Revolution in Russia

1. Revolution in Russia 2010 Practice Exam Week Content Knowledge Test

2. Group 1 Peasants. • Poverty & hardship in countryside • Worked long hours farming small strips of land in villages • Peasant life the same as centuries before • Peasants didn’t read or write • Farming methods inefficient • Were serfs and legally belonged to landlord • Had hardly any more rights than the landowners’ animals • Couldn’t make decisions of their own (marry who & when they like) Part 1

3. Group 2 Workers. • Lived in cities (mostly Moscow & St Petersburg) • 10% of Russian population by 1914 • Worked in factories • Lived and worked in slum area surrounding the polluting factories – in cold, overcrowded barracks • Hard life: wages low so couldn’t rent own room • 1/3 workers were women: paid even less than men • Hardly any safety rules: no workers’ compensation if injured • No unions allowed • Tsar Nicholas believed industrial development more important than workers’ problems • Special police guarded and spied on discontented workers Part 1

4. Group 3 Rich & middle class • Very few people • 1.5% owned most of Russia’s land & resources • Wealthy nobles & landlords owned huge estates in the country • Grand mansions & palaces in the city • Glamorous life: ballets, operas, parties • Middle class = 10% population in 1910 • Middle class = doctors, lawyers, teachers, bureaucrats, merchants

5. Poverty & hardship in countryside • Worked long hours farming small strips of land in villages • Peasant life the same as centuries before • Peasants didn’t read or write • Farming methods inefficient • Were serfs and legally belonged to landlord • Had hardly any more rights than the landowners’ animals • Couldn’t make decisions of their own (marry who & when they like) Difficulties faced by peasants

6. 1861 – a law to give serfs freedom • Peasants could now decide who and when to marry, and to leave the estate they worked on • Legally allowed to own land BUT weren’t given the land they had worked on • Despite protests, they were given small amounts of land and had to pay for it Edict of Emancipation

7. Gov’t lent peasants $ to buy land but peasants had to make large redemption payments for 49 years • Until land was paid off, mirs would ‘own’ and administer land • Peasants did not own (couldn’t buy or sell) their small strip of land • Paid high taxes – more per hectare than landlords • Peasants flogged if didn’t pay taxes on time • Peasants couldn’t afford to support themselves, so moved to the cities to work in factories Disappointment about Edict of Emancipation

8. Industrialisation: • A country building up its industry (usually factories) • Western Europe (esp. Britain & Germany) were the most industrialised • Mass-producing products • Workers in bad conditions, ‘alienated’ from the products they make Part 2 – Key words

9. Russification • Tsar believed every non-Russian (Poles, Ukrainians, Georgians) should adopt the Russian way of life • 50% of the Russian Empire were non-Russian • Non-Russians weren’t taught in their own language in school and couldn’t practice their own religion

10. Autocracy • The political system in which one-person rules • No or little influence of parliament • Inherited (just like a king/queen)

11. Serfdom • A person who is the property of a landowner • Peasant, extremely poor in the countryside

12. Liberalism • A parliamentary government (elections) • Freedom of speech • People are born free • Britain, France, Germany (Western Europe)

13. Okhrana • Secret police in Tsarist Russia • Tsar Nicholas expanded it • Could arrest anyone they suspected of opposing the Tsar or his government • Okhrana spies everywhere

14. Russian Orthodox Church • Main church in Russia • A form of Christianity • Run by the government • Head of the church appointed by the Tsar • Priests preached sermons supporting the government • God = Great Father, Tsar = Little Father of his people

15. Proletariat • Communist word for workers • Unskilled • Worked in factories

16. Tsar • Autocratic leader of Russia • Had total power • Had ministers to give him advice, but when they told him things he didn’t want to hear, he dismissed them • Used the army to control the people • Cossacks broke up protests/riots by slashing them with swords • No one was allowed to complain or oppose the Tsar

17. Pogroms • Violent attacks on Jews and Jewish communities • Stealing possessions, burning houses, raping & killing • Blame all problems on Jewish people • Part of Easter celebrations in Russia • Army & police didn’t stop them

18. Political Organisation 1 Liberals • Wanted change without violent revolution • Believed government could be improved without being overthrown • Possible for Tsar to be part of reform • Wanted parliament to be elected by people like in Britain • Constitutional monarchy • Middle-class people • Kadets = most important liberal political party in 1917 Part 3

19. Political Organisation 2 Socialists • Revolution, not reform • Overthrow the Tsar • Reorganise Russia from top-to-bottom • Wealth & power should be shared equally • 3 parties: Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and Bolsheviks

20. Political Organisation 3 Nationalists • Many nationalist organisations • Ethnic minority groups • Hostile to Russian rule • Opposed Russification • Poles, Jews, Ukrainians and Tartars

21. Most important conflict throughout history was between social classes. • A small ruling class controlled the means of production and became wealthy at the expense of the poor majority. • The capitalists’ wealth comes from profits resulting from the exploitation of an increasingly impoverished mass working class (proletariat). • As the rich become richer and the masses became poorer and alienated from society and the means of production, a time would come when the proletariat would rise up. Marxism – Idea 1

22. Marx envisaged an ideal society, a “communist” society. Aspects of communist society, according to his theory: • No social classes • No private ownership of land • No wages • No state bureaucracy • Economy is owned by the proletariat – the employees own the wealth they produce Marxism – Idea 2

23. Describe and explain how Marxism/communism might influence groups of Russians to try to improve the lives of their fellow countrymen and women. (2009 NCEA essay question). • A) Describe the ideas of communism. • B) what groups of Russians would be affected by communism? How? Part 4 - Paragraph