In Defence of October

Study the lessons of the Russian Revolution

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Draft Resolution Of The Council Of People’s Commissars

Delivered on 18 December, 1917.

1. Intensified agitation against the annexationist policy of the Germans.

2. Allocation of additional funds for this agitation.

3. Transfer of peace negotiations to Stockholm.

4. Continuation of peace negotiations and resistance to their speed-up by the Germans.

5. Greater efforts to reorganise the army, reducing its strength and enhancing its defence potential.

6. Urgent measures for defence in the event of a breakthrough to Petrograd.

7. Propaganda and agitation on the necessity for a revolutionary war.

Footnotes

[1] Adopted by the Council of PeopleÕs Commissars on December 18 (31), 1917.

 

Source: Marxist Internet Archive.

23.02.1917
The February Revolution
Strikes and protests erupt on women's day in Petrograd and develop into a mass movement involving hundreds of thousands of workers; within 5 days the workers win over the army and bring down the hated and seemingly omnipotent Tsarist Monarchy.
16.04.1917
Lenin Returns
Lenin returns to Russia and presents his ‘April Theses’ denouncing the Bourgeois Provisional Government and calling for “All Power to the Soviets!”
18.06.1917
The June Days
Following the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the reformist leaders called a demonstration to show the strength of "democracy". 400,000 people attended, the vast majority carried banners with Bolshevik slogans.
16.07.1917
The July Days
Spontaneous, armed demonstrations against the Provisional Government erupt in Petrograd. The workers and soldiers are suppressed by force, introducing a period of reaction and making the peaceful development of the revolution impossible.
9.09.1917
The Kornilov Affair
Following the July days, the Bolsheviks were driven underground and the forces of reaction were emboldened. This process culminated in the reactionary forces coalescing around General Kornilov, who attempt to march on Petrograd and crush the revolutionary movement in its entirety.
26.10.1917
The October Revolution
The Provisional Government is overthrown. State power passes to the Soviets on the morningm of 26th October, after the Bolsheviks’ Military Revolutionary Committee seize the city and the cabinet surrenders.
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