Omg yeah you’re so right, the following year I would volunteer for a congressional campaign and discover how much I despise street canvassing and fundraising calls. Worst “job” I ever had and didn’t even get paid for it (nor did the candidate even win). I’m now happily a wildlife biologist and never have to wear a suit again cause business casual is overdressed for my career. So, happy ending!

I should clarify my use of the word “orthodox”. Im not referring to a single set of beliefs that are “Marxist orthodoxy”, that doesn’t really exist; there are several different orthodoxies within Marxism (consider for example that there were both orthodox Stalinists and orthodox Maoists, despite those having very different ideals).

What I mean is that the Bolshevik/Menshevik split was about Lenin’s assertion that every member of their then-unified party must be fully committed the party platform in its entirety, while the Mensheviks wanted a more inclusive membership that allowed people who more generally believed in some Marxist principles and weren’t die hard career revolutionaries fully committed to every ideal of Lenin’s. “Orthodox” here just means absolute adherence to a set of ideals.

I find this one of history’s greatest “what ifs”; of course hindsight is 20/20, but it seems like the bolsheviks truly had no basis of power until the unbelievably war weary Russian people saw that they were the only political party calling for peace. Maybe Karensky would’ve formed a democracy, maybe he would’ve been a military dictator, or maybe the SRs, the most popular party through this period, would’ve won in a democratic system and gotten a chance to try out agrarian socialism on a large scale.

Very true! Left that out cause I feel like the SR split becomes important after the October revolution rather than the February one but it’s always important to remember the factions within factions within factions

Ooh this was my most recent special interest! My source is the podcast Revolutions by Mike Duncan which I highly recommend if you like hyper detailed history. But here’s my summary:

1. at the end of the 1800s there are a bunch of leftist groups fighting the Tsarist government. They broadly fall into 3 groups: the SRs (short for socialist revolutionaries), who want an agricultural, decentralized form of socialism; the Marxists, who want an industrial, authoritarian form of socialism; and the liberals, who want a western style democracy or constitutional monarchy.

2. the Marxists split into 2 political parties: the bolsheviks, run by Vladimir Lenin, who want a very orthodox form of Marxism, and the Mensheviks, led by Julius Martov, who want a more lenient, broad umbrella of Marxism. Trotsky begins as a Menshevik, then becomes a Bolshevik.

3. in 1905, a half-revolution forces the Tsar to accept a parliament, called the Duma. This Duma becomes dominated by liberals, who form a party called the Cadets. In 1906, however, the Tsar makes some laws that basically make the Duma mostly powerless and advisory. In this Duma, Alexander Karensky becomes the leading figure of liberals and moderate leftists. There is also a moderate party called the Octoberists who think the 1905 revolution was the only necessary revolution, and there are absolutist conservatives as well who don’t really have a named party.

4. in February 1917, a mostly leaderless mass movement overthrows the Tsar. Because it’s leaderless, there is no plan for what comes next. The liberals go to the Duma and say “ok now the Tsar is gone you’re in charge”. The leaders of the Duma declare themselves to be the Provisional Government which will rule til they can organize elections to a committee to create a constitution. After some shuffling and chaos, Karensky comes to lead the provisional government.

5. meanwhile, leftist go to working class neighborhoods, factories, and military barracks and say “now that the Tsar is gone we’re all in charge. Elect representatives to go to a council of factory workers and soldiers which will be the new government”. That council is called the Soviet, and neither the Soviet nor the Provisional Government want civil war so they agree to a vague undefined power sharing agreement til the constitution can be written and a final government made. at the top of the Soviet, which is a gigantic body of hundreds of representatives, is the Executive Committee of the Soviet, which is small enough to actually make decisions.

6. SRs, Mensheviks, and cadets join the provisional government. SRs and Mensheviks also join the Soviet. The Bolsheviks only join the Soviet and say the provisional government is illegitimate.

And that’s February 1917. There will be more complications as you go but that’s an oversimplified summary. Hope this helps, happy to answer follow up questions!