History

Why was the March 1917 revolution successful?
Victoria Ríos Esteve y Sofía Pasarin

b) The factors of the 1905 Revolution and 1907's are very similar. The 1905 Revolution would have succed if the Tsar would care less. He coped very well with the situation. The well-organized tsarist goverment caused that all the strikes, mutinies, the revellion of the peasants against the landownners, all that factors were worthless, that's why, when similar factors ocurred in 1917 and the Tsar was not able to cope with them, the Revolution happen.

c) In 1905 there were different factors: Russia was weaker than in 1905 because although the revolution wasn’t successful it weakened Russia a lot. The winter of 1916–17 was severe. Food shortages got worse. The army abandoned the Tsar. On 8 March 1917, there were riots in Petrograd about the food shortages and the war. There was famine in the cities. The Tsar left the Tsarina in charge. She was incompetent (she let Rasputin run the government), and (because she was a German) rumours circulated that she was trying to help Germany to win and others that he had an affair with Raspution so by February 1917 the government was in chaos. The army abandoned the Tsar. On 8 March 1917, there were riots in Petrograd about the food shortages and the war. Duma abandoned the Tsar. On 13 March members of the Duma went to Nicholas to tell him to abdicate.
d) There are various reasons why the March 1917 revolution was successful. There are relatively widespread but not major facts like the discontent of the Russian people which helped the revolution to be successful and one large reason which really made it all happen. Perhaps the best way of explaining this is to look at why the 1905 revolution was not successful and state the changes that occurred since then. Some of the factors which stirred up revolution in 1917 had also been present in 1905 although of course they were direr in 1917 since they had had more time to be aggravated.
Nicholas II learnt little from the 1905 Revolution. He blindly adhered to autocracy as soon as the Revolution was over. From 1905 to 1914, he had adopted agrarian reforms and factory reforms, but they were too piecemeal in nature and so failed to remove the discontent of the peasants and the workers.
No sooner had the 1905 Revolution died out than Nicholas 11 thought of withdrawing the liberal concessions from the people.
Before the first Duma met, the government promulgated the constitution the Fundamental Laws. The Tzar was described as 'the supreme autocratic power' in the constitution. Thus the autocratic power of the Czar was well-protected by the undemocratic provisions of the constitution. The First Duma took place in May 1906. In the election of the Second Duma the Tzar intimidated many anti-government voters to give up their candidature or their right to vote. But intimidation was useless. Many antigovernment candidates were elected to the Second Duma., the Second Duma met the same fate as the First Duma. Within 3 months (March-June, 1907), it was again dissolved by the Tzar. The Tzar was determined not to face a rebellious Duma again. Because of the new franchise system, most of the men elected into the Duma were government supporters. The Third Duma (1907-1912) and the Fourth Duma (1912-1917) served their period of office of five years. They were dominated by the Octobrists and the Monarchists. The Cadets and the handful of socialists occupied about one quarter of the seats in the Duma. As the Duma grew conservative in its composition, the dissatisfaction among the Russian masses found little chance of expression in the Duma. Many of the Russian people turned against Tzardom again.
Despite the promises of the October Manifesto that civil liberties would be granted to the people, a policy of repression was adopted by Stolypin, Prime Minister from 1906 to 1911. He was notorious for persecuting the Jews and harsh treatment of rioters in the countryside. In his declining years, the Tzar was more and more influenced by his wife, the Tzarina. She believed that without autocratic rule Tzardom would collapse.
In order to consolidate his autocratic rule, Tzar Nicholas II had attempted to remove the discontent of the peasants by adopting some agrarian reforms.
Shortly after the 1905 Revolution, the Czar cancelled the redemption dues. When Stolypin became the Prime Minister in 1906, he abolished the communal system. In each village community, the peasants could take their own share of land as their private property. The more able peasants were allowed to buy additional land from the less able peasants.
After 1905, Russian industrialization made great and rapid progress. Foreign trade grew rapidly. The wages and the savings of the workers also increased. The workers had a better chance to receive education. But the workers had other grievances. Trade unions were still strictly controlled. Strikes were regarded as illegal. Few factory laws were passed to improve the poor working conditions of the workers. As a result, some workers held secret meetings to discuss revolutionary ideas. In the two and a half years before the outbreak of the war, there were more than six thousand strikes. Terrorism also revived. Stolypin was assassinated by one of the terrorists.
The repression of the national minorities continued with greater ferocity. The national minorities hated the policy of Russification. They wanted local autonomy.
Defeatism grew rapidly among the army and there was mass desertion from the army (battle of Tannenberg).
In 1915 when the Tzar had lef, the home administration was left to Tzarina who depended on Rasputin. He filled the ministries by his own favourites. Rasputin's administration was detested by all Russians. By the end of 1916, even the Russian nobles could not tolerate the evil influence of Rasputin in undermining the entire official civil service. They killed him. The liberals in the Duma were not satisfied with the assassination of Rasputin only. They were determined to extract more political concessions from the Tzar. Even though they did not like a revolution, they would be in sympathy with a revolution, if it came.
There was economic inflation. The Tzar was hated by all his people in 1917. His fall from power was inevitable. As a conclusion, the new factors were decesive because the old ones didn’t success in the revolution, the new ones made it happen.