How did both February and October revolutions effected Russia and its leadership?
The February Revolution effected Russia in that it confirmed Bolshevik prejudices about the middle class; that they would act in their own interests, not those of the majority of the population (i.e. by not withdrawing from the war and by not giving the peasants the land) and that capitalism would not produce a fairer society for Russia – as conditions in the factories did not improve. The effects of the October Revolution are much more complex. Russia before WWI was an extremely backward, semi-feudal society – the Aristocracy were fabulously wealthy but the majority of people lived lives of medieval poverty – for example literacy rates were under 5%. After the mess of the Civil War than the state-sponsored theft that was War Communism the country settled down into its new economic, political and social arrangements. Economically: The New Economic Policy (NEP) was seeing real improvement in the country’s economy. Farming was still backward and medieval, but the farmers were producing e
