Historical Organization
Bolshevik Party
Bolshevik Party
Details
Organization Timeline
A mass political strike spreads through Petrograd
📅 22 January 1917Approximately 145,000 Petrograd workers stopped work. The action showed that organized working-class opposition had revived before the February Revolution. The source date is 1/9/1917 Old Style.
Moscow workers commemorate Bloody Sunday
📅 22 January 1917Around 30,000 Moscow workers joined a one-day strike commemorating the victims of Bloody Sunday and opposing the autocracy. The source date is 1/9/1917 Old Style.
Bolsheviks call a Petrograd anti-war strike
📅 23 February 1917Bolshevik organizers called workers out in protest against the imprisonment of socialist Duma deputies who had opposed the First World War. The source date is 2/10/1917 Old Style.
Ninety thousand Petrograd workers strike
📅 27 February 1917Workers from dozens of factories struck while the State Duma opened a new session. Police attempts to disperse demonstrators met resistance. The source date is 2/14/1917 Old Style.
Vyborg workers attack symbols of police authority
📅 10 March 1917Militant workers entered police stations and disrupted government communications as the strike movement became an open challenge to imperial rule. The source date is 2/25/1917 Old Style.
Police arrest revolutionary organizers
📅 11 March 1917Authorities detained more than one hundred activists in an attempt to decapitate the movement before another day of demonstrations. The source date is 2/26/1917 Old Style.
Pravda resumes publication
📅 18 March 1917The Bolshevik newspaper returned after its suppression under the monarchy and became an important platform in the struggle over the revolution’s direction. The source date is 3/5/1917 Old Style.
Stalin returns to Petrograd
📅 25 March 1917Released from Siberian exile after the amnesty, Joseph Stalin arrived in the capital and soon joined Pravda’s editorial leadership. The source date is 3/12/1917 Old Style.
Stalin joins the Soviet Executive Committee
📅 31 March 1917Joseph Stalin became a Bolshevik representative on the executive body of the Petrograd Soviet. The source date is 3/18/1917 Old Style.
Lenin’s Letters from Afar begin appearing
📅 3 April 1917Pravda published an abridged version of Lenin’s arguments that workers should not politically support the Provisional Government. The source date is 3/21/1917 Old Style.
Lenin returns to Petrograd
📅 16 April 1917Lenin arrived at Finland Station and was welcomed by workers, soldiers and Bolshevik supporters after years in exile. The source date is 4/3/1917 Old Style.
Lenin presents the April Theses
📅 17 April 1917Lenin called for no support to the Provisional Government, an end to the imperialist war, land to the peasants and all power to the soviets. The source date is 4/4/1917 Old Style.
Bolsheviks demand power for the soviets
📅 3 May 1917The Bolshevik leadership argued that replacing one minister would not end the crisis and called for a government based on the soviets. The source date is 4/20/1917 Old Style.
The Soviet Congress supports continued war
📅 16 June 1917Most delegates endorsed continued military defence while calling for peace, rejecting the Bolshevik demand for an immediate break with government policy. The source date is 6/3/1917 Old Style.
The Soviet bans a planned Bolshevik demonstration
📅 23 June 1917Soviet leaders prohibited an anti-government demonstration organized around demands for peace and Soviet power. The Bolsheviks accepted the ban. The source date is 6/10/1917 Old Style.
The demand to disarm Bolshevik workers is withdrawn
📅 24 June 1917After heated debate and resistance from workers and soldiers, Menshevik leaders abandoned proposals aimed at disarming revolutionary workers. The source date is 6/11/1917 Old Style.
Mass demonstrations demand peace and Soviet power
📅 1 July 1917Hundreds of thousands marched in Petrograd and other cities under slogans including peace and all power to the soviets. The source date is 6/18/1917 Old Style.
Putilov workers strike amid hunger and war
📅 4 July 1917Workers at the major armaments plant stopped work. Bolsheviks expressed support for their grievances while discouraging an isolated confrontation. The source date is 6/21/1917 Old Style.
Bolsheviks support a peaceful presentation of demands
📅 16 July 1917Unable to stop the movement, Bolshevik leaders sought to keep it organized and direct elected delegations toward the Soviet leadership. The source date is 7/3/1917 Old Style.
A huge demonstration reaches the Tauride Palace
📅 17 July 1917Workers, soldiers and sailors gathered in their hundreds of thousands under the slogan ‘All power to the soviets.’ The source date is 7/4/1917 Old Style.
Government forces destroy Pravda’s offices
📅 18 July 1917The authorities smashed the Bolshevik newspaper’s press and intensified repression against workers distributing revolutionary publications. The source date is 7/5/1917 Old Style.
