The Russian Revolution: Challenges and Evolution in the State System

1. The Russian Revolution, Part I

2. State Emblem of the Russian Empire, 1890s

3. THE RUSSIAN SYSTEM • The state, militarized and costly, heavily exploited society (especially the peasantry) • The political system was autocratic-patrimonial, with the monarch being the supreme owner of the country and the sole source of sovereignty • The church was subservient to the state • Real power in the state was held by massive and corrupt bureaucracy • Individual rights and liberties were severely curbed • Society had no legal means of influencing government policies – the people had an impact on the state either by obedience to it or by resistance to it (passive or active) • Market economy and private ownership had limited potential for development • When reforms became overdue, the state acted as the main agent of change, usually with limited effect

4. Russia’s 19th century: • The apex of expansion – and the lag behind the West • The pressures for change • The reforms of Alexander II • Development of capitalism vs. • Political modernization Capitalism was creating new classes, new issues, new conflicts – and the state was expected to evolve to be able to deal with them. But the Russian state was not up to the task. It was not part of the solution, it was the source of additional problems

5. Coronation of Nicholas II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b-Cfe7fPok

6. Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov Family • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo9sNh5InkY&feature=related

8. The Russian “battle order” The effects of wars on the Russian system: successful wars (1721, 1815, 1878, 1945) – reaffirmed the status-quo, strengthened the state, discouraged reforms unsuccessful wars (1856, 1905, 1917, 1989) – fostered reforms and revolutions

9. Start of the Russo-Japanese War • Jan.1904: Japan attacks Russian Navy in Korea and China • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwxHNGAM-KU&feature=related

10. Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05

11. 1904: How Russia expected to beat Japan

12. Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05: A Japanese cartoon

13. The Battle of Tsushima, May 1905: Japanese Navy sinks Russian fleet

14. The 1905-07 Revolution • January 1905 • Defeats of the Russian army and navy in war with Japan trigger off discontent over socioeconomic conditions and lack of political rights • January 9: The Bloody Sunday • In St. Petersburg, 140,000 workers, led by a priest, march to the Royal Palace with a petition to the Tsar, asking for reforms • They are met with troops who fire on the crowds

15. January 9, 1905, St. Petersburg:

16. January 9th, 1905: 200 killed, 800 wounded, the first victims of the Russian revolution

17. Classic confrontation between state and society • Repression backfires • Society revolts against the state, demanding: • Resolution of pressing social issues, such as land reform • Political freedoms • Accountable government • Peace

18. Participants: • Industrial workers • Peasants • Soldiers • Students • Intellectuals • Businessmen • Clergy • Non-Russian nationalities

19. Forms of struggle: • Demonstrations • Strikes, many of them political • Takeovers of farmland • Armed revolts • Mutinies in the armed forces • Political self-organization of civil society • Creation of political parties – from Left to Right • Creation of labour unions, independent professional associations, etc. • Creation of Soviets as new bodies of democratic government, challenging the autocratic state

21. Mutiny on battleship “Potemkin”, June 1905 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3NmRPjesOA&feature=related

22. The government’s response • Peace with Japan • Repression • Reforms, beginning with the Tsar’s October 1905 Manifesto, granting political freedoms and parliamentary elections • By 1907, the revolution subsides • But no viable new form of state-society relations has been created • Stalemate • The Tsar is a reactionary, rejects democracy • The nobility is stuck in the old order • The capitalist class is too dependent on the state, too afraid to show initiative

23. The gap between the rulers and the ruled • Reforms stimulate radical protest • THE ATTRACTIONS OF SOCIALISM • When the state resorts to repression, that only makes the state-society gap even wider • Russia’s options: • A liberal-capitalist path: what it would require • An authoritarian-capitalist path: what it would require • A non-capitalist path

24. EUROPE 1914

25. The summer of 1914 marked a watershed in world history: • For the first time ever, a world war began • Since 1914, we’ve experienced 4 world wars • They are historically connected with each other – like links of a chain • They may be viewed as 4 stages of one continuous period of global conflict

26. What made world wars possible: • 1. An integrated world – globalization • 2. Struggle for power within countries acquires international dimensions • 3. Availability of economic resources • 4. Development of military technologies • 5. The culture of war • New rationalizations of war • The idea of total war

27. August 1914 - Berlin

28. August 1914 - London

29. Canadian recruitment poster, WWI

30. Australians are urged to volunteer for WWI

31. German troops moving on Paris

32. French troops happily marching to the front, 1914

33. War’s grim reality

34. British soldiers blinded by German gas attack

35. War without end

37. World War I: 1914-1918 Resulted from: • -Rivalries between states (Germany-Britain, France-Germany, Russia-Austria, Russia-Turkey, etc.) • -Social tensions within states • -Nationalist struggles against empires The war for power and influence inside the global capitalist system • Expected to be brief • The reality: a bloody 4-year stalemate • Ended by revolutions in Russia (1917) and Germany (1918) • 15 mln. deaths, incl. 9 mln. combat • The flu pandemic of 1918-1919: 20-40 mln. deaths: a direct environmental effect of “the Great War”

38. Causes of Russia’s involvement in World War I: - own imperial goals (the Balkans and Transcaucasus): natural behaviour of an empire - influence of Britain and France - a war to avoid a revolution The clash of empires: The interstate conflict The internal factors: - interplay of nationalisms - class conflicts - struggles over democratic reforms

39. Russian soldiers pledge allegiance to the Tsar: World War I

40. Russian WWI poster: “The Great European War”

41. Russian infantry attack, 1914

42. THE WAR AS A REVOLUTIONARY FORCE: it tested the West and undermined capitalism • Results of the war: -Collapse of 4 empires: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German, Turkish -World capitalism severely undermined – North and South (economically, politically, socially, ideologically) -The rise of socialprotest and revolutionary movements everywhere

43. 1917 The protracted, stalemated war puts heavy burden on Russia The growing mood of anger and protest February 1917: mass demonstrations break out in Petrograd The government orders troops to fire on demonstrators Soldiers turn on their officers and join the protest Massive revolt engulfs the country The Tsar abdicates The state authority collapses within a week

44. Abdication of Nicholas II

45. February 1917: Crowds in front of the Royal Palace

46. “Long live the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies!”

47. Women demand voting rights

48. Armed citizenry

49. Citizen militias patrol streets

50. Arrest of generals