1917 Russian Revolutions

1. 1917 Russian Revolutions Ms Leslie History 12

2. February/March Revolution • Begins with street demonstrations in Petrograd over food shortages • Feb 25/March 8 1917 - International Women’s Day. A group of women demonstrated against high food prices • At the same time Revolutionaries are calling for workers demonstrations

3. Feb 26, 200,000 people gathered in the streets • Tsar ordered Cossacks stop them, they refused. • Tsar ordered in the troops; dozens of protesters killed • Feb 27, troops join protesters and kill their commander • Protesters get weapons and burn down the police head quarters and hunt tsarist supporters • Feb 28, Tsarist ministers under arrest and the police had vanished.

4. Tsar is busy at the front of WWI • When informed of riots he thinks nothing of it and stays put • Petrograd is controlled by revolutionaries within 24 hours

7. Tsar’s Reaction • Dissolves the Duma • Tries to return to the capital but is stuck • Revolutionaries blocked the train tracks to stop his return and ensure the revolution is a success

8. Moscow’s fate • Falls by March 14 • Tsar abdicates in an attempt to keep domestic tranquility and the war effort. • Also abdicated for his son (an action which is illegal under the 1797 Law of Succession • This fact would make people question the legitimacy of the provisional government

9. March 16 • The Moscow Soviet and the Duma get together and create a Provisional Government, • It is made up of moderates and some Soviet radicals • Promises : a Constituent Assembly with universal secret ballot and to legalize Strikes

10. Interesting fact • Important to note that the revolutionary leders (Lenin and Trotsky) were not even in the country • Lenin was exiled in Switzerland. • Trotsky in New York

11. Provisional Government • Made up of Liberal Duma members • led by Prince Georgii Lvov • Vowed to hold elections for a constituent assembly • Always had problems with legitimacy • Ruled for 8 months • In the middle of WWI and social turmoil • Lvov wants to stay in the war and honour commitments

12. Provisional Government’s goals • Civil rights, Minority autonomy, rule of law • Self government at every level • Goals not attainable in war time

13. Struggle for power • The Provisional government had disagreements between the Liberals who thought the revolution had gone too far and the Marxists who thought it didn’t go far enough

14. PG Problems • Order #1 - gave soviet’s authority over army • Made the army a democracy - No more hierarchy • Army discipline begins to unravel • Bad idea to over haul the army in the middle a war!!!

15. PG’s priority was government reform, not fixing the catastrophic conditions in Russia • Most of the agricultural land was owned by the rich. Peasants were still starving • No immediate plans for land reform • 90% of the population becomes impatient

16. Other things the PG did • Independence to Poland and Finland • Freed political prisoners • Made plans for judicial reform • Drafted legislation for self-government • But things are easier said then done. Have to put things on hold and deal with food shortages

17. The PG and the War • Could not hold and election in the chaos of Germans at their borders • Feel they are not a legitimate government due to not being elected • Thought the Russian people wanted to continue the war - this is completely wrong

18. Return of Lenin • In Switzerland during Feb Revolution • Heard about the Bolsheviks aligning with the PG and is infuriated • It’s important to note that most Bolsheviks were living outside of Russia at the time due to exile, the ones remaining in Russia were led by Stalin

19. How to get back to Russia? • Germany knew if Lenin returned to Russia he would come in to power and pull Russia from the war, giving a great help to Germany

20. The Germans provided Lenin and 100 other Bolsheviks with a sealed train across Germany. • This would cause Lenin to be accused later of being a German Spy on the Kaiser’s Payroll.

21. Lenin Arrives!!! • April 3 to cheering crowds gives his ‘April Thesis’ which promises: • ‘Peace, Land and Bread’ • Proletariat to bring a communist revolution • Wants to end coalition and give ‘all power to the soviets’ • Immediate peace • Seizure of gentry’s land and factories • Most think he’s crazy as they just had a revolution why have another?

22. Shortly after Lenin’s arrival, Trotsky also returns from exile. • Is Lenin’s 2nd in command

23. June 1917 • Kerensky was the leding commander for the war and saw a future in Russia if they were to follow a democratic path • Fights the Bolsheviks when they try to over throw Lvov • But the people want ‘Peace, land and bread’ • 30,000 troops desert. Known to kill officers when ordered to fight

24. Kerensky arrested Trotsky and Lenin fled to Finland • After major unrest in July Lvov is replaced by Kerensky, • Kerensky is leder until Lenin’s take over

25. September • Loose alliance between Kerensky’s socialists and General Kornilov’s Constitutional Democrats • Kornilov Affair - Kerensky and Kornilov send troops into Petrograd to stop a disturbance. Kornilov betrays Kerensky attempts a coup • Kerensky defended the government by freeing the Bolsheviks he jailed and armed them. This was the beginning of ‘The Red Guard’

27. The Red Guard was able to convince many of Kornilov’s soldiers to desert • They arrested Kornilov • Kerensky dissolved the coalition • This affair gave the Bolsheviks a majority in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets

28. The October/November Revolution • Night of October 24th/November 6 • They seized key centers of power in Petrograd such as government buildings, telegraph offices and bridges. • Kerensky fled the city in search of supporters, in finding none he fled to America.

