The Russian Revolution

Major industrial centers in Russia were St Petersburg and Moscow. Link them with the growth of the working class.

Russian workers were not a uniform group. Skilled workers often received relatively higher wages and better working conditions than unskilled workers. These differences in skill and pay could create different interests, making unity difficult at times. The option saying that workers had no problems is incorrect because low wages and poor working conditions were major concerns. Exam tip: Remember differences in skill and wages as a barrier to worker unity in Russia.

Most Russian peasants demanded that the large estates of landlords should be distributed among peasants. For them, the land issue was linked to livelihood and social justice. Option C is the closest distractor, but peasants did not want landlords to retain their land. Exam tip: Remember the key peasant demand in the Russian Revolution as “land to the peasants.”

The Socialist Revolutionary Party was linked with the land question. In exams connect it with peasant politics.

Option A is correct because the disagreement centred on the membership and structure of the revolutionary party. Lenin and the Bolsheviks favoured a smaller, tightly organised and disciplined party of committed revolutionaries who would work continuously for revolution. The Mensheviks preferred a broader organisation with more open membership, allowing a larger number of workers and sympathisers to participate. This was not a difference between an army, a peasant body or a church council; both groups were factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. The distinction is therefore about party organisation and revolutionary strategy, not social identity.

On 22 January 1905, soldiers fired on peaceful demonstrators in St Petersburg. This shattered the belief that the Tsar was the protector of the people, weakening public trust and increasing resentment. Option B is the opposite of the historical outcome: the incident increased opposition, not support. Exam tip: Link Bloody Sunday with the 1905 Russian Revolution and growing anti-Tsar anger.

The Duma created hope of representation but the Tsar kept its power limited. Link it with incomplete reform.

Control over the Duma showed the Tsar's autocracy. In exams link it with failure of limited reform.

During the First World War, much of Russia’s railway and transport system was used to move soldiers and war supplies. This disrupted raw-material supplies to factories and food and fuel supplies to towns, reducing production and raising prices. Therefore, option A is correct. Option C is the opposite of the situation, as food shortages in cities became severe. Exam tip: Remember wartime economic crisis through transport disruption, inflation and food shortages.

During the First World War, the Russian army suffered enormous casualties. Soldiers faced harsh frontline conditions and shortages of food, weapons, and other essential supplies, which increased their opposition to the war. Option C is the opposite of the historical situation, as shortages were a major cause of discontent. Exam tip: Link anti-war feeling in Russia with heavy losses, supply shortages, and the demand for peace.

In the First World War, Russia was fighting against Germany. Therefore, Alexandra’s German origin made many Russians suspicious, and she was accused of sympathising with Germany. She was not a Bolshevik leader; the Bolsheviks were led by Lenin. Exam tip: During wartime, foreign origin or foreign connections can easily create public suspicion.

Rasputin was believed to have strong influence over Tsar Nicholas II's family, especially the Tsarina. His alleged interference in state affairs and the scandals around the court increased public criticism and distrust of Tsardom. The Duma did not gain power because of Rasputin. Exam tip: link Rasputin with the declining credibility of the Tsarist regime and the crisis of governance.

In February 1917, Russian cities, including Petrograd, faced severe food shortages because of the war, disrupted supplies, and rising prices. Thus, the demand for bread reflected hunger and the food crisis in cities. The land issue was mainly associated with peasants, whereas this demand focused on urban food supply. Exam tip: Remember food shortage, discontent over war, and autocratic rule as key causes of the February Revolution.

On International Women’s Day, 23 February 1917 in the Russian calendar, women workers in Petrograd began a strike demanding bread and peace. The strike quickly grew into mass demonstrations and marked the beginning of the February Revolution. The Duma was not dissolved on that day. Exam tip: remember the February Revolution through women workers’ demand for “bread and peace.”

A government depends partly on the obedience of its army. During the February Revolution, some soldiers refused to fire on protesting people and began to support the workers instead. This was a major sign that the Tsar could no longer rely on the military to maintain order. Once soldiers stopped obeying commands, the authorities lost an important instrument of repression, and the revolutionary movement became much stronger. The event showed that the crisis had reached the structure of Tsarist power itself.

Option A is correct because refusal to obey orders showed that Tsarist control was weakening. Option B says the opposite of what happened. Option C is incorrect because workers’ protests and demands continued rather than ending. Option D is also incorrect: the Provisional Government emerged after the old authority collapsed, not before this loss of military obedience. The soldiers’ change of allegiance was therefore a crucial reason the February Revolution succeeded.

The February Revolution ended the Tsar’s rule, but it did not immediately create one undisputed authority. The Provisional Government handled formal state administration, while workers’ and soldiers’ Soviets retained strong popular influence. This coexistence is called dual power. Therefore, option A is correct; the other options wrongly suggest a restored monarchy, church rule, or foreign control.

After the February Revolution, people expected the Provisional Government to address the urgent problems of war, food shortages, and social reform. Workers and soldiers wanted peace, while peasants wanted land and ordinary families needed reliable food supplies. The government’s decision to continue the First World War and its inability to solve shortages weakened public confidence. Therefore, option A correctly identifies a major public expectation.

The other choices contradict the political situation. People did not want the Tsar’s power restored, nor did they demand more land for nobles. Destroying the Soviets was not a popular public expectation; the Soviets represented important groups of workers and soldiers. The slogan of peace, bread, and reform explains the answer.

Option A is correct. In the April Theses of 1917, Lenin argued that the Bolsheviks should give no support to the Provisional Government because it continued the war and did not solve the urgent problems of land, food and workers’ rights. He demanded that power pass to the Soviets and called for a new stage of revolution rather than cooperation with the existing government. Full support would have contradicted his programme. Bringing back the Tsar was a reactionary demand, while closing the Duma was not the central position expressed in the April Theses. The important link is ‘no support to the Provisional Government’ and ‘all power to the Soviets.’

Option A is correct because Soviets were councils representing workers and soldiers, and in many places peasants as well. The slogan ‘All power to the Soviets’ expressed the Bolshevik demand that political authority should move away from the Tsarist state and the limited Provisional Government and be placed in these popular councils. The Tsar’s court represented the old autocratic order, the Orthodox Church was a religious institution, and a foreign parliament could not represent Russia’s revolutionary population. The slogan therefore reflected confidence in directly organised workers’ and soldiers’ bodies as instruments of revolutionary power.

Option A is correct because the slogans addressed the main grievances of three large and politically important groups. ‘Bread’ appealed to hungry urban workers and families facing shortages; ‘land’ appealed to peasants who wanted estates redistributed; and ‘peace’ appealed especially to soldiers and civilians exhausted by the First World War. By combining these demands, the Bolsheviks built support beyond a small circle of party members. The Tsar’s family, foreign kings and nobles were not the mass constituencies that these slogans targeted. Their appeal worked because it connected revolutionary politics with immediate material needs.