Revolution of 1905
Basic tenets of Marxism:
• Man is by nature good
• Economic relations determine all human relations
• Exploitation is an inherent failure of capitalism
• Private property is evil
• Capitalism produces two classes of people
• Only revolution can rid society of capitalism and
establish the dictatorship of the proletariat
• Classlessness and statelessness will follow only after
the revolution and a transition period
Russian Revolutionaries
• Nihilists – believed in no established order
• Populists – mass revolution to overthrow tsar.
• Marxists – a variety of different groups with differing
approaches
• Liberals – wanted a Western style democracy.
Probably the most numerous
Mensheviks
• Literally means “minority”
• More moderate, less impatient, wanted to win
over the masses
Led by Julius Martov
Bolsheviks
• Literally means “majority”
• Believed that a violent revolution was
necessary
Led by Lenin
Russian Cossack
Uncle Sam
Manchuria
U.K.
China
Korea
Loss of Russo-Japanese War
Bloody Sunday
• Tsar’s troops fired on a group of protestors
who were begging the Tsar for help
• In all, 130 were killed and hundreds wounded
Bloody Sunday – historical
significance?
• It revealed how incompetent the Tsarist
regime was in dealing with a dissatisfied
people
• Those who had previously supported the Tsar
broke and joined revolutionary groups
October Manifesto
October Manifesto – Tsar’s promises:
• Provide some civil liberties
• Create a DUMA – legislative assembly
controlled by the moderates
Between 1905 and 1917
• Tsar reneged on most of his promises
• Tsar bought off the moderates in the Duma
• Tsar arrested radical opposition as terrorism
grew
• Then the Great War broke out…
Vladimir Ilyich
Lenin
Владимир Ильич Ленин
1870-1924
Lenin 1887