Wikipedia claims that the February Revolution broke out "spontaneously, without any real leadership or formal planning." To what extent is this true?

by VivaLaVida77

Here's the full quote and the link:

"This revolution appeared to break out spontaneously, without any real leadership or formal planning. Russia had been suffering from a number of economic and social problems, which were compounded by the impact of World War I. Bread rioters and industrial strikers were joined on the streets by disaffected soldiers from the city's garrison. As more and more troops deserted, and with loyal troops away at the Front, the city fell into a state of chaos, leading to the overthrow of the Tsar."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution

International_KB

More or less. We have to be aware of a tendency in the historiography to contrast February with October (spontaneous vs planned, bourgeois vs proletarian, liberty vs despotism, etc) but it's true that the February Revolution was not planned. That's not to say it was unexpected: such were the poor economic conditions that the authorities were prepared for unrest, there had already been two major strikes/demonstrations that year and rumours as to place coups were circulating wildly. But nobody had planned an insurrection and both liberal and socialist leaders in the city were caught by surprise.

That said, it wasn't as simple as 'bread rioters'. The initial march that provided the spark had been organised for International Women's Day. Combined with striking workers who had been locked out of the Putilov plant, this mass demonstration invaded the more well-heeled centre of the city. This snowballing mass participated several days of unrest, with consequences no one had prepared for.