In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we step away from the battlefields and examine how the February Revolution of 1917 was received and interpreted in two key Western cities: London and New York.

When the Tsar fell in March 1917, governments around the world struggled to make sense of what was happening. Russia under revolutionary conditions was—and remains—notoriously difficult to penetrate. Whose reports could be trusted? Which factions would prevail? And what would it mean for the ongoing war against Germany?

For Britain, the stakes were existential. The government of David Lloyd George hoped desperately that a new Russian administration would fight more effectively than the Tsar's. The Labour left, by contrast, hoped the revolution might end the war altogether. Both would be disappointed.

Drawing on Robert Service's superb Spies and Commissars, we explore this forgotten moment when London briefly became the world's largest hub for Russian political émigrés. Maxim Litvinov, the future Bolshevik commissar, was living in the East End with his English wife Ivy, agitating against the war and meeting with anti-war MPs like Ramsay MacDonald. Across the city, the Russian embassy at Cheshire House—still adorned with portraits of the imperial family—found itself issuing visas to revolutionaries it had spent decades monitoring.

We follow the revolutionaries as they attempt to make their way home, braving U-boat-infested North Sea crossings from Aberdeen to Bergen, and examine the peculiar dilemmas this created for British authorities. Should they expedite the return of anti-war militants? Detain them? Deport them?

Then we cross the Atlantic to New York, where the American press—unconstrained by British wartime censorship—reported the revolution days before London or Paris. Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Bukharin were there, denouncing US entry into the war from East Coast platforms, while Jewish refugees from the Empire celebrated the fall of the Tsar.

From the Albert Hall rally of 10,000 people honouring Russia's "freedom" to Brixton prison cells holding revolutionaries deemed too dangerous, this is a story of hope, naivety, intrigue, and the complex international dimensions of a revolution that would soon take a very different turn.

Topics covered:

• The British government's hopes and fears after the February Revolution
• Maxim Litvinov and the Russian émigré community in London
• Ramsay MacDonald, the Labour Party, and the anti-war movement
• The Russian embassy's awkward transition under the Provisional Government
• The logistical challenges of returning to Russia via U-boat-infested seas
• New York's reaction to the revolution and America's entry into the war
• Trotsky and Bukharin's anti-war agitation in the United States
• The Albert Hall rally and British left-wing enthusiasm for the revolution
• The detention of Chicharin and Petrov in Brixton prison
• 
  

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us on Patreon for ad-free listening and exclusive video content. Our next masterclass on Nazi Germany is coming soon, and a new interview with Dennis Broe on Las Vegas and the mob drops this Friday.

Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.

▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content

Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation

Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast

Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com

▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper

Website: explaininghistory.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.