Russian Revolution

1. Russian Revolution Soldiers sympathetic to the Bolshevik cause carry banners bearing Marxist slogans. Lenin and his co-conspirators found a welcome audience among the Imperial troops. Sent by the czar to fighting a losing war in the freezing winter, they were quick to accept the message that they were being exploited.

2. Marx & the Roots of Communism • Communist Manifesto(1848) & Das Kapital(1867) explained his theory of communism. • Key Elements of Marxist thought: • Man is by nature good • Economic relations determine all human relations • Exploitation is an inherent feature of capitalism • Private property is evil • Capitalism produces two classes of people • Only revolution can rid society of capitalism and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat • Classlessness and statelessness will follow after the revolution and a transition period Karl Marx (1818-1883) – German economist, philosopher and socialist

3. Socialism vs. Communism • Marxist theories pertaining to industry…. • raw materials; factory & machinery; factory manager & owner (bourgeosie); and the workman (proletariat); of all these elements, Marx said, the workman was most important. • Capitalists stole the value of the product from the worker for his own profit • Marx’s solution: Workers should take over all elements of production • Socialism vs. Communism • Socialism believes there are legal and constitutional approaches to take over industry; but, industrialists control the legal and political avenues of change. • Communism states that only through violent revolution of the common man can he take over the means of production from the capitalists. • Private property is an evil (according to Marx)

4. Marxist History • Marx interpreted the events of history, and the coming of the revolution as follows: • Capitalism was borne out of feudalism and exploitive by definition. Class struggle was the result. • Revolution would overthrow capitalism after workers had become class conscious. According to Marx, this would happen in industrialized nations, such as Britain, Germany or the USA. • Dictatorship of the Proletariat (transitional stage) • State would eventually wither and true communism would be established. No explanation as to how this would occur. “The history of all human society, past and present, has been the history of class struggles”

5. Russia (1900 – 1917) • Three Russian Problems: • Industrialization • Industry was foreign owned; profits left the country • To pay for foreign technology the people were heavily taxed • Labour • Few skilled workers • Workers soon realized they had the power if they could organize • Strikes • The Peasant Question • ¾ of pop. were uneducated unskilled peasants • Most lived on farms • No political representation; heavily taxed; main source of income for the Tsar • Seen as untapped resource for the communists Tsar Nicholas II of Romanov Dynasty

6. Revolt of 1905 • Voices of dissent: • Labour • Peasants • Intellectuals • Military (Russo-Japanese War) Tsar Nicholas II is unable (and uninterested) to deal with the growing dissatisfaction of Russian people; faces growing criticism. Communist movement is split – Bolsheviks(means majority) believed that winning over the masses to bring about a revolution was unnecessary. A small group of hardcore revolutionaries could do it – Lenin Mensheviks (means minority) believed that the masses must first be won over - Martov

7. Bloody Sunday (1905) • Tsarist troops opened fire on a group of protesters who were begging the Tsar for help • 130 were killed; 100s wounded • Significance: • Showed incompetence of Tsarist regime • Tsar’s support crumbles • Strikes • Soviet (council) formed of Marxists October Manifesto – Tsar’s Response i. Provide some civil liberties ii. Create a Duma (legislative assembly)

8. Outcome of 1905 • The Fundamental Laws • Tsar held power to call and dismiss the new Duma • Impact of Fundamental Laws • Temporarily, most dissatisfied had been placated • Long Term Impact • Tsar arrests and harasses opposition • Terrorism continues • Tsar becomes more despotic, which in turn bred more terrorism

9. Rasputin and the end of the Romanovs • WWI further exaggerated all existing issues in Russia • Tsar was even less capable of running a war than managing the country in peace time • 1915 – Tsar Nicholas II left for the front to take personal charge of the troops and leaves Tsarina in charge of the domestic scene. She hands over reins of power to Rasputin, the mystic. • Rasputin claimed he could cure her son’s hemophilia • A drunk, he was “the straw that broke Russia’s back” • 1917 – 1.5 million desertions in Russian army Rasputin

