Russian Revolutions & the Birth of the Soviet State

1. TheRussian Revolutions,Civil War, & the Early Soviet State Unit 5Chapter 28

2. Nicholas II: The Last Romanov Tsar[1894-1917]

3. Causes

4. 1. Early 20c: Russian Social Hierarchy

5. 2. Unprepared for WWI • Incompetent generals, untrained soldiers, lack of modern technology for warfare • Ran out of ammunition • Broken down railroads • Shortage of food

6. 3. Shortage of Food Everywhere • Factory workers staged demonstrations • Soldiers mutinied

7. February Revolution, 1917 • Nicholas abdicates the throne • Parliament takes over • Social Revolutionaries speak out: • Mensheviks • Advocated electoral politics and redistribution of land to peasants • Bolsheviks • Led by Vladimir Lenin • Also advocated redistribution of land to peasants, but more radical

8. Vladimir Lenin • Exiled to Siberia in 1897 • Committed to ‘Class Struggle’ and ‘Revolution’ • What is to be Done? • vanguard is required to lead the rev. (thus rev. from above) • Goal was to lead a revolution rather than wait for it • “The will of a class is sometimes fulfilled by a dictator”

9. “Peace, land & bread!” • Amnesty granted to all political prisoners in March of 1917 • Lenin arrived in Petrograd • “All Power to the Soviets” • “Transfers of land to the peasants and factories to the workers” • He preached that the war was a capitalist/imperialist war that offered no rewards for the peasants & workers • Bolshevik party membership exploded; their power was consolidated

10. Germany helps Lenin • Answer with your partner…during The Great War, why would Germany want to help Lenin back into Russia???

11. October Revolution • Russian soldiers began to desert • Nov. 6, 1917 (Oct. 24 onRussian calendar) soldiers took over Petrograd • Lenin had Mensheviks arrested and seized power • Private land nationalized; peasants had to hand over crops without compensation • Took over factories and drafted the workers into compulsory labor brigades • Cheka – secret police force

12. Civil War

13. Whites • 1918 – Bolsheviks officially become Communist Party • Most pressing problem after the November Revolution—opponents who had mounted a full-scale civil war • Whites • Lenin’s forces were known as the Reds • Lenin’s army was able to win this war by 1920-21

14. Reasons for Red Victory • Reds occupied the strategic center of the nation; the Whites were on the fringes • White opposition was ideologically fragmented, including reformists, Mensheviks, Czarists; this wartime coalitionproved to be incompatible. • Trotskyhad increased the efficiency of the Red Army, introducing strict military discipline (deserters for example were shot) and making use of czarist officers and their military experience.

15. U.S.S.R. • Red Army able to conquer Ukraine by end of 1920 • By 1921 Civil War was over • Ukraine merged with Russia in 1922 • 1922 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics official • Georgia, Armenia, & Azerbaijan join up by end of 1922 • Essentially all of old Tsarist empire is back with exception of Finland, the Baltic states, & Poland • BUT - Soviet land and economy were devastated, leading Lenin into a program of economic reform known as the NEP

16. Early Soviet State

17. The New Economic Policy • attempt to rebuild agriculture & industry through a free market system • Largest businesses remained under government control (railroads, banks, etc.) • many dissidentswere shipped off to the gulags (Labor Camp) • The NEP did work & Lenin was ready to return to Marxist principles • But his health deteriorated after a 1922 stroke, and Lenin died in 1924: this created a power vacuum and a struggle between Trotsky and Stalin

18. Leon Trotsky • intellectual, head of the Red Army • Favored the doctrine of World Revolution • felt that the USSR could not survive as the sole comm. state • the USSR must therefore seek to export revolution • opposed the NEP

19. Josef Stalin • favored “Socialism in One Country” • the USSR should strengthen itself and lead the comm. world by example • as a pragmatist (practical person), he supported the NEP • experienced as a bureaucrat, he became the Party’s General Secretary in 1922: here he appointed many new communists—these allies were crucial to Stalin’s rise to power • power struggle lasted until 1928, when Stalin’s complex system of alliances allowed him to succeed and become an totalitarian dictator

20. Five-Year Plans • Goal—make Soviet Union the leading industrialized nation • New factories, mines, railroads, etc. • collectivization was implemented • Each collective expected to supply the government with fixed supply of food • peasant opposition was crushed/starved • after some protest, the kulaks were liquidated, starved in order to feed urban workers—the “terror famine” (8 million people) • Little to nothing left for farmers themselves • Severe famine between 1933-1934 killing 5 million

21. Second Five-Year Plan • Emphasis on heavy industry – threat of Nazi Germany’s new industrialization • Machines increased fourteen-fold while consumer goods became scarce & food was rationed

22. The Great Purges • Secret police created suspicion & fear • Stalin purged a million members of Communist Party • Even his personal generals • Executed • Millions sentences without trials • Sent to gulags – around a million a year died of exposure or malnutrition

23. Stalin was able to do this b/c the gov. was firmly in place & all threats had been eliminated through state terror & propaganda • Women in particular supportive • Stalin combined communism and dictatorship in this time, setting the tone for future comm. leaders • By 1941, the USSR was among the top 3 economic powers • Industrialized faster than any country ever • Able to avoid world Depression