ABSTRACT
The date of the beginning of the Revolution of 1917 may be regarded as February 23rd (O.S.)–March 8th (N.S.), when riots occurred in Petrograd. These riots appear to have been spontaneous. In widely separated parts of the city crowds of people of various ranks poured into the streets, shouting “Bread!” The scarcity and the price of bread in Petrograd were not nearly so great as they afterwards became, nor were they so serious as in the cities of some of the other belligerent countries, yet both were unusual and were ascribed by the people to the Government’s continuance of the war. “Bread!” was the dominant, if not the only, cry, and if the Government had taken prompt measures to answer it, the spontaneous street movement might have gone no farther, and cries hostile to the autocracy might not have been heard.
