{"id":1340,"date":"2026-03-05T09:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/history-of-the-russian-revolution-part-one\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:57:13","slug":"history-of-the-russian-revolution-part-one","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/history-of-the-russian-revolution-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the Russian Revolution Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mep-course-container\"><div class=\"mep-course-sidebar\"><h3 class=\"mep-sidebar-title\">Course content<\/h3><nav class=\"mep-content-nav\"><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=1\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link active\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON ONE: Why Study the History of the Russian Revolution?<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=2\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON TWO: The Law of Combined and Uneven Development<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=3\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON THREE: Bolshevism, Menshevism and Permanent Revolution<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=4\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON FOUR: The Rhythm of Struggle - 1905 to 1917<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=5\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON FIVE: The Capitalists and the Monarchy<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=6\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON SIX: The February Revolution<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=7\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON SEVEN: The workers and soldiers are elbowed aside<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=8\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON EIGHT: The Paradox of the February Revolution<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=9\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON NINE: The Dual Power<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=10\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON TEN: The reaction attempts to organise<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=11\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON ELEVEN: The Soviet Power in March and April<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=12\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON TWELVE: The returning exiles shift the E.C. to the right<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=13\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON THIRTEEN: Peace, Bread and the Eight-Hour Day<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=14\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON FOURTEEN: The Bolsheviks and Lenin<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=15\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON FIFTEEN: Lenin\u2019s old formula outlives itself<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=16\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON SIXTEEN: Lenin\u2019s theses conquer the party<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=17\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON SEVENTEEN: The \u2018April Days\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=18\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON EIGHTEEN: The Coalition Government<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=19\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON NINETEEN: Shifts in the Masses<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"mep-nav-section\"><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=20\" class=\"mep-content-nav-link\"><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">LESSON TWENTY: The Soviet Congress &amp; June Demonstration<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/nav><\/div><div class=\"mep-course-main-content\"><div class=\"mep-course-header\"><h1 class=\"mep-course-title\">History of the Russian Revolution: Part One<\/h1><div class=\"mep-course-description\"><p>For Marxists, the Russian Revolution of 1917 stands out as being the greatest event in human history. There have been other revolutions where capitalism has been abolished, but October 1917 remains the only example where the working class - provided with clear revolutionary leadership by the Bolshevik Party - has successfully taken power and begun to establish real workers\u2019 democracy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There is no more significant period of history for socialists to study, in order to prepare for future events. Fortunately, in 1930, one of the Russian Revolution's key leaders - Leon Trotsky - wrote his own 'History of the Russian Revolution', packed full of details, insights and lessons for revolutionaries to learn from today. This course guides you through the first half of that revolutionary year - up until June 1917 - based largely on the content of Trotsky's 'History'.<\/p>\n<p><em>These lessons are created by Martin Powell-Davies, Socialist Party (England &amp; Wales) member, teacher and former leading education trade unionist.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"mep-course-contents\"><div id=\"content-1\" class=\"mep-content-item\"><h2 class=\"mep-content-title\">LESSON ONE: Why Study the History of the Russian Revolution?<\/h2><div class=\"mep-content-description\"><p><strong>For socialists wanting to change today\u2019s world, the Russian Revolution remains a key event to study in detail, to learn how the Bolsheviks successfully adapted their demands and tactics as events unfolded in 1917.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This first lesson focuses on the key insights contained in the Preface<sup>1<\/sup> written by Trotsky as an introduction to that \u2018History\u2019. Its opening sentence sums up why a study of the events of 1917 is so important: \u201c<em>During the first two months of 1917 Russia was still a Romanov monarchy. Eight months later the Bolsheviks stood at the helm. ... You will not find another such sharp turn in history \u2013 especially (one that) involves a nation of 150 million<\/em>\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"mep-content-body\"><p><strong>Leon Trotsky<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Trotsky was one of the key theoreticians and leaders of the Revolution. As the \u2018Note About the Author\u2019 written by the translator Max Eastman that opens the \u2018History\u2019 explains, quoting from Kamenev\u2019s official history of the Bolshevik Party:<\/p>\n<p>1) Trotsky was the elected president of the first ever Petersburg Workers\u2019 Soviet \u2013 in 1905, the \u2018trial-run\u2019 in effect for the 1917 Revolution. 