Decrees on Peace and Land

One hundred years ago today, plus one, having taken control of Petrograd, the capital, the Bolsheviks put the questions of peace and the redistribution of land before the Congress of Soviets. The decrees, drafted by Lenin, passed unanimously.  

Find out what the Congress decreed and how they felt about it here.  

Red October

One hundred years ago today, plus one, on the eve of the Congress of Soviets in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks set the insurrection that would come to be known as Red October in motion. It was nearly bloodless, the only casualties coming in the taking of the Winter Palace late that evening.

Read about the October Revolution here. It’s in October because Russia was still on the old style Julian calendar that then ran 13 days behind the new Gregorian calendar.

The Vote for Insurrection

One hundred years ago today, plus one, in Russia (old style date October 10, 1917): In a secret meeting, the Bolshevik Central Committee voted 10 to 2 in favor of insurrection. Follow the link to learn who voted no, and how Lenin, then in hiding, was disguised.

Though a date was not set, the decision set the wheels of the October Revolution in motion.  

The July Days

A hundred years ago today, plus one, the bourgeois Cadets having resigned their ministries in the coalition government, soldiers and workers, against the advice of the Bolsheviks, marched in the streets in what was called a “manifestation” of revolutionary demands. Read about it here.  

The April Days

The publication of a secret note from Foreign Minister Miliukov sparks demonstrations in Petrograd, the demonstrations bring down the bourgeois Provisional Government, and a new Provisional Government, which includes socialists, among them Justice Minister Kerensky, takes its place.

100 years ago plus one today, what the Soviet historians call the April Days began. They were in April because Russia was still on the old style Julian calendar. Read about it here, or read the whole story from the beginning here.

“To the Finland Station”

100 years ago today, plus one, Lenin arrived after his journey from Switzerland, via Germany and Sweden, through Finland – partly on a horse-drawn sleigh – at the Finland Station in Petrograd. A day later he delivered the April Theses that were to guide the Bolsheviks on the way to the October Revolution.

Read the day-to-day chronology here. Or if you desire to understand the intellectual history of revolutionary thought and its culmination in this event, read Edmund Wilson’s To the Finland Station.

International Women's Day in 1917

In case celebrants of International Women’s Day want to learn how women helped to set off the February Revolution in Russia 100 Years Plus 1 Ago Today, follow this link to the entry for March 8-February 23, 1917.