Basic Timeline of the
Russian Revolution
Czar (King) Nicholas II is in power in Russia. Conditions are poor.
1905 People gather at the Czar’s home in St. Petersburg, demanding
change: Russia is in the grips of hunger and poverty. “Bloody
Sunday” ensues… royal troops fire into the crowd of peasants, killing
many.
1917 “The February Revolution.” Lenin, and others, in violent street
protests and attacks, remove Czar Nicholas II from power for good.
“The October Revolution.” In a “bloodless” battle, Lenin takes control
of the new Communist Russia.
1918 Russia splits into civil war. Leon Trotsky is the leader of the
Communist (“Red”) side of the civil war. Lenin orders the “Red
Terror,” where the cheka (secret police) round up and execute
suspected opponents of the new Communist government.
1922 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is officially
established. Stalin is named Secretary-General of the USSR, and
Trotsky sits as Lenin’s 2nd in command.
Lenin suffers a crippling stroke, which removes him from leadership.
1924 Lenin dies. Stalin muscles his way to power. Trotsky tries to remain
in power, but Stalin circulates lies about Trotsky’s loyalty to the
communist leadership.
1928 Stalin announces a “Five Year Plan” to make Russia a modern,
industrial state…he challenges citizens to work harder than ever.
1929 Trotsky is exiled from Russia on false charges of treason (going
against the government).
1932 Stalin revokes Trotsky’s citizenship so Trotsky can never return to
Russia legally. Stalin’s power in Russia is unchallenged.
1940 Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico.
Stalin goes on to “purge” millions* of citizens who either resisted his
orders or otherwise did not meet Stalin’s communist (totalitarian)
vision. (*Estimates vary between 6 and 40 million, depending on the source)
Karl Marx
b. 1818
d. 1883
Founder of
Communism
Marx wrote and published The
Communist Manifesto, which outlined
the major principles of Communism.
Marx died long before the Russian
Revolution, but his philosophies about
Communism were very influential to the
leaders who began the Revolution.
Communism
is a system of government as well as an economic
system. Pure Communism is based on the idea that
all people are equal, no one should be more powerful
than any other, and that all wealth should be shared.
In such a society, there would be no poor people, no
rich people, and all citizens would unite for the
common good of all. Under Communism, the
government owns everything, but the citizens own the
government. Communism was in opposition to the
idea of a king (or Czar) having control over the
peasants. Within Communism, there is no Czar, and
the peasants literally control the government.
The symbol of Communism is
a hammer crossed by a sickle.
These represent the workers
of Russia: the laborers who
swing the hammer and the
farmers who harvest (cut their
crops) with the sickle.
Czar Nicholas II of
Russia
The word “Czar” (also spelled
“Tsar”) essentially means “king.”
Until the Russian Revolution,
Russia had been ruled by a series
of Czars who gathered riches and
power as the country slid into
deep economic troubles, starvation, and failure of
crops. Compared to how other European countries
were ruled, Nicholas ruled Russia very inefficiently
and with cruelty.
Czar Nicholas II did not seem to care for the
struggle of his countrymen, even allowing many to
killed in cold blood on his front steps during the
“Bloody Sunday” massacre of 1905. Peasants and
workers had gathered to demand changes in
government to alleviate starvation and poverty: the
Royal Army fired their weapons into the crowd and
the peasants wishes were ignored.
Also, the Czars were greatly opposed to
Communism, even ordering the arrest and exile of
Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, and Marx.
Vladimir Lenin
b. 1870
d. 1924
Lenin was a leader of the
Communist movement in Russia.
At the age of 20, Lenin translated
Marx’s Communist Manifesto into
Russian so that the people of
Russia might understand Marx’s
ideas.
Lenin saw how hard Russian peasants were working, and how all of
their efforts only made their leaders (the Czar and the government) rich
while peasants and workers starved. Following—in general—Marx’s
teachings of Communism, Lenin educated the peasants and stirred
them up until they were ready and willing to start a revolution. For these
efforts, Lenin was repeatedly arrested and exiled.
In 1917, the February Revolution removed the Czar from power. The
same year, the bloodless October Revolution brought Lenin to the
position of control. As the new leader of Communist Russia, Lenin tried
to build a country based on Marx’s ideas.
However, pure Communism did not work. Lenin made Leon Trotsky his
second-in-command and named Joseph Stalin as Secretary General.
Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922, and then died in 1924, leaving Trotsky
and Stalin to battle for control of Soviet Russia.
Leon Trotsky
b. 1879
d. 1940
Alongside Lenin, Trotsky
helped to establish the new
government after the October
Revolution. Trotsky was
considered Lenin’s “second in
command.”
Even though Trotsky held a position of authority and respect
under Lenin, he did not always agree with Lenin. Trotsky also
believed in the Communist philosophies of Marx—but Trotsky
believed that Lenin did not follow Marx’s ideas closely enough.
Specifically, Trotsky did not like how Lenin used violence,
terrorism, robbery and fraud to gain power and remove Czar
Nicholas. Trotsky’s goal was to improve life for all citizens of
Russia.
When Lenin died in 1924, Trotsky and Stalin at first shared
control and power at the top of the Russian government. Stalin,
however, was more aggressive. Before long, Stalin’s
supporters spread rumors about Trotsky being a traitor. Later,
Trotsky was arrested and falsely charged with treason. In 1929,
Trotsky was taken away by the cheka and kicked out of Russia.
In 1932, Stalin revoked his citizenship so he Trotsky could
never return legally. In 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in
Mexico.
Joseph Stalin
b. 1879
d. 1953
Joseph Stalin considered himself the
“man of steel.” In fact, his birthname
was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili.
He changed his own name to Stalin,
which literally means “man of steel” in
Russian.
Like Trotsky, Stalin found himself in a
high ranking position under Lenin.
Unlike Trotsky, however, Stalin was not
as educated, nor was he as good of a
speaker. Though Stalin studied the
philosophies of Marx and Communism,
Stalin did not follow Marx’s ideals of equality and shared power. Stalin’s apparent
goal was to gain power for himself. Stalin used whatever power he could to gain
control of the Russian people.
After Lenin’s death, Stalin removed Trotsky from power by falsely charging him
with treason against the government. With Trotsky out of the way, Stalin was free
to create the government as he chose. Stalin used the cheka (secret police—later
called the KGB) to intimidate and even kill anyone who opposed him. Even more
powerfully, Stalin used propaganda (advertisements, songs, flyers, and sayings)
to essentially “brainwash” the Russian people in to supporting him. He told the
peasants to work harder and harder to support the communist ideal, all the while
Stalin was keeping the rewards of peasant labor. Stalin’s propaganda spin-artists
convinced the people that Stalin had only their best interest in mind, though in
truth, Stalin was stealing from the people without them even realizing it.
By the end of Stalin’s rule, he had begun to systematically exterminate his
opponents through forced labor and executions. The KGB forced citizens to
confess to crimes they did not commit in order that the government could justify
killing them or sentencing them to government work camps. In the end, it is
estimated that between six and forty million people died as a result of Stalin’s
executions, forced labor, and “purges.”
The Secret
Police
Under early Communist
rule, the cheka (later called
the KGB) was known as the
“secret police.” In fact, the
cheka was not really a
police force. Rather, this
“police” force forced the
citizens of Russia to support
Stalin. This support was
forced through intimidation,
arrest, and violent force.
The cheka spied on the Russian people for Stalin, and
would often intimidate, beat and torture individuals until
they confessed to crimes they did not even commit—just
so Stalin could have them executed or sent to prison
work camps. If the cheka didn’t use beatings to get
confessions, they used brain-washing propaganda to
convince citizens of their pro-Stalin ideas. The cheka
was known to even kill whole families for disobeying
Stalin’s orders.
The Five
Year Plans
As Russia tried to rebuild
under Joseph Stalin, the
government proposed an
initiative called the “Five Year Plan.” The goal of the Five Year
Plan was to build Russia into an economic and political world
power.
The Five Year Plan (1928-1932) encouraged rapid
industrialization. Factories were built, farms were collectivized,
and citizens were encouraged to work harder for the sake of
their nation. All factories and farms were the property of the
government, so the products belonged to the government. The
government set lofty goals for increased production of coal, oil,
steel, manufactured goods and food crops. Other than
production of oil, none of the production and farming goals of
the Five Year Plan were met.
Though statistics about the first Five Year Plan did not show
great success, the policies did result in modest increases in
production by comparison to pre-Stalin Russia. Therefore, the
government was able to convince the country to go along with a
second Five Year Plan from 1932-1937.