The Russian Revolution
Big Question

To Know – What were the long-term and
immediate causes of the Russian
Revolution?
Causes
Ineffective – Autocratic Rulership
 Military Failures
 Economic Hardships
 Revolutionary Inspiration

Ineffective Rulers
Only true autocracy left in
Europe – especially after
assassination of Alexander
II
 No type of representative
political institutions –
Duma created by
Alexander II rarely given
right to assembly
 Nicholas II became Tsar in
1884; Believed he was the
absolute ruler anointed by
God

Ineffective Rulers
Nicholas was personally a
very weak man – left the
control of his country in
the hands of his private
guards.
 Tsar became increasingly
remote as a ruler
 Wife, Alexandra, even
more blindly committed
to autocracy than her
husband
 She was under the
influence of mystic,
Rasputin to try to solve
her son’s hemophilia.

The Collapse of the Imperial
Government
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Nicholas leaves for the
Front—September, 1915
Alexandra and Rasputin
and other high
government officials
accused of treason
Rasputin assassinated in
December of 1916 by
supporters of Tsar who
thought Rasputin was
bad for the Tsar's
reputation.
Military Failure
Crimean War – 1853
 Russo-Japanese War – 1905
 Tannenberg Forest – 1914
–WW I – 5 million men killed, poorly
supplied, average peasant did not see
reason for being in war

Practice Question
Which situation resulted from the RussoJapanese War of 1905?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Japan lost its status as a world power
the Japanese Emperor encouraged
reforms in Russia
dissident groups challenged the power of
the Russian Czar
Russia gained control of China and Japan
Economic Failures
“Bloody Sunday” (1905)– workers peacefully
protested at Tsar's winter palace due to bread
shortages – Tsar's guards killed them.
 March 1917 - Women begin a march on
International Women’s Day in St. Petersburg
shouting “Peace & Bread” –hundred of
thousands of workers join in 3 day strike.

 Protests wartime misery, working conditions in early
industrial factories, incomplete rural reform and unresponsive
political response.
 Tsar tells military to disperse crowds – they refuse and
80,000 join in the crowds.
The March
Revolution
Origins: Duma disobeys Tsar’s
orders to dissolve and form the
Provisional Government
(democratic) to run Russia
 Workers Council (labor union) or
Petrograd Soviet took control over
city and arrested tsar’s ministers
 Tsar abdicated on March 17th for
brother Michael (not son Alexis who
had hemophilia and was weak)
when brother abdicated a day later
with no successor – chaos.
Romanov dynasty ends. Family
under arrest.

Soviet Political Ideology




More radical and
revolutionary than the
Provisional Government
Most influenced by
Marxist socialism
Emulated western
socialism
Two Factions
-- “Mensheviks” (wanted
a democratic gov’t with
socialist party)
-- “Bolsheviks” (wanted
dictatorship w/no parties
except socialism)
Let’s Review

What is communism?

What did Karl Marx in 1848 see as the problem?

What did Marx want as the solution?

What do the terms proletariat and bourgeois
mean in regards to communism?
Practice Question
Which is generally a characteristic of a communist
economy?
investment is encouraged by the promise of
large profits
B. the role of government in the economy is
restricted by law
C. government agencies are involved in
production planning
D. entrepreneurs sell shares in their companies to
the government
A.
Review of Marxism
Communist Manifesto 1848
Two social classes – proletariat (working
class in factories) and bourgeoisie
(capitalist factory owners)
 Bourgeoisie make a profit off of hard work
of proletariat
 Proletariat must unite and overthrow
bourgeoisie
 A revolution will lead to a classless society.
 Afterwards production in hands of state.

