Timeline
1917
| 9 (22) January | Lenin delivers a lecture on the 1905 Revolution at a youth meeting in Zurich | ||
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23 February (8 March) |
February Revolution begins with protests erupting on International Working Women’s Day; wide layers of the working class take part in protests, which last eight days; Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ deputies formed | ||
| 2 (15) March | Nicholas II abdicates; Provisional Government formed | ||
| 7 (20) March | Lenin writes the first of his Letters from Afar | ||
| 3 (16) April | Lenin arrives at the Finland Station in Russia | ||
| 7 (20) April | Lenin’s article ‘The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution’ containing the April Theses is published in Pravda | ||
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20 April (3 May) |
April Crisis begins, following the public revelation of Foreign Minister Milyukov’s Note to the Allied governments, in which the Provisional Government reaffirmed its intention to honour all the treaties of the tsarist government and to carry on the war to a victorious end | ||
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21 April (4 May) |
Bolsheviks call a demonstration in Petrograd demanding peace, attended by more than 100,000 workers and soldiers; protests also take place in Moscow, the Urals, Ukraine, Kronstadt and elsewhere; governmental crisis ensues | ||
| 6 (19) May | Announcement of the first coalition Provisional Government into which ‘socialist’ ministers are introduced, including Kerensky and Chernov (SRs), Tsereteli and Skobelev (Mensheviks) | ||
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14-22 April (27 April – 5 May) |
Petrograd City Conference of the RSDLP(B), with Lenin taking part | ||
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24-29 April (7-12 May) |
Seventh (April) All-Russia Conference of the RSDLP(B), with Lenin taking part | ||
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3-24 June (16 June – 7 July) |
First All-Russia Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, attended by Lenin | ||
| 9 (22) June | The First All-Russia Congress of Soviets prohibits the demonstration set by the Bolshevik CC for 10 (23) June; Bolsheviks withdraw the proposal | ||
| 16 (29) June | Provisional Government orders a new offensive on the South-Western Front to begin on 18 June (1 July), ending in disaster | ||
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18 June (1 July) |
500,000 workers and soldiers take part in Petrograd demonstration, initially called by the Congress of Soviets’ leadership to demonstrate support for the Provisional Government, with the overwhelming majority carrying the revolutionary slogans of the Bolshevik Party | ||
| 3 (16) July | July Days begin: massive demonstrations of soldiers, sailors and workers in Petrograd over the Provisional Government’s failed offensive; the situation threatens to lead to a premature insurrection | ||
| 4 (17) July | Lenin addresses the Kronstadt sailors from the balcony of Kshesinskaya’s Palace, calling on the sailors to exercise restraint and be staunch and vigilant; later that day over 500,000 people demonstrate carrying the Bolshevik slogan ‘All Power to the Soviets’; with the knowledge and consent of the Menshevik and SR-led CEC, the Provisional Government sends military cadets, Cossacks and counter-revolutionary units from the front line against the peaceful demonstration; the troops open fire | ||
| 5-7 (16-20) July | Pravda and other Bolshevik papers closed down by the Provisional Government; campaign of slander against Lenin and the Bolsheviks begins; order for Lenin’s arrest is issued; Lenin forced into hiding and escapes to Finland; workers disarmed; wave of house searches and arrests; the revolutionary-minded units in the Petrograd garrison sent off to the front line; Soviets become a mere appendage to the Provisional Government, all with complicity of the Mensheviks and SRs | ||
| 8 (21) July | Kerensky becomes Prime Minister of the Provisional Government | ||
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24 July (6 August) |
Second coalition Provisional Government is formed, headed by Kerensky | ||
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26 July – 3 August (8-16 August) |
Sixth Congress of RSDLP takes place, where the Mezhraiontsy (Inter-District) organisation affiliates; Trotsky formally joins the Bolshevik Party and is immediately elected to the CC | ||
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28-31 August (10-13 September) |
Kornilov attempts a coup against the Provisional Government; Bolsheviks spearhead the struggle against his putsch | ||
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31 August (13 September) |
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies passes a Bolshevik resolution calling for the establishment of a Soviet Government | ||
| August – September | Lenin writes The State and Revolution | ||
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14-22 September (27 September – 5 October) |
The Democratic Conference (originally set to open on 12 (25) September) takes place; it founds the Provisional Council, also known as the ‘Pre-parliament’, which meets for the first time on 23 September (6 October) | ||
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23 September (6 October) |
The Fourth Duma is dissolved | ||
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25 September (8 October) |
The Directorate, the second cabinet formed by Kerensky, is abolished and a new, third coalition is formed | ||
| 10 (23) October | At the CC, Lenin tables a motion for an armed uprising; Zinoviev and Kamenev vote against | ||
| 16 (29) October | At the enlarged Central Committee Lenin again proposes an armed insurrection; again Zinoviev and Kamenev vote against | ||
| 18 (31) October | Zinoviev and Kamenev publicly reveal the plans for an insurrection; Lenin proposes their expulsion | ||
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Night of 24 October (6 November) |
The insurrection begins, led by Trotsky and the Revolutionary Military Committee | ||
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25 October (7 November) |
At 10 am, on behalf of the Revolutionary Military Committee, Lenin announces the overthrow of the Provisional Government; Lenin drafts decrees on peace, land, and the formation of a Soviet government | ||