Source: Sputnik

By 1917 a vast number of women were working in factories replacing conscripted men. On February 23rd 1917 (March 8th in our Gregorian calendar), International Women’s Day was marked by strikes and huge demonstrations of women. The Bolshevik paper ‘Pravda’ reported that this led to revolution:

‘…the first day of the revolution was women’s day…the women…decided the destiny of the troops; they went to the barracks, spoke to the soldiers and the latter joined the revolution…Women, we salute you.’

The result was the overthrow of the Tsar and the establishment of a bourgeois Provisional Government under the leadership of Lvov and later, Kerensky.