The Rise of the Bolsheviks and the Russian Civil War

The February Revolution and the Provisional Government

In February 1917, there was a successful revolution of workers in Petrograd, supported by soldiers and peasants. Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate; a Provisional Government was formed, made up of liberals and Menshevik socialists led by the socialist Alexander Kerensky. The new government proclaimed Russia a republic and began to set up a democratic regime. They legalized political parties and called elections with universal male suffrage to establish a Constituent Assembly that would write a constitution.

The Provisional Government failed because they did not keep their promise to redistribute land among the peasants and, above all, they did not withdraw from the war. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, gained the support of the soviets after the distribution of the April Theses.

The April Theses

• We believe the war has changed, from the point of view of Russia, into an imperialist war of pillage.
• What is particular to the Russian Revolution is the transition from the first phase of the revolution, which has given power to the middle class, to the second phase, which should give power to the proletariat and the poor peasantry.
• Explain to the masses that the Soviet of Workers' Deputies is the only form of revolutionary government.

The October Revolution and Bolshevik Power

In the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks, organized into soviets and led by Lenin and Trotsky, attacked the Winter Palace in Petrograd, the seat of the Provisional Government. In 1918, the first actions of Lenin's government were:

• To sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, which allowed Russia to withdraw from the war. In return, Russia agreed to give territory to Germany.
• To expropriate land and redistribute it among the peasants and give the control of industries to the workers' committees.
• To change the name of the Bolshevik Party to the Communist Party and make it the only legal political party.
• To found the Third International to coordinate all the communist parties around the world.

The Russian Civil War (1918-1921)

In January 1918, a Civil War broke out in Russia between the counter-revolutionaries (the Tsarists, liberals, and Mensheviks) who formed the White Army, and the Bolshevik forces of the Red Army, led by Trotsky, who defended the new government. The White Army forces were supported by the Allied Powers of France, Great Britain, the United States, and Japan.