The women's protest that sparked the Russian Revolution
An International Women’s Day demonstration in Petrograd on 8 March 1917 led to
the overthrow of the tsar
Orlando FigesWednesday 8 March 201707.00 GMTMTThe first day of the Russian
Revolution – 8 March (23 February in the old Russian calendar) – was
International Women’s Day, an important day in the socialist calendar. By
midday of that day in 1917 there were tens of thousands of mainly women
congregating on the Nevsky Prospekt, the principal avenue in the centre of the
Russian capital, Petrograd, and banners started to appear.
The slogans on the banners were patriotic but also made forceful demands for
change: “Feed the children of the defenders of the motherland,” read one;
another said: “Supplement the ration of soldiers’ families, defenders of
freedom and the people’s peace.”
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Read moreThe crowds of demonstrators were varied. The city’s governor, AP
Balk, said they consisted of “ladies from society, lots more peasant women,
student girls and, compared with earlier demonstrations, not many workers”. The
revolution was begun by women, not male workers.In the afternoon the mood began
to change as female textile workers from the Vyborg side of the city came out
on strike in protest against shortages of bread. Joined by their menfolk, they
swelled the crowds on the Nevsky, where there were calls of “Bread!” and “Down
with the tsar!” By the end of the afternoon, 100,000 workers had come out on
strike, and there were clashes with police as the workers tried to cross the
Liteiny Bridge, connecting the Vyborg side with the city centre. Most were
dispersed by the police but several thousand crossed the ice-packed river Neva
(a risky thing to do at -5C) and some, angered by the fighting, began to loot
the shops on their way to the Nevsky.Balk’s Cossacks struggled to clear the
crowds on the Nevsky. They would ride up to the demonstrators, only to stop
short and retreat. Later it emerged that they were mostly young reservists who
had no experience of dealing with crowds. By an oversight they had not been
supplied with the whips used by Cossacks to disperse civilian crowds. This
weakness emboldened the workers to come out in even greater numbers in the
following days.AdvertisementOn 24 February as many as 150,000 workers had taken
to the streets. They marched from the industrial areas, crossed the bridges,
and occupied the Nevksy, looting shops, and overturning trams and carriages.
There were fights with the police and Cossacks on the bridges. By mid-afternoon
the crowds on the Nevsky had been swollen by students, shopkeepers, office
workers and spectators. Balk described the crowds as “consisting of the
ordinary people”.Historians have long argued about whether these demonstrations
were spontaneous or organised by revolutionaries. My own view is that they were
more spontaneous than organised but that they had an internal organisation of
their own in the form of unnamed members of the crowd who shouted out
directions. Then there was the political topography of Petrograd – defined by
the bridges, the Nevsky, Znamenskaya Square, the Tauride Palace, or seat of the
Duma – that set the movements of the crowds.On 24 February Znamenskaya Square
became the focus of attention, as a large rally amassed there in the afternoon.
The huge equestrian statue of Alexander III – a symbol of immovable autocracy
popularly nicknamed “the Hippopotamus” – was conquered by revolutionary
orators, who made their speeches from it, calling for the downfall of the
monarchy. Few in the vast crowd could hear what they were saying, but it did
not matter: the people knew what they wanted to hear and the mere sight of this
act of free speech – in full view of the police – was enough to confirm in
their minds that a “revolution” was taking place. Later that evening, after the
crowds had finally dispersed, the police found the word “Hippopotamus” engraved
on the plinth of the statue.Orlando Figes is the author of A People’s Tragedy:
The Russian Revolution. A new edition marking the centenary of the revolution
is available now