10. March 1917: The First Revolution • war • food shortages • strikes • Cossacks refuse to fire on strikers, shoot commander instead • Moscow falls, Tsar forced to abdicate and placed under house arrest • Provisional government formed of moderates with some radicals • Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin still in exile Duma, 1917

11. Provisional Government • Power Struggle: Liberals vs. Marxist • Weaknesses of Provisional Government: • Did not recognize the catastrophic condition of Russia. Famine rules Russia. • Unable to address the serious problems facing Russia • Misjudged mood of Russian people with regard to the continuation of the war effort against Germany Lenin – “Peace, Bread and Land” Alex Kerensky

12. Lenin returns to Russia in April, 1917 • April Theses: “Peace, Bread & Land” • Proletariat and peasants must bring about communist revolution • Immediate peace • Seizure of the gentry land • All power to the Soviets • Seizure of Factories July 1917 – Lenin fails to overthrow Provisional Government. Kerensky becomes PM of provisional government.

13. Kornilov Affair • A loose alliance of two groups was now running Russia • Socialists (not communists) led by Kerensky • Constitutional Democrats led by General Kornilov • Kornilov Affair: • Political unrest in Petrograd requires Kerensky to call for the armies support (very Tsarist) • Gen. Kornilov decides to attempt military coup rather than support the provisional government • Kerensky appeals to the workers and the people to save Russia • In step the Bolsheviks……

14. October Revolution, 1917 • Trotsky, a Bolshevik, rallies the workers and gains political control of the Moscow and Petrograd Soviets and the military during the Kornilov Affair • Lenin returns to Russia and with the help of Trotsky seize power, claiming a communist revolution • October 13, 1917 – Petrograd is under control of the Bolsheviks • October 23 – Moscow falls • November 7 – the provisional government is arrested USSR propaganda tells of a great uprising, but in actual fact it was a rather calm affair; the October events were planned and met with little resistance Leon Trotsky

15. Lenin’s immediate reforms Industrial: Work day shortened, unemployment insurance, worker control of factories, state owned banks Peasants: land to the peasants Social: expropriate church lands, end right of church to educate, rights of women, social equality LeninismIs it acceptable to use violence to change society?

16. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Trotsky negotiates with Germans “Peace at any cost” Russia Gives away Baltic, Poland, Ukraine 62 million people(26%), 27% of USSR agricultural land, 26% of railroads, 70% of iron & coal deposits Germany achieves war aims: “Middle Europe” Problems for the New Government:

17. Communism • Steps taken to introduce communism: • Bolsheviks allowed the peasants to seize land • Factories come under the control of workers’ committees • All banks are nationalized • Private accounts were confiscated • Foreign trade became a state monopoly • All opposition groups were made illegal. • Including the Mensheviks

18. “Civil War…” 1918-1921 Former officers, middle class/professionals/industrial class, peasants, ethnic minorities attempt to overthrow Bolsheviks Poland, Britain, USA, Japan, France, Czech’s land troops. Poland attacks Lenin creates a secret Police (Cheka) w/ Felix Dzezhinski, (~50,000 killed) Immediate bloodletting, many more die because of the war, violence, and terror that follow Dr. Zhivago

19. War Communism: Economic Policy • Radicalism establishing communism and fight civil war • Organize agriculture under Bolshevik control • Expropriate surplus for war • Social equality (Housing, status of women, comrade) • Nationalize all industry - end worker control • Centralization of all aspects of Russian life 1918: Assassination attempt on Lenin Tsar: The Tsar and family are executed - including Anastasia? Famine: The turmoil that accompanies the civil war and land question leads to a famine in much of the Soviet Union

20. Bolsheviks Control Central Russia Trotsky (Red Army) v. White Army (fought as many independents) Allied intervention was less than half-hearted Attitudes of the population: Middle class and upper class were “white” Lower working class were “red” Peasants were non committal, but in the end the would get their land (for the time being) Communists were ruthless Economic organization War Communism Bolsheviks Win Russian Civil War- Why?

