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Kerensky risked a revolution if he pulled Russia out of the war Tom Send a noteboard - 14/03/2017 08:21:05 PM

There are misconceptions about the Russian Revolution, and one of them is that somehow the Bolsheviks had support because they promised an end to the war. While there was war weariness in Russia, it was not any greater than in any of the other participants. Anti-German feeling was deep seated in the Russian population and there were many who felt that the war should be continued to victory given the cost of the struggle.

The Bolsheviks engaged in a coup to seize power, despite the fact that from 1928 onwards they called it the "Great October Socialist Revolution" - prior that time they accurately labeled it the "October Coup" (the actual French word is oddly never used in Russian despite the Russians' love of French loanwords - переворот, which means "overthrow", is used instead).

The reason the Russian army melted away in 1918 is not because the soldiers were infected with Bolshevik anti-war propaganda. It was because the Bolsheviks promised them LAND OWNERSHIP (which of course they then took away under Stalin). The army, largely made up of peasant conscripts, went back to their home villages as fast as they could to be there when the land was handed out.

If the Bolshevik coup had failed, then the Constituent Assembly would likely have come to power with a largely Socialist Revolutionary government and Kerensky would likely have remained as Prime Minister of Russia.

Given that the Russian voters endorsed Kerensky and his party in their actual voting for the Constituent Assembly (they won 370 out of 703 deputies), the notion that Russians were doing anything in their power to stop the war is a bit skewed.

Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
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The February Revolution and Kerensky’s Missed Opportunity - 13/03/2017 09:37:00 PM 830 Views
Fascinating stuff - 13/03/2017 10:52:58 PM 440 Views
Who knows? It could have been worse off. - 13/03/2017 11:37:54 PM 530 Views
What's your opinion on Lenin? - 14/03/2017 02:06:59 AM 479 Views
Lenin. A monster. - 14/03/2017 12:55:18 PM 511 Views
Thanks. I'll ask him too. *NM* - 14/03/2017 03:01:36 PM 241 Views
Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky were all bloodthirsty mass murderers. - 14/03/2017 08:59:06 PM 549 Views
That's fascinating. But give me a book recommendation! - 14/03/2017 09:15:57 PM 444 Views
Start with a general history of Russia - 14/03/2017 10:17:22 PM 563 Views
Excellent. Thank you. It's next on the list. - 15/03/2017 02:11:14 AM 510 Views
Russian history is as depressing as they come. - 15/03/2017 12:08:15 PM 503 Views
Read Figes first, I suppose. - 14/03/2017 10:55:23 PM 468 Views
Thanks, Tom. I've been putting off reading good literature because of my unfamiliarity with Russia. *NM* - 15/03/2017 02:12:10 AM 227 Views
Which books have you put off reading? *NM* - 15/03/2017 12:05:32 PM 214 Views
DEMONS and THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV are the big two. - 15/03/2017 02:58:13 PM 459 Views
You don't necessarily need to know the history. - 15/03/2017 03:15:38 PM 495 Views
I'm always afraid I'm missing something critical, though! - 15/03/2017 03:50:59 PM 445 Views
Annotations are amazing. My eBook version of War and Peace was the same. - 15/03/2017 04:03:59 PM 466 Views
My High School English teacher neglected Russian literature. - 16/03/2017 01:46:29 AM 425 Views
Hmmmm. - 16/03/2017 01:18:14 PM 464 Views
Tolstoy was a reprehensible human being - 15/03/2017 04:02:52 PM 441 Views
I had no idea. I was under the impression he was deeply devout. - 16/03/2017 01:47:43 AM 458 Views
Here's one example: - 16/03/2017 02:06:45 AM 461 Views
Good lord. The man sounds deranged. But that's fascinating! Is there a good biography on him? *NM* - 16/03/2017 07:50:10 AM 224 Views
Pavel Basinsky's bio is best - 16/03/2017 02:46:47 PM 634 Views
Getting it now. Thanks. *NM* - 16/03/2017 11:06:25 PM 216 Views
For what it's worth, I read Lenin & Trotsky as genuine idealists, while Stalin as just a thug - 15/03/2017 11:16:36 AM 517 Views
I think that's entirely incorrect. - 15/03/2017 04:00:54 PM 524 Views
I didn't mean stupid or brutish, I meant more like a mafia don than a statesman - 16/03/2017 12:18:34 PM 417 Views
Well if you want to completely redefine the phrase "just a thug", perhaps you're right - 16/03/2017 02:43:38 PM 440 Views
Good point - 16/03/2017 09:52:29 PM 575 Views
I hear what you're saying, but... - 16/03/2017 11:53:19 PM 468 Views
Attempt at clarification - 17/03/2017 12:55:03 AM 549 Views
Hehehe..."Fuck off" - 19/03/2017 05:23:49 PM 496 Views
Seems kind of nonsensical - 14/03/2017 01:33:49 AM 553 Views
Good reply. - 14/03/2017 12:57:47 PM 536 Views
They weren't really wrong - 14/03/2017 01:30:07 PM 558 Views
I do enjoy historical "what if" situations. - 14/03/2017 01:47:27 AM 454 Views
Hi there. - 14/03/2017 01:02:44 PM 424 Views
I still think democracy among those insidiously intrusive Western values Russia resists so fiercely - 14/03/2017 02:37:39 PM 544 Views
Is it your persistant anti-Russia bias that makes you so dogmatic? - 14/03/2017 02:51:23 PM 459 Views
I have no problem with Russia, only its government - 14/03/2017 03:07:14 PM 572 Views
Really? - 14/03/2017 03:15:10 PM 485 Views
Very interesting article. One thing that's struck me more and more about WW1 is... - 14/03/2017 06:34:14 PM 578 Views
Kerensky risked a revolution if he pulled Russia out of the war - 14/03/2017 08:21:05 PM 461 Views
What a terrible article - 14/03/2017 08:04:50 PM 444 Views
I thought you would think this way. - 15/03/2017 12:04:57 PM 523 Views
I can't decide what I think about Evans - 15/03/2017 04:10:05 PM 423 Views

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