2) He was part of the tiny minority of Marxists who maintained their internationalist outlook at the start of WW1, participating with Lenin in the 1915 Zimmerwald Conference, and, like Lenin, returning to Russia in 1917 (formally joining the Bolshevik Party in July 1917). 3) He was again elected President of the Petersburg Soviet in September 1917 \u2013 when the Bolsheviks first won a majority \u2013 and then \u201c<em>led the insurrection of October<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, perhaps some readers might be wondering if it\u2019s better to read a more \u2018objective\u2019 history than one written by someone who is so personally involved in these historical events? Trotsky answers that concern in advance in the Preface to his \u2018History\u2019: <em>\u201cIs it necessary to have the so-called historian\u2019s \u201cimpartiality\u201d? Nobody has yet clearly explained what this impartiality consists of \u2026 <\/em><em>The serious and critical reader will not want a treacherous impartiality, which offers him a cup of conciliation with a well-settled poison of reactionary hate at the bottom, but a scientific conscientiousness, which for its sympathies and antipathies \u2013 open and undisguised \u2013 seeks support in an honest study of the facts, a determination of their real connections, an exposure of the causal laws of their movement. \u2026 <\/em><em>Events can neither be regarded as a series of adventures, nor strung on the thread of a preconceived moral. They must obey their own laws. The discovery of these laws is the author\u2019s task.\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Four key insights <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the rest of the Preface, Trotsky provides four key insights into how revolutionary events unfold:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1) The participation of the masses: <\/strong>\u201c<em>The most <\/em><em>undeniable feature of a revolution is the direct interference of the masses in historical events. In ordinary times the state elevates itself above the nation, and history is made by specialists in that line of business - kings, ministers, bureaucrats, parliamentarians, journalists. But at those crucial moments when the old order becomes no longer endurable to the masses, they break over the barriers excluding them from the political arena, sweep aside their traditional representatives, and create by their own interference the initial groundwork for a new r\u00e9gime. Whether this is good or bad we leave to the judgement of moralists. We ourselves will take the facts as they are given by the objective course of development. The history of a revolution is for us first of all a history of the forcible entrance of the masses into the realm of rulership over their own destiny<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) That revolutions can\u2019t be explained simply by looking at \u2018economics\u2019 but mainly by the changing psychology of classes \u2013 as those classes catch up with the contradictions in that economic base: <\/strong><em>\u201cThe changes introduced between the beginning and the end of a revolution in the economic bases of the society and its social substratum of classes, are not sufficient to explain the course of the revolution itself, which can overthrow in a short interval, age-old institutions, create new ones, and again overthrow them<\/em><em>. The dynamic of revolutionary events is\u00a0directly\u00a0determined by swift, intense and passionate changes in the psychology of classes which have already formed themselves before the revolution<\/em>. ... <em>For decades the oppositional criticism<\/em><em> is nothing more than a safety valve for mass dissatisfaction, a condition of the stability of the social structure. Entirely exceptional conditions, independent of the will of persons and parties, are necessary in order to tear off from discontent the fetters of conservatism, and bring the masses to insurrection. <\/em><em>The swift changes of mass views and moods in an epoch of revolution thus derive, not from the flexibility and mobility of man\u2019s mind, but just the opposite, from its deep conservatism. The chronic lag of ideas and relations behind new objective conditions, right up to the moment when the latter crash over people in the form of a catastrophe, is what creates in a period of revolution that leaping movement of ideas and passions which seems to the police mind a mere result of the activities of \u2018demagogues.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The masses go into a revolution not with a prepared plan of social reconstruction, but with a sharp feeling that they cannot endure the old r\u00e9gime. Only the guiding layers of a class have a political program, and <\/em><em>even this still requires the test of events, and the approval of the masses. The fundamental political process of the revolution thus consists in the gradual comprehension by a class of the problems arising from the social crisis \u2013 the active orientation of the masses by a method of successive approximations\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>3) The role of the revolutionary party: <\/strong><em>\u201cOnly on the basis of a study of political processes in the masses themselves, can we understand the role of parties and leaders. They constitute not an independent, but nevertheless a very important, element in the process. Without a guiding organisation, the energy of the masses would dissipate like steam not enclosed in a piston-box. But nevertheless, what moves things is not the piston or the box, but the steam\u201d. \u2026. \u201cFor better or worse, a revolutionary party bases its tactics upon a calculation of the changes of mass consciousness. The historic course of Bolshevism demonstrates that such a calculation, at least in its rough