The Russian Revolution

1. The Russian Revolution Ch. 5.3 – p. 315 Ch. 8.3 – p. 440 Ch. 9.2 – p. 473

2. I. Economic Background • Russia in 1800s lagged far behind W. Europe in industrial development • Its economy was mainly agricultural: • 90% farmers; 80% of those were serfs

3. II. Political Background • Russia ruled by a czar, Romanov Dynasty • Alexander II ruled & began implementing reforms, but was assassinated in 1881 by Russian radicals • Czars were autocratic: Alexander III (1881- 1894) subjects could only speak Russian, only worship in the Russian Orthodox Church. Jews were targeted & exiled; could not buy land or live with Russians. Waves of pogroms occurred, in which violence against Jewish homes, property & persons broke out. Used secret police & censorship

4. A. Nicholas II (ruled: 1894 – 1917) • Launched plan for industrial growth: • Raised taxes, encouraged foreign investment • Factories double, growth of heavy industry, steel (by 1900 4th largest steel prod.) • Completion of Trans-Siberian Railway (1891 – 1904)

5. Industrial progress led to social unrest: • Poor working conditions, low wages, child labor • Growing gap b/w rich & poor • Set stage for revolutionary movement among workers • Workers influenced by teaching of Karl Marx • Industrial class of workers would overthrow czar & form a “dictatorship of the proletariat” • Russian Marxists: Bolsheviks, led by V.I. Lenin (in exile)

6. III. Three Revolutions in Russia, 1905 - 1917 • Mini-Rev. of 1905: CAUSES: 1. Russo-Japanese War, 1904 • Russia & Japan competing for control of Korea & Manchuria • Russia broke agreement w/ Japan over territories & was attacked • Nicholas II hoping a victory in war would shift attention away from domestic problems • Backfired: Russia lost the War Asia Rising: Japanese Postcard “What we need to hold Russia back from revolution is a small, victorious war.”  -Gov. Minister Yellow Peril: Foreign Postcard

7. 2. Bloody Sunday, 1905 • 200,000 workers & families petitioning czar for better working conditions, more freedom & an elected national legislature • Soldiers open fire on unarmed crowd: 100 killed, hundreds wounded • Provoked a wave of strikes & violence across Russia EFFECTS: Nicholas II forced to accept Russia’s 1st Parliament: the DUMA; wanted a constitutional monarchy, but never had real power

8. B. Revolutions of 1917 • MARCH 1917 Revolution: CAUSES: • WWI • Unprepared for military & economic costs • Weak generals & poor equipment no match for Germans • Revealed weakness of Czar & military

9. b. Czarina Alexandra & Rasputin • 1915, Nicholas moved HQ to front lines to boost morale, left Czarina to run gov. • She fell under influence of Rasputin, who made political decisions & placed friends in powerful positions: corruption spread • 1916, Rasputin murdered by nobles • Rumors spread Alexandra was a German spy

10. c. Strikes & Riots • Low morale among soldiers led to mutiny & desertion • Food & fuel at home in low supply, high prices • Women textile workers led strike; riots over shortages of bread & fuel joined by soldiers EFFECT: Nicholas II forced to abdicate (March 15, 1917) family executed within a year ending 300 years of the Romanov Dynasty

11. 2. Provisional Government established • Created by Duma, led by Alexander Kerensky • Failure to end Russia’s involvement in WWI led to his lack of support • Peasants demand bread & land • Soldiers want end to war • Soviets (worker’s councils) gaining power over P.G. General Kornilov, “Kornilov Affair, Summer 1917

12. 3. November 1917 Revolution CAUSES: • April Crisis: Lenin returns • Germans arrange for Lenin to return to Russia after exile b/c Bolsheviks opposed to staying in War • “Peace, Land & Bread” • Lenin’s slogan appealed to masses, popular support by Fall 1917 • Bolshevik Red Guards seized Winter Palace & arrested leaders of P.G.

13. Effects: New Socialist Order Lenin cleans the world of filth (1920) • Lenin orders land redistribution among peasants • Took over control of major industries to be run by soviets • Signed truce w/ Germany: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Gave up 25% Russian-Euro land, mines, factories “Creation of labor is most important for the victory of a new world order.” We will defeat!

