Download The Russian Revolution

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: A
QUICK OVERVIEW
Mrs. Mills
THIS LESSON ADDRESSES STANDARDS:
CCSS 8.4: PRODUCE CLEAR AND COHERENT WRITING
IN WHICH THE DEVELOPMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND
STYLE ARE APPROPRIATE TO TASK, PURPOSE, AND
AUDIENCE.
STANDARDS FOR 21ST CENTURY LEARNERS: 1.1.2
USE PRIOR AND BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE AS
CONTEXT FOR NEW LEARNING.
Why are we learning this? What are we learning?
How do I know I have learned this?
What was the Russian Revolution?

The Russian Revolution occurred when Russia’s
political, economic and governmental system
completely collapsed. Differences between upper
class and peasants caused discontent and the
country was soon involved in a bloody war in which
dictators ignored human rights.

“…the Russian revolution took place because the
patience of the Russian people broke down under a
system unparalleled in inefficiency and corruption. No
other nation would have stood the privations which
Russia stood for anything like the same length of
time.”
-British Consultant, Bruce Lockhard
In the beginning…


Before Russia collapsed in 1917, the empire had
been ruled by a single powerful family, the
Romanovs for 300 years. 140 million people lived
in Russia including many Armenians, Finns, Jews,
Poles and Germans.
Russia copied a group called the “Mongols.”


Mongols were brutal nomadic attackers from Asia
who influenced Russia with its autocracy, or one
absolute monarch called a czar.
The czar made laws, commanded armies, controlled
the churches, factories, schools, railroads, universities
and all of life was ruled by this one man.
How bad were the conditions??

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Children were forced into labor in factories and
beaten.
Average salary was $2 a month for working 5 a.m.
until 8 p.m., 70 hour weeks and in polluted factories.
People would have to be on their hands and knees all
day on cold cement or splintered wood.
No freedom of speech
People who spoke out were “crushed brutally”
While Czar lived in lap of luxury, families starved.
Czar Nicholas II


Czar Nicholas married a woman who was not
Russian, but German. Alexandra was viewed as
overbearing and domineering.
Czar Nicholas got Russia involved in a war with
Japan in hopes that it would raise Russia’s morale.
He thought that if they won the war, people would
be proud of Russia. Unfortunately, they lost.

Peasant discontent due to the war, food
reparations, and political groups set the stage for
the event in January 1905, which would later be
called “Bloody Sunday”. Sunday, after church in
January 1905 a group of protestors (many
women and children) proceeded to the Winter
Palace to demand from the Czar food and better
working conditions.

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
Czar Nicholas ordered that his army open fire on
the peasants and thousands ended up dead on the
front lawn of the Palace.
Soon, the people of Russia lost all faith in the Czar
and shut down shops, businesses and soldiers
refused to follow orders.
Everyone soon realized that a new government
would have to take over.
Karl Marx


Marx was a man, who by the time the Russian
Revolution was getting underway, was dead.
However, his ideas were the basis for what a new
Russian government would look like.
Marx, a “radical thinker” was exiled from Paris in
1844 for his ideas about what a government should
be.

Marx wrote that people
were free to leave his or
her low paying jobs but
were forced to go to
another horrid job. He
pointed out that people,
especially what he called
the bourgeoisie, or middle
class, could never own their
own business.

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Marx believed that private ownership of land
must be abolished.
He believed in a “communal” way of life where
everyone shared in the prosperity.
He said that the “workers of the world should
unite” and take over the government.
He wanted a government where all people were
considered equal and that while the government
owns everything, the people own the government.

Let’s focus on a political figure named Vladimir
Lenin and how his support of Marxism helped
shape a new government.

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Back track a few years…In 1887, an
assassination attempt was planned for Czar
Alexander.
The assassination plot was discovered and the
“planners” were hung.
Among these “planners” was a boy named
Alexander Ulyanov.
Alexander Ulyanov’s sister was banished to
another village 40 miles away.
 Now, Alexander’s grief stricken brother,
Vladimir Lenin, decided that he would make
the Czar pay for his brother’s death and his
sister’s banishment.

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Lenin lived for many years in Russia and became
interested in Marx’s ideas. Marx’s book Das Kapital
and another book, a novel, What is to be Done?
inspired Lenin.
He started working on revolutionary propaganda
but was arrested and exiled to Siberia.

