Revolution in Russia
1917-1939
Section 1
Two Revolutions in Russia
Section 1 Vocabulary
Proletariat- working class
 Soviet- councils of workers and soldiers
 Commissar- communist party official
assigned to the army to teach party
principles and ensure party loyalty

Russia in 1914
Russia stretched from Eastern Europe to
the Pacific Ocean
 Dominated by: landowning nobles, priests
and an autocratic czar

The Czar & Czarina
Czar- Nicholas II
Czarina- Alexandra
Population
Autocratic czar
 Landowning Nobles
 Priests
 Peasants-majority of population
 Small middle and working class started
emerging because Russia started to
industrialize

The Revolution of 1905
Lead to setting up an elected legislative
body-Duma–no power
 Czar Nicholas II doesn’t want to limit his
authority
 Used secret police and other enforcers to
impose rule

1914 WWI


National pride in Russia
Enthusiasm for the war
Problems
Not enough
Supplies

food
 money
 soldiers
 medicine
 transportation

The Front Line
Nicholas goes to the front
 Czarina Alexandra is left in charge

Problem
She’s part GermanRussian people don’t
trust her
Rasputin
Alexandra used Rasputin for advice
 Self proclaimed “holy man”
 Wide spread reputation as a healer
 A group of Russian nobles killed him on
Dec 29,1916

March 1917
Disastrous battles
 Food shortages on the home front ed to
bread riots
 The czar abdicates
 Provisional government in power
 Government began preparing a
constitution for a new Russian republic
 this was a mistake b/c most Russians
were fed up with war

Revolutionary socialists organized
council of workers and soldiers called
soviets
 Radical socialist group gains control
called Bolsheviks

Leader V.I. Lenin
Real ideas of Karl Marx-Communist Manifesto
 Married to Nadezhada Krupskay
 Both arrested and sent to Siberia
 When released fled to Switzerland

New View of Marx
Changed Marxist ideas to fit conditions in Russia
 Karl Marx believed the industrial working class-the
proletariat would rise up to overthrow capitalism
 Russia lacked a large working class
 Lenin formed an elite group-the Bolsheviks to lead
the revolution and set up a dictatorship of the
proletariat
 Germany helps Lenin return to Russia-hoping this would
help weaken their enemy
The November Revolution

When Lenin is back in Russia he teams up with
Leon Trotsky
Lenin promises the people “Peace, Land, and
Bread”
 November 1917 provisional government is
attacked and overthrown
 Bolsheviks now in control-they end private
ownership of landredistribute the land to all

The New Flag
Red
 Entwined hammer and sickle
 Symbolized union between peasants & workers
 Bolsheviks change name to Communists
 Peace with Germany-Treaty of Brest – Litovsk

Civil War
Lasted 3 years
 Red army fought counterrevolutionaries called
the whites
 Both sides took extreme measures to try and
win the war
 1921 communists prevail
 Russia needs to rebuild
Section 2
From Lenin To Stalin
Section 2 Vocabulary
Command Economy- government that makes
all economic decisions
 Collective- large farms owned and operated
by peasants as a group
 Kulak- wealthy peasant opposed to
collectivization

Government
1922 Constitution
 elected legislature-Supreme Soviet
 all 18 year old citizens given right to vote
 All political power and means of production
controlled by workers and peasants

The communist party was in control
 Use of army and secret police to enforce its will
 Most of old Russia empire under the rule of the
Soviet Union
or
U.S.S.R.-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
 Still multinational
 Many republics
 Russia was the strongest and largest of the
republics

Economy
Lenin’s plan to put the economy back on its
feet called the NEP-New Economic Policy
 Allowed little capitalist involvement
 It was temporary

1924 Lenin Dies
Trotsky and Stalin fight for power
Trotsky
 A firm Marxist
 Urged support for a
world wide revolution
against capitalism
 Was murdered by one of
Stalin’s agents in Mexico
Stalin
 Efforts to foster Marxist
revolutions in Europe
after WWI had failed
 Wanted to concentrate
on building socialism at
home first
Stalin’s Goal
make the Soviet Union into a modern industrial power
 To achieve this goal he would use the 5 year plan
 build heavy industry
 improving transportation
 increasing farm output
 To achieve economic growth the government
controlled all economic activity called a command
economy

Agriculture
Government gave peasants two options
Give up their private plots and live on either
1. state owned farms
or
2. collectives
Peasants resisted collectivization by
-killing farm animals -destroying tools -burning crops
Effects of Collectivization
Angry peasants grew only enough to feed
themselves
 Government seized grainpeasants left to starve
 Increased Stalin’s control
 Didn’t improve farm output

The Great Purge

1934-Stalin fears that rival party leaders were
plotting against him
Stalin and his secret police cracked down on old bolsheviks
Destroyed older generation of revolutionaries & replaced w/
younger party members who owed absolute loyalty to Stalin

Increased Stalin’s power-showed the danger of disloyalty
Foreign Policy





contradictory
&
unsuccessful
Organized the Communist International or
Comnitern
aided revolutionary groups around the world &
encouraged colonial people to rise up against
imperialist powers
Wanted to join League of Nations
Improve relations with western nations for trade
and diplomacy
Western nations were suspicious because of the
Comintern’s propaganda against capitalism
Chapter 28
Section 3
Life in a
Totalitarian
State
Section 3 Vocabulary
 Totalitarian State-
government in which a one party
dictatorship regulates every aspect of life
 Atheism-
belief that there is no God
 Socialist Realism
artistic style whose goal was to promote
socialism by showing soviet life in a
positive light
Totalitarian State
 Crush
all opposition to the state
by creating a sense of fear
 Use of secret police, censorship,
terror & violence = Obedience
 Rely on indoctrinationinstruction in the government’s
beliefs to mold people’s minds
Coupled Propaganda with
Modern Technology
 Radios
 Loudspeakers
 Movies
 Theaters
Preached the success of communism
&
the evils of capitalism
Helped to revive extreme nationalism
Atheism-
official policy of the state
Replaced religion with communist
ideology
 Russian orthodox church was the main
target of persecution
 Sacred texts
-the writings of Marx & Lenin
 Shrines
-Lenin’s tomb & Stalin’s Pictures

Changes in Society
Communists transformed
Russian life
 Eliminated
the old social order
 Not a classless society- did not
create a society of equals
 elite group-the Communist party
emerges as a new ruling class
 Few enjoyed benefits and
privileges
Benefits of Communism
Free
education
Free medical care
Free day care
Inexpensive
Public
housing
transportation
Recreation
Negatives of Communism
Standard of living still remained low
 Industrial growthmany people migrate
to citiesled to scarce housing

Education
 Schools taught
basic skills and
communist values like
-atheism -collective farming
-love for Stalin
Women
Won equality under the law
access to education and jobs
 Needed work because men alone
couldn’t support a family on such low
wages
 Motherhood was considered a patriotic
duty
 Expected to provide the state with
future generations of loyal, obedient
citizens

The Arts
State
controlled
 Artists
had to conform to
socialist realism-artistic style
whose goal was to promote
socialism by showing soviet life
in a positive light
Censorship

Control over books, music, film, and art
Stalin’s total control of society
eliminated personal rights and
freedoms in favor of the
power of the state
Bibliography
http://www.worldwar-1.net/world-war-1timelines/world-war-1-1914/world-war-11914-index.html
 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Rus
sian-Revolution.htm
 http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/referen
ce/ob106.html
 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761
569981/World_War_I.html
