TheRussian

RevolutionAnswer all questions

(which will appear in this color)

In your SS Notebook in complete sentences.

Review: Capitalism and socialism

CAPITALISM SOCIALISM

Main Theorist

Ownership of the “means of production”

Whose needs are put first?

Stated Economic Goal

Adam Smith Karl Marx

Private (individuals)

Public (the people/the government)

Business Owners

The Working Class

Private Profit Public Good

Question #1

Review:Russia before the revolution

#2: If you were living in Russia during World War I, what are some of the reasons you might be upset with your government? Think about what we’ve learned about what soldiers went through during the war, and about the effects of the war on the rest of the people of Europe.

Background: The 1905 Revolution• In addition to general anger about life and working

conditions, people were upset because Russia had lost land and many soldiers in the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.

• 200,000+ workers marched on the Winter Palace to demonstrate for better working conditions.– Led by Father Gapon, a Russian Orthodox Priest

• On January 9, government troops killed a thousand protesters.– Known as “Bloody Sunday”

• Workers in hundreds of locations went on a “general strike.”– Eventually over 2 million were on strike.

Background:RESULTS OF THE 1905

REVOLUTION• Over 10,000 people executed & about 75,000 imprisoned

• Tsar agreed to form the Duma (an elected congress)– Males over 25 can vote. Votes of landowners count more

than those of workers and peasants.– Laws had to be approved by the tsar and the Duma.– The Tsar could dismiss the Duma and order new elections

whenever he wanted.• The Duma later was dissolved and new elections held several

times.

Question #3

WWI and rasputin• Shortly after the war started, Tsar

Nicholas II left to lead the war on the Eastern Front.

• His wife and the Duma were left to run the country.– The empress was influenced by

Rasputin– He was said to have mystical abilities

that helped him heal her hemophiliac son.

WWI and rasputin• Many Russians didn’t trust Rasputin

– He had a bad reputation– When the Duma complained, the tsar had the

Duma dissolved and sent many of them to Siberia.– This gave Rasputin even more power.

• Rasputin was killed by Prince Yusipov on December 30th 1916.– No one knows how. Some say it took multiple

attempts to kill him.

• The Duma had been reestablished before Rasputin’s death.

RIOTS AND STRIKES• The war went poorly for Russia.

– Lost Poland to Germany– By March 1917, 10 million had served in army, 1.5 million killed, 4

million wounded.

• October 1916: rail workers in Petrograd (St Petersburg) went on strike.– Soldiers were sent from the front to force the strikers

back to work, but instead joined the railway workers.

• Feb 1917: General Strike in Petrograd• March 12, 1917: Food shortages cause riots.

– Police fire on women who charged into a bakery.– Striking workers come to their defense.– The army was sent to put down the protest, but instead disarmed the

police.– Prisoners were freed, jails burned.

Question #4

KERENSKY• March 14, 1917: The Duma formed a

“provisional government.”– They did this because they were told soldiers from the front

were being sent to put down the riots/strikes in Petrograd.

– Their leader was Alexander Kerensky, a member of the Petrograd Soviet (workers’ committee)

• On March 15th 1917, when he learned that the Duma and his generals all wanted him to abdicate, Nicholas stepped down.– He tried to get his brother to take the throne as tsar, but he

refused.– Thus, Romanov rule over Russia ended.

Question #5

Lenin’s return• Kerensky believed

Russia needed to continue fighting WWI.

• The Germans also wanted

Russia out of the war.– So they sent the exiled radical Vladimir

Lenin on a train that arrived April 3, 1917.

BACKGROUND: LENIN• Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (a.k.a. V.I. Lenin) became a

revolutionary after his brother was hung for attempting to assassinate the Tsar.

• Lenin wanted to overthrow the Romanovs and institute a communist structure.

• In 1895 Lenin was sent to jail, and then to Siberia where he continued to study and to advocate revolution.

• Lenin lived in exile from Russia from 1900 to 1917, leading the Socialist Party from abroad.

• He published “The Spark” a journal meant to inspire revolution and had it smuggled into Russia.

• He believed that a central committee had to lead the revolution — in other words, he did not favor democracy.

LENIN and the revolution• Lenin campaigned under three slogans:

– Peace, Land, Bread– Worker Control of Production– All Power to the Soviets

The october revolution• Bolsheviks (Lenin’s wing of the Socialist

Party) took control of St. Petersburg swiftlyon November 6, 1917.

– The Winter Palace was the last government building they took.

– Members of the provisional government were arrested.

• Lenin formed a new, Bolshevik-led government.

Question # 6

Withdrawal from the war

• 3/3/1918—Lenin Signs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk– Gives part of Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Baltic

to Germany– Many Russians were upset– Lenin said it didn’t matter who controlled the

territory now, because a socialist revolution would spread throughout Europe.

Question #7

Civil war (1918-1920)

• Red Army (Bolsheviks)– Led by Leon Trotsky

• Enforced rigid discipline

• White Army—Disunified– Aristocrats and Tsarist Loyalists– Bourgeoisie– Anti-Lenin Socialists

• Red Army also had to fight against foreign forces trying to take land from Russia and opposed to Communism.

• The Tsar’s family was put to death on 7/16/1918.

War communism• Because of foreign troops fighting the Bolsheviks,

there was a growing sense of patriotism in Russia.• Lenin and Trotsky instituted a policy of “War

Communism”– Nationalized banks and industry– Took grain for the army

• Peasants were upset by this

• Used “Revolutionary Terror”– Destroyed opponents

kronstadt• Russian economy was collapsing

due to WWI and civil war.– Hundreds of strikes and peasant

uprisings occurred in 1921.• Repressed by government.

• Sailors from Kronstadt made a list of demands (free speech, etc.) to the government.

• The Red Army was sent to suppress the Kronstadt rebels.– Thousands died.– This was the moment when many

Communist sympathizers decided they were opposed to Lenin and the Russian Revolution’s version of Communism.

Question #8

New economic plan• The Kronstadt Rebellion led Lenin to move away from

his “War Communism” plan.– Realized world revolution wasn’t going to happen soon.

• New Economic Plan– Allowed small businesses for profit– Banks, large industries, etc. continued to be government

controlled– Allowed farmers to keep a larger percentage of their

crops.

• 1922: Formation of “Soviet Union”– New constitution includes expansive women’s rights

Trotsky and Stalin Lenin died in 1924. Trotsky (Red Army leader) wanted to

spread communism around the world.~ He favored industry over peasants

•Stalin (Party Secretary) believed socialism could survive in one country.

–Favored peasants more•In 1927 Stalin managed to get Trotsky expelled from the Communist Party and exiled from Russia.•By 1929 Stalin had become a virtual dictator•Trotsky moved to Mexico where Stalinists made several attempts to assassinate him before succeeding in 1940.

Question #9