21. New Economic Policy (NEP) (1921) • Private trade allowed, moderation of harsh economic policies • Permit peasants to sell surplus, private ownership, small business • Permits the re-establishment of a middle class both in the city and on farms (Kulaks) • Creates personal affluence and access to goods, but also resentment amongst the peasants These changes to War Communism created a sense (falsely) that the people, who were the driving force of the revolution, gained from their sacrifice

22. Lenin’s Foreign Policy • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Russian Civil War immediately pitted young Bolshevik state against the West. • Cancellation of all Tsarist treaties with foreign nation; including debt and seizure of foreign property. • Foreign Trade comes to an end. • International recognition – Britain (1924) • Treaty of Rapallo – USSR agreed to manufacture illegal war material for Germany in exchange for steel manufacturing technology. • Encouraged international revolution the world over, but internal troubles made the USSR’s leadership impossible (Comintern).

23. Revolution - came to power Introduced first communist nation Implemented Marxism to some degree Brought social change and won civil war Peace with Germany “You cannot make an omelet without breaking an egg” Rejected historical Marxism Opportunist - power hungry Began political organs of terror - Cheka Withdrew personal freedoms Discredited communism Paved way to Stalin Represented a minority when he took power (“Vanguard of the Proletariat”) The repression of workers and rivals Revolution in a peasant society means the proletariat is in the minority Lenin is good - Lenin is bad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXJfTN_LeaI&feature=related Lenn n clolor

24. The removal of private property Social and economic reform Violent overthrow of the Bourgeoise Represented a minority when he took power (“Vanguard of the Proletariat”) The repression of workers and rivals Revolution in a peasant society means the proletariat is in the minority Is Lenin a Marxist?

25. Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin 1922 – Lenin has the first of three strokes (by ’23 he is paralyzed and unable to speak) Lenin on Stalin – “He has concentrated enormous power in his hands, and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with caution.” Lenin – Chairman Trotsky – Foreign Affairs Stalin – Commissioner of Nationalism & Chairman of the Communist Party Stalin becomes the political powerbroker controlling who could influence and vote on policy. He effectively controlled who was “elected” to high positions in the party.

26. Stalin: Georgian – bright but a bully in school Sent to Siberia 6 times for actions against the Tsar “Socialism in one country” New Economic Policy Trotsky: Intellectual & career revolutionary Desires global communist revolution Of Stalin: “the most eminent mediocrity in the party” Industrialization Clash of Visions Stalin forces Trotsky into exile with the help of moderates…..he was found guilty of treason in absentia and sentenced to death….. Trotsky was killed in 1940 by KGB in Mexico City

27. Revolution Betrayed • Revolutions always turn conservative • Death of Revolutionary fervor • Bureaucratization: consolidation of power • Defeat of international socialism • Left wingers arrested • Isolation – • Soviet state centred around innerpolicies • Stalin begins absolute and brutal reign • “A riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” • Winston Churchill

28. Lenin • Was Lenin a success or a failure? • Did Lenin betray communism or help to realize it? • Who did Lenin choose as his successor; why?

29. Marxism: • The history of hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle” • The Bourgeoisie: The owners of the factories and banks. The rich. The goal of this group is to make as much money. To do this they expand business opportunities while keeping wages/cost down • Global Capitalism • Ever expanding markets ……..Destroys nationalism, political power, Religion, morality, family, • One calculation: Value of labor and profit. … • Freedom = Free Trade, “brutal exploitation,” • Constant expansion until the Crisis of Overproduction, which can only be solved by more thorough exploitation and conquest of new markets

30. The Proletariat: The workers who seek to improve the quality of their lives. The work they do horrible, hours terrible, child labor, exploited, wages low, rents too high, and now debt • . • The Proletariat seek to improve their situation: Individually, as trades, they destroy the machines that exploit them. But as the Industrial Revolutions deepens there are just more workers who further weaken the power of the class. Unionism is the one means of increasing the collective power of the group. • The crisis of overproduction) forces the bourgeoise to make an alliance with proletariat. (perfection of production) • Vanguard of the Proletariat: Intellectuals emerge who understand the historical process and these people become leaders of the revolution • Revolution: the violent destruction of the existing order and the creation of a Proletariat Communist State.

