Russian Revolution of 1917 Revolution that overthrew the impe¬ rial government and placed the Bolsheviks in power. Increasing govern¬ mental corruption, the reactionary policies of Tsar Nicholas II, and catastrophic Russian losses in World War I contributed to widespread dissatisfaction and economic hardship. In February 1917 riots over food scarcity broke out in Petrograd (St. Petersburg). When the army joined the rebels, Nicholas was forced to abdicate. A provisional government, headed by Georgy Lvov, was appointed in March and tried to continue Russia’s participation in World War I, but it was opposed by the power¬ ful Petrograd workers’ soviet, which favoured Russian withdrawal from the war. Other soviets were formed in major cities and towns, choosing members from factories and military units. The soviet movement was dominated by the Socialist Revolutionary Party, followed by the Menshe¬ viks and the Bolsheviks. Between March and October, the provisional government was reorganized four times; Aleksandr Kerensky became its head in July; he survived a coup attempt by Lavr Kornilov but was unable to halt Russia’s slide into political and military chaos. By September the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, had achieved majorities in the Petrograd and Moscow soviets and won increasing support among the hungry urban workers and soldiers. In October they staged a nearly bloodless coup (the “October Revolution”), occupying government buildings and strategic points. Kerensky tried unsuccessfully to organize resistance, then fled the country. The congress of soviets approved the formation of a new gov¬ ernment composed mainly of Bolsheviks. See also April Theses; Aleksandr Guchkov; July Days; Russian Civil War.
Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party Marxist revolu¬ tionary party that preceded the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Founded in Minsk in 1898, it held that Russia could achieve socialism only after developing a bourgeois society with an urban proletariat. The party split in 1903 because of the argument between the Bolshevik wing, led by Vladimir Ilich Lenin, and the Menshevik wing, led by L. Martov, over Lenin’s proposals for a party composed of professional revolutionaries. Party members were active in the Russian Revolution of 1905. In the tur¬ moil of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks broke completely with the Mensheviks and changed their name to “Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik).”
Russo-Finnish War or Winter War (1939-40) War waged by the Soviet Union against Finland at the start of World War II, following the signing of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. When Finland refused to grant the Soviets a naval base and other concessions, Soviet troops attacked on several fronts in November 1939. The heavily outnumbered Finns under Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim put up a skillful defense until February 1940, when heavy Russian bombardments breached the Finns’ southern defenses. A peace treaty in March 1940 ceded western Karelia to Russia and allowed construction of a Soviet naval base on the Hanko peninsula.
Russo-Japanese War (1904-5) Conflict between Russia and Japan over territorial expansion in East Asia. After Russia leased the strategi¬ cally important Port Arthur (now Lushun, China) and expanded into Man¬ churia, it faced the increasing power of Japan. When Russia reneged on its agreement with Japan to withdraw troops from Manchuria, the Japa¬ nese fleet attacked the Russia naval squadron at Port Arthur and began a siege of the city in February 1904. Japanese land forces cut the Russian army off from coming to aid Port Arthur and pushed it back to Mukden (now Shenyang). The reinforced Russian army took the offensive in Octo¬ ber, but poor military leadership blunted its effectiveness. After the long Japanese siege of Port Arthur, in January 1905 the corrupt Russian com¬ mander surrendered the garrison without consulting his officers, despite adequate stores and ammunition for its continued defense. Heavy fight¬ ing around Mukden ended in March 1905 with the withdrawal of Russian troops under Aleksey Kuropatkin. The decisive naval Battle of Tsushima gave the Japanese the upper hand and brought Russia to the peace table. With the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, Russia abandoned its expansion¬ ist policy in eastern Asia and Japan gained effective control of Korea and much of Manchuria.
Russo-Turkish Wars Series of wars fought between Russia and the Ottoman Empire from the 17th to the 19th century. Russia waged the early wars (1676-81, 1686, 1689) in a fruitless attempt to establish a warm- water port on the Black Sea. In the war of 1695-96, however, Peter I cap¬ tured the fortress of Azov, but subsequent attempts (1710-12, 1735-39) by the Russians to seize the Balkans failed, leading to the Treaty of Bel¬ grade. In Catherine ll’s reign the first major Russo-Turkish war (1768-74) pushed Russian borders south and gave Russia a vague right of protec¬ tion over the Ottoman sultan’s Christian subjects. (See also Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca.) Catherine annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 1783. Rus¬ sia gained the entire western Ukrainian Black Sea coast in the Treaty of Jassy (1792). A subsequent war (1806-12) led to the Treaty of Bucharest. In the 19th century wars were fought over the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits, the Caucasus, and Crimea. The war of 1828-29 ended in the Treaty of Edirne (1829), which ceded large tracts to Russia. The Crimean War (1853-56), however, was a major diplomatic setback for Russia. The 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War pitted Russia and Serbia against Turkey over autonomy for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia was victorious, but the gains it achieved under the Treaty of San Stefano (1878) were restricted by the Congress of Berlin (1878), imposed by Britain and Austria-Hungary.
rust, blister See buster rust
rustication In architecture, decorative masonry achieved by cutting back the edges of stones to a plane surface while leaving the central por¬ tion of the face either rough or projecting markedly. Rustication provides a rich, bold surface for exterior walls. It was used as early as the 6th cen¬ tury bc in the tomb of Cyrus the Great. Italian early Renaissance archi¬ tects used rustication to decorate palaces. In the Mannerist (late Renaissance) and Baroque periods, rustication assumed great importance in garden and villa design. Fantastic surfaces were achieved, as in ver- miculated work, in which the surface is covered with wavy, serpentine patterns or vertical, dribbled forms.
Rustin, Bayard (b. March 17, 1910, West Chester, Pa., U.S.—d. Aug. 24, 1987, New York, N.Y.) U.S. civil rights leader. He organized the New York branch of the Congress of Racial Equality in 1941 and worked for the Fellowship of Reconciliation from 1941 to 1953. In the 1950s he was an adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr., and helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington to rally support for pending civil rights legislation. He later served as president (1966-79) of the A. Philip Randolph Insti¬ tute, a civil rights organization.
rutabaga X.ru-to-'ba-goV Swedish turnip (Brassica napus ) in the mustard family. A hardy biennial, the rutabaga is a cool-season plant cultivated for its fleshy roots and tender leaves. Related to the turnip, it requires a longer growing season but is more tolerant of cold; in addition, its flesh is firmer and more nutritious and its roots keep much better during winter. White- fleshed varieties have a rough, green skin and bright canary-coloured flowers. Yellow-fleshed varieties have a smooth green, purple, or bronze skin and buff-yellow or pale orange flowers. Rutabagas are extensively cultivated as a vegetable and as a cattle fodder crop in Canada, Britain, and northern Europe, and to a lesser extent in the U.S.