the bolshevik revolution
peace, land and bread for all Russians

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The Bolshevik Revolution most popular and effective slogan was Peace, Land, and Bread , which was used by the Lenin's Bolshevik party to take control of Russia. Peace appealed to the soldiers; Land appealed to the peasants; and Bread appealed to the workers. 

The Bolshevik Revolution is also known as the October Uprising or Red October and was part of the larger 1917 Revolution in Russia. Historians don’t always agree on the events that transpired. Some say there was a fierce battle on the day the Bolshevik forces captured the Winter Palace. Others say there was little or no bloodshed.

It is called “Red October” because red is the traditional color of the communist movement. Members of the Navy were called Red sailors and armed forces involved in the capture of power were called Red Guard Soldiers. Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks, simply referred to the event as the Uprising of the 25th in his writings. The October coup is another phrase that has been used.  

Having said that, I would like to draw your attention to the most important fact about this page. The revolution began in the city of St. Petersburg and with the new communist government have created the country of the Soviet Union to fall apart later in 1991 under the last Russian Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. Today under Vladimir Putin there is a new more capitalist and less communist Russia.

more about the bolshevik revolution

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Below is a very brief look at the Bolshevik Revolution.We tried to split the article into several parts to make it an easy read for you. Hope you like it!

the beginning

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The Bolshevik Revolution toke place on October 25th, 1917 in what is now called Saint Petersburg. The event was initiated by Lenin's Bolshevik party who launched a nearly bloodless coup d'état against the Duma's provisional government. Peasants and working- class people of Russia joined the revolution and together they revolted against the government of Tsar Nicholas II causing later his death. 

According to history, the Winter Palace was taken the following day. The date corresponds with November 17th in the Gregorian calendar used in most of the world today. Historians sometimes use the November date. For simplicity’s sake, the dates used here are the traditional ones.

how it happened

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In February 1917, revolutionaries in the then called Petrograd and the immediate vicinity were able to force Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate the throne, bringing the nearly 200-year-old Russian Empire to an end. This is sometimes called the February Revolution. After the Russian Revolution of 1905, the Tsar’s authority had been limited and a new constitution was written, but there was still much unrest in the country, especially among workers.

The Russian Republic or “Provisional Government” was established after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. But still, there was disagreement among the revolutionaries, not all of whom were Bolsheviks.

why it happened

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The October revolution was basically a result of the disagreements between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The date also marks the beginning of the Russian Civil War. The main opponents of the Civil War were the Bolshevik Red Army and the anti-Bolshevik White Army, although some foreign armies came to the assistance of the White Army.

Also, Russia’s continued involvement in World War I was one of the reasons for the 1917 revolt. Bolshevik-led demonstrators protested under banners that read “Down with the war!”

who was the bolshevik party

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In brief the Bolshevik party was originally a faction of the earlier Russian Social Democratic Labor Party founded by Karl Marx. Bolshevik actually means the majority. The minority faction was called Menshevik. Some of the disagreements between the parties concerned finances. Others concerned which citizens would be allowed to become members of the political party.

The soviet union was born

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The Bolsheviks eventually became the Communist Party and the Bolshevik founder Vladimir Lenin became the leader of the Soviet Union. The name of Saint Petersburg has changed once again to Leningrad after Lenin’s death in 1924. It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Russian Federation in 1991 that the name was changed back to the original Saint Petersburg.

The Bolshevik Revolution was only one of three revolutions that began in the city, which since the days of Peter the Great has been a cultural and economic center of the largest country in the world.

looking for Mr. lenin?

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A century has passed since Lenin led a revolution that changed the world, but today his preserved corpse still remains a subject of curiosity and conflict in Russia. Without any doubt, Lenin has become the father of the Russian revolution making him a history icon such as many others. His resting place, a mausoleum hosting Lenin’s embalmed body on Moscow's Red Square, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and over the year has become a popular tourist destination.

If you are in St Petersburg, statues of Lenin can be found in the Botanical Gardens on the Petrograd side and across town at Smolny Institute. If you are flying out, wave goodbye to Vladimir Lenin as you go past Ploschad Moskovskaya. If you are at Finland Station you can see a big statue in the middle of a square outside the front of the central train station.

And, if you may travel across Russia, remember you will always bump into a monument of Lenin. There is one even in Vietnam in the city of Hanoi, just to tell you how powerful the idea of this man was and spread through.

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