why did the tsarist autocracy collapse in 1917??
Answers
(a) Miserable Condition of the Workers
(i) The industrial workers in Russia got very low wages.
(ii) They had very long working hours, sometimes upto 15 hours.
(iii) A large number of workers were unemployed,
(iv) The workers demanded higher wages and reduction in working hours but their demands were not met and they became dissatisfied. (b) Miserable Condition of Peasants
(i) Most of the peasants were landless and very poor.
(ii) They also had to do free labour for the landlords.
(iii) The small farmers who possessed land had to pay high land revenue, leaving very less for them to survive on.
(iv) The landless farmers demanded that the land of the nobles should be given to them.
(v) They wanted reduction of land revenue.
(vi) However, their demands were not fulfilled and they too became dissatisfied.
Answer :-
Anti-German sentiments in Russia were high owing to the First World War. Further, Tsarina Alexandra’s German origin and poor advisors made the autocracy unpopular. Russia suffered shocking defeats on the waterfront with millions of casualties. Crops and buildings were destroyed by the Russian army to prevent enemy having any advantage. It led to millions of refugees. Tsar was being cursed for this situation. Food shortage led to people rioting for food. The Russian army too shifted its loyalty and began supporting the revolutionaries.
A lockout took place at a factory on the right bank of Neva river in sympathy with the workers on the left bank on 22nd February. Women-led the way to strikes. The government imposed a curfew. Later the government suspended the Duma which resulted in sharp protests. The demonstrators ransacked the Police Headquarters and raised slogans about bread, wages, better hours and democracy.
The government called the cavalry but they refused to fire on the demonstrators. Soldiers and the striking workers gathered to form a ‘Soviet’ or ‘council’ in the building where the Duma met. This was the Petrograd Soviet. The very next day, when a delegation went to see the Tsar, the military commanders advised the Tsar to abdicate. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a Provisional Government to run the country. The Tsarist autocracy thus collapsed in February 1917.