Revolution and Civil War
in Russia
Chapter 14
Section 5
March Revolution Ends Czarism
The Czar Steps Down
By March 1917, disasters on the battlefield, combined with food and
fuel shortages at home, led to the collapse of the monarchy.
• In St. Petersburg, workers went on strike while marchers roamed
the streets shouting, “Bread, bread!”
• Duma politicians set up a provisional, or temporary government
Outside of the provisional government, revolutionary socialists set up
soviets, or councils of workers and soldiers. Before long, the
Bolsheviks, a radical socialist group, took charge.
• Leader of the Bolsheviks was a revolutionary leader named
Vladimir Lenin.
The Bolsheviks tried to ignite revolution amongst the proletariat, or the
growing class of factory, railroad, and urban wage earners.
Russian Workers (Proletariats)
The November Revolution Brings the
Bolsheviks to Power
The Fall of the Provisional Government
Lenin and the Bolsheviks promised “Peace, Land, and Bread.”
November 1917, the conditions were ripe for a Bolshevik takeover as
the Red Guards, a band of armed factory workers and mutinous
sailors joined to attack the Provisional Government.
• In a matter of days the Bolsheviks took over- making Moscow the
Bolshevik capital and the Kremlin their headquarters.
A new red flag with an entwined hammer and sickle symbolized the
union between workers and peasants.
For 3 years, civil war raged on between the Reds or the Communists
and the Whites or the czarist imperial officers.
• The Allies intervened in the civil war, backing the Whites, but had
little to do with the outcome.
• Allied intervention failed, and created even more distrust between
the Communists and the West.
Soviet Flag
The hammer and sickle ->
<- Star represents
communist party
Moscow
The Kremlin
War Under Communism
• The Communists used terror not only against the Whites, but their
own people. They organized the Cheka, a secret police much like
the czar had.
• The Cheka executed ordinary citizens, even if they were only
suspected of taking action against the revolution.
Communists adopted policy of “war communism” where they took
over banks, mines, factories, and railroads.
The Communists also used former czarists officers under the close
watch of commissars, Communist party officials assigned to the
army teach party principles and ensure party loyalty.
• They were led by another Communist party leader Leon Trotsky.
By 1922, Lenin Communist government united much of old Russia into
the U.S.S.R. or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Joseph Stalin
Months before Lenin’s Death:
Who will be new leader?
Leon Trotsky
Joseph Stalin
Friends or Enemies??
Economic Policy
1921, Lenin adopted the New Economic Policy, or NEP. It allowed
some capitalist ventures. Even though the government controlled all
aspects of business, some peasants held on to small plots of land
and freely sold their surpluses.
• Lenin’s NEP was just a temporary retreat from communism, his
successor would soon return the Soviet Union to “pure
communism”
Lenin died in 1924, leading to a struggle between Trotsky and Joseph
Stalin for power.
Stalin eventually took control over the Soviet Union while Trotsky fled in
1929.
In 1940, a Stalinist agent murdered Trotsky in Mexico. Stalin
became known for his ruthless measures to win dictatorship power.
Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square
- Moscow
Lenin Embalmed