RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Causes of the Russian Revolution
1. Industrialization
2. Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905
3. Bloody Sunday 1905
4. Czar Nicholas Romanov
5. Rasputin
6. World War I
February/March Revolution of 1917
Causes?
Effects?
October/November/Bolshevik Revolution of 1917
Causes?
Effects?
Civil War 1918-1921
Lenin signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)
Lenin Builds a Communist State
NEP (New Economic Plan)
USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
Comintern (Communist International office)
Constitution of 1922
Supreme Soviet (looked like a parliament and elected by universal suffrage, but
competition in elections was prohibited, so Communist party easily controlled it)
Lenin Dies (1924)->Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin compete for control of the USSR
Stalin
Totalitarian State (1-party dictatorship, censorship, propaganda, etc.)
5-Year Plans
Collectives
Great Purges/Terror/Gulags
Socialist Realism
CHINESE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION
Problems in China
 Failure of Sun Yixian to create a republic in China (1911)
 Local warlords seized power and battled for control
 Peasants suffered famine, bandits, and constant fighting
 Paid high taxes to support warlord armies
 1915: Japan sought to make China a Japanese protectorate
 1919: Paris Peace Conference gave Japan control of German possessions in
China
 Nationalists blame leaders for “selling out
May Fourth Movement (1919)
 Student demonstrations protesting betrayal by Allied powers at Versailles.
 Goals:
o transform China into a liberal democracy.
o Confucianism was rejected it favor of Western ideologies.
o liberation of women, simplification of script to promote literacy, and
values of individualism
o end foreign domination
o Rejected Confucianism - sought democracy and nationalism
o Blamed imperialists’ successes on China’s own weaknesses
Nationalists v. Communists
Guomindang Party
 Guomindang (Nationalist) Party started by Sun Yixian
o “Three Principles of the People”
 Established government in south China
 Saw Soviet Russia as the “friend” to help carry out their campaign against the
warlords (alliance declared in 1924)
 The Whampoa Military Academy, founded in 1924, was first headed by Chiang
Kai-shek/Jiang Jieshi
 Jiang Jieshi: successor of Yixian
 Little interest in democracy or communism
 Marched into northern China crushing local warlords - captured Beijing
 Supported by landlords and business leaders
 Sought to destroy the Communist party members
Communist Party
 Li Dazhao postulated that in China, peasants would take the place of urban
workers in the revolution.
o Believed in a political system committed to social reform and welfare, and
an authoritarian state, which should intervene constructively in all aspects
of the people’s lives.
 1921: Communist Party founded
 Mao Zedong: young revolutionary of peasant origins, influenced by Li.

Communist should seek support from large peasant masses (not small urban
working class)
 Organized some peasants in southeastern China/Hunan province
“A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows
another. A rural revolution is a revolution by which the peasantry overthrow the power of
the feudal landlord class. Without using the greatest force, the peasants cannot possibly
overthrow the deep-rooted authority of the landlords which has lasted thousands of
years.”
 Guomindang attacked soviets there
Long March (1934): Mao and followers (90,000 people) fled the Guomindang
 Traveled more than 6,000 miles to Shaanxi province, based in the town of Yunan
 “seeding machine”
Japanese Invasion (1937)
Three-Sided Struggle
1. Jiang and Guomindang pursuing the Communists
2. Mao and Communists in remote northern China
3. Japanese invasions and puppet government at Nanjing (“rape of Nanjing”)
People’s Republic of China Founded (1949)
 4 years after the end of WWII Mao established the People’s Republic of
China in Beijing.
COMPARISON:
Compare and contrast the goals and outcomes of the revolutionary process in
TWO of the following:
Mexico (1910)
China (1911)
Russia (1917)
Fall of Qing in 1912Opens the way for a struggle over which leader or movement
would be able to capture the mandate to rule China.
1912, Sun Yixian’s Revolutionary Alliance, forerunner of the Kuomintang/Guomindang
takes control. Had little support outside the urban trading centers on the coast in central
andsouther China.
Sun Yikian become the president of the Republic of China, based on the “Three
Principles of the People”
Sun turned the presidency over to Yuan Shikai, a general who quickly betrayed the
democratic ideals of the revolution and ruled as a military dictator.
World War I: Japan occupied German concessions in China. The presented Yuan with
Twenty-One Demands, which if accepted, would have reduced China to a protectorate.
Sun and Revolutionary Alliance did not deny the Japanese demands, but Yuan was not
decisive either. Rival warlords, hostile toward Japan, wons support, and Yuan resigned.
Japan consolidated its control over northern China after Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
May 4th (1919) Movement:
Student demonstrations protesteing betrayal by Allied powers at Versailles. Looked to
transform China into a liberal democracy. Confucianism was rejected it favor of Western
ideologies. Called for liberation of women, simplication of script to promote literacy, and
values of individualism.
It became clear that civil liberties and elections were meaningless in a country ruled by
warlords, malnourished peasants, etc. More radical solution needed - communism.
Marxist revolution seemed impossible given the demographics of China, but looked to
Russia as an example.
Li Dazhao, headed Marxisst study circle at Univ. of Beijing. He interpreted Marxist
teachings to apply proltariat to the whole of China’s population, not the urban working
class. Believed in a political system committed ot social reform and welfare, and an
authoritarian state, which should intervene constructively in all aspects of the people’s
lives.
