March 8: February Revolution

March 8, marks the start of the February Revolution of 1917.

Russian society at the turn of the century was marked by horrific inequality. there was corruption and superiority ingrained in every corner of the government. Their’s was a hierarchical society in which the poor were treated with the upmost disregard. They were seen as canon fodder with which to propitiate the excess of the ruling class.

With this backdrop, the oppressed low class began dreaming of a new utopia. Associating Christianity with a corruption, oppression, and hierarchy, they turned to the atheistic idealist writings of Carl Marx. Unwittingly, they began fighting for a new system that would quickly become every bit as corrupt and unjust as the regime that it replaced.

Ever since World War 1 had began in 1915, the suffering of the lower classes had reached endemic levels. The Russian military had found itself totally outmatched by the advanced German forces, and they had more casualties than any nation had ever had in any preceding war. On top of this, cities throughout Russia were experiencing appalling food shortages.

On March 8, 1917 (February 23 according to the Julian calendar used in Russia at the time), the workers took to the streets. The uprising was not organized or premeditated. Some had lofty ideas of revolution and utopia, some were driven by grief, others sought revenge for injustice, and some were simply prompted by hunger.

When the army was ordered to fire on the crowds, they broke rank and joined the protesters. Without the support of the military, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his thrown within days of the first protests. With one signature, 300 years of Romanov rule came to an end. Nicholas and his family were imprisoned and were later murdered by the communist regime.

This unfortunate episode in history shows the fruits of corruption and hypocrisy. The church had become caught up in a hierarchical power struggle and had made no effort to alleviate suffering. The result was a society that associated God with hypocrisy and sought to build a nation that depended on humans for wisdom and morality. The result was nearly a century of atrocities on a scale that the world had never known.

Verse of the day: 1 John 4:20
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.