July Days
The July Days refers to events in 1917 that took place in Petrograd, Russia, between July 4 and July 7 (Julian calendar) (July 16-July 20, Gregorian calendar), when soldiers and industrial workers in the city rioted against the Russian Provisional Government. Bolsheviks led the attack, but it failed and their leader Vladimir Lenin went into hiding, while other leaders were arrested.[1][2] The outcome of the July Days represented a temporary decline in the growth of Bolshevik power and influence in the period before the October Revolution.
Causes
Alexander Kerensky, then minister of war and navy, ordered a vast Russian offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces on 16 June. Despite initial successes, the Russians were defeated and the operation ended on July 2, quickly to be followed by a combined counter-offensive by German and Austro-Hungarian forces on 6 July.
Anti-war feelings were rife among the populace at that time. These feelings intensified with the news of the failed offensive. Discontented workers started protests which soon spiraled into violent riots.
Bolshevik involvement
Lenin believed that while the workers in Petrograd were radicalised, the country as a whole was not ready for revolution, therefore if the workers tried to seize power in Petrograd alone they would be defeated. Bolshevik party had a choice to either throw their weight behind the demonstrations and possibly be crushed, or abstain and risk the possibility that many workers would lose faith in them. In the end the Bolsheviks joined the demonstrations, but did not to push for outright revolution. The goal of this was that their credibility would not be damaged in the future.[3]
According to Professor of Western New England College Gerhard Rempel, "This was one of Lenin [sic] major miscalculations. He thought the time was ripe for a Bolshevik coup. But the masses were not yet ready for anything as radical as he had to offer. The uprising only brought out a few radicals besides the active Bolsheviks. It was easily crushed by the forces of the Provisional Government."[4]
Consequences
Kerensky ordered the arrest of Lenin and the other leading Bolsheviks, accusing them of inciting revolt with German financial backing. Lenin successfully fled and went into hiding in Finland, but many other Bolshevik leaders were arrested, including Trotsky and Lunacharskii who were apprehended on 22 July. They remained in prison until Kerensky released them in response to the Kornilov Affair.
References
- ^ A History of Western Society. Chapter Outlines. Chapter 27: The Great Break: War and Revolution, Seventh Edition. John P. McKay, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown University; John Buckler, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- ^ "In July 1917, a half-baked Bolshevik uprising against the Government failed. Trotsky went to prison but Lenin escaped to Finland." (Key Themes of the Twentieth Century by Philip Sauvain. p.54)
- ^ Prichard, Gareth The October Revolution (lecture) 2007-05-22 University of Canterbury
- ^ The Russian Revolution of 1917 by Gerhard Rempel, Western New England College
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