Soviet Russia

By NSGG

  • "The Communist Manifesto" is published

    A manifesto written by Karl Marx (and Friedrich Engels), outlining the principles of Communism and finishing with a call to arms to create a Communist society.

  • Lenin involved in an anti-government strike movement

    He is arrested and spends the next four years in prison and then Siberian exile.

  • Social Democratic Party's Second Congress

    The SPD splits into two factions, the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks.

  • Revolution breaks out in Russia

    Tsarist forces regain control, and Lenin is forced to flee - spending the next 12 years in exile from Russia.

  • Germany declares war on Russia

  • Period: to

    The February Revolution

    [Day-by-day account]
    Petrograd demonstrations against food & fuel shortages --> strike spreads --> Tsarist troops fire into the crowd --> Tsar refuses to form a new government --> govt. loses control and soldiers join protestors --> Soviet is formed --> all troops now support either the Duma or the Soviet --> Tsar abdicated and PG is formed

  • The new Provisional Government is announced

  • Tsar Nicholas II abdicates

  • Lenin's April Theses are published

    The Theses, issued by Lenin on his return to Russia from exile, outlined his directives for Bolshevik power.

  • Stalin appointed General Secretary of the Coomunist Party

  • First "Five Year Plan" introduced