The Russian Revolution - ChronologyEVENT DATE SIGNIFICANCE PERSPECTIVESCreation of Romanov dynasty

1613 Michael Romanov becomes first Tsar of Russia, beginning Romanov dynasty. Autocratic, divine right rule

Communist Manifesto published

1848 Deeply influenced developing Russian political parties

Abolition of serfdom

1864 Introduction of the Zemstvos and Mir

Sergei Witte, minister of finance

1891 - 1901

Leads economic reforms, contributes to construction of Trans-Siberia railway

POSITIVE: Lead industrial reform and increased foreign investmentNEGATIVE: Created poor working conditions, neglect agriculture and over-reliance on foreign investment

Nicholas II assumes the throne

1894 Apprehensive to be Tsar, yet deeply devoted to restoration of Tsarist Russia

‘Convinced intellectuals could not run the country’ (Pipes)‘Weakness of will lead to his demise’ (Hite)‘Desperately wanted to hold onto the throne but did not have the necessary qualities’ (Figes)

Social democratic party est.

1898 Would split in to Bolshevik and Mensheviks parties in 1903

Social revolutionary party est.

1901 More radical groups carry out terrorist acts against Tsarist govt

‘What is to be done?’ Lenin

1902 Expresses Lenin’s intentions for SDs, resulting in Bolshevik/Menshevik split

Overturned basic idea of Marxist doctrine of Social-democracy (Pipes)

Russo-Japanese War

1904 – 1905

Economic detriment and undermines faith in Tsar – Radical groups grow

The Russian Revolution

AOS1 - Revolutionary ideas, leaders, movements and events

Politics and Ideologies of pre-revolutionary Russia

LEARNING INTENTION:Understand the terms ‘Marxism’ and ‘Leninism’, and explain

how the differ

• Understand how the Industrial Revolution altered society

• Define and understand Communism• Explain how Marxism views the path to

communism as inevitable• Outline the background of Vladimir Lenin• Outline the differences between Marxism

and Leninism

Industrialisation and the Industrial Revolution

• Industrialisation: the organised action of making of goods and services for sale

• Industrial Revolution: ‘brought about a shift from an economy based on manual labour to one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery.… the growth that took place after 1750, when technical progress, the integration of regional and national markets, and further support from agriculture came together to sustain an unprecedented rate of industrialisation, warrants the label of a Revolution’ (Quinualt and O’Brien 2002:42)

PARAPHRASE THIS QUOTE TO EXPLAIN WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM ‘INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION’

Brought about a shift from an economy based on manual labour to one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery.

The discovery of steam driven power derived from fossil fuels such as coal contributed to this process greatly

Marxism: A background• Karl Marx met Friedriech Engels in Paris in 1844. Much of the

work we now refer to as ‘Marxist’ is the product of these two men

• They visited factories in Northern England to study lived experience as a result of industrialisation

• Since the Industrial Revolution, the aim of business has been to lower costs and raise profits. Human labour in factories was the greatest cost, so employees were usually paid as little as possible

• Similar observations in Germany led Marx and Engels to believe this was a world wide problem that required a solution

The life of the industrial worker is utter monotony; it is his mission to

be bored every day. Children are deformed, men enfeebled, limbs

crushed, whole generations wrecked, purely to fill the purses of

the bourgeoisie

Communism: Key elements

COMMUNISM CAPITALISMIndustry, capital, land and other means of production are own and controlled by the

community as a whole

Investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution and

wealth is in the hands ofPrivate individuals and corporations

MEANS OF PRODUCTION:The raw materials, lands, and resources that are

used in production

Communism: A political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and profit based economy with public ownership and collective control of most of the major means of productionBourgeoisie: The privileged class that owns the means of productionProletariat: The industrial working class, which sells its labour to the bourgeoisie for income

Communism: Key Terms

Communism: A political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and profit based economy with public ownership and collective control of most of the major means of production

