Edexcel History: Russia and the Soviet Union, 1905-24

Reasons for dislike of Tsar Nicholas II

Devoted but a very weak leader—couldn't make important decisions

Vowed to 'preserve the principle of autocracy (leader with absolute power) as firmly and unflinchingly as my father.'

Didn't do change politics or workers' rights

Russia's geography (and the problems it posed)

Cold - ports were frozen in winter so it was hard to trade

Large - hard to govern or spread political ideas

Poor agriculture - little rain but good soil

Autocracy in Russia

Russian Orthodox Church gave him this 'divine right'

No democracy or representation near the top

Tsar had power over armed services who swore to defend him, not the people

High censorship; people didn't want to criticise tsar

Reasons for peasant discontent

Peasants made up 85% of country but couldn't afford enough land to sustain themselves

Overtaxation

1890s and 1901 famines

Reasons for workers' discontent

Bad pay for long hours, rules were v harsh - led to illness

Not allowed to form trade unions if factory owners didn't allow it

Assembly for Russian Workers

Est. 1903 by Father Gapon; ~9K members by 1904

4 members arrested -> 110K workers went on strike

130K people signed Gapon's appeal to the tsar

Middle class discontent

Many were liberal but feared extremists

Wanted the tsar removed and a fair constitution for all

Non-Russian ethnics' discontent

1897: only 44% of Russia's 125M people were Russian by nationality

Yet the tsar enforced Russification as a means of getting them to conform to their culture

Russian Social Democratics

Est. 1898, made up of Mensheviks who thought it'd take a long time to start a Marxist revolution, and Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) who wanted to start it ASAP

Okhrana

Tsar's secret police

Russo-Japanese War

1904-05 where Russia lost the battle for Manchuria to Japan

Battle of Mukden

February 1905; 90K people died

Effects of Russo-Japanese War

Less patriotism, economic problems, rise in revolutionaries

Bloody Sunday

9th Jan 1905: 111K peaceful protestors brought petition (signed by 150K ppl) to the tsar > 100+ killed

Reasons for Potemkin Mutiny

Really low morale after Russo-Japanese war, dislike for upper-class officers, poor living conditions

Background of Potemkin Mutiny

14th June 1905: Executive officers shot and killed a leader of the mutiny, after soldiers rebelled against eating maggot-infested meat

Events of Potemkin Mutiny

Sailors, now in control, sailed to Odessa, Ukraine, where riots took place

Tsar ordered the Odessa army to take control, and 1k people died

Effects of Potemkin Mutiny

8th July, 1905: Sailors go to Constanta to seek asylum and avoid arrest; sinking the boat

First signs of army uprisings - tsar should have been worried

St Petersburg Soviet

Est. October 1905

Organised general strike, headed by Lev Trotsky (later had a key role in the revolution)

1905 Revolution

Peasants burned 3000 manor houses in 1905-07

20 Sep-2 Oct 1905: general strike - 400K industrial workers took part bc of Bloody Sunday

Russia came to a standstill

October Manifesto (date)

17 October 1905

Terms of October Manifesto

Freedom of speech, religion, political parties and trade unions

Parliament with elected representatives called Duma was established

State Dumas approved new laws

Govt.'s actions would be monitored by these elected representatives

Effects of October Manifesto

Satisfied the middle class

But failed to appease the peasants and working class

Fundemental State laws

Nicholas was still the autocratic leader

Tsar could veto legislation from the Duma and the State Council could reject any laws passed by the Duma

Repression

Dec 1905: St Petersburg Soviet leaders arrested - wanted more strikes and believed the working class had to be armed

Social democrats tried to lead an armed workers' revolution which resulted in 1000+ people being killed

1906-07: Over a thousand people tried were executed, and thousands more sent into exile

Why Nicholas survived the revolution

October Manifesto: calmed the middle class down

Military dealt with the unrest—only a small group of the military mutinied

Opposition to the government was very disorganised; everyone had different motives

First Duma's existence dates

27 April-8 July, 1906

First Duma's features

Anti-govt. Made up of deputies from the lefist Kadets and Trudoviks (a subdivision of the Socialist Revolutionary Party that was actually part of duma)

Tsar dissolved it after 10 weeks - too radical

Second duma's existence dates

February-June 1907

Second duma's features

222 Socialists (mostly SRs) elected into the duma

Social democrats actually took part this time

Revolutionaries realised duma wasn't going to change Russia

Third duma's features

3rd June, 1907: Stolypin enforced rules that meant that more conservative deputies had to be elected - made up 287/443 seats

Liberals realised the government was corrupt and resistant to change

Lasted full five year term bc tsar could rely on conservatives

Police Repression's effects on Revolutionary Parties

Hard for the parties to work with the workers

Peasants were intimidated by Stolypin's repressions

Third duma elections were very rigged and conservative landlords made up most of the seats

Fourth duma's features

more conservatives, right-wingers and nationalist parties

Opposition didn't have enough power to cause revolution

Fourth duma lasted until Feb 1917

Stolypin's land reforms

1906-1917: to increase wealth, Stolypin wanted peasants to leave communes, set up family farms all over Russia - get profit (incentive for efficiency)

Less burning of houses

Stolypin's land reforms - features

1907-17: 3.5M peasants moved to Siberia

People still worked as if they were in communes

1915: only 14% of peasants combined their strips of land together to create enclosed farms (others were inefficient

