With just 13 days left until the Bolsheviks seize power, RT’s #1917LIVE project brings readers a wealth of material, including a trusty Twitter Messenger Bot from the Russian Telegraph, providing access to the Revolution and its heroes.
If you’re a new subscriber and want to delve deep into everything you’ve missed in the lead-up to the explosive events of November 6-8, don’t worry, the fictional Russian Telegraph’s bot is here to help. Simply head over to our page. Simply type in a query and gain instant access to the project’s information: dates, events, videos and tweets from your favorite characters.
Petrograd is worse off than ever before: rations have decreased, shortages of basic foodstuffs are driving people to the edge of sanity. The Provisional Government knows it has all but lost power over the nation – its capital, at the very least.
In addition to the strikes, resolutions are adopted almost daily, with regional left-leaning authorities proclaiming that only a full transfer of power to the Soviets will rescue the nation from the regime that has failed to fulfil its promises, hid behind empty democratization measures, and sent millions of Russians to die in the Great War.
Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky tries to move the government to Moscow in a time frame of just two weeks, but this will never happen. The Bolsheviks, meanwhile, set about creating their own coordination bodies.
By October 25, the Military-Revolutionary Committee (MRC) has been set up by Vladimir Lenin’s ‘no.1 Bolshevik,’ Leon Trotsky – now chairman of the Petrograd Soviet (Petrosoviet).
Lenin comes out of hiding and returns from Finland to coordinate the armed uprising – a process started by his comrades in his absence.
With Trotsky at the helm, the Bolsheviks have been actively boycotting all attempts by Kerensky to bring everyone to the table, such as the case with the Pre-Parliament. They know that the only way forward is to seize absolute power.
Kerensky will start another manhunt. He will brand the MRC a criminal organization before the first week of November has ended, but to no avail. By the afternoon of November 7, the Bolsheviks will almost bloodlessly seize all control of Petrograd, thanks to the fact that every peasant, worker and nearly every soldier in the capital are now on their side. By the end of that day, every government institution will fall to them as well.
International fans of the project will doubtless wonder why the Russian Telegraph chose the first week of November as the anniversary – and not late October, the month that gave its name to the October Revolution. This has to do with a change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar – often referred to as ‘the new style’ – which shall take place only in 1918 at the behest of the Bolsheviks. The difference amounts to 13 days. RT’s readers will also remember that the new style was also used in relation to the February Revolution in our #1917LIVE and #1917CROWD projects.