Challenge Question !
The 1917 victory of the communists in
Russia was a contradiction of Marxist
theory because Russia was
A.
B.
C.
D.
already ruled by a socialist government
involved in World War I
mainly an agricultural society
not considered to be a military power
Founder of Bolshevism:
Vladimir Lenin

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
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Brother executed for
assassination plot against Tsar.
Lenin - Exiled to Siberia in
1897
Returned to Russia by
Germans to undermine Russia
in war.
Slogans - “Peace, Land, Bread”
and “Religion is the opiate of
the masses” (anti-Religion Marx)
Bolshevik party membership
exploded within the large
urban workforce (proletariat)
Practice Question
Which slogan expressed the ideals of the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
Bread, Land, and Peace
Land and Liberty
Nationalism, Democracy, and the
People’s Livelihood
The November or “Bolshevik”
Revolution

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
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Bolsheviks led by Trotsky and
Lenin invaded Provisional
Government on Nov. 6 1917
All private property of wealthy
was abolished and divided
among the peasantry
Largest industrial enterprises
nationalized
Political Police organized:
CHEKA (will become later KBG)
Revolutionary army created with
Trotsky in charge
-- “Red Army”
Bolshevik Party renamed
Communist Party in March of
1918
St. Petersburg (after Romanov
Tzar – Peter the Great) renamed
Petrograd
Practice Question
The Russian peasants supported the Bolsheviks in
the 1917 Revolutions mainly because the
Bolsheviks promised to
establish collective farms
B. maintain the agricultural price-support system
C. bring modern technology to Russian farms
D. redistribute the land owned by the nobility
A.
Big Question

To Know – What were the results of the
Bolshevik Revolution?

To Ponder – how successful were the
results of the Bolshevik revolution in
solving the economic and political
problems that were facing Russia in 1917?
Results of Revolution
Change in Government – absolute
monarchy to communist state
 Civil War erupts
 Russia leaves WW1
 Economic Devastation
 Cultural Collapse

Civil War – Reds vs. Whites
(1918-1921)
Red (Bolshevik) Army – supported by workers
and Russian Army (peasant conscription – 5
million by 1921 – death penalty to deserters);
controlled key cities, industries, and railroads
 White (anti-Bolshevik) forces – supported by
liberals, Tsarists, religious, moderate socialists;
supported by Allied powers – especially
Churchill; poor communication and spread out;
Cossacks persecuted Jewish population
 Greens (anarchists) – supported by peasants,
military deserters

Treaty of Brest Litovsk
Questions to Discuss

How did the Russian people feel
about the Treaty of Brest Litovsk?

After the Allied Powers win the war
with Germany, should Russia have
been given back its territory? Why?
Why Not?
Economic Problems in Factories

Worker’s committees incapable of running factories –
often voted themselves pay rises & stole goods

Industrial output shrank, esp. consumer goods leading to
price inflation

All industry nationalised and managed by state

New laws on labour discipline, e.g. fines for lateness &
absenteeism

Working class & army members given priority over
rations
Practice Question
True/False. The redistribution of land and the
nationalism (state-run) of industry was
economically successful for Russia.
Farmers & peasants


Food prices increased, bread shortages – Feb
1918 bread ration in Petrograd reached 50 grams
per person per day
Many peasants stop planting
seed in protest, agricultural
production fell back
Secret hoard of food found
Red Terror

Chief instrument = Cheka (renamed GPU in 1922)

powers of arrest, detention and torture

1918-20 13,000 prisoners executed (official records) –
unofficial records 300,000

Russian Orthodox Church leaders executed; 1000s
priests imprisoned

1922 writers & scholars deported
Practice Question
One action taken by both V.I. Lenin and Joseph
Stalin was
A.
B.
C.
D.
attempting to bring democracy to Russia
jailing or murdering potential opponents
supporting the Russian Orthodox Church
providing economic aid to Japan after World
War I and World War II
Tsar & his family

17 July 1918 Tsar & family
shot despite fears of
antagonising Germany (Tsar
cousin of Kaiser, Tsarina
was German)
Room in which the family were killed
(even family dog killed)
Anastasia
Final Question to Ponder

Was the new government established by Lenin,
Trotsky, and later Stalin more, less or similarly as
autocratic/successful as that under Czar
Nicholas?