January 1917: Bread Riots and War Strain

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was the greatest event in human history. For the first time, ordinary working people were able to win power and hold onto it. Our new season of the Spectre of Communism podcast kicks off with a complete timeline of the revolution, from January to October, charting 10 months that shook the world! 

The Russian proletariat, allied with peasantry (many of whom were soldiers who had been fighting in the Great War) successfully brought down the brutal regime of Tsar Nicholas II in February and established the soviets (mass workers’ councils).

Lenin was able, through patient work, to arm the Bolshevik Party with the correct slogans and tactics to win over the workers and peasants organised in the soviets. Under the leadership of Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks, the masses finally felled the capitalist provisional government in October and created a workers’ government: the first in history that began to carry out its programme.

Fred Weston from the leadership of the Revolutionary Communist International takes us through the events of 1917, month by month, culminating in the seizure of power. This incredible story altered the course of world history and remains an immense inspiration to revolutionaries today.

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Works cited and sources:

History of the Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky: https://wellred-books.com/history-of-the-russian-revolution/

The History of the Russian Revolution to Brest-Litovsk, Leon Trotsky: https://wellred-books.com/the-history-of-the-russian-revolution-to-brest-litovsk/ 

Letter to Volksrecht, V.I. Lenin: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/mar/29.htm 

The April Theses (The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution)’, V.I. Lenin: https://marxist.com/the-april-theses-the-tasks-of-the-proletariat-in-the-present-revolution.htm 

Letters from Afar, V.I. Lenin: https://marxist.com/letters-from-afar.htm 

A History of Soviet Russia, E.H. Carr: https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Soviet-Russia-Revolution-Constitutional/dp/014020749X 

The War, J. V. Stalin: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1917/03/16.htm 

 On Slogans, V.I. Lenin: https://marxist.com/on-slogans.htm 

In Kerensky’s Jail, Proletarskaya Revolutsia, F. Raskolnikov (not available online)

*Lenin’s ‘words not deeds’ statement is miscited in the episode as ‘The Bolsheviks Must Assume Power, A Letter to the Central Committee and the Petrograd And Moscow Committees Of The R.S.D.L.P.(B.), V.I. Lenin: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/sep/14.htm’. This was actually sent on the 24th, just before the seizure of power. The statement Fred is referencing from 16 October can be found here: https://pdfcoffee.com/ronald-grigor-suny-the-soviet-experiment-russia-the-ussr-and-the-successor-states-1997-oxford-university-press-usa-pdf-free.html 

Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution, Alan Woods: https://wellred-books.com/bolshevism-the-road-to-revolution/ 

In Defence of Lenin, Rob Sewell and Alan Woods: https://wellred-books.com/in-defence-of-lenin/ 

In Defence of Marxism Issue 51: https://marxist.com/magazine.htm 

State and Revolution, V.I. Lenin: https://wellred-books.com/state-and-revolution/ 

10 Days That Shook the World, John Reed: https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/reed/ten-days-that-shook-the-world-reed.pdf