Outline for Unit II: Russia & the USSR
A. The Russian Revolution: An Introduction
I. Transitions from the American Revolution
II. The Russian Revolution in Brief
a. Collapse of the Tsarist autocracy
b. Creation of one-party Bolshevik dictatorship
III. “Constitutional” moments
a. Revolution of 1905 (October Manifesto & Fundamental Law of 1906)
b. Soviet constitutions of 1918 (RSFSR, 1924 (USSR), and 1936 (Stalin)
IV. Clarification of a few terms
V. On the Origins & Development of the Russian Autocracy
a. Muscovy, Empire & Conquest
b. Grand Prince, Tsar, Emperor
VI. A Visual Ethnographic Excursion Across the Russian Empire
VII. Twin Pillars of the Old Regime
a. Autocracy
b. Serfdom (until 1861)
VIII. Tsarism & Constitutions before 1905
IX. Contradictions of Tsarist Modernization
a. "Great Reforms" of the 1860s
b. The absence of political reform
B. Opposition to the Tsarist Regime
I. Revolution in the 19th Century
a. The End of “Innocent” Revolutions
b. The Idea of Permanent Revolutionary Anticipation
II. Pobedonostsev and the Autocratic Critique of Democracy
III. Russian Revolutionary Movement
a. Decembrists
b. Populists
c. Marxists
C. The Revolution of 1905: Constitution at Last?
I. The Context
a. Peasant disturbances, strikes, assassinations & alienation (1902-05)
b. The War with Japan (1904-05)
II. The Growing Assault on the Autocracy
a. “Bloody Sunday” & strikes
b. General Strike in October
c. The granting of the October Manifesto
III. The October Manifesto (1905)
a. Civil Rights
b. Powers and Franchise of the new State Duma
V. Countering the Revolution
a. Electoral law limits democratic character of Duma
b. State Council created as conservative counterweight
c. Approval of State Council & Emperor need for law to take effect
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VI. Constitutional Autocracy?!
a. Elements of constitutional order
b. Retention of important elements of autocracy
VII. The Suppression of the Revolution of 1905
D. Revolutionary 1917
I. The Strains of Total War (WWI)
a. Labor market, transport, inflation & food supply
b. Legitimacy of regime compromised
c. Nicholas II compelled to abdicate
II. Two Revolutions in 1917
a. February Revolution: overthrow of the autocracy
b. October Revolution: the Bolsheviks come to power
III. Dual Power
a. Provisional Government
b. Petrograd Soviet
IV. Bolsheviks in 1917
a. Lenin & the April Theses
b. Growing support for the Volsheviks
V. The Sources of the Provisional Government's weakness
a. A temporary government
b. War continues
c. Provisional Gov’t as “bourgeois”
VI. Towards October
a. Growing impatience & radicalization
b. Postponement of Constituent Assembly
c. Moderate socialists are compromised
d. Bolsheviks ≠ soviets
VII. Towards One-Party Dictatorship
a. Decrees on land & peace
b. Bolsheviks exclude other parties form power
c. Repression of “counter-revolution” & Constituent Assembly
d. Red Terror
E. Civil War and Constitution-Making (Bolshevik-style)
I. The Civil War: Reds vs Whites
a. The attitude of the peasantry
b. Reconquest of non-Russian lands; war with Poland
c. "War Communism"
d. Awesome Images from the Civil-War period
II. Lenin: State and Revolution (1917)
a. The nature of the state
b. "Dictatorship of the proletariat"
III. Constitution of 1918 (RSFSR)
a. Context (Civil War and all that)
b. Unlikely constitutionalists
c. A basic overview
d. The constitution and class struggle
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e. Toward a socialist order
f. International implications
g. No separation of powers; no "constitutional safeguards"; no equal rights
h. Symbols of the Soviet state
F. The 1924 Constitution and Soviet (Pseudo-) Federalism
I. The Problem of Nationalism
a. Nationalism & multi-national empires
b. Nationalism and the disintegration of the Russian Empire
II. Break-up of the Russian Empire and Its (Partial) Reassembly
a. Loss of territory in 1915-1919 (Brest-Litovsk, etc.)
b. Soviet reassembly of Russian Empire (partially)
c. Bolsheviks still need to nationalism
III. The Bolsheviks & Nationality (up to 1917)
a. Importance of class over nationality for Marxists
b. Nationalism as “ideological weapon” of bourgeoisie
c. Bolsheviks offer (undefined) “national self-determination”
IV. The Bolsheviks & Nationality (after 1917)
a. Federalism in the Constitution in 1918
b. The USSR as federal union of national republics
c. The forms of national autonomy
V. The Constitution of 1924
a. A union of ethnic (national) republics
b. Goals of federal union under “dictatorship of proletariat”
c. Pseudo-federalism: a centralized Communist Party
d. Real concessions to non-Russian national sentiment
I. The Logic of Bolshevik Nationality Policy
a. Disarm nationality by granting forms of nationhood
b. Deprive bourgeoisie of using nationalism against Bolsheviks
c. The problem of “great-power chauvinism”
d. Party resolution of 1923
G. The Stalin Constitution of 1936
I. The Larger Context
a. The crisis of NEP by 1928
b. Industrialization & collectivization
c. Creation of one-man dictatorship
II. By Mid-1930s: The "Great Retreat"?
a. Declaration that revolution has triumphed
b. More emphasis on order, stability & moderation
c. Concern for consolidation of “revolution from above”
III. Purposes of the 1936 Constitution
a. Consolidation & stabilization: ending the revolution
b. To make law an instrument of state rule
c. Promotion of international alliance against the Nazis
IV. The rule of Law or Law as a Tool?
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Terms, People, Concepts & Events
Autocracy
Nicholas II
Marxism
Sergei Witte
Bolsheviks
Revolution of 1905
Fundamental Laws
World War I
Petrograd Soviet
April Theses
October Revolution
Soviets
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Reds / Whites
New Economic Policy (NEP)
Serfdom & emancipation
Populism
Industrialization
Vladimir Lenin
Mensheviks
October Manifesto
State Duma
February Revolution
Dual Power
State and Revolution
Sovnarkom
Ukraine
Cheka
War Communism
Bolsheviks on nationality
Great Reforms
Terrorism
RSDRP
What is to be Done?
