolutionaries at that moment refused to join the government and entered it only in December 1917).

By uniting into one common revolutionary stream the national movement for peace, the struggle of peasants for land, the struggle of oppressed peoples for national liberation with the struggle of the working class for the dictatorship of the proletariat, for socialism, the Bolsheviks were able to short term(October 1917 - February 1918) to realize the victory of Soviet power in almost the entire huge territory countries. The October Socialist Revolution opened new era in the history of mankind - the era of the triumph of socialism and communism.