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Russian Revolution. Russia 1900s. Russia is a VAST country 80% are in extreme poverty Industry is big in the city Low wages and long hours. The Romanov Family. Ruled Russia for 300 years Czar Nicholas II Wife of Nicholas II (Alexandra) was German born. Leading to Revolution.
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Russia 1900s Russia is a VAST country 80% are in extreme poverty Industry is big in the city Low wages and long hours
The Romanov Family • Ruled Russia for 300 years • Czar Nicholas II • Wife of Nicholas II (Alexandra) was German born
Leading to Revolution Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) result of increasingly expansionist Russian foreign policy in the East; intended as a way to increase the prestige of the autocracy at home and abroad, but resulted in a humiliating defeat for Russia. This war marked the first time any Asian power had defeated a European power in a real war. With the defeat, Japan emerged as a major threat to Russian interests in the east and, in Russia, even moderates lost confidence in the old regime.
Bloody Sunday Czarist troops open fire on a peaceful demonstration of workers in St Petersburg. January 9, 1905; peaceful marchers in St. Petersburg carried a petition to Tsar Nicholas II asking for higher wages, a shorter work day, better working conditions, a legislative assembly, and universal manhood suffrage, hoping reform would come from above. In reaction, Nicholas II ordered his guard to fire into the unarmed crowd; when news of one hundred dead and hundreds more wounded escaped, public opinion almost universally turned against the old regime.
Leading to Revolution • 1905 October General Strike sweeps Russia which ends when the Tsar promises a constitution. • 1905 December In response to the suppression of the St Petersburg Soviet, the Moscow Soviet organizes a disastrous insurrection that the government suppresses after five days • 1906 The promised parliament, the Duma, is dissolved when it produces an anti government majority even though elected on a narrow franchise. • 1911-1914 A new wave of workers unrest ends with the outbreak of the First World War
WWI • Patriotic gesture Nicholas II goes to the front to personally take charge • 1915 over 2 million Russians die on the front • Soldiers do not sufficient rifles, ammunition or medical care • While Nicholas II at front, he leaves domestic affairs to wife, Alexandra
“Mad Monk” • Alexandra relied on a “holy man” Rasputin for advise on ruling Russia • Rasputin wasn’t trusted by the government or people and had many enemies • Prince Felix Yussoupov poisoned and shot Rasputin and fellow assassins threw him into a lake (12/29/1916)
March Revolution • Severe food shortages due to the war effort began causing major problems for the common people of Russia. • Marchers through the streets shouting “Bread, bread, bread” • Troops refused to fire on demonstrators • Czar abdicated • Dama set up provisional government • Russia continued in WWI
Founder of Bolshevism: Vladimir Lenin • His Early Years --Exiled to Siberia in 1897 • Committed to Class Struggle and Revolution • Moved to London in 1902 and befriended Leon Trotsky • What is to be Done? Tract
Lenin • Vladimir Ilyich Lenin adapts Marxist ideas to Russian conditions Marxists - Those who followed the orthodox theory as laid out in the Communist Manifesto; called for violent overthrow of the government, international workers' union, and a focus on the urban centers of society. • Set up elite group to lead Revolution. “dictatorship of the proletariat” • Lenin ‘s brother was killed for attempting to kill Alexander III. Lenin hated the Czarist government • Germany helped Lenin return to Russia • Working class to rise up and overthrow government
XIII. The November Revolution • November (Oct.) 1917 • Lenin made his move to seize power. • The Bolsheviks surrounded the Winter Palace where the Provisional Government was meeting and arrested everyone.
Bolsheviks – November Revolution • “Peace, land, and bread” • Red Guards – armed factory workers joined munitions sailors from the Russian fleet in attacking provisional government • Overthrew provisional government • New symbol of government – Red flag with entwined hammer and sickle symbolized union between peasants and workers • Bolsheviks renamed communists
XIII. November Revolution (cont) • Revolutionary army created with Trotsky in charge -- “Red Army” • Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party in March of 1918 • The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiated with the Germans
XIII. November Revolution (cont) • Civil War fought between 1917-1920 -- “Reds” versus “Whites” A smaller group, known as the Greens,was made up of anarchists and opposed both the Whites and the Reds. • Complete breakdown of Russian economy and society
Whites vs. Reds • Lenin and the Bolsheviks were called the “Reds,” (red has been the color of revolution since the French Revolution) White” (white has traditionally been the color of royalty) Consists of those loyal to the tsar or those who are anti-communism
Allied Invasion • Japan seized land in East Asia • Britain, France and U.S. helped Whites because they wanted Russia to continue in war against Germany • Allied attempts failed and led to long term communist distrust of the West
War Communism • Lenin imposed “War Communism” to ensure victory. • For rural peasants, this meant that the food they produced was seized without payment. In the cities, workers were forbidden to strike and placed under military discipline. • The results of these measures allowed the Reds to win the civil war • This led to a famine that claimed the lives of 7.5 million Russians. • Millions of others lived just above the starvation level.
Civil War Ends • Communists adopted a policy of “war communism” • Cheka – secret police • Trotsky turned Red Army into effective fighting force • Trotsky passionate speeches and strict tactics • By 1921, Communists defeated scattered foes • Lenin now faced a chaotic nation of famine, millions dead and an economy in ruins
Lenin Dies • In 1918 he had been shot in an assassination attempt and had never fully recovered from his wounds. • He died on 21 January 1924. • Upon his death, he was hailed as a prophet and the creator of the USSR.
Power Struggle • Who will be the leader after Lenin? • Vicious power struggle • After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin ousted all potential successors to Lenin one by one: Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev, Nikolai Bukharin and Lev Kamenev until he was the only one left. • The final stage of Stalin's rise to power was the ordered assassination of Trotsky in Mexico in 1940.
