The Russian Revolution

Terms, Names, Events

What is totalitarianism?

An absolute single party government

• No individual freedom

Controls all aspects of individual life through

coercion and repression

• It sweeps away all legal, social, and political traditions

• Sets 1 goal – usually industrialization or conflict and all of its resources go toward it

• Any dissent is branded as evil and no political differences are tolerated

• Participation in approved public organizations is first encouraged and then required

• Old religious and social ties are replaced by commitment to the state

• Whole classes of people are singled out for extinction (Jews in Germany and Kulaks -the wealthiest peasants- in Russia)

• Police operate without any restraints or procedures – they are directed by the whim of the rulers.

(For example, Hitler had the right and power to amend the German Constitution at will; recently happened in Pakistan)

• By being unpredictable, they keep a sense of terror among the people they dominate.

Czar Nicholas II

• Nicholas was the son of Alexander Romanov, a giant, intimidating man, and Maria Dagmar, Princess of Denmark, a petite woman.

• A weak-willed leader of Russia; never wanted to be the Czar; not physically robust like his father and brother; couldn’t make decisions

• Married Alexandra, grand-daughter of Queen Victoria of England

• She was strong-willed and influenced her husband; Alexandra’s sister, Ella, was married to a Russian noble, which influenced Alexandra’s choice in marrying a Russian too.

• Russia was a backward country in the early 1900’s.

• An agrarian economy with most of the land owned by the nobility class

• The rest of the civilized world had been born into the Industrial Revolution; just beginning in Russia

• Russia was “behind the times”

• The Czar (Tsar) was the same as a king and ruled as a dictator

• He permitted the Russian people to form a Duma (like our congress) with each city and town sending a representative

• Russian people wanted land reform so that commoners could own land, and not just the nobles

• He wouldn’t listen to his people and abolished the Duma (their congress) thereby eliminating any voice the people had in their government

• During WWI he led the Russian army into battle against Germany, leaving his wife at home to rule

• Riots broke out in St. Petersburg and other cities because people were tired of being poor, hungry, and mistreated

• The Bolshevik party (the workers’ party) gained control in an uprising and captured the royal family, sending them to Siberia in 19l8

• They were executed and their bodies were hidden (story of Anastasia). Alexandra and Nicholas had been married for twenty-three years at the time of their deaths

Tsarina Alexandra Romanov

• Born in Germany in 1872

• Grand-daughter of Queen Victoria of England

• When 3 years old her brother, sister, and mother died of diseases

• She fell in love with Nicholas at her sister’s wedding.

• She learned the Russian language before marrying Nicholas.

• They married in 1895 and had five children.

• The first four children were girls: Olga, Tatiana, Marie, and Anastasia.

• Because Alexandra didn’t produce a male heir, the people hated her.

• When Alexandra produced a fifth child, a boy named for his father, it became apparent that he was afflicted with hemophilia, a genetic disease inherited from Alexandra’s side of the family . This gave those close to the Czar more reason to hate Alexandra for producing a “defective heir.”

• Alexei’s disease was a state secret and only a few knew about it.

• She worked to help the poor people in Russia and headed the Red Cross during WWI.

• The Russian people also hated her because she was German, and they thought she was cold and indifferent, when she was merely shy.

• They also never understood why she was involved with Rasputin.

Rasputin• He was born in 1872 in

Siberia.

Real name was Grigori

Efimovich Rasputin

• He was married, had three children, and was a priest

• He was both a mystic and a healer (a “startsy”).

• Many startsies were rough spoken, uncultivated men who dressed in peasant garments and were coarse in their habits.

• Many were immoral, holding orgies, drinking heavily, brawling and making public nuisances of themselves. Their immorality and vulgar behavior was part of their theology of “salvation through sin,” which required them to sin lustily in order to attain the maximum salvic effect.

• The startsy were popular among aristocratic ladies.

• Czarist Alexandra favored him because he saved her son Alexei’s life when the doctors couldn’t (Alexei was a hemophiliac).

• Rasputin became close to the royal family and became part of the social scene of the court.

• During WWI the Czar went to the battle front with his troops, leaving Alexandra to rule in his absence. People began rumors about the Tsarina and Rasputin.

• High ranking officials in the court that hated Alexandra and Rasputin planned to assassinate him.

Poisoned his food at a dinner party Shot him outside of the party Stabbed him and clubbed him Dumped his body into a frozen river Cause of death was determined to be drowning.

The Czar and Tsarina were outraged because Rasputin was the only person who could save their son’s life.

Karl Marx

• German philosopher,

social scientist, historian,

and revolutionary, con-

sidered to be the most

influential socialist of the

19th Century.

• Sharp contrast between the alienated nature of labor under capitalism and a communist society where human beings freely participated in cooperative production.

• Met Friedrich Engels in Paris and formed a life-long friendship

• In 1847 wrote The Communist Manifesto with Engels.

• By 1850 revolutions against autocratic governments were breaking out throughout Europe.

Capitalism

• An economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods.

GAP factory owner

GAP factoryworkers

The Bolsheviks

The Russian political party that followed the teachings of Karl Marx.

Made several attempts to take over Russia

All rebellions were unsuccessful and rebels were executed

Finally successful on October 24, 1917.Eleven million peasants were drafted intothe Russian army during WWI. Many people were unhappy with the Czar becausethe economy was in ruins and people did notwant to be at war.

The Bolshevik party became the

Communist party in Russia.

The name of the country was changed from Russia to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic.

In the first election the Bolsheviks received only 32% of the votes.

Vladimir Lenin» His brother was hanged for trying to» assassinate the Czar.

» Joined the Bolshevik Party and» became its leader

» In 1897 he was exiled to a work » camp.

» Led the revolution against the Czar

• Lenin’s slogan was “Bread, Land, Peace and All Power to the Soviets!”

He signed the peace treaty ending WWI but Russia lost the Ukraine and the Baltic region, as well as 80% of its iron and 90% of its coal. This made the Bolshevik party very unpopular.

The Bolsheviks had their own military called the Red Army. Lenin used his military to repress political opponents

• A civil war broke out in Russia.

• The Bolsheviks, under Lenin, ruled the land and placed all industry, businesses, and farms under government control.

• In time, every group that opposed the Bolsheviks was eliminated. Whole populations of people were ruthlessly killed.

• Lenin died of natural causes in 1924.

Leon Trotsky

Born Lev Davidovich Bronstein

Formed the South Russia Workers Union

Exiled to Siberia in 1900

Took the name Trotsky in 1902

• Joined Lenin and revolutions prior to 1917

• Captured and sent to Siberia again

• Escaped to London and met Josef Stalin

• Returned to Russia after Bolshevik Revolution and joined Lenin

• Founded the Red Army

• After Lenin’s death he shared power with Stalin but opposed his murderous tactics

• Stayed true to Marxism and fought for true class equality

• Popular with the people; made Stalin jealous

• Expelled from Communist Party and then from the Soviet Union

• Trotsky’s followers were sent to concentration camps and never seen again

• Relocated to Mexico

• Murdered in Mexico City in 1940 by a Stalin assassin with an ice-axe

Josef Stalin

» Leader of the USSR from

» 1929 until his death» in 1950

» Changed Communism » from a revolutionary movement to a totalitar- ian government

• Transformed Russia into a leading industrial nation

• Ruthlessly cruel and paranoid

• Killed everyone who opposed him, including family members

• Reign of terror in Russia under Stalin

• Defeated Hitler along with the Allies in WWII and then established Communist governments in Eastern Europe

What is Communism?

• Simply stated: everything is owned by everyone because the government owns it all!

• The goal was to produce goods and give them to people based on need rather than effort.

• Everyone would share everything

• Almost immediately became corrupt!

• Goal was to make the entire world Communist

Who Are the Proletariat?

• The working class people (factory workers)

• Lived In poverty conditions in cities while factory owners grew rich

• Worked for unjustly low wages and poor conditions (just like 3rd World countries today; sweatshops)

• The class of people that were to benefit from a Communist government

Animal Farm

• A satire* about the Russian Revolution and any revolution that promises equality but then becomes corrupt.

*Satire is a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn

It is also a fable because the characters are animals with human characteristics and there is a moral to the story.