31. Communists: Abolition of Private Property: Collective and common ownership of the means of production. “Dictatorship of the Proletariat:” First time in history that the will of the majority will be the state. Hence the workers will have supreme control. Communist Party will have no interests that appose the welfare of the workers • The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to the other working-class parties. • They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole. They do not set up any sectarian principles of their own, by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement. Communism is not nationalist (workers define humanity not ethnicity) Communism views “Religion as the opium of the masses” Communist state can be created in an Industrialized state, only. Industrialization creates the means to produce an excess of wealth and products, enough to distribute.

32. Lenin encourages international revolution In 1924 in part from complications following the shooting of 1918 Communist International (Comintern) Lenin dies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUV2QTXIW1U&feature=related Lenin speaks

33. Marxism March Revolution Kerensky: continues war, no land distribution, greater political freedom Soviets Kornilov’s Coup Lenin returns: “Peace, bread land”, “All power to the soviet” November Revolution Immediate reforms: land, nationalization, social reform Election Brestlitovsk Civil War: use of “Terror” (Cheka) War Communism Kronstadt Rebellion NEP Choice of Successor: Stalin v. Trotsky Reveiw

34. What am I trying to do? To show you that a model exists that shows the pressures new societies experience in part it is to show that the process can be reversed through understanding Trotsky’s: “Revolution Betrayed” Applies to Russia, France, Nicaragua, Cuba… Model for RevolutionStalin v. Trotsky

35. Interference from West in the form of: Actual military intervention Arms and legitimacy to the old regime’ Reduction of trade Victory State Capitalism creates prosperity for new elite dependent on extremism/violence to retain privilege conflict causes power struggle: Hardliners win - “end justifies the means” Evolution of Revolution Tyrany/despot: Elite, foreign ownership, army, inequality, NEW ELITE’ -Amalgamation of opposition against Tyrant -Rebellion overthrows Government and Tyrant -Revolution creates new laws: Land reform, social equity nationalizing, reform, export of ideas, and police Civil War

36. Stalin; the man of Social forces Revolutions always turn conservative (Thermidor) Death of Revolutionary fervor Bureaucratization: consolidation of power Defeat of international socialism Even Lenin would have been overthrown Left wingers arrested Trotsky dies in Mexico in 1940 with an ice pick in his head. The Revolution Betrayed: Thermidor thesis

37. Nationalism Personality Economics “Socialism in one country” v. international revolution Trotsky called for international revolution and Germany would help Russia develop. Stalin sensed that Russia was isolated and needed to create one communist nation. Apparatchik v. fame Trotsky was a famous Civil War hero, signed Brest-Litovsk, head of Soviet, famous thinker/writer/speaker Stalin organizer, controlled the appointment of officials for communist party. This meant that every body had to be Stalin’s friend to get a job. Industrialization v. NEP Trotsky called for rapid industrialization (left) Stalin called for the preservation of the moderate policies of the NEP. (right) NEP won left was thrown out. Once right won Stalin began to eliminate his enemies and he himself then called for industrialization Power struggleStalin v. Trotskythree issues that separate the two men

38. Stalinism in the 1930’s • Once firmly in Power Stalin adopted Trotsky’s principle of • Industrialization. “Soc. In One Country” now meant catching • up to the west for communist survival. • The idea was to realize “communism” by creating greater wealth and to eliminate the NEP which was petty bourgeois, and provided for slower growth • To achieve Stalin“ism” a Five Year Plan (1928) was pursued…. • Summary: • Most goals not met • Human cost was high • Marx sacrificed for production • Enemies & opposition sent to Gulag

39. Five Year Plan (1928) We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us. - Josef Stalin Stalin's first five-year plan helped make the USSR a leading industrial nation; albeit at the expense of millions of lives and a decline in the standard of living. Key Elements: a) Command Economy b) Collectivization c) Industry

40. Command Economy Free market forces eliminated (Lenin’s NEP and soft communism is wiped out) Government sets production goals for all aspects of the economy Production, distribution and consumption are controlled by the state All individual economic initiative was suppressed in the USSR