Bourgeoisie: The privileged class that owns the means of production

Proletariat: The industrial working class, which sells its labour to the bourgeoisie for income

MARXIST THEORY OF HISTORICAL STAGES

• History as a series of class struggles between those who control production (employers) and those who did not (employees)

• Hence the famous opening to the Communist Manifesto: ‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle struggle’

• Pattern of development of human society according to Marx:

Medieval Society:Feudal system. People bound together through mutual bonds of obligation and protections. Social position through birth right

Capitalist society:Feudal societies are challenged by a new class (bourgeoisie) and a new system emerges: Capitalist production in which bourgeoisie control means of productions

E.G:Ancien Régime of France:

absolutism and the three estates

E.G: The world we live

in today

Communist society:Proletariat overthrows bourgeoisie. Government controls means of production to empower the proletariat, depriving bourgeoisie of its power.

E.G: Russia (Soviet Union) between 1917

and 1990?

Communist Manifesto (1848)

• Written as a pamphlet for the Communist League (Est. 1847 by Marx and Engels), it was a critique of capitalism

• Predicted the demise of capitalism and subsequent rise of communism as inevitable

• Workers (proletariat) would be forced to revolt• This and other writings by Marx was the cornerstone to

the Russian Communist ideology and revolution

(We will focus a lot on the extent to which this was the case)

According to Marx and Engels, what was required for the revolution to happen?In your books, create the following table and complete it, using pp. 25 - 26 as a guide

DONE IT ALREADY? ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION.

Using three of four main points, explain why and how Marx and Engels believed society would be transformed from a capitalist political organisation into a communist one.

What is it... Marx/Engels quote The outcome...

Development of ‘Class Consciousness’

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

Classless Utopia

Assumptions of Communism

1. Conflicts are only between classes and never within them

2. Human nature is always consistent3. Class loyalty is significantly more

important than national loyalty4. Capitalism is an unstable system that will

get worse before collapsing5. Demise of capitalism in inevitable, so

therefore the rise of Communism is also inevitable

Revolutionary leader:Vladmir Lenin (pp. 28-9)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGE6T3SRNAs

Complete ‘Practicing Paragraph Answers’ question 3

Create this concept map in your workbook on half a pageAs we go through the next few slides, complete the concept map

Leninism was different to

Marxism because….

Marxism V Leninism

• Communism was proposed for industrialised countries – Russia was semi-feudal and agrarian

• Marx and Engels argued that a classless utopia would occur inevitably, whereas Lenin wished to accelerate the process

• Marx and Engels did not say how the revolution would occur; Lenin’s suggestions of how Marx and Engels’ ideas \should be interpreted and practiced were called Leninism

• ‘Leninism’ was presented in his various writings (e.g: ‘What is to be done? (1902), One Step Froward, One step Back (1904), Two Tactic (1905)) and in his famous April Thesis

LENINISM V MARXISM

• Lenin ultimately wanted to ‘fast-track’ the development of a communist society.

• Industrialisation was occurring, and consequently so to was capitalism, and Lenin wanted to skip this phase

• Pattern of development of human society according to Marx:Medieval Society:

Feudal system. People bound together through mutual bonds of obligation and protections. Social position through birth right

Capitalist society:Feudal societies are challenged by a new class (bourgeoisie) and a new system emerges: Capitalist production in which bourgeoisie control means of productions

E.G:Ancien Régime of France:

absolutism and the three estates

E.G: The world we live

in today

Communist society:Proletariat overthrows bourgeoisie. Government controls means of production to empower the proletariat, depriving bourgeoisie of its power.

E.G: Russia (Soviet Union) between 1917

and 1990

LEARNING INTENTION:Understand the terms ‘Marxism’ and ‘Leninism’, and explain

how the differ

• How did the Industrial Revolution altered society?

• What is Communism?• According to Marx how was

Communism inevitable?• What are the differences between

Leninism and Marxism?