THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION
The February revolution
During a period characterised by economic hardship, general demoralisation and a war marked by defeats
The government introduced ration cards
These cards allowed families to acquire a small quantity of provisions to be able to subsist in times of scarcity.
When the tsar realised that he no longer had support, he was obliged to abdicate.
Over the following months, workers, peasants and soldiers rebelled throughout Russia, seizing local power and constituting Soviets.
A Provisional Government was created which would establish democratic freedoms
The october revolution
Lenin felt the time had come and made the decision to move to an armed uprising.
The Bolsheviks organised the October Revolution.
The first revolutionary Government
The Congress of Soviets constituted a government, the Soviet of People’s Commissars or Sovnarkom.
The first decrees were signed
Economic decrees
Decree of the right of self-determination, which affected the peoples of the former tsarist empire.
Decree on land
Decree of the Tcheka, political police to combat the counterrevolution.
Decree on peace to end the war
Decrees for the emancipation of women, which established complete equality between men and women.
Private ownership of land was abolished and passed to the local Soviets to be distributed among the peasants.
In March 1918, Lenin signed a peace treaty with Germany: the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Which meant the immediate end of the war for Russia in exchange for the loss of important territories.
