Download THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
and THE RISE OF STALIN
1917-1930s
Russia, 1861-1905
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1861- Tsar Alexander II liberated the serfs
The state gave land to the peasant
communities and required the peasants to
pay for the land through 49 years mortgages
Ex-serf holders (lords) were compensated
by the state and kept the best land for
themselves
Expansion of the railway system
industrialization
Russia, 1861-1905
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Alexander III- policy of “Russification” which
aimed assimilation of non-Russian peoples
1891-92- famine
Ideas of Karl Marx appealed to Russian
intellectuals- Marx believed that ultimately,
through the efforts of the working class, a
socialist, classless society would develop
that would end exploitation and provide for
al members of society
Marxism/Communism
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Two of Marx’s most important works were
“The Communist Manifesto (1848, written
with F. Engels) and “Capital” (1867)
Marx viewed human history as a series of
struggles between social classes. These
struggles involved a conflict between
owners of property and those who labor on
that property. In each of a series of historical
stages, the oppressed lower classes
eventually rise up against the propertyowning class and overthrow it
Marxism
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According to Marx, industrial capitalism will
be the final stage. This stage pits factory
owners against factory workers. In a
revolution, workers would seize power from
factory owners.
Marx believed that capitalism would be
succeeded by an economic systemsocialism- in which the people themselves
control the means of production
Marxism
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Russian intellectuals knew that would
have to rally the peasant and working
classes- the “masses”- to their cause
through education and organization
Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917)
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Believed in absolute rule; lacked the intelligence
and strong personality to provide strong leadership;
relied on the secret police
Peasants moved to the cities and took jobs in the
factories
Two political groups emerged in Russia in the early
years of the 20th century- liberals, who supported a
more western form of government; and socialists,
who worked to gather the support of workers and
peasants for revolutionary change in Russia
Tsar Nicholas II
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Social Revolutionaries (SRs)- slogan
was “land and liberty”- the party of the
peasants
Goals- to socialize all land and transfer
it to the communes and replace the
monarchy with a democratic republic
1902- SRs assassinated the tsar’s
minister of the interior
Tsar Nicholas II
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Marxist Social Democrats (SDs)- Vladimir
Lenin insisted that a successful revolution
depended on revolutionary intellectuals
building a stronger sense of working-class
consciousness among workers. Lenin spent
many years in exile because of his
revolutionary activity
1903- SDs split in two: Mensheviks and
Bolsheviks
Tsar Nicholas II
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1904- Russo-Japanese Warcompetition over Korea and Manchuria
Russian army fought with outdated
weapons and was poorly supplied
Japan was the victor
1905 Revolution
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1905 Revolution- January 9th, 150,000
workers marched to the tsar’s Winter Palace
to bring him a petition of economic
grievances
Troops fired on the demonstrators, killing
40; there were other clashes around the city
“Bloody Sunday”- there were calls for a
constitution and other reforms
1905 Revolution
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September- first general strike in Russian
history
Strike was led by a workers’ council (soviet)
which was led by Leon Trotsky
October Manifesto (1905)- limited
monarchy, legislature elected by universal
suffrage and legalization of trade unions and
political parties
The tsar reluctantly signed the manifesto
1905-1906
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Political unrest continued to divide the
country: conservatives vs.
revolutionaries
The Constitutional Democrats (Kadets)
won the largest number of seats in the
first Duma (April 1906)
Nicholas dissolved Duma
WWI
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Ill-trained, ineffective officers, poorly equipped
soldiers- the result was mass desertions and 2
million casualties by 1915
Chaos and disintegration of the Russian Army
Battle of Tannenburg- massive defeat of Russians
by Germany
Nicholas II left for the Eastern Front in September
1915
Alexandra and Rasputin throw the government into
chaos
Alexandra-
Rasputin
the “power behind th
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“The Royal
Family”
Rasputin:
Documentary
on the Evil
Reign of
Rasputin
WWI
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Rasputin was assassinated in
December, 1916
Inflation and starvation; cities were
overflowing with refugees
Cities became a hotbed for political
activism and this was ignited by
serious food shortages in March 1917,
especially in St. Petersburg
Two Revolutions in 1917
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The March Revolution (March 12)
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The November Revolution (November
6)
The March Revolution
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Origins: Food riots/strike
Duma declares itself a Provisional
Government on March 12
Tsar ordered soldiers to intervene; instead
they joined the rebellion…the tsar abdicated
on March 17
Alexander Kerensky headed the Provisional
Government with Prince Lvov
The Petrograd Soviet
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Leftists in St. Petersburg formed the
Petrograd Soviet, which they claimed to be
the legitimate government
Germany was aware of the Russian
situation and began to concentrate on the
Western Front
Germany played a role in returning Lenin to
Russia so he could foment revolution
Having been granted “safe passage” Lenin
returned to Russia in April 1917
Soviet Political Ideology
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Radical and revolutionary
Influenced by Marxist socialism
Two factions:
Mensheviks
Bolsheviks
Vladimir Lenin: Founder of
Bolshevism
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He was exiled to Siberia in 1897 for political
activities
Committed to the class struggle and
revolution
Wrote “What is to Be Done?”
