«BREAD RIOTS» IN FEBRUARY 1917 AS A PROTOTYPE OF A «COLOR REVOLUTION»

Abstract

The paper considers the subjective causes of the February revolution of 1917. How reasonable is the point of view, that the overthrow of the monarchy has been the result of a severe deterioration in the economic situation of the country and falling living standards?To answer this question, the author selects for comparison realities of Soviet Russia and the USSR, showing that the main charges brought against the «old order» can be brought against the Soviet regime either. Moreover, the scale of problems faced by the USSR, significantly surpasses those faced by the tsarist Russia. However, in the days of the Soviet Union, neither the Lenin’s nor the Stalin’s regimes had been thrown down. This fact casts doubt on the correctness of the ideas, that the 1917 Revolution can be explained by objective reasons, including the so-called worker and peasant issues, and military defeats Russia was suffering in the First world war, and the poor supply of food to the capital.The author analyzes the actions of some members of the power elite of the state during the February crisis, and concludes that disruptions in the bread supply of Petrograd have been caused by some subjective reasons and are the sabotage acts on part of those who had prepared the revolution. Thus the author shares the elitist sociological concept, according to which it is the elite, rather than the masses, is the main subject of historical development.Current world events related to the chain of the so-called «color revolutions» gives the article the urgency, as the technology of the overthrow of the monarchy in Russia is similar to the methods that were used during the «color revolutions» nowadays.