features, can be made\u201d. ... <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe different stages of a revolutionary process, certified by a change of parties in which the more extreme always supersedes the less, express the growing pressure to the left of the masses \u2013 so long as the swing of the movement does not run into objective obstacles. When it does, there begins a reaction: disappointments of the different layers of the revolutionary class, growth of indifferentism, and therewith a strengthening of the position of the counter-revolutionary forces\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>4) That, in the final analysis, conditions determine consciousness: <\/strong><em>\u201c<\/em><em>The processes taking place in the consciousness of the masses are not unrelated and independent. No matter how the idealists rage, consciousness is nevertheless determined by conditions. In the historic conditions which formed Russia, her economy, her classes, her State, in the action upon her of other states, we ought to be able to find the premises both of the February revolution and October revolution which replaced it. Since the greatest enigma is the fact that a backward country was the\u00a0first\u00a0to place the proletariat in power, it behoves us to seek the solution of that enigma in the\u00a0peculiarities\u00a0of that backward country\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Calculating Mass Consciousness<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the rest of this course, you can try and apply these insights to the detailed development of the Russian Revolution. Of course, no revolution will develop in exactly the same way. As Trotsky also hints at above, revolutions can also be defeated by counter-revolution too. The particular \u201c<em>peculiarities<\/em>\u201d of Russia in 1917 determined the particular course of events that developed. So, the Russian Revolution can\u2019t be taken as an exact blueprint of any future revolution.<\/p>\n<p>However, the method applied by the Bolshevik Party, of making the correct \u201c<em>calculation of the changes of mass consciousness<\/em>\u201d - to propose the correct demands and tactics at each stage \u2013 remains the method for the future too, even though the precise demands and tactics may, of course, differ.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s from the discussion at a trade union meeting, on street stalls, in the workplace or pub, can you correctly judge workers\u2019 consciousness? Can you judge how the moods of different layers of the working class are changing? Based on these kinds of assessments, a revolutionary party can make sure it does not rush too far ahead of the masses \u2013 but neither is it lagging too far behind, missing revolutionary opportunities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Note on Dates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Trotsky makes clear in the Preface that the dates given in his history are taken from the old-style Russian calendar which was thirteen days behind the international calendar. This means that the 'February Revolution' actually occurred in March, and the 'October Revolution' in November. However, as Trotsky notes: <em>\"The calendar itself, we see, is tinted by the events, and the historian cannot handle revolutionary chronology by mere arithmetic. The reader will be kind enough to remember that before overthrowing the Byzantine calendar, the revolution had to overthrow the institutions that clung to it\".<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"mep-content-footer\"><p><strong>READ and DISCUSS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1)<\/strong><strong> What does Trotsky say is the most important job of a historian \u2013 rather than pretending to be \u2018impartial\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>2) Trotsky suggests that revolutions come about because of human \u2018conservatism\u2019 \u2013 of people\u2019s ideas usually lagging behind reality. How does that change in a revolutionary period?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) What does Trotsky say about the \u201cguiding layers\u201d of a class and the role of this \u201cguiding organisation\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"mep-course-recommendations\"><h3 class=\"mep-recommendations-title\">Recommended books & references<\/h3><div class=\"mep-recommendations-content\"><p>1. Leon Trotsky (1930) The History of the Russian Revolution: Preface is available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/trotsky\/1930\/hrr\/ch00.htm\">https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/trotsky\/1930\/hrr\/ch00.htm<\/a> \u00a0(Accessed 4 March 2026).<\/p>\n<p>A video summarising this first lesson: 'Video One - Notes and Preface' can be found here: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/75Fg6xDCGrE\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/75Fg6xDCGrE<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1337\" src=\"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Title-One-206x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"206\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Title-One-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Title-One.jpg 372w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"mep-section-navigation\"><span class=\"mep-nav-prev mep-nav-disabled\"><\/span><a href=\"\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340?section=2\" class=\"mep-nav-next\"><span class=\"mep-nav-direction\">Next<\/span><span class=\"mep-nav-title\">Next section<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"mep-course-meta\"><h3 class=\"mep-meta-title\">About this course<\/h3><div class=\"mep-meta-info\"><div class=\"mep-meta-item\"><span class=\"mep-meta-label\">Title:<\/span> History of the Russian Revolution: Part One<\/div><div class=\"mep-meta-item\"><span class=\"mep-meta-label\">Published:<\/span> March 4, 2026<\/div><div class=\"mep-meta-item\"><span class=\"mep-meta-label\">Updated:<\/span> March 7, 2026<\/div><div class=\"mep-meta-item\"><span class=\"mep-meta-label\">Course ID:<\/span> 12<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1340","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socialistworld.net\/theory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}