Bloody Sunday
Romanov dynasty
Peter Stolypin
Provisional Government
Constituent Assembly
Alexander Kerensky
RSFSR
Civil War
Leon Trotsky
Grain requisitioning
Joseph Stalin
Industrialization (Stalin)
Five-Year Plan
collectivization (peasantry)
Reigns of Major Russian Emperors
Peter the Great, 1682-1725
Catherine the Great, 1762-1796
Alexander I, 1801-1825
Nicholas I, 1825-1855
Alexander II, 1855-1881 (assassinated by People’s Will)
Alexander III, 1881-1894
Nicholas II, 1894-1917 (abdicated in 1917, executed by Bolsheviks in 1918)
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Colossal Chronology
1300s
1552
1613
1721
1809
1815
1825
1848
1861
1863
1878
1881
1883
1890s
1895
1896
1898
1902
1903
1904-05
1905
1906
1907
1914
1917
1918
1918-21
1921
1922
1924
1928
1928-31
1936
Beginning of rise of principality of Moscow (Muscovy)
Conquest of Khanate of Kazan – Muscovy becomes an empire
Founding of Romanov dynasty (this family rules until 1917)
Peter the Great declares Russia to be an empire, adopts title of “Emperor”
Annexation of Finland, recognition of Finland’s “constitutions”
Introduction of constitution for the Kingdom of Poland (revoked in 1830)
Decembrist Revolt
Publication of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Emancipation of ca. 19 million serfs
Modest reform plan of Peter Valuev rejected
Tsarist Russia plays key role in creation of constitution for newly liberated Bulgaria
Assassination of Alexander II; modest reform plan of M. T. Loris-Melikov rejected
Creation of first Marxist group in Russia by Georgii Plekhanov
Extensive promotion of industrialization by Finance Minister Sergei Witte
Lenin & colleagues form League for the Struggle for the Emancipation of Working Class
Konstantin Pobedonostsev published The Falsehood of Democracy
Lenin & co. form Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDRP)
Publication of Lenin's What is to be Done?
Split of RSDRP into Bolsheviks & Mensheviks
Russo-Japanese war ending in Russian defeat
“Bloody Sunday” in St. Petersburg
General Strike, formation of St. Petersburg Soviet
Nicholas II offers October Manifesto granting civil rights & parliament (Duma)
New Fundamental Law issued (23 April 1906)
Revision of Duma's electoral law (Peter Stolypin's “coup”)
Outbreak of World War I (against Germany, Austria-Hungary & Ottoman empire)
February: abdication of Nicholas II, creation of Provisional Government
Lenin publishes State and Revolution
October: seizure of power by the Bolsheviks
Bolsheviks shut down Constituent Assembly
Bolsheviks sign peace treaty with Germany at Brest-Litovsk
Creation of first Soviet constitution (for RSFSR)
Russian civil war (“Reds” vs. “Whites”)
Introduction of New Economic Policy, or NEP (lasts until 1928)
Formation of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Death of Lenin
New Soviet constitution, reflecting creation of USSR
Joseph Stalin solidifies power as dictator of USSR
The “Stalin Revolution”: collectivization, rapid industrialization, one-man dictatorship
New "Stalin constitution"
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Abbreviations
Sovnarkom = Soviet of People's Commissars, or the first Soviet government, formed in 1917
NEP = New Economic Policy (1921-1928)
RSFSR = Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (initially formed as separate country in 1918;
after 1922 the largest of the union republics of the USSR)
USSR = Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, formed officially in 1922
Cheka = Soviet political police (Extraordinary Commission for Struggle Against Counter-revolution,
Sabotage and Speculation)
Comintern = Communist International, an international organization of communist parties under
Moscow's leadership (formed in 1919, disbanded in 1943).
Some Terms & Explanations
Tsarist & Imperial: For our purposes the words tsarist & imperial can be used interchangeably, when
referring to the period of Russian history covering 1700-1917.
Autocracy: We may use the term autocracy to refer both to the principle of unlimited, self-derived power
AND to the Russian imperial government as a whole, which claimed always to act in accordance with
the will of the Autocrat (the Emperor)
Marxism & Social Democracy: Marxist parties in Russia (and elsewhere) used the term social
democracy to describe their aspirations. For this course, we may therefore treat "Marxists" and "social
democrats" as essentially the same thing (or one could say that social democrats are politically
organized Marxists).
Bolsheviks & Communists: The Bolsheviks changed their name to Communists in 1918. It is therefore
best to refer to “Bolsheviks” before that date, while one may use the two terms interchangeably
thereafter.
St. Petersburg (until 1914) = Petrograd (1914-24) = Leningrad (1924-1991) = St. Petersburg (1991present)
Soviets: Soviets were workers' councils (some were created for peasants & soldiers as well). "Soviet
power" was a term used to describe political power exercised through soviets on behalf of Russia's
working people. In practice, however, this turned out to be single-party Bolshevik rule.
Nationalization: The transfer of ownership & running of enterprises and institutions by the state is
referred to as nationalization.
War Communism: The political and especially economic practices of the young Soviet state during the
civil war were later referred to as war communism (i.e., communism in the context of civil war). It
was characterized by growing nationalization, prohibition on trade, and requisitioning of grain (often
by force) from peasants.