The July Days bring armed demonstrations and repression

In his 1916 essays, Lenin argued that socialists in oppressor nations had a duty to defend the right of oppressed nations to secede. This principled distinction challenged empire but remained tied...

In letters written before returning to Russia, Lenin argued that soviets and the Provisional Government represented competing centers of authority. His analysis helped frame Bolshevik debate, but...

Mass strikes, demonstrations led in large part by women workers, and soldiers’ mutinies forced Nicholas II to abdicate. The revolution opened a period of dual power between the Provisional...

Lenin returned via Germany, Sweden, and Finland amid wartime conditions and political controversy. His arrival energized Bolshevik debate, but the party initially resisted parts of his new line,...

The theses called for no support to the Provisional Government, transfer of power to soviets, land redistribution, and an end to the war. They reframed Bolshevik policy around immediate popular...

Lenin revisited Marx and Engels on the state, arguing that a workers’ revolution must dismantle the existing bureaucratic-military apparatus. The theory’s promise of popular self-government later...

Lenin proposed public control of banks, monopolies, and supply as measures to address economic breakdown. The text placed economic planning at the center of the revolutionary programme; its...

In letters to party leaders, Lenin argued that the political moment demanded an uprising. Other Bolsheviks debated timing and strategy; the eventual transfer of power depended on soviet support,...

In a letter to party leaders, Lenin argued that the Bolsheviks could govern by relying on soviets and popular control. The text captures an urgent strategic debate before the October seizure and makes...

The Military Revolutionary Committee and armed workers and soldiers occupied key sites and displaced the Provisional Government during the Second Congress of Soviets. This event, called the October...