Revolution in Russia

1. Revolution in Russia Long-term social unrest in Russia erupted in revolution, ushering in the first Communist government.

2. Oppressive rule of the czars (tsars) and social inequalities caused unrest throughout the 19th-century: peasant riots, army rebellions, student revolutionary movements. Alexander II, a reform-minded czar who freed the serfs in 1861, was assassinated in 1881 over the slow pace of political change.

3. Alexander III succeeded his father, ended reforms, and returned to the brutal practices of the czars of old (secret police, censorship, etc.) Autocracy, orthodoxy, nationality! Anyone who questioned the absolute rule of the czar, worshipped outside the Russian Orthodox Church, or spoke a language other than Russian was considered dangerous.

4. Jews, in particular, felt the brunt of czarist autocracy, as waves of pogroms occurred throughout Russia. 19th Century engraving of a Jewish Pogrom

5. Alexander’s son Nicholas II succeeded him in 1894. Czarina Alexandra was German-born. Princess Anastasia Prince Alexei inherited hemophilia from his mother.

6. The principle of autocracy will be maintained by me as firmly and unswervingly as by my lamented father! Strong forces of change would interfere with this pledge. Romanov Dynasty 2:39

7. Number of factories doubled between 1863 and 1900 (Russia still behind western Europe). New plan boosts steel production; major railway begins (Trans-Siberian Railway). Rapid industrialization caused social unrest.

8. Growing popularity of Marxist idea that the proletariat (workers) will rule. The proletariat have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries unite! Karl Marx, German political philosopher (1818 – 1883)

9. Bolsheviks - Marxists who favored revolution by a small committed group Their leader, Lenin, was an inspiring and brilliant political organizer. His older brother had been executed as a college student for plotting against the Tsar. As a young man, Lenin was arrested and exiled to Siberia for a similar crime. He eventually fled to Switzerland to avoid further arrest but stayed in contact with the Bolsheviks. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin 1870 - 1924

10. Series of crises between 1904 and 1917 showed weakness of czar and need for revolution.

11. Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) These imperial powers fought for control of Korea and Manchuria. The embarrassing defeats of the Russian army and navy inflamed the Russian people's anger toward their ineffective government. Nicholas II elected to negotiate peace so he could concentrate on internal matters.

12. FYI: President Theodore Roosevelt offered to mediate, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his effort. Russia agreed that Korea was in Japan’s sphere of influence.

13. Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905 Jan.1905: 200,000 workers march to czar’s palace to demand reforms. He is not there. Palace troops fire into crowd, killing hundreds Bloody Sunday 1:12 A dress rehearsal for the revolution to come!

14. Eyewitness account of Bloody Sunday: Horror crept into my heart. The thought flashed through my mind, ‘And this is the work of our Little Father, the Tsar.’ Perhaps this anger saved me, for now I knew in very truth that a new chapter was opened in the book of the history of our people. I stood up, and a little group of workmen gathered round me again. Looking backward, I saw that our line, though still stretching away into the distance, was broken and that many of the people were fleeing. It was in vain that I called to them, and in a moment I stood there, the center of a few scores of men, trembling with indignation amid the broken ruins of our movement.

15. Massacre leads to widespread unrest; Nicholas forced to make democratic reforms . . .

16. The Duma, Russia’s first parliament, meets in 1906. Highly restricted and dominated by the upper class. Czar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished. The Russian Duma Constitutional monarchy 3:18

17. World War I: The Final Blow Heavy losses in World War I reveal government’s weakness (over 4 million soldiers died, wounded or captured in first year). Nicholas goes to war front; Army losing effectiveness; people at home hungry and unhappy Czarina Alexandra runs government. Meanwhile . . . Russian soldiers write home while serving on the Eastern Front during World War I, circa 1915.

18. Czarina falls under the influence of Rasputin, a mysterious “holy man” believed to be a psychic and faith healer. Remember the hemophilia? Nobles fear Rasputin’s influence and murder him. He was poisoned, shot and drowned in 1916. “If I die or you desert me, in six months you will lose your son and your throne.”

