The Russian Revolution

Lenin and Stalin

Civil War in Russia• 1913 marked the

300th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty in Russia. In March 1917 the first of two revolutions would topple to Romanov Dynasty and pave the way for radical changes

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Russo-Japanese War

• The Russian involvement in the Russo-Japanese War, and its ensuing lose brought embarrassment to the country and also decimated its economy. In response to the perceived incompetence of the Russian Tsar and the shortage of food and work , the loss of the war led to the Revolution of 1905 that was quickly put down.

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Russo-Japanese War

• Besides the embarrassment and perceived incompetence of the government after the Russo-Japanese war, the citizens of Russia were desperately hungry and landless . Russia relied on an agrarian economy that was outdated and inefficient .

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Struggles in Russia• The small farming communes had trouble

providing enough food for the country, creating massive food shortages .

• Factory workers had to endure long hours, low pay, and horrible working conditions . Strikes for improved situations were often ignored or suppressed. Wartime inflation also caused prices to inflate, causing the already scarce food and goods supply to be unaffordable .

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March Revolution• Landowning nobles, priests and the tsar

controlled the government and the economy, while the peasants endured poverty. Most peasants did not own the land they farmed, causing more resentment towards the government.

• As Russia began to industrialize a small middle class emerged

• WWI would united the Russians and they would demand changes in government

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Impact of WWI

• WWI strained Russian resources,– Factories could not produce enough supplies– Transportation system broke down– By 1915 soldiers had no rifles and were dying– Russian casualties reached 2 million

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Impact of WWI

• Tsar goes to battlefield and leaves his wife Alexandria in charge (bad mistake!)

• Alexandria relies on Rasputin illiterate peasant and self proclaimed holy man

• 1916 Rasputin’s influence weakened people’s confidence in government and a group of Russian nobles killed him

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Tsar Steps Down• People were on the streets

shouting, “Bread, bread!” and troops refused to fire leaving the government helpless and forcing him to step down

• A provisional government took over, led by Alexander Kerensky. The new government supported the war, upsetting the army and the country . Kerensky ordered the arrest of the Bolshevik party for it’s anti-war protests.

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Lenin and the Bolsheviks• Had studied the works of Marx and

applied them to Russia• Russia did not have a large proletariat so

he called for an elite group to lead the revolution and set up a dictatorship of the proletariat called the Bolsheviks (majority)

• Mensheviks thought that Marx’s ideas could be achieved through higher wages, social welfare programs and the right to vote.

• Lenin disagreed and thought this idea would only be a capitalist trick and that only revolution would bring change

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Lenin and the Bolsheviks

• Lenin had been exiled for participating in student demonstrations and lived in Germany

• As Russia stumbled into revolution Germany saw a chance to weaken their enemy and helped Lenin return to Russia where he greeted people with “Long live the worldwide Socialist revolution!”

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Bolsheviks and November Revolution

• Lenin along with Trotsky (another Marxist revolutionary) promoted the Bolshevik Party with the slogan, “Peace, Land and Bread!”

• Russians were tired of war and peasants wanted land

• 1917 Lenin overthrew the government and the Bolsheviks took power

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Bolshevik Takeover

• Bolsheviks ended private ownership of land and distributed land to the peasants

• Workers were given control of the factories and mines and a new red flag symbolized the union between workers and peasants

• Millions thought they had gained control finally over their lives

• The Bolsheviks would soon be named the Communists

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Russia and Civil War• Lenin sought peace with Germany by signing

the Treaty of Brest Litovsk (1918)– Gave part of the land back to Germany that Russia

had taken

• Reds (communists) vs. Whites (anti-communists) engaged in war

• Britain, France and the US supported the Whites

• Reds appealed to nationalism and told Russians to drive out the foreigners

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Russia and Civil War• Communists organized Cheka– Secret police who executed

ordinary citizens who were against he revolution

– Set up forced labor camps

• War Communism– Took over banks, mines, factories

and railroads– Peasants were forced to deliver all

their crops to feed the army and were drafted into the military

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Russia and Civil War• Trotsky turned Red Army into an effective

fighting force• Commissars– Communist party officials assigned tot eh army

to teach party principles and ensure party loyalty

– Trotsky’s passionate speeches encouraged soldiers to fight, and so did the order to shoot every tenth man if a unit performed poorly.

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Communist Soviet Union

• Russia was in chaos, millions had died since WWI, famine and disease

• Lenin had to rebuild the shattered state and economy

• He united the Russian Empire in 1922 into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or Soviet Union

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Communist Soviet Union• Set up a constitution with an elected

legislature.• Gave all citizens 18+ the right to vote• All political power, resources and means of

production would belong to the workers and peasants

• But reality differed from theory. Communist Party not the people ruled. Party used the army and secret police to enforce its will

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Lenin’s New Economic Policy• Lenin retreated from war communism which

had brought the economy to near collapse– Factory and mine output had fallen– Peasants stopped producing grain knowing that if

they did the government would take it• New Economic Policy (NEP)– Allowed some capitalist ventures– State kept control of banks, trade and large

industries but allowed small businesses to reopen for private profit

– Stopped squeezing peasants for grain

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Lenin’s New Economic Policy

• Lenin’s compromise with capitalism helped the Soviet economy recover and ended armed resistance to the new government

• 1928 food and industrial production went back up

• Standard of living improved• However this would be short lived as

Lenin’s successor Stalin would take the country back to pure communism

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Stalin’s takes Over

• Lenin died in 1924 at the age of 54• His death set off a power struggle among

communist leaders.• Two competitors were Trotsky and Stalin

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Stalin Takes OverTrotsky

– Brilliant Marxist thinker, skillful speaker and architect of Bolshevik Revolution

– Supported worldwide revolution against capitalism

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Stalin• shrewd political

operator, behind the scenes organizer

• Wanted to concentrate on building socialism at home first

Stalin Takes Over

• Stalin eventually isolated Trotsky in the party and stripped him of party membership

• Trotsky fled country in 1929 but continued to criticize Stalin

• 1940 Stalinist agent murdered Trotsky in Mexico

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Stalin Takes Over

• 1922 Lenin had expressed doubts about Stalin’s ambitious nature:

• “Comrade Stalin has concentrated enormous power in his hands, and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power.”

• Just as Stalin had warned Stalin would use ruthless measures to win dictatorial power

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Stalin’s Reign of Terror

• Historians estimate that as many a twenty million Soviets died in the 29 years of Stalin's reign

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