Led to creation of Marxist study clubs, and periodical to spread the ideas to politically
active youth. Socialist Youth Corps founded in 1920 was dedicated to recruiting urban
working classes to the revolutionary movement. Mao returned to his province to win
supporters and create resistance to warlords.
Communist party born in 1921, in an attempt to unify the Marxist wing of the nationalist
struggle (supported by the Comintern).
Guomindang struggled to survive. Returned from Japan in 1919 and tried to unify the
movement and named it the Nationalist Party of China. They began building an army.
Called for the unification of China under a strong central government, bring imperialist
under control, and social reforms to allievate peasant and worker woes. But, mostly
focused on political and international issues.
Drew support from businesspeople, merchants, underworld criminals, warlords.
Formed an alliance with the communists in 1924. Lenin and Bolsheivks supported
COmmnists in China, for example, Whampoa Military Acadmey, helped give nationalist
a military dimension. First headed by Chiang Kai-Shek/Jiang JieshiBiggest concerns:
90% population was peasantry. Landlords control land, which the rented out a high rates
that left tenants without food to feed and clothe themselves. Flood and drought led to
crop failure. Landless laboeres could not find crops to harvest. Famine, disease, irrigation
systems fell into disrepair. Children sold into slavery. Ate bark. Too poor for proper
burials.
Mao influnces by Li Dazhao, who emphasized solvin gtthe peasant problem.
“A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows
another. A rural revolution is a revolution by which the peasantry overthrow the power of
the feudal landlord class. Without using the greatest force, the peasants cannot possibly
overthrow the deep-rooted authority of the landlords which has lasted thousands of
years.”
1925: Sun’s death led ot rise of Chiang Kai-Shek. Captured SHanghia nad Beijing.
Chiang purged rivals, communists from his party, and workers. Despite his betrayal of
communists, contined to receive assistance from the USSR.
Communist leadership retrated into countryside and starting instituting land reforms and
improving conditions of villagers.
Hunan province organized soviets. Chiang attackd there. Mao went on the Long March
(90,000, by end only 20,000) to nw China Shaanxi province, with center in Yanan. This
consolidated his power.
Japan invaded. Nationalist and communist ally. Turned out to be advantageous from
Communists. Japanese seized coasts (Nationalist areas) and communist guerilla fihting
was more effective.
After 1945, 4 year civil war, Mao established the People’s Republic of China in Beijing.
 Food shortages resulting from World War I led to food riots and strikes in St.
Petersburg in 1917. The workers’ soviet took the city, and the tsar then abdicated.
Alexander Kerensky and other moderates sought liberal reforms. However, as
the war dragged on and the revolutionary leaders failed to implement real land
reform, unrest broke out. Lenin led the November Revolution of the Bolsheviks
in 1917. Peace with Germany was soon made irrelevant by Germany’s defeat.
The Russian delegation was snubbed at Versailles. Lenin and his followers lost to
the Social Revolutionary Party in parliamentary elections. In response, Lenin
put in its place a Congress of Soviets, imposing Communist Party control. The
United States, Britain, France, and Japan intervened,with little impact. Economic
and political chaos resulted from Lenin’s actions.
Leon Trotsky’s Red Army imposed order. Lenin’s New Economic Policy of 1921
helped to stabilize the economy. By 1923, a new system was in place: the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Supreme Soviet, nominally a parliament, was
made up of representatives chosen by the Communist Party.
The first years of communism in Russia saw a great deal of experimentation and
debate. Lenin’s death in 1924 led to a struggle for power. Joseph Stalin emerged as
victor.While Lenin had hoped the Russian example would engender a global wave
of communism, to be organized by the Comintern, Stalin emphasized nationalism.
He also pushed industrialization through a program of collectivization.
In China, the Qing dynasty fell when the last emperor abdicated in 1912. The
conflict that followed led to the rise of Mao Zedong. Military leaders such as
Yuan Shikai were prominent.University students, intellectuals, and secret societies
presented their own solutions, but Japan’s intervention decided the issue.
Sun Yat-sen led a coalition of anti-Qing groups.He was elected president in 1911
by his Revolutionary Alliance, but he ceded power to Yuan Shikai in 1912. It soon
became clear that Yuan wanted to be emperor. Japan entered the European war
as a British ally, quickly taking German territory in the region. Indecision vis-àvis
aggressive Japanese demands led to Yuan’s fall in 1916. Japan gained control
of northern China in the peace of Versailles. Chinese outrage at the concessions
to Japan led to demonstrations and the May Fourth Movement. Calling for
democracy and repudiating traditional systems, the movement had a large following.
 Yet with warlords in power, more was needed. The Bolshevik success in
Russia prompted Chinese intellectuals to adapt Marxism to China. Li Dazhao
postulated that in China, peasants would take the place of urban workers in the
revolution.Mao Zedong was highly influenced by Li. A meeting of Marxists in
Shanghai in 1921 formed the nucleus of the Chinese Communist Party.
 The Guomindang, or Nationalist party, led by Sun Yat-sen, prevailed in the
south. They concentrated on international and political issues, leaving aside critical
domestic issues, including land reform. An alliance with the Communists
was declared in 1924. The Whampoa Military Academy, founded in 1924, was
first headed by Chiang Kai-shek.
 The death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925 left an opening filled by Chiang Kai-shek.His
nationalists took Shanghai and Beijing. He attacked the Communists, bringing
Mao Zhedong forward in opposition. The latter led the Long March in 1934 to
create a new base in Shanxi. The Japanese invasions in the 1930s distracted
Chiang from opposing Mao.