HIST 481 STUDY QUESTIONS:
ANTHONY WOOD, THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Jot down brief responses to the following as you read (these are not graded, but I
expect you to be able to answer the questions orally in class). Consider potential
paper topics as you go. Note that the bold numbers in the text refer to the
bibliography (pp. 91-95).
Table of Contents. Study the Table of Contents. What years does the book cover? How
is the book organized? What seem to be the most important dates and events?
Foreword. Why is the Russian revolution of 1917 unique? To what “dialogue” does
Wood refer? What is different about the Russian calendar? From what to what did Lenin
rename his party? How did St. Petersburg’s name change?
Part One.
Chapter 1. Who was tsar in 1917? Who were the two main features of Russian society?
How did the two groups compare in size?
What did the emancipation of 1861 change for Russia’s serfs? What was the village
commune, and what were its responsibilities? What problems remained after
emancipation? Who were the kulaks? Why were conditions for peasants deteriorating
toward the end of the nineteenth century?
What evidence is there to suggest that Russia was moving toward a Western-style
economy? Who was Sergei Witte, and how did he encourage this growth? How many
industrial workers were there, and how were they concentrated? What were working
conditions like?
What does autocracy mean? What forces buttressed autocratic authority? Through what
institutions did the tsar exercise his power? What alterations to autocracy did the reforms
of Alexander II introduce? What was a zemstvo? Why weren’t the judicial reforms as
wide reaching as they could have been? What expectations did the reforms raise, and
how did Alexander III disappoint them?
How does Wood characterize Nicholas II? What “senseless dreams” did he reject?
What, to Wood, are the reasons that Russian political movements tended to be radical and
utopian? What two general bodies of ideas does Wood describe, and how did they differ?
Who was Alexander Herzen? What ideas did the Populists develop, and what was their
main activity? Who were the Jacobins, and what core ideas did they share? Who were
the narodniki, and what did they try—and fail—to do? How did they respond? How did
The People’s Will and Land and Liberty differ?
1
How does Wood characterize Karl Marx? Why does Wood distinguish Marx from
Marxism? What are the principles of Marxism? What process did Marx observe in
Western Europe? Who were the bourgeoisie and proletariat? What would follow the
proletarian revolution? Why was this revolution inevitable? Why couldn’t it be rushed?
What was the duty of the Marxist? Why did this philosophy appeal to Plekhanov and
Axelrod, and what groups did they found? What difficulties did Russian Marxists face?
What solution did Marx formulate for Russia?
What three main political groups were there in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth
century? Summarize their ideologies and strategies. Which two were socialist? Why
couldn’t these two groups unite? Which had the advantage at that time?
What were the Social Democratic revisionists? The Economists? Why did Plekhanov
oppose the Economists? What were the Zubatov unions? What was the Bund?
What was Lenin’s biography? Who was Martov? Trotsky? What was the purpose of
Iskra? What major revision of Marxist doctrine did Lenin introduce in What Is to Be
Done? How did Martov disagree? Who won the dispute? Where did the terms
Bolsheviki and Mensheviki come from?
Chapter 2. Over what was the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 fought? Who won? How
did liberals and radicals respond? What happened on Bloody Sunday? How did
Russians respond to this? What concession did Nicholas II offer? Why didn’t it work?
How did liberals and radicals respond differently to the 1905 crisis? What was the
Soviet? What further concession did Nicholas offer? What was the Duma, and what
happened to the Soviet? Why was the government able to reassert power?
Which socialist group achieved the most, and what did they achieve? Why weren’t the
Social Democrats more successful? What was their role in the creation of the Soviet?
Who is the exception, and what did he hope to achieve? Why did Lenin hesitate to get
involved?
What was the Duma, and how was it organized? How did the Fundamental Laws limit
it? Which party had the largest representation in 1906? Why wasn’t the first Duma
successful? What did Nicholas do, and how did the Duma deputies respond? How did
the second Duma compare to the first? Why were the third and fourth more to the tsar’s
liking?
What did the third Duma—under Stolypin’s leadership—achieve? What did the land
reforms allow? Did conditions fro peasants improve? What else weakened the Social
Democrats? What further two revisions did Lenin introduce? What drove Mensheviks
and Bolsheviks even further apart?
Who were the opposing sides in World War I? Were Russian losses the result of
production deficiencies? Why were there problems in feeding the cities? Did Russians
2
feel war-weariness, or other resentments? What voluntary organizations formed, and
what did they demand? What was Nicholas’ response? What was the role of the
Empress and Rasputin? What events in 1916 and early 1917 indicated that the regime no
longer enjoyed the confidence of its people?
How did the war split the Social Democrats yet further? Who comprised the
Zimmerwald Left, and what were their views on the war?
Part Two
Chapter 3. Where was the tsar when the February revolution broke out? Who began the
revolution on 23 February? Who joined them? Was this planned? Who was in charge of
the crowds? Why didn’t Nicholas’ order to repress the crowds work? Why did the Duma
stay out of sight? What did the Duma delegates decide to do? What competitive
institution was established, and by whom?