Lenin then wrote a pamphlet and had it smuggled
into Russia. It is claimed that 3 out of 5 workers in
Russia read the pamphlet or had it read to them,
teaching the workers the basic ideas behind
Communism and how it would benefit Russia.

Lenin eventually returned to Russia and continued to
raise support for his ideas. He wrote for
underground newspaper. An underground
newspaper is one that is secretly printed and
distributed.
The trouble continues…

As Lenin is gaining more support, Czar Nicholas is
facing more trouble.
The mystery of Rasputin
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A strange man makes his way into the Czar family
when he saves the Czar’s son from bleeding to
death.
Soon there is talk that Rasputin is romantically linked
to the Czarina.
Now there it is thought that due to their affair and
the Czar’s incompetence, Rasputin was making
political decisions.

A plan to kill Rasputin is put into action. Rasputin is
poisoned, shot, clubbed and drowned before finally
dying in a frozen river.

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As World War I began, Czar Nicholas takes over
the army and it is a disaster! Nicholas has a “duma”
or provisional government to help make reforms.
Czar Nicholas falls ill. He asks his brother to take
over the thrown. His brother refuses and the
Romanovs are overthrown.
Meanwhile, Lenin goes…


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To start working for a newspaper.
Starts clearly outlining his ideas for government.
Lenin starts to win over people including a man
named Leon Trotsky, who becomes his partner in
crime.
1917

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Lenin becomes the head of the Bolshevik revolt.
Bolshevik’s enter Winter Palace, overturn provisional
government and take control of country. This was
called the October Revolution and was led by Lenin,
Trotsky and another man named Joseph Stalin. All
three would become leaders in Russia.
In 1918, Lenin imposes Communism.
1918…

Nicholas and his family are executed. It is
believed that Lenin ordered this execution.

Some people in Russia did not like Communism and
soon a civil war broke out among people. Some
fought for the Red Army (the communists) and others
for the White Army (traditionalists).

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Trotsky, who as the head of the Commissar for
Foreign Affairs favored a world revolution.
In 1919, Trotsky thought it was time to push forward
and move Communism on to other countries.

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From 1918-1921, the civil war continued. Foreign
countries like Britain, France and the US were
alarmed at the spread of communism.
Stalin, however, opposed Trotsky and didn’t want to
move forward to other countries.
Bye, Bye Lenin


Lenin was on his death bed in 1924. Since he began
his rule, 7 million people have died from disease
and as a result of war.
Lenin wrote in a letter before his death that he
thought Stalin would wipe out the population if he
came to power. The letter was lost until years later.

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Stalin, an average man, who didn’t want to follow
Marx’s ideas craved power and was willing to kill
for it.
He got the Propaganda Department to support his
image and lied to get more supporters. He
benefited from education being controlled.
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To secure his power, he had Trotsky exiled in 1929.
This was helpful to Stalin because he could blame
all of the problems and difficulties that Russia
encountered on Trotsky.
Beginning in 1929, Stalin began to “exterminate”
the Kulaks.

The kulaks were peasants who did not want their
farms to be collectivized (taken by the government)
after the revolution. Stalin felt many of the kulaks
were gaining too much wealth. He killed most of the
kulaks by firing squads. As he killed them, farming
suffered and there were more food shortages.
The Five Year Plan

A five year plan was introduced by Stalin. He
wanted to increase literacy rates, improve factories
and health care and murder anyone who did not
like him.
The five year plan worked because…
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Stalin built 500 new factories.
U.S. becomes Russia’s rival.
Russia becomes a major nation.
Gains were made in health care, literacy, nutrition,
living standards.
Murdered an estimated 8 to 15 million people.
Did help Europe during WWII, which prevented
Hitler from taking over.

“Raised as a poor peasant, Stalin must have hated
the rich and desired all to be equal. Communism
appeals to this and a desire for wealth and control
pushed him to power. Stalin did much to help Russia
and the world in WWII but killed millions in pursuit
of his ideas and dictatorship. To his calloused heart,
‘A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a
statistic.’”

Simmonds, George
http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_stalin.html “Joseph
Stalin” Scholastic. Accessed October 22, 2012
Now, let’s start Animal Farm and
see how the real life events and the
book go together in a fantastic allegory!