RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Economic BackgroundPolitical BackgroundThe Revolutions of 1917The Aftermath

Economic Background

Mongols’ controlEarly industryLack of capital

Industrial Growth

Political Background

Alexander II—freed serfs and allowed for elected local governments

Murdered

Alexander III—reactionaryNicholas II—continued father’s programs

Marxists Exploited Situation

Socialist Revolutionary Party

PeasantsSome socialistsSome liberals

Social Democratic PartyBolsheviks

Lenin-controlledMensheviks

Party democracy

Revolution of 1905Bloody Sunday (1/9/1905)

1,000’s of workersLed by Father GaponPetition for:

8-hr dayBetter wagesBill of rightsEducation

"Oh Sire, we working men and inhabitants of St. Petersburg, our wives, our children and our parents, helpless and aged women and men, have come to You our ruler, in search of justice and protection. We are beggars, we are oppressed and overburdened with work, we are insulted, we are not looked on as human beings but as slaves. The moment has come for us when death would be better than the prolongation of our intolerable sufferings. We are seeking here our last salvation. Do not refuse to help Your people. Destroy the wall between Yourself and Your people."

Approximately 100 killedStrikes, mutinies, violenceLed to October

Manifesto

"The present ruler has lost absolutely the affection of the Russian people, and whatever the future may have in store for the dynasty, the present tsar will never again be safe in the midst of his people."

The American consul in Odessa 

October Manifesto (1905)

Freedom of conscience, speech, assembly & pressAll laws approved by Duma (consultive body)Soviets developed

Committees of workersLenin did NOT make them, just used them

So a constitution is granted. Freedom of assembly is granted but the assemblies are surrounded by the military. Freedom of speech is granted, but the censorship exists as before. Freedom of knowledge is granted, but the universities are occupied by troops. Inviolability of the person (freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment) is granted, but the prisons are overflowing with the incarcerated . . . . A constitution is given, but the autocracy remains. Everything is given— and nothing is given.” Leon Trotsky

WWI (1914)

Nicholas entered WWIBolsheviks gradually took control of Petrograd Soviet

German army at Petrograd in 1917Petrograd asked Soviet to protect it

The Revolutions of 1917

First RevolutionKornilov InsurrectionSecond Revolution

The Romanovs

Rasputin

Starets = Holy manPresented to Alexandra in 1905“Healed” the tsarevich, Alexis

Rasputin"The tsar's ministers … have been turned into marionettes, marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin and the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna — the evil genius of Russia and the tsaritsa ... who has remained a German on the Russian throne and alien to the country and its people." Duma member, 1916

RasputinMurdered December 17, 1916I write and leave behind me this letter at St. Petersburg. I feel that I shall leave life before January 1st.

… If I am killed by common assassins, and especially by my brothers the Russian peasants, you, Tsar of Russia, have nothing to fear, remain on your throne and govern, and you, Russian Tsar, will have nothing to fear for your children, they will reign for hundreds of years in Russia.

But if I am murdered by boyars, nobles, and if they shed my blood, their hands will remain soiled with my blood.…

Brothers will kill brothers, and they will kill each other and hate each other…. Tsar of the land of Russia, if you hear the sound of the bell which will tell you that Grigory has been killed, you must know this: if it was your relations who have wrought my death then no one of your family, that is to say, none of your children or relations will remain alive for more than two years. They will be killed by the Russian people...I shall be killed. I am no longer among the living.

Grigory Rasputin in a letter to the Tsarina Alexandra, 7 Dec 1916

First Revolution

February/March, 1917Nicholas abdicated in favor of his brother, Michael on March 2nd

In agreement with the Imperial Duma We have thought it well to renounce the Throne of the Russian Empire and to lay down the supreme power. As We do not wish to part from Our beloved son, We transmit the succession to Our brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich…. We direct Our brother to conduct the affairs of state in full and inviolable union with the representatives of the people … –Nicholas’ abdication

The next day . . .A heavy burden has been laid on me by my brother's will in transferring to me the imperial throne of All Russia at a time of unprecedented war and unrest among the people…. I have taken the hard decision to accept supreme power only in the event that it shall be the will of our great people, who in nationwide voting must elect their representatives to a Constituent Assembly…

–Michael’s response

Provisional Government

Prince George LvovAlexander Kerensky

Royal family arrestedSummer, 1917 deported to Yekaterinburg

Kornilov Insurrection

August/September, 1917General at frontSaw chaos of Russian war effortLed right-wing coup in PetrogradRevolt stopped with Bolsheviks’ aid

Kerensky lost statusHadn’t:

Dealt with land reformGotten Russia out of WWI

Needed Western money

STATUS

Second RevolutionOctober/November,1917Lenin and Bolsheviks

April 3, 1917Lenin and other revolutionaries arrivedGerman sealed train from Switzerland to Russia

Took advantage of chaos in Russia“Peace, land, and bread”

November 6-7, 1917Kerensky ordered the arrest of BolsheviksAurora in Petrograd harborTook:

Telephone exchangesBankRailway stationsElectric plants

Kerensky fledEventually to the USDied in 1970 in NYC

January, 1918Constituent Assembly

Long-awaitedElected by the people

Bolshevik candidates—9 million votesSR candidates (Kerensky’s party)—21 million votes

2nd day of meetingSurrounded and broken up by soldiers of the people’s commissarsLenin decided it should NOT exist because it would be . . . “compromising with the malignant bourgeoisie”

March, 1918—Communist Party created

Dictatorship of the proletariat was established

The Aftermath

Civil War

Mid-1918 to end of 1919Reds—BolsheviksWhites—anti-Bolsheviks

Pro-tsarAllies from WWI

Why Bolsheviks WonHeld critical industrial areas“Patriots” because didn’t depend on foreignersSuperior capacity for organizationPeasants fear of White restoration (loss of land) more

than they hated Bolsheviks

The entire royal family was murdered

July 16, 1918

Taken in 1920

Used in 1924

LeninWithdrew from WWI

Treaty of Brest-LitovskDecember 20, 1917

Created NEPPropaganda

Where’s Waldo? (Trotsky)

Died January 21, 1924Assassination attempt in 1918Strokes in 1922/23Semi-paralyzedUnable to speak or write

Warned comrades to depose Stalin as Party Secretary

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION