Download 26.5

Chapter 26.5
Revolution and Civil War in
Russia
Lenin
Trotsky
Focus Q
• Why do you think most revolutions
begin?
• What part of society usually rebels?
What are their complaints?
• What’s the cost to society? Are they
successful?
• Can you give an example?
Russia in 1914
1. Russia stretched from Eastern Europe to the
Pacific
2. Unlike Europe, it was slow to industrialize
3. Nobles, priests, and an autocratic tsar
(Nicholas II) controlled the economy and
govt
4. Most people were extremely poor
Why do most revolutions begin?
Russia 1917
Nicholas II
1. Weak and ineffective leader
2. Like other tsars, used secret police and
others to enforce his will
3. Many thought of revolting, including
the proletariat
**proletariat: growing class of factory
and RR workers, miners, and urban
workers**
Russia Unprepared in WWI
1. Russian eagerly joined WWI, but…..
Factories didn’t make enough supplies
Transportation systems broke down
By 1915, many soldiers didn’t have
rifles or ammo
March 1917 Revolution
1. Tsar Nicholas II abdicates b/c:
Disasters on the battlefield
Food, fuel shortages
Workers go on strike
Women (mostly) demonstrate in the streets
2. War continues against GER though
3. Revolutionaries are plotting—set up
soviets—councils of workers, soldiers in
cities—Bolsheviks and V.I. Lenin lead them
Lenin’s View of Marx
1. Adapts Marx to fit Russia
2. Marx said the industrial working class would
unite and overthrow capitalism
3. Russia didn’t have a large urban proletariat
4. Lenin wanted an elite group to be the
“dictatorship of the proletariat”
5. This small group was called the
Bolsheviks—”the majority”
6. **V.I. Lenin is the leader of the
Bolsheviks**
Vladimir
Ilyich
Lenin
1870-1924
Bolsheviks
=
Communists
November 1917 Revolution Brings
Bolsheviks to Power
1. Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead the
Bolshevik Revolution
2. Bolsheviks promise “Peace, land, and
Bread” to hungry, war weary Russians
Govt After Nicholas Fails
1. Interim govt led by Alexander Kerensky
continues war, fails to give peasants land
Most Russians are tired of war
Peasants want land
Troops were deserting
Urban workers demand an end to shortages
2. July 1917, govt launches huge offensive
against GER—fails miserably
Bolsheviks Takeover
1. Nov 1917—Red Guards—armed factory
workers join mutinous sailors—and
attack the govt
2. **Nov 1917 Lenin and the Bolsheviks
take power quickly**
3. Moscow becomes their capital, the
Kremlin their headquarters
The Kremlin
Moscow, Russia
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
• Bolshevik Party renamed
Communist Party in 1918
Bolsheviks Takeover
Bolsheviks = Communists
End private ownership of land
Distribute land to peasants
Workers get control of factories and mines
1. New red flag—hammer and sickle—
symbolizes union btwn workers and
peasants
Hammer and sickle = workers and peasants
Star represents the country
Quick review
• Who took over in the Nov 1917
Revolution?
It’s a gas……
• Yo mama must be a parking ticket because she got
fine written all over her.
• Yo mama so hot, yo daddy must need oven mitts.
• Q: How did Barack Obama propose to Michelle
Robinson?
• A: He got down on one knee and said "I don't
wanna be Obama self.
• Trump: "Foreign Policy?, if you mess with the
United States, there will be hell toupee.“
• Why does Hillary prefer dogs to Bill Clinton?
• A dog chases his own tail
Russia Plunges Into Civil War
1. After Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin made
peace w/GER
2. Russia stops fighting Dec. 15, 1917
3. March 1918 sign Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Lost much land
But needed all their resources to
defeat opponents at home
Opposing Forces—Reds vs. Whites
1. 3 year civil war: Reds vs. Whites
2. Reds—communists, led by Lenin and
Trotsky
3. **Whites—tsars officers, Mensheviks,
democrats, anti-communists**
Get help from BR, FR, US—hope whites
would help against GER
What impact do you think this had on
future US/Russian relations?
Opposing Forces—Reds vs. Whites
1. Reds appeal to nationalism and urge
Russians to drive out foreigners
2. Guess who wins?
3. In the long run, the Allied invasion
(supporting the Whites) fed distrust of
the West
War Under Communism
1. Communists use terror against the Whites
and citizens
Cheka—secret police—execute anyone
thought to be against the revolution
1919—forced labor camps—under Stalin
they grow into the dreaded Gulag
Trotsky threatens to kill every 10th man in
army units performing poorly—also
deserters were shot—that’s motivation 
War Under Communism
1. communists adopt a policy of “war
communism”
Take over banks, mines, factories, RR’s
Peasants were drafted into military or to
work in factories
Peasants had to give most of their crops to
feed army or people in cities
2. Reds position in the center of the country
give them a strategic advantage
Win civil war by 1921
Quick review
• Who were the reds?
• Who were the whites?
• Who won?
USSR is Created
1. 1922 Lenin Communist govt unites
much of old Russian Empire into
USSR—Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics
2. Russia is the largest republic—
dominates the others
New Govt, Same Problems
1. Communists write a constitution
Have an elected legislature
All over 18 have right to vote
All political power, means of production
(factories, mines, farms), resources belong
to workers and peasants
All member republics have the same rights
2. In reality, the communist party ruled like
tsars—use army and secret police to
enforce their will
Lenin’s Economic Policy
1. NEP—New Economic Policy—allows some
capitalism
Peasants can sell some grain
Some small shops can open
2. Soviet economy recovers, ends armed
resistance
3. Experiment w/ capitalism is only temporary