General Khabalov threatens to suppress demonstrations

On International Women’s Day, women textile workers in Petrograd left their factories and called other workers into the streets for bread and peace. The source date is 2/23/1917 Old Style.

The women-led action expanded into a mass strike demanding food, an end to the war and political change. The source date is 2/23/1917 Old Style.

Nearly half of Petrograd’s industrial workforce stopped work as economic demands developed into calls against autocracy and war. The source date is 2/24/1917 Old Style.

Demonstrators appealed to armed troops not to suppress them. These contacts weakened the government’s ability to rely on military force. The source date is 2/24/1917 Old Style.

Militant 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.

Authorities 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.

Soldiers acting under government orders shot striking workers. The bloodshed accelerated disobedience inside the garrison. The source date is 2/26/1917 Old Style.

Soldiers of the Pavlovsky Regiment confronted forces that had fired on workers. Some refused disarmament and joined the uprising. The source date is 2/26/1917 Old Style.

Soldiers killed an officer associated with the previous day’s repression, armed themselves and carried rebellion into other regiments. The source date is 2/27/1917 Old Style.

Mutinous regiments captured the arsenal and distributed tens of thousands of rifles, transforming the strike movement into an armed revolution. The source date is 2/27/1917 Old Style.