When women workers’ anger exploded onto the streets of Petrograd on
International Women’s Day in 1917, it lit a fuse that was to turn the world upside down. The centenary of 1917 is an opportunity to rediscover these momentous events, which changed the course of history and inspired generations of workers.

It toppled the Tsarist autocracy and hastened the end of the First World War and three other dynastic empires. The Russian Revolution proved another world is possible and showed how we might be able to win it. The workers and soldiers of Petrograd were the vanguard of the most important and the most successful social movement in world history. Women were at its  forefront, tearing up the deep rooted oppression they faced.

Today the deepening crisis of capitalism means a world in turmoil. Understanding 1917 and the movements and ideas that led to it is vital if we are to re-open the prospect of a better world before capitalism destroys the future.