Building a Great Railroad by Glenn Hoffmann

Particularly given the senseless slaughter of millions of soldiers during the First World War, the October Revolution seemed to offer an alternative-a government ruled in the interests of the common people that would ultimately produce a communist utopia. And throughout the twentieth century, Soviet socialism continued to be seen as an existential threat to liberal democracy and capitalism.īut many on the left welcomed the Revolution as the start of a new era, with harmony and equality for all people. Those on the political right saw socialism as scourge that entailed the violent expropriation of private property and the trampling of individual liberties. Over the next three years, the Bolsheviks (soon renamed Communists) would have to win power in a bloody civil war and reestablish order in a country that had descended into anarchy.įor both opponents and supporters, the October Revolution represented the advent of socialism. But overthrowing the existing government turned out to be the easy part. The “storming of the Winter Palace” has gone down in history as the climactic moment of the October Revolution. That night, Bolshevik Red Guards broke into the palace and arrested the ministers, bringing the Provisional Government to an end.įormer Tsar Nicholas II in Tsarskoye Selo following his abdication in March 1917, ( left) and Bolshevik forces marching on Red Square, 1917 ( right). In fact, at this crucial moment Provisional Government ministers could find almost no one willing to defend them. This government had ruled Russia since Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication the preceding February, but it had lost almost all support as Russia’s horrific World War I casualties continued to mount. Vladimir Lenin giving a speech in Moscow. By the following evening, they controlled the entire city with the exception of the Winter Palace, the seat of the Provisional Government. One hundred years ago, in wartime Petrograd, Russian radicals known as the Bolsheviks carried out “ the Great October Socialist Revolution.” On the night of October 24, 1917, Bolshevik Red Guards began to take control of key points in the Russian capital-railway stations, telegraph offices, and government buildings.

Building a Great Railroad by Glenn Hoffmann