Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Delegates

The Council of Workers and Soldiers Delegates was established on 3 June 1917 at a convention held in Leeds, England.[1] The founding conference was attended by 1,150 delegates. It was inspired by the events of the Russian February Revolution.

When news of the February Revolution (8-12 March 1917) in Russia spread to the British Isles, it inspired the labour movement to celebrate the event. The first event was a meeting organised in the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 31 March. This was attended by 10,000 people with a further 5,000 outside, for whom there was no space.

The conference established the organisation, which had the support of both the Independent Labour Party and the British Socialist Party. However, a few months later, the Bolshevik October Revolution took place; the participants had different attitudes towards it, and the council collapsed.[2]

Founding conference

Speakers

The convention was addressed by:[1]

References

  1. 1 2 What Happened in Leeds. London: Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Delegates. 1917.
  2. Smith, Adrian (1996). 'New Statesman': Portrait of a Political Weekly 1913-1931. London: Routledge. p. 299.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.