41. Collectivization • Definition: The unification or collectivization of many farms into one large shared farm. • Purpose: Greater equality, increased efficiency, greater, output, and mechanization. • Consequence: Kulaks: “The elimination of Kulaks as a class” Kulak’s are middle class farmers that resisted collectivization. They are ruthlessly suppressed, evicted, placed in labor camps, Siberia. (hundreds of thousands to millions die) Ukrainian Famine (1928):drop in production, resistance, slaughter of animals, forced procurements (some argue Stalin encouraged the famine in areas hostile to collectivization) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQZ9qWO63Sk&feature=related Pro collectivization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcumJNNX0qc collectivization

42. Collectivization • By 1937 90 percent of peasants were on collective farms and collectivization begins to see returns and increases to former production levels • Statistics: • 100 million peasants in 1928 and 25 million small farms • (1 in 4 owned land) • (75% of peasants would support collectivization 25% would resist) • By 1932 75% of farms were collective and by 1937 90% were collectivized 1927  1932  1937 • grain (million tons)  69  73  97 • cattle (million)  70  40  63 • Pigs (million) 26  12  23 • tractors (thousand)  25   200 • Harvesters (thousand) 1   25

43. The creation of a 5 year plan to increase heavy industrial production (Coal, elect, steel etc) Gosplan: Central control of economy, targets for production not always keyed to demand By 1937 produce as much steel as G.Britain Lives improve; Pension’s guaranteed in constitution Free medical (more doctors per 100 people than anywhere in the world) Illiteracy falls from 50% to 19% However, the existence of slave labor and gulags, and terrible working conditionsare problematic in a communist society 1927 1932 1937 Coal (mill tons)  35 64  128 Oil    11  21  28 Iron    3  6  14 Steel    4  6  17 Tractors (thou) 25   200 Harvesters ("   ") 1   25 Industrialization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXGThPeOJu4&feature=related industrialization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsaNhs0merk&feature=related magnitorovsk

44. Political Propaganda

45. Soviet Economics and Paranoia • Second Five Year Plan (1933-37) • Command economies become rigid to make up for the failure of the first five year plan • Conditions seen as harsh by many in Stalin’s government • Stalin begins to purge anyone critical of the plan, thus the revolution • All dissenters arrested by NKVD (secret police) • Show trials (outcome predetermined) • Problems with the purges: • Stalin became paranoid • Purges killed off the USSR’s best thinkers and its most capable military leaders

46. Summation of Five Year Plans • Stalin’s 3rd Five Year Plan (1938-1940) • Stalin sees the need (desperate in his mind) to arm Russia against another invasion. • If Soviet economy could not match production of war goods of their enemies the USSR would collapse as it had in 1917 • Soviet Economy by 1941: • 5 Year Plans seldom met targets, • Farming was organized and production increased • Rapid urbanization (peasants flood cities) • Small increase in standard of living • Modernization of armed forces, though leaderless • Loss of civil liberties • Terror used as a tool of control

47. 10-20 million dead (impossible to know true figures) Mass movements of people Famine caused by collectivization and its resistance Slave labor camps (Siberia) - Gulags Mass executions and political torture Fear existed as people denounced neighbors Stalin built a “cult of personality” around himself History is distorted to support Stalin’s view Purges and Labour camps

48. George Orwell A man is captured and is to be tortured. The torturer asks him what 2+2 equals? The man replies 4; the torturer applies electric shock to the man and then asks him again what 2+2 equals? The man again replies 4; the torturer increases the voltage and shocks the man who screams in pain. The torturer repeats the question and the man shouts, “what do you want me to say?” The torturer says 5 which the prisoner repeats after the question is asked once more. The torturer increases the voltage to the highest setting and shocks the man who looks up at the torturer and says, “ but I told you what you wanted to hear.” The torturer replied, “yes, but you didn’t believe it.”……….Totalitarian Rule….

49. 1928: Show Trials Confessions, non appearance, saboteurs collaborating with enemies 1933: Ryutin Platform a letter of criticism; one million purged 1934: Kirov murder 27th Congress of “Victors” (victims) 2/3 dead 1936: Great Purge: Numbers unknown 1937: Army purged, then doctors 1938: Bukharin Purges Timeline Show Trials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1333fveKng&feature=related

50. Another aspect of the purges is the labor camps (Gulags). Labor camps of criminals, political prisoners, victims of purges work in building projects under the worst conditions Gulag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6y2CTxbtL0