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- a small elite is required to lead the communist
revolution
1900- went to Switzerland where many Russian
socialists were living in exile
Lenin returns to Russia
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April Theses: called for Russia to withdraw
from the war, for the soviets to seize power
on behalf of workers and peasants, and for
all private land to be nationalized
“Peace, bread and land”
By the fall of 1917, the Provisional
Government had failed
November, 1917
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Armed factory workers overthrow the
provisional government- they want
food and they want the government to
leave the war
The factory workers are led by Leon
Trotsky, one of the leaders of the
Bolshevik Communist Party
Lenin consolidates his power in
January, 1918 when he disbands the
The Royal Family
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Tsar, his wife and children were
arrested after the abdication
April, 1917: they were sent to Siberia
April, 1918:They were moved to
Ekaterinburg, where they were
executed and their bodies burned in
July, 1918
November, 1917
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Workers were given control over the
factories
Lenin made peace with Germany- Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk was signed in March , 1918
Civil War broke out in Russia- the Reds
(Communists) fought the Whites, who
remained loyal to the tsar; ends in 1922
Lenin rules Russia until his death in 1924
Communists in Power
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Abolished private property and allowed peasants to
work the land they had seized in the first year of the
revolution
Factories were nationalized
Leon Trotsky, Bolshevik commissar of war, built a
highly disciplined army
Lenin set up the CHEKA or secret police to arrest
political opponents
The civil war ended in 1922 with the Bolsheviks in
power
The Communist Utopia
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Lenin- New Economic Policy (NEP) imposed
a tax on production of grain rather than
confiscating it
Lenin died in 1924; power struggle between
Trotsky and Stalin
Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) became the new
leader of the USSR
Stalin had Trotsky sent to Siberia and then
exiled; Stalin sent a KGB agent to
assassinate Trotsky (in Mexico City)
JoSta
Stalin
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Stalin became the unquestioned
leader of a single-party state, while
more than ten million people, starved,
were executed, or were worked to
death in labor camps during the 1930s
In 1929, Stalin presented the first of
several five-year plans to the
Communist Party congress
He established central economic
planning
Stalin
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Between 1928 and 1940, the number
of Soviet workers in industry,
construction and transport grew from 4
million to 12 million
Central planning helped create a new
elite of bureaucrats and industrial
officials
Stalin demanded more grain from the
peasants to feed the urban workforce
Collectivization
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Peasants resisted government demands by
cutting production or withholding produce
from the market
Stalin called for the “liquidation of the
kulaks.”
Winter of 1929-30- communist party workers
went to the villages in search of grain
Anyone who refused was executed or
imprisoned; Confiscated kulak land formed
the basis of the “kolkhoz,” or collective farm
where peasants were to create a communist
agricultural system
The Purges
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Collectivization was a disaster; soviet
citizens starved as the grain harvest
declined from 83 million tons in 1930
to 67 million in 1934
Stalin blamed the failure on “wreckers”
of communism and he instituted
purges- state violence in the form of
arrests, imprisonments in labor camps,
and executions
The Purges
“Show trials”- 1936-38- former Bolsheviks were
forced to confess to being a part of a
conspiracy against Stalin
Most of those found guilty were shot
Purges occurred in every part of society,
including the military
A system of prison camps was established
over several thousand miles stretching from
Moscow to Siberia
The Purges
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Camps were called the “Gulag”
8 million prisoners were held in any
one year during the 1930s
Harsh conditions, beatings, murder led
to the death of about 1 million
prisoners a year
Arrests, imprisonment and executions
eliminated any opposition to Stalin’s
power
Soviet Society
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To ensure obedience, Stalin used
secret police, censorship and terror
Propaganda- Stalin and Communism
Atheism was the official policy of the
state
Art and literature were subject to state
approval
Totalitarian government
Stalin Statue