Stolypin's assassination

1911

Lena Goldfields Massacre

4 April 1912

Features of Lena Goldfields Massacre

Troops fired at protesters - 200-500 protesters killed; hundreds were injured

Triggered other protests in Russia - hundreds in 1911; 2000 after the massacre

Massacre and other protests showed the tsar didn't improve situation

Effects of WW1 on Russia: Economic

17B roubles spent on fighting Japan

1914: vodka banned but it made up 25% of taxes

Effects of WW1 on Russia: Social

1916: 2x women than men working in fields - men were fighting

In the span of 3 months 150K workers lost jobs bc Germany blocked resources

Effects of WW1 on Russia: Political

August 1914: Fourth duma suspended

Progressive Bloc (half of the duma deputies) became the basis of government opposition

Nov 1916: revived, basis for hatred against tsar

Rasputin

Siberian monk that the tsarina took a lot of advice from (after healing haemophiliac son)

Engaged in a lot of drinking, stealing and sex

Dec 1916: shot in the head, body thrown in river

Causes of February Revolution

The Russians were losing in the war and people blamed the government

Peasants sold less grain—with the money they made they couldn't really buy anything either

1 March: rationing of bread was to begin in Petrograd

Features of February Revolution

23-25th Feb, 1917: 250K people protested

26th Feb: 50+ ppl killed bc of the tsar's orders

Features of Army Revolt

26th Feb: Pavlovsky Regiment soldiers found out about people being killed; refused to do the same

27-28th Feb: soldiers took 40k rifles and 30k revolvers weapons from the main weapon store

150K soldiers supported the 250K protesters; ensured success

Tsar Nicholas's abdication

28th Feb: tsar finds out about mutinies

2nd March 1917: advisors told him to abdicate, and he offered it to his brother Michael who refused

Provisional Government

Est. 2nd March

Manifesto of Prov. Govt.

written 3rd March

political prisoners and exiles were pardoned

freedom of speech, press and gathering

banning discrimination of race, nationality and religion

constituent assembly

planned for the elections of Constituent Assembly

Problems of Prov. Govt. - dual control

Dual Control meant that Provisional Gov couldn't control certain things because the Petrograd Soviet had control over it

E.g. railway and postal services—the government found it really hard as a result to get food to the city

Problems of Prov. Govt. - Order No. 1

1st March: Order no. 1 —> military answered to the Petrograd soviet, not to the Prov Gov

Authority for Prov Gov was lost

Problems of Prov. Govt. - the duma

Members of Petrograd Soviet were elected; Prov Govt. were duma members (a plan from the tsar)

Mistakes of Prov. Govt. - continuing WW1

Bad position but they were relying on allies to get out of debt - couldn't leave war

Peace treaties w/ Germany would lose them land

Mistakes of Prov. Govt. - elections delayed

Looked as if Prov. Govt. was trying to delay Constituent Assembly -> trying to hold onto power for as long as possible

Mistakes of Prov. Govt. - lack of reforms

peasants continued to seize land

Russia too big to manage - Prov. Govt. only really controlled Northern Russia; said they'd let Constituent Assembly deal w it

Mistakes of Prov. Govt. - freedom of speech

Allowed the spread of more radical ideas

June Offensive

16 June, 1917: an offensive by Kerensky on the western front to boost morale (170K soldiers already deserted; remaining ones were not good at fighting)

Several hundred soldiers died, couple hundred km lost

Lvov resigned; Kerensky became prime minister

Impact of Petrograd Soviet

represented factory workers but then eventually it became dominated by soldiers

Soviet sessions had around 3000 ppl in them (differing views -> hard to make decisions)

Limited impact - Mensheviks thought Russia wasn't ready for revolution (but Bolsheviks did)

Lenin's return to Russia

After spending Switzerland during the Feb Rev (he'd negotiated w Germany who wanted him to wreak havoc in Russia), he came back to Petrograd

April Theses

3 April, 1917: Lenin used slogans "peace, bread and land" and "all power to the soviets"

Had the support of Petrograd soviet but not of Prov Govt.

July Days

Trotsky addressed Petrograd Garrison, criticised the June Offensive and Kerensky, encouraged an uprising

20K sailors and steel workers took part

6th July: 11 leaders of Soviet were arrested, Bolshevik newspaper shut down, HQ was raided

Lenin escaped to Finland

The Character of Kornilov

right-wing war hero (wanted capital punishment, banning strikes)

Supported the tsar but stayed in power even after the tsar abdicated

Appointed the commander of Petrograd Garrison

Wanted to go back to the warfront after conflict w the Soviets

Kornilov Incident

Aug: Kornilov wanted to implement martial law

Planned to march troops into capital, arrest Bolsheviks, lose the Soviets, restore order

Told wealthy Russians Kerensky approved, wanted financial backing

Reactions to Kornilov Incident

Kerensky fired Kornilov and got the Petrograd Soviets to help - troops were part of Bolsheviks' Red Guards

Soviets demanded Bolshevik leaders (inc. Trotsky) were released from prison

Kornilov's army never made it into Petrograd

Effects of Kornilov Incident

Prov Govt. seemed weak - bad at maintaining control

Bolsheviks revived and had more power

Lenin's return to Russia (The Sequel)

10 Oct

Realised Prov Govt. was weak, intended to stage a coup

Kerensky tried to send Bolshevik-influenced army units out of Petrograd

Military Revolutionary Committee set up by soviets - claimed that Kerensky was counter-revolutionary

21st Oct: Most of Petrograd's army troops were loyal to MRC

Kerensky attempted to stop Bolsheviks

Intended to arrest MRC members

Closed newspapers

Blocked transportation

Red Guards (Bolshevik army) seized more areas of city

24-25th Oct

Bolsheviks storm Winter Palace

25-26th Oct

Prov Govt. members arrested

Other revolutionary parties said Bolsheviks acted w/o consulting them

Council of People's Commissars

Est. 26th Oct: Bolsheviks' new govt.