19. Russian Revolution – Part I (The March Revolution) March 1917: strikes expand in Petrograd; riots over bread and fuel shortages. Soldiers ordered to fire on people but turned guns on commanding officers (mutiny). FYI: At start of WWI, St. Petersburg sounded too German and was renamed Petrograd. After Lenin’s death in 1924, renamed Leningrad.

20. Local protests explode into general uprising Down with the autocracy! Down with the war! “

21. Czar Nicholas II forced to abdicate his throne in March 1917. The end of 300 years of Romanov rule. I guess they won’t call you “Nicholas the Great!”

22. A year later revolutionaries executed Nicholas and his family. I stuck around St. Petersburg When I saw it was a time for a change Killed the Czar and his ministers Anastasia screamed in vain. Sympathy for the Devil, The Rolling Stones

23. Duma establishes provisional (temporary) government eventually headed by Alexander Kerensky, who continued fighting WWI (the “capitalists’ war”). Peasants, city workers, revolutionaries not content. Their soviets, or local councils, controlled many cities and became more radical. Alexander Kerensky speaking at a meetingof the Provisional Government in the Library of Nicholas II

24. When the February Revolution broke out in 1917, Kerensky was one of its most prominent leaders: he was member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and was elected vice-chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. He also became the first Minister of Justice in the newly formed Provisional Government, and its second Prime Minister. He opposed the Bolsheviks and lost, eventually fleeing to Paris. Kerensky died, in exile, at his home in NYC in 1970. The local Russian Orthodox Churches in New York refused to grant Kerensky burial, holding him responsible for Russia falling to the Bolsheviks. A young Kerensky's chance encounter 1:00

25. In April 1917, Germans aid Lenin in returning from exile to Russia. Germany’s motive is to weaken the provisional gov’t and the Russian war effort. Lenin called for withdrawal from WWI, and for shifting power from the provisional gov’t to the soviets (where Bolsheviks were favored). A revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation; furthermore, not every revolutionary situation leads to revolution.

26. Russian Revolution – Part II (The Bolshevik Revolution) Bolsheviks control Petrograd and other soviets. Lenin’s slogan: “Peace, Land, and Bread” gains support. November 1917, Bolshevik Red Guards (armed factory workers) storm Winter Palace in Petrograd and take over government. The government is tottering. We must deal it the death blow at any cost. To delay action is the same as death!

27. Lenin gives land to peasants, puts workers in control of factories Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners!

28. March 1918: Bolsheviks sign treaty with Germany (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk); Russia out of World War I after losing nearly 2 million soldiers. Gives up territory to Germany (e.g., Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia) which angers many Russians. Bolsheviks in trouble.

29. Civil War Rages in Russia (1918-1920) Bolsheviks’ Red Army vs. White Army. The 'Red Army' name refers to the traditional color of the workers' movement. Symbolically, the blood shed by the working class in its struggle against capitalism. ‘Have you signed up as a volunteer?’D.S. Moor, 1920(Red Army recruitment poster)

30. Western nations, including the U.S., sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the loosely allied White Army. “White” meant political distinction from the Reds; some soldiers wore the white uniforms of Imperial Russia.

31. Red Army wins three-year war that leaves 15 million dead. Russian economy in shambles.

32. Lenin Restores Order (economic and political plans) March 1921: Lenin launches New Economic Policy Allows some capitalism (peasants may sell surplus crops; small businesses and factories under private ownership) NEP and peace restore economy shattered by war By 1928, Russia’s farms, factories are productive again

34. Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country! Lenin creates self-governing republics under national gov’t. In 1922, country renamed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), in honor of the local councils that launched Bolshevik Revolution. Communist Party - new name taken by Bolsheviks from writings of Marx Instead of a “dictatorship of the proletariat” as Marx promoted, Lenin established a “dictatorship of the Communist Party.”

35. Lenin dies in 1924. By 1928, country’s factories and farms recovered and returned to prewar levels of production. Lenin is #35 on the Biography of the Millennium list. Lenin's Tomb, in Red Square in Moscow, serves as the current resting place of Vladimir Lenin. His embalmed body has been on public display there since shortly after his death (with rare exceptions in wartime).