25th March 2021

HISTORY TODAY
What are the causes of the Russian revolution in 1917?

The Russian revolution is an important event marked in History worldwide which led to mass
genocides and brutality under Stalin’s dictatorship. It was in March 1917 and was a political and
social revolution where peasants and workers revolted against the autocracy of the Tsars by
abolishing the monarchy and establishing the Soviet Union where the Bolsheviks took control.
This article will be discussing the major causes of the Russian revolution in 1917 including
Tsarist policies, Spread of Communism, discontent of peasants and workers and which was the
most critical cause of the Russian revolution.

Before 1917, Russia was governed by the Tsarist autocracy which meant the Tsar held absolute
control over the government. The Tsar believed he was given the divine right to rule and believed
their powerful position was given by God. To enforce their authority, numerous Tsarist policies
were formed to oppress the peasants, workers, minorities and oppositions. Firstly, the autocrats
controlled the Orthodox Church to convey messages to the peasant population, “Any challenge
to the Tsar - the 'Little Father' - is an insult to God.” Furthermore, after Alexander II’s
assassination in 1881, Alexander III created Russification which enforced Russian culture on
ethnic minorities and banned languages and religions which differed from Russia’s in order to
alleviate those who wanted to reform Russia.
Moreover, Alexander III formed the Okhrana
which were the secret police of the Tsars. They
were used to infiltrate, censor and detain groups
which they saw as a threat to their autocratic
power and those who were suspected of detesting
the Tsars were exiled to Siberia. The use of
Okhrana was successful for a while as the fear of
the Okhrana was widespread and helped to suppress any opposition to the Tsar. However, the



 protests and riots starting in 1905 caused an uprising of social revolutionary groups and the
abdication of Nicholas II and the end to the Romanov Empire.

Adding on to the effects of the Tsarist policies, the discontent of the peasants and workers from
the centuries of oppression also played a large role in the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
Serfdom came to an end from the 1861 emancipation manifesto which proclaimed the 23 million
serfs to receive liberty, but the peasants were found in a worse situation as they were left with no
land and higher tax payments.

With most of the peasants being left

without land, the construction of new
factories drew thousands of peasants into
cities in search of work. The
industrialisation benefitted the Russian
economy, but urbanisation made the
working class in Russia resentful towards
the Tsars as they worked in harsh, dangerous
working conditions for long hours (11 hours
daily) with poor wage.

On January 9, 1905, Father

Gapon and workers carried
out a peaceful protest in St.
Petersburg hoping to present
the workers’ petition to Tsar
Nicholas II before the Winter
Palace but was instead fired
upon by the military. This
resulted in more than 100 of
the marchers killed and
several hundreds of them wounded. The massacre known as the Bloody Sunday further enraged
the workers wand was followed by a series of strikes which further threatened the Tsarist regime.

In response to the strikes in 1905, Nicholas II created the Duma in 1906 as he was desperate to
divide the opposition during the uprising. The Duma was promised to be ‘an elected, national,
legislative assembly’ and brought hope to bringing democracy, but little changed for the peasants
as the Tsars continued to retain their ‘supreme autocratic power’ and had full control over the
Duma. There were 4 Dumas in total and the first and second Dumas lasted a short while as there
were conflicts with the ministers and the Tsar. The third Duma was led by prime minister, Pyotr
Stolypin. In the first three years of their existence in court, Stolypin got 3000 suspects to be
convicted and executed which made the hangman’s noose in Russia became known as
“Stolypin’s necktie”. Stolypin’s repressive methods created a great deal of conflict and further
enraged the peasants and workers, resulting in further strikes.

By 1905, Nicholas II’s position was extremely weakened from the discontent of the peasants and
workers as well as the uprising of social revolutionary groups. However, Nicholas II continued to
show his incompetence to the nobles, peasants and workers through his friendship with Rasputin.
Rasputin, who proclaimed to be a holy man with mystical powers to heal was brought to the
Tsars in 1908 and was successful in “healing” their haemophiliac son. Afterwards, Rasputin had
a powerful influence on the Tsars which greatly concerned the nobles and ministers as Rasputin’s
licentious habits of drinking and affair with the Tsarina quickly became a scandal which would
damage the Tsars’ reputation. In 1911, Rasputin’s misdeeds were reported to the Tsars by the
prime minister, Stolypin, but Nicholas II ignored further allegations of wrongdoings which lost
the support of the nobles and ministers, further weakening the position of the Tsars and making it
easier for the Bolsheviks to abdicate Nicholas II.

In 1914, World War 1 broke out in Europe and although Nicholas II was warned by his advisors
to avoid the wars, he ignored all warnings
and entered the war. As a result, by
mid-1915, food and fuel were in short
supply and strikes rose among factory
workers and reports for reforms of land
ownership from peasants were restless. To
prove his competence, Nicholas II placed
himself at the front of the war as
Commander and left the Tsarina in charge

of the Capital. This resulted in further power given to Rasputin and mishandling of the
government as well as massive casualties, the retreat of the armies and rising recessions which
demonstrated to the upper class that Russia was in the hands of incompetents. Furthermore, the
ill-equipment for the war resulted in the death of 2 million soldiers by the end of the war and
Nicholas II, as the Commander, were taken for all the blame which further boosted the retaliation
of the Russian communists and the communists gaining support from the peasants and workers.

The nobles and ministers attempted in saving the Tsars’ reputation with the assassination of
Rasputin, but it was too late. Under the pressure from the restless uprisings, Nicholas II was
forced to abdicate on March 15, 1917, and the provisional government took over. However, the
provisional government did not last long before the Bolsheviks took control as they were
criticised for not having any authority and being unable to tackle the problems of inflation,
hunger, demand for land reforms and continued the war which upset the peasants and workers.
The Bolsheviks, whose Marxist ideas were spread from the 1880s, were able to hold a lot of
power over the provisional government as the leader of the Bolsheviks, Vladimir Lenin, was
very charismatic and won the
supports of the peasants and
workers with the promise of
“Peace, Land and Bread” which
the provisional government could
not deliver. Lenin promised peace
by ending the war, land to the
peasants and food for the people.
This finally led to the October
revolution in 1917 where the Bolsheviks led the workers and soldiers in Petrograd and
successfully overthrew the Provisional government.

In conclusion, the Russian revolution in 1917 was caused by a number of factors – Tsarist
policies, discontent of the peasants and workers, Rasputin, World War 1, Spread of Marxism and
the failure of the provisional government. The Russian revolution in 1917 is a prime example of
how ideology and inequality can be powerful agents of change which can cause innovation and
revolution as the Tsarist policies brought inequality between the peasants and the nobles and the
spread of Marxism was successful only from the discontent of peasants and workers. Above all,

 the most critical cause of the Russian revolution in 1917 was the discontent of peasants and
workers as it was what gave power and support to the Bolsheviks and if the peasants and workers
were content, there would not have been strikes and uprisings threatening the Tsarist regime.
(1335 words)

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