29. Lenin returned from Finland on Oct 23rd and arrests the PG • There’s little resistance • The ease of which the PG fell shows how little support it had.

30. Most of the Great Russian cities fell to Bolshevik control while the countryside remained in a political vacuum with little in their lives changing.

31. The first months • called for an immediate end to the war with peace offers • announced all of Russia’s land belonged to the peasants. This is contrary to communism • The third decree was for self-determination for ethnic minority groups. • The capital was moved to Moscow, a more secure location.

32. Problems for Peace • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March of 1918. Germany dictated the terms and Russia lost 26% of population, 27% of farmland and 74% of iron or and coal. • Trotsky fought against these demands, but Lenin knew Russia had to get out of the war fast or risk losing the socialist revolution. • After the war, Russia was able to get a lot of the land back, except for Finland and the Baltic states.

34. Problems for Food • During the winter of 1917-18 there were food shortages in the cities. • Party members were sent out to the villages to confiscate food or buy it with worthless paper money, this angered the peasants.

35. Problems for Food • In 1919-20 Famine • Party members were given rations while others starved • Moscow lost half its population and Petrograd lost 2/3. • In 1921 the Volga famine saw several million people starve. • Diseases such as cholera and typhoid were rampant

36. Had to resort to cannibalism

37. Lenin’s steps to Communism • Peasants seized land • Factories under worker control • Banks nationalized • Private accounts confiscated • Foreign trade = state monopoly • Opposition groups illegal including Mensheviks • Counterrevolutionary Committee established

38. War Communism • enterprises were put under direct state control and • Mining, textile, electrical, forestry, resin, glass, mills, cement industry etc. • workers under military discipline - compulsory labour • Rationing replaced private trade

39. Peasants did not want to give the government anything as they got little in return. • The government had to feed the Red Army so food was taken from peasants at gunpoint and peasant uprisings were ruthlessly crushed.

40. First elections after the war • This new Constituent Assembly gave the Social Revolutionary party 51% of the seats with the Bolsheviks winning only 25%. The rest of the seats went to Mensheviks and Cadets. • It convened in January of 1918 and on the second day Bolshevik guards barred the doors of the Assembly hall on Lenin’s orders.

41. The Cheka • The Secret Police • acronym of ‘Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage’. • The leder was FeliksDzerzhinskii and he was charged with being the ‘sword of the revolution’ and would dispose of state enemies real or imagined. • He set up a series of prison and labour camps, the worlds first concentration camp system.

42. Trouble in the party • The Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries’ plotted against the Bolsheviks. • Assassinations on Bolshevik leders were made; Lenin himself received 2 bullet wounds. • The reprisals escalated into the Red Terror, which killed 100,000 people and caused 2 million more to leave the country.

43. Civil War 1918-1920 • Anti-Bolshevik forces (the Whites) were preparing for a counter-revolution. led by Kornilov! • Tsarist Army Officers, Cossacks, Bourgeoisie, Outlawed political groups • Allies sent troops to strategic locations in Russia, but many of the war-weary troops could not be counted on. • In the Black Sea French troops mutinied. • British dock-workers refused to load ships bound for Russia.

44. The Whites mostly controlled the countryside while the Red had major Urban centers • Allied support was in material only (not actual fighting) all it did was start the ground work for the Cold War (Communism vs Capitalism)

45. By 1920 Bolshevik Russia had triumphed. • By 1921 the revolution was successful everywhere but Finland, Poland and the Baltic states. • In Siberia resistance only lasted as long at there was Japanese presence, by 1922 they were gone. • Lenin and the Bolsheviks had to rebuild their devastated country. No other country was as damaged by WWI as Russia.

46. 5 reasons the Bolsheviks Won 1.They controlled central regions and communication centers. They could transfer troops quickly to where there was need. The Whites had longer supply lines and lacked communication in rural areas. 2. The Whites were not organized. They did not have a political agenda for propaganda campaigns. The White leders fought amongst themselves and would not co-ordinate their efforts.

47. 3. Mood of the people: • Whites were middle/upper class • Reds were lower class • pogrom campaigns made it hard for Western powers to justify their aid to the Whites. Especially when White lederDeniken ordered the slaughter of 100,000 Jews in the Ukraine. 4. The White’s allied support was little more the lip service

49. 5. Red Army was huge. In 1920 is was the largest in the world, numbering 5.5 million men led by Trotsky. Trotsky overcame problems with lack of leadership by forcing ex-Czarists officers to serve. A dual command system was put in place and political commissars added to all army units.

50. Death of the Tsar • On the night of 16/17 July 1918, the royal family was awakened around 2:00 am, told to dress, and led down into a half-basement room at the back of the house; anti-Bolshevik forces were approaching • Present with Nicholas, Alexandra and their children were their doctor, and three of their servants, who had voluntarily chosen to remain with family - the Tsar's personal physician, his wife's maid, and the family's chef, and footman