14. Russian Civil War, 1918 - 1921

15. 4. Civil War (1918 – 1921) • “White Army” (opponents of Bolsheviks) vs. “Red Army” • White Army received aid from Western (Allied) nations • Bolsheviks, under command of Leon Trotsky, won • An estimated 15mn. died due to war, famine, & 1918 flu epidemic • Revolution & Civil War left economy in ruins: no trade, industrial production dropped, factories ruined, workers fled

16. C. Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP, 1921) • Temporary compromise with capitalism • People could buy/sell goods, farmers sold surplus for profit • Allowed some private ownership • Encouraged foreign investment

17. 2. Political Reforms • Nationality policy (1922) • Organized Russia into self-governing republics under central gov. • Renamed country U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) w/ Moscow as new capital • Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party (based on Marx) • By 1928, economy recovered to pre-WWI status • Lenin’s death in 1924 creates power struggle for control of party

18. Totalitarianism: The Rise of Stalin Ch. 9.2: p. 474

19. I. Stalin Becomes Dictator • After Lenin’s death (1924), a power struggle began b/w Leon Trotsky & Joseph Stalin Trotsky: dedicated to the idea of world rev. modeled after USSR Stalin: only concerned w/ USSR “socialism in one country” • Blended ideas of Marxism & Nationalism • Convinced of foreign attacks, thus believed USSR must launch rapid industrialization to catch up for 100 years lag in only 10 years

20. B. Stalin’s Rise • As CP General Secretary, Stalin appointed party officials & was able to gain their support to control the CP by 1928 • In 1929, he forced Trotsky into exile (killed in 1940) & began eliminating Bolsheviks to create a dictatorship

21. To realize his vision of the USSR as an industrial superpower, he created a totalitarian state, in which the government controls every aspect of public & private life Basic Characteristics: Dictatorship/one-party rule Dynamic leader Singular ideology State control of: business, family life, religion, education, arts, media, housing, youth Use of technology: propaganda & military Terroristic security force/secret police to crush opposition Other examples: Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, Mao’s China, Kim Jong Il’s North Korea, Castro’s Cuba… C. Stalin Builds a Totalitarian State

22. Photographs can lie. They certainly do in the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953, the years of Joseph Stalin's dictatorial rule. Stalin's agents routinely arrest and kill as "enemies of the people" anyone who disagrees with his politics. Communist Party workers then try to remove any trace of these people from the photographic archives, and so from the media.

23. D. Stalin Seizes Control of Economy • Industrial Revolution • 1928: 1st 5-year Plan • Rapid ind. growth & strengthen national defense • Set high quotas to increase output of military & heavy industry: steel, coal, iron, electricity • Meant lack of consumer goods: shortages of housing, food, clothing • Gov. officials chose workers, assigned jobs & set wages; could not move w/o police permission • 1933: 2nd 5-year plan launched & by 1938, USSR transitioned from an agricultural society to industrial “Let us produce 8 million tons of steel for developing socialism” “There is no title higher than Worker”

24. 2. Agricultural Rev.: Collectivization • 1928: gov. seized 25mn. private farms & combined them into state-owned collective farms, operated by hundreds of families producing food for state • Peasants (kulaks) resisted by killing livestock & burning crops • Resisters were exiled to labor camps in Siberia or executed • 1933: Plan resulted in 1st man-made famine as gov. exported crops/grain to workers in cities while peasants starved (5.5mn. died) & gov. forced to import grain • By 1938 90% peasants lived on collectives “Comrade, join our collective farm” “Hard work will supply cities with food and countryside with machinery”

25. E. Weapons of Totalitarianism • The Great Purge, 1934 – 1939 • Stalin turned against members of the CP to eliminate threats to power • Former Bolsheviks stood trial for “crimes against the Soviet State” & executed or exiled • An estimated 8 – 13mn. people executed, including 90% of Red Army Generals, 70% Colonels

26. 2. Indoctrination & propaganda • Youth groups to train future CP members • Use of media & art to spread “positive models of initiative & heroic labor” • “socialist realism” artistic style to promote Soviet life & Communism Roses for Stalin, 1949 Lenin with Villagers, 1959

27. Censorship • Gov. control of media • Religious persecution • Goal: to replace religion w/ Communism • “League of the Militant Godless” atheist organization to spread propaganda that religion was superstition • Police destroyed churches & synagogues • Religious leaders killed or sent to labor camps “The goal of capitalism is always the same”

28. F. Daily Life • Soviet women won equal rights after the 1917 Revolution • Joined workforce, allowed ed. Opportunities, motherhood seen as patriotic duty • Gov. controlled ed. • Demand for skilled workers, university & technical training • No questioning of CP interpretation of history “What the October Revolution has given to working and peasant women” “Study the great path of the party of Lenin-Stalin!” “Collective Farm Woman, be a shock worker of harvesting!”