The Russian Revolution

1. The Russian Revolution

3. Russian Social structure can be compared to the French Estate System. • What constituted the French system??

4. Clergy – Russian Orthodox Church • Nobility – owned most of the land, and held most gov’t and military positions.

5. 4/5 of Population = Peasants • City workers (factories) • Low wages • Poor working conditions • Middle Class • Very few • Resented the nobility

7. Only through reform and emancipation of the serfs could Russia compete with the west.

8. Army largely consisted of illiterate serfs who could barely operate guns • Created massive Peasant Rebellion Russian expansion west – into Turkey Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, and France along with the Ottoman Empire, defeated Russia

9. Mir – land became the collective property of the commune or village community • They weren’t happy, still tied to the land – couldn’t leave without permission of the mir (even temporarily) New type of local government – representative body – cutting across class lines Nobility was upset, because they had to share control with lower classes • Right to an attorney • Right to a jury trial • Right to public trial • Equality before the Law Nobility upset

10. Service reduced • Brutality reduced • Military schools – reorganized • 21 year old males – 6 years active and additional 9 in the reserves Improved Military strength

11. Women had more opportunities Primary education Intelligentsia & nihilism “a nihilist is a man who does not bow down before any authority, who does not take any principle on faith Reforms ended due to 1866 assassination attempt on Alexander II 1881 – he was assassinated by a homemade bomb

13. Peasant discontent – little better off than they had been as serfs • Intelligentsia – (philosophes) – discredited the existing order and paved the way for revolutionary change • Nihilism – believed that all Russian institutions were fit for the “rubbish heap”. • Duma – Russian Parliament didn’t have much power – no power of the purse • Behind in Industrialization – Islands of industrialization in a sea of peasants. St. Petersburg and Moscow. • There was no strong middle class

14. Russo-Japanese War – 1904 – 05 • Factory workers were discontent = strikes -> turned into political strikes • Bloody Sunday – workers marched on the Winter Palace – 1,000 were killed by troops -. Lead to riots and strikes in the cities. Peasants roamed the countryside, looting and burning homes of nobles • October Manifesto

15. Troops loyal to the Tsar prevailed – several days of fighting in Moscow • 1906 – Duma – Dissolved – wanted land belonging to the church and state to be given to peasants • 1907 – 2nd Duma – Dismissed • Tsar illegally altered elections – giving more representation to aristocracy • 1907-12 – 3rd Duma – improved conditions for peasants and workers • 1912-17 – 4th Duma – supportive of Tsar • Stolypin Reforms – Freed peasants from the mir

17. Marxist – • Urban workers – wanted better working conditions • Russia must be industrialized before a socialist revolution could take place • Proletariat revolution • Split into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

18. Largest group • Looked to the peasants as revolutionaries – giving them a broad base of support.

19. (Minority) • Orthodox Marxist • Evolutionary Socialism- need to go through capitalism before reaching the socialist state • Willing to work with the middle class

20. (majority) • Wanted to speed up socialist revolution (skipping steps to get there) • Distrustful of the middle class • It was a closed/underground socialist party

22. Tsar banned the sale of Vodka for remainder of the war • Vodka was gov’t owned and brought in a lot of revenue, shutting it down was disastrous

23. Management and workers – designed to help the war effort • Town council (elected) • Effective in Peace-Time – hospitals and schools • During the War it organized ambulance

24. By 1916 – Industries were producing enough supplies to keep the war going • Russia wasn’t capable of both feeding the civilians and running the war • Railway wasn’t running properly – couldn’t get munitions to front lines • Food was being grown, but it wasn’t being transported

25. Practically everyone supported it • Not the Bolsheviks – arrested – escaped to Switzerland or Siberia – Stalin – in exile was not involved in the 1917 revolution (hothead)

26. Women were protesting about bread, and armed forces wer on the side of the people – forced the Czar to abdicate Czar Nicolas Romanov

27. Abdication of Czar Nicolai Romanov

29. TOTALITARIANISM: A system of government in which the state exercises total control over the individual and society. No institution can run inside the state outside of state control. RELIGION EDUCATION all fall under total control of the state ECONOMY INTELLECTUAL

30. Which of the following were totalitarian regimes? • Napoleon • Henry VIII • Louis XIV • Hitler • Mussolini • Peter the Great • Catherine the Great • Elizabeth I

31. 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION WHY??? • Revolutionary Groups in Russia • Tsar Nicolas II abdicated – it collapsed he was not overthrown • Kerensky’s Provisional Government – only a gov’t because they called themselves a gov’t • Soviets – Challenged the gov’t

32. KERENSKY'S PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT • After Tsar’s abdication – Kerensky ran an inefficient and weak provisional government in Russia • The Soviets • Informal councils – claimed to represent the working class • They were there to protect the peasants • Didn’t govern but had the power to veto the Provisional Government

33. 1916 - UPRISING IN ST. PETERSBURG • Provisional Government succeeds • Lenin is put in exile FEBRUARY REVOLUTION • 1917 – MARCH TO PETROGRAD (St. Petersburg) • Nothing to defend the Provisional Government • Not one battalion was faithful

34. OCTOBER REVOLUTION • Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) • Seized the Winter Palace • Not that violent a revolution

35. LENIN IN POWER • Lenin implemented his own version of Communism • Slowed up Nationalization • Encouraged small capitalistic undertakings and agriculture and retail trade [The speed of Lenin’s communist experiment threatened the regime’s existence]

36. 1924 -LENIN DIED • THERE WAS A DEBATE OVER WHO WOULD TAKE OVER? • TROTSKY • STALIN

37. TROTSKY: Communism must spread – he advocated a World Revolution

38. STALIN: Consolidation within one country – he wanted to build socialism in the USSR and not focus on World Revolution

40. EVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM • Theoretically – a vision of a better society • It is a philosophy of history – historical development is made up of class conflicts

41. It is a critique of capitalism • Condemns exploitation of workers • Workers have control of the means of production

42. It is a strategy of revolutionary action for overthrowing capitalist society and enabling the world’s workers to establish the INEVITABLE communist society

43. REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM • WORLD REVOLUTION • Modified Marxist doctrine • Speed up the revolution • Conspiratorial • Dictatorial

44. Security for the USSR’s communism would happen only if there were communist revolutions in the advanced industrial countries of Europe NEP

45. REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM • ONE SOCIALIST STATE • Consolidation within one country

46. MOTTO: • “From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs”

47. Socialist Morality • Divorce more difficult • Abortion made illegal • Socialist realism art • Collectivization – 5 Year Plans • PURGES

48. “When there is a threat we cannot deal with, we cannot control-but because we cannot deal with the real threat we create another.”

49. 1928 Shakhty Trial • Trials were not based on evidence – but on confessions (given under intense torture) • Some were ridiculous