Stalin mediates the sailors’ disarmament
📅 19 July 1917Joseph Stalin helped arrange safe passage for the Kronstadt sailors in exchange for surrendering their weapons. The source date is 7/6/1917 Old Style.
The government orders Lenin’s arrest
📅 20 July 1917Authorities accused Lenin of acting for Germany and blamed the Bolsheviks for the July Days. The source date is 7/7/1917 Old Style.
Lenin goes into hiding
📅 24 July 1917Facing arrest, Lenin left Petrograd and continued political work clandestinely while the government pursued Bolshevik leaders. The source date is 7/11/1917 Old Style.
The government intensifies political censorship
📅 25 July 1917Authorities closed radical newspapers and restricted revolutionary publications during the reaction following the July Days. The source date is 12 July 1917 Old Style.
The Bolshevik Sixth Congress opens
📅 8 August 1917Delegates met clandestinely while Lenin was in hiding and other party leaders faced arrest. The source date is 26 July 1917 Old Style.
The Bolsheviks conclude that peaceful transfer is impossible
📅 8 August 1917The congress judged that repression had ended the possibility of a peaceful transition through the existing Soviet leadership. The source date is 26 July 1917 Old Style.
The congress affirms democratic centralism
📅 8 August 1917The Bolshevik congress adopted organizational principles combining internal debate with united action after decisions. The source date is 26 July 1917 Old Style.
Workers organize armed resistance to Kornilov
📅 9 September 1917Soviets, trade unions, Red Guards and Bolshevik activists mobilized to defend Petrograd against the military advance. The source date is 27 August 1917 Old Style.
The Petrograd Soviet votes for Soviet power
📅 14 September 1917For the first time, the Petrograd Soviet approved a Bolshevik resolution calling for transfer of authority to the soviets. The source date is 1 September 1917 Old Style.
The Moscow Soviet adopts a Bolshevik resolution
📅 18 September 1917The Bolsheviks gained a majority in the Moscow Soviet, reflecting the radicalization produced by war and the Kornilov crisis. The source date is 5 September 1917 Old Style.
The Petrograd Soviet reaffirms its demand for Soviet government
📅 22 September 1917A larger meeting again supported transferring state authority away from the coalition government. The source date is 9 September 1917 Old Style.
Lenin completes The State and Revolution
📅 25 September 1917Writing in hiding, Lenin argued that workers could not simply take over the existing state machinery but needed a new form of power based on soviets. The source date is 12 September 1917 Old Style.
Trotsky is elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet
📅 8 October 1917The election demonstrated the Bolsheviks’ growing influence in the capital’s central workers’ and soldiers’ council. The source date is 25 September 1917 Old Style.
The Bolsheviks decide to leave the Pre-Parliament
📅 18 October 1917Party leaders reversed an earlier decision and rejected participation in the consultative body created around the Provisional Government. The source date is 5 October 1917 Old Style.
Bolsheviks walk out of the Pre-Parliament
📅 20 October 1917Trotsky denounced the body and led the Bolshevik delegation out, marking a final break with attempts to preserve coalition rule. The source date is 7 October 1917 Old Style.
The Bolsheviks create a Politburo
📅 23 October 1917The Central Committee selected a smaller political bureau to help direct the party during the approaching confrontation. The source date is 10 October 1917 Old Style.
Kamenev and Zinoviev publicly oppose the uprising
📅 31 October 1917The two Bolsheviks disclosed their opposition in a non-Bolshevik newspaper, alerting the government to internal debate over insurrection. The source date is 18 October 1917 Old Style.
The government moves against Bolshevik newspapers
📅 6 November 1917Kerensky’s ministers attempted to close revolutionary newspapers and suppress the Military Revolutionary Committee. The source date is 24 October 1917 Old Style.
Lenin reaches the Smolny Institute
📅 6 November 1917Lenin returned from hiding and joined the revolutionary headquarters as the transfer of power began. The source date is 24 October 1917 Old Style.
Vikzhel demands a broad socialist coalition
📅 11 November 1917The railway workers’ executive threatened disruption unless Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries formed a united socialist government. The source date is 29 October 1917 Old Style.
Sverdlov becomes chair of the Soviet executive
📅 16 November 1917Yakov Sverdlov replaced Lev Kamenev as head of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee during disputes over government composition. The source date is 3 November 1917 Old Style.
Voting begins for the Constituent Assembly
📅 25 November 1917Millions participated in the first broadly democratic national election in Russian history, with Socialist Revolutionaries winning the largest overall share.