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The July Days () were a period of unrest in Saint Petersburg, Russia, between . It was characterised by spontaneous armed demonstrations by soldiers, sailors, and industrial workers engaged against the Russian Provisional Government. The demonstrations were angrier and more violent than those during the February Revolution months earlier.
The Provisional Government blamed the Bolsheviks for the violence brought about by the July Days and in a subsequent crackdown on the Bolshevik Party, the party was dispersed, many of the leadership arrested. Lenin fled to Finland, while Leon Trotsky was among those arrested.
The outcome of the July Days represented a temporary decline in the growth of Bolshevik power and influence in the period before the October Revolution.
Shortly after Lenin's address, on April 18, 1917, it was revealed by a Milyukov note sent by Pavel Milyukov that the Provisional Government supported continuing with the war, even though they publicly claimed otherwise. As a result, there were mass popular demonstrations of discontent.In the aftermath of these demonstrations, the Provisional Government, at that time composed primarily of liberals, was reshuffled to include Socialist-Revolutionaries, creating a coalition government. Refusing to take part in the coalition, the Bolsheviks were the only socialist faction to emerge from these events, known as the April Crisis, without negative association with the continuation of the Russian involvement in the war. As a result, the Bolsheviks gained much support from soldiers, who were increasingly frustrated with the Provisional Government.
Following the events of April, the Bolshevik Party gained support primarily among soldiers and workers, as the Bolsheviks were vocally critical of the Provisional Government. Peasants were more likely to support the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who focused more on the question of land reform and distribution.
The Kronstadt naval base which was mostly under the influence of the Bolsheviks and Anarchists, also caused strong concerns for the Provisional Government. As early as May 1917, the Kronstadt Soviet became the main authority in the city. An important role in the transition of Kronstadt sailors to the side of the Bolsheviks was played, at the time, by deputy chairman of the Kronstadt Council Fyodor Raskolnikov. (yroslav1985)
A common conspiracy claim to explain the problems Russia faced was sabotage from "counterrevolutionaries", a label whose definition changed depending on the accuser. The Bolsheviks took the socialist anti-capitalist sentiments and extended the suspicion to the British and French allies as one way to explain why the "bourgeois" government was continuing Russian involvement in the unpopular war. Growing unhappiness with the Provisional Government's inaction regarding land reform, industrial reform, ceasing the war, and food shortages led to a growing demand for an all-socialist government. Demands using the popular slogan from April, "All Power to the Soviets", increased, supported by the Bolshevik Party and Lenin's April Theses.
The offensive began 18 June 1917 and continued to 6 July 1917, coinciding with the July Days. The Russian soldiers initially saw victory over the Austro-Hungarian forces, whom they managed to take by surprise, but German troops soon began a counteroffensive that devastated the Russian army. The offensive was met at home with extreme disfavor and discontent, creating an opposite effect of what the government intended. Rather than creating support for the Provisional Government, disorder on the front continued and dissatisfaction with the government and its disastrous policies grew.
Because of the coalition situation created by the events of April, the only political faction that opposed the offensive was the Bolsheviks.
The liberal Kadet party, in the face of the failures of the government, criticised its ineffective policies and failures to take action. On 2 July, four Kadet ministers walked out of the coalition government in protest, leaving the Provisional Government composed primarily of moderate left socialists. Furthermore, Prime Minister Georgy Lvov announced to the government that he planned to resign on 7 July as well.
The following day, July 4, the protests continued, with more soldiers and workers joining in, including a division from a nearby naval base. The protesters also grew more violent, breaking and shooting into apartments and attacking wealthy passersby. The crowds outside of the Tauride Palace demanded to see a government official, and the Soviet Leaders sent out Viktor Chernov. When he tried to calm the crowd, they instead seized him, with one protester famously shouting, "Take power, you son of a bitch, when it is handed to you!" The crowd continued to hold Chernov hostage until Leon Trotsky made his way through the crowd, urging the crowd to release the man, which they did.
The protesters, most of them Bolshevik supporters, attempted to gain support from the Bolshevik party. But when they gathered near the Bolshevik headquarters, Lenin initially refused to see them. In the end, he simply gave them a brief speech, yet refused to give them his support, with the Bolshevik party pulling their support soon after. Without any leadership to support them, the protesters soon dispersed.
At midnight on July 3, the Soviet leaders called a closed meeting, and the consensus was that they would not be forced to take power. They also proceeded to blame the Bolsheviks for the demonstrations, though it is unclear whether the Bolshevik party actually orchestrated the entire event, or if it was simply a spontaneous demonstration that happened to include Bolshevik supporters. In either case, the Bolshevik party refused to openly support the demonstrations.
The military authorities sent troops against the demonstrators, leading to many arrests and possibly several hundred deaths due to the violence in the streets. The Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks supported punitive measures against the insurgents. They began to disarm workers, disband revolutionary military units, and carry out arrests. On July 5–6 the offices and printing plant of Pravda and the headquarters of the Bolshevik Central Committee were destroyed. On July 7 the Provisional Government issued an order for the arrest of Lenin, who was forced to go underground. On July 8 troops loyal to the regime arrived in Petrograd from the front.
In general, the violent nature of the July demonstrations and the ambiguous involvement of the Bolsheviks turned public opinion against them. As the new head of the Provisional Government, Kerensky desired to re-establish the central government as a strong authority, so in response to the July Days, he began enacting measures to discipline civil disorder. This included the order to arrest Bolshevik leaders for their (assumed) responsibility of the violent July Days.
Lenin successfully went into hiding, staying first in the apartment of Benyamin Kayurov, before fleeing to Finland. Many other Bolshevik leaders were arrested, including Trotsky, Kamenev, and Lunacharsky. During the summer of 1917, Trotsky became a major proponent of Bolshevik ideals after these uprisings, even writing for the Bolshevik Press. The Bolshevik leaders remained in prison until Kerensky released them in response to the Kornilov Affair.
For the sake of restoring civil order, the government also restricted civil order more broadly. Street processions in Petrograd were momentarily banned and the government authorized the closure of any publication that advocated military disorder. On 12 July, Kerensky reinstated the death penalty for rebelling, deserting, and disorderly soldiers on the Eastern Front, a move that conservatives approved of, even though Kerensky himself had long been affiliated with the Socialist Revolutionaries.
A public funeral was held by the government on 15 July for Cossacks who were killed by July Day participants.
On 18 July, Kerensky moved the new government ministers into the Winter Palace, and moved the Soviet from the Tauride Palace to the Smolny Institute.
Bolshevik power was dispersed for the time being. The suppression of the demonstrations and the restructuring of the government marked the end of dual power. The new Socialist-Revolutionary and Menshevik government under Kerensky's leadership shifted in response to the July Days toward a more conservative path.
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