What prevented Nicholas’ return to the capital? Why did Nicholas abdicate? What had
Russia now become, politically?
What did the new provisional government proclaim in March? How did the revolution
spread? What did the provisional government decide about the war? Why did this
stymie other needed reforms? What did the provisional government claim it was waiting
for?
What powers did the Soviet possess? What was its first order? Whom did it claim to
represent? Why didn’t it assume complete control? Why did Social Revolutionaries and
Mensheviks hesitate? Did anyone have a foot in both the provisional government and the
Soviet?
How did Lenin get back to Russia? What were the April Theses? Who supported Lenin?
What event stimulated the second provisional government, and how was its membership
different? Why was this a “fatal step” for the socialist groups? What factors worked to
Lenin’s advantage? Who were the Red Guards? Who held the majority in the AllRussian Congress of Soviets in June 1917? Why did Lenin hesitate to support
demonstrators in July? How did this harm Lenin and the Bolsheviks?
What event, called by Kerensky on behalf of the second coalition government, served to
show the polarization of Russian politics? What threat did Kerensky face from the right?
How were the Bolsheviks once again strengthened by this crisis? What happened to
Kornilov? What happened on the war front? In the countryside? In the cities? Who was
the beneficiary and who the loser in this anarchy?
Chapter 4. Why did Lenin think the time was ripe to take power? Why did others in the
Soviet hesitate? How did Lenin answer these concerns? What, to Wood, was “perhaps
the most momentous decision of the twentieth century”? Why did Trotsky’s timing
3
prevail? What was the military revolutionary committee, and how was it armed? Why
were Kerensky’s orders ineffective? How did the Red Guards eliminate the coalition
government under Kerensky? What happened to most of the other socialist parties?
What were the first decrees of the new Soviet government? Who made up the Council of
People’s Commissars? Why was Kerensky’s attempt to return with military troops
difficult? What armed resistance did the Bolsheviks overcome?
Chapter 5. What resistance did Lenin face after Pulkovo? What issues did the
opposition raise?
What were the weaknesses of Sovnarkom after the coup? Who were the Bolsheviks’
most dangerous opponents? Why? What challenges did Lenin facer within the party?
How did Lenin exploit Social Revolutionary splits? What signaled that Lenin overcame
these obstacles?
Why was the Constituent Assembly a source of anxiety for the Bolsheviks? What party
dominated the Assembly elections? How did the Assembly close?
What social and economic policies did Sovnarkom proclaim? Why didn’t Lenin set up
state collective farms? Why did the Left Communists oppose him in this? Which parts
of the land policy did the Social Revolutionaries support, and which did they oppose?
Why was Bolshevik industrial policy problematic? How did Lenin attempt to reinstate
control over the factories? Why were other socialists appalled by this policy?
What two needs divided Bolshevik policy at Brest-Litovsk? How did Germany respond
to these needs? Why was Ukraine a sensitive area? What was meant by “no war, no
peace”? Why did Lenin ultimately agree to the Germans’ terms? What happened to
Ukraine?
What was the Cheka? Who were its victims, both within and beyond the government,
and what were their “crimes”? What events in August 1918 intensified the terror? What
finally brought the government back together?
Chapter 6. When and where did initial military resistance to the Bolsheviks begin?
Who made up a new government in Samara? What happened to Nicholas II? What was
the response of the Finns, the Estonians, and the Allies?
Who organized the Red Army, and on what new principles? Who assumed command of
the Whites in Siberia? Why, ultimately, did the Reds win?
What problems necessitated War Communism? What policies did War Communism
entail? Did it serve its purposes?
4
What was the condition of Russia after the Civil War? What were the sources of internal
hostility? What did the Kronstadt sailors demand, and what was their fate? How did
Lenin respond?
What was the New Economic Policy? How successful were the NEPmen? Why, to
Wood, was NEP “standing Marxism on its head”? How did Lenin insure party unity?
What happened to the other socialist parties? Was NEP working at Lenin’s death in
1924?
Part Three
Why was the Bolshevik revolution “unexpected,” to Wood? Why were the liberals
unable to construct an alternative political system? Why wasn’t a right-wing military
coup possible? What were the sources of the other socialist parties’ failure? What was
the key to Lenin’s success? What argument contradicts this? How does Wood answer
this contradiction? What was Lenin’s main talent? Did this compromise his principles,
as set out in State and Revolution? What was his fundamental misconception, to Wood?
Why was Lenin “bound eventually to establish a dictatorship”? Why did Lenin insist that
worldwide revolution was imminent, and when did he realize it wasn’t coming? Why
didn’t revolution begin in Eastern Europe after 1918? What consolidated the Bolshevik
dictatorship, and why? Was Stalinism the natural consequence of Leninism?
Documents
Read the introductions to the primary source documents. Choose two documents that
strike you as interesting, read them in full, and briefly summarize them.
5