Declaration of Rights of the Peoples of Russia promises equality

General Lavr Kornilov’s movement of troops toward Petrograd was framed by the government as a coup threat. Railway workers, soldiers and political activists helped obstruct the advance. The episode...

Bolshevik-led forces took key sites in Petrograd and arrested the Provisional Government’s remaining ministers. The event, called the October Revolution in the Julian calendar and dated 7 November...

The Second Congress of Soviets approved a new government, the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom), chaired by Lenin. The structure claimed authority through soviet representation, but political...

The Congress of Soviets issued the Decree on Peace, proposing negotiations without annexations or indemnities and urging peoples and governments to end the war. Its language appealed to soldiers and...

The Land Decree sanctioned the seizure of landed estates and the redistribution of land according to local peasant practice. It drew on peasant resolutions and met a long-standing demand against...

The Central Rada’s Third Universal proclaimed the Ukrainian People’s Republic in a federal relationship with a future Russian republic. Ukrainian political leaders asserted national agency amid...

Sovnarkom recognized Finland’s independence after its declaration of separation from Russia. The decision gave practical expression to the proclaimed right of national self-determination, although the...

Sovnarkom created the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (Cheka) to combat counterrevolution and sabotage (7 December Julian; 20 December Gregorian). The institution became a tool of political...

The Council of People’s Commissars decreed the organization of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. The force drew on volunteers and, increasingly, conscription and former imperial officers. Its...

The elected Constituent Assembly met in Petrograd (18 January Julian; 31 January Gregorian) after the Bolsheviks performed poorly in the national vote, particularly outside major cities. When it...