The Russian Revolution of 1917 was the greatest event in modern history. Between February and October, Russia passed from the overthrow of the Tsar, through a short episode of bourgeois rule, to the conquest of power by the Bolshevik Party and the establishment of the first workers state. To mark the centenary, the WSWS is publishing a weekly feature, This Week in the Russian Revolution, which provides a kaleidoscopic view of the Russian Revolution and the global events of 1917, an epochal year in world history.
The chronology uses the Gregorian calendar—the same calendar in common use today and in most of the Western world in 1917. In Russia at the time, the Julian calendar (Old Style or O.S.) was still in use, which was 13 days behind the Gregorian. This WSWS feature will include the Julian dates for events that took place within Russia, by placing them in parentheses after the modern date.
As part of our focus on 1917, the WSWS will suspend, for the remainder of the year, its regular feature, This Week in History.
May 15-21: Trotsky arrives in Petrograd
15 May 2017
Trotsky’s arrival is electrifying, providing a tremendous boost to the struggle being waged by Lenin and the Bolsheviks against the collaborationist, defensist, and opportunist forces that are currently in the Soviet’s majority.
May 8-14: Bolsheviks convene all-Russian conference amid government crisis
8 May 2017
The Bolshevik congress takes place as the Provisional Government, staggering from the publication of a leaked telegram to the Allied imperialist governments, appeals to the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary leaders of the Soviet to form a coalition government.
May 1-7: April Crisis breaks out in Petrograd
1 May 2017
Newspapers in Petrograd publish a telegram by the Provisional Government’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, promising to abide by the tsar’s secret treaties and “fight the world war out to a decisive victory.” Workers and soldiers in Petrograd respond with massive anti-government demonstrations.
April 24-30: Trotsky released from British prison camp in Canada
24 April 2017
As Trotsky is released from the camp in Canada, the Bolshevik Party in Petrograd is embroiled in turmoil following the publication of Lenin’s April Theses. The party holds a city conference, in which Lenin’s positions win substantial support.
April 17-23: Lenin issues April Theses
17 April 2017
One hundred years ago this week, Lenin follows his return to Petrograd with an unexpected declaration of war against a section of the leadership of his own party, which is still a minority in the soviets. Trotsky later refers to Lenin’s campaign inside the party, which opened with the publication of the April Theses, as the “struggle for the rearming of the Bolshevik ranks.”
April 10-16: Lenin arrives at Finland Station
10 April 2017
Lenin’s arrival at Finland Station in Petrograd in April 1917, 100 years ago this week, is one of the most dramatic moments in world history. Against the backdrop of hitherto unprecedented carnage and suffering, Lenin arrives in Petrograd with an unshakeable determination to orient the Bolshevik party to the perspective of international socialist revolution.
April 3-9: US declares war on Germany
3 April 2017
The workers’ movement around the world is demanding an end to the imperialist carnage in Europe, but the capitalist elites are howling for more blood. The United States declares war on Germany and mobilizes hundreds of thousands of young men to use as cannon fodder.
March 27-April 2: Trotsky departs for Petrograd
27 March 2017
Parting for Russia with promises to bring down the Provisional Government and stop the war, Trotsky sets sail via Oslo aboard a Norwegian liner, while Lenin remains stranded in Switzerland, where he is feverishly working to shape Bolshevik policy in Petrograd from afar.
March 20-26: Dual Power in Russia
20 March 2017
In the vacuum left by the abrupt and ignominious collapse of the “filthy and blood-stained cart of the Romanov monarchy,” to use Lenin’s words, a precarious configuration of “dual power” emerged in Petrograd.
March 13-19: Tsar Nicholas abdicates
13 March 2017
The Romanov Dynasty, which has ruled Russia since 1613, is swept aside by the revolution originating in Petrograd, initiating a period of “dual power” between the Duma and the Soviets.
March 6-12: February Revolution erupts in Petrograd
6 March 2017
The eruption of the February Revolution in Petrograd finds the two greatest figures of Russian Marxism—Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky—in exile, following events in Russia closely and anxiously awaiting their chance to return.
February 27-March 5: American imperialism prepares for world war
27 February 2017
From the eruption of war in 1914, the US maintained a position of formal neutrality—partly owing to mass anti-war sentiment among American workers and farmers. The neutrality became increasingly fictitious as the war dragged on.
February 20-26: War deepens crisis of the Tsarist regime
20 February 2017
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was the greatest event in modern history. Between February and October, Russia passed from the overthrow of the Tsar through a short episode of bourgeois rule to the establishment of the first workers state. To mark the centenary, the WSWS is publishing a weekly feature that will provide a kaleidoscopic view of the revolution and the global events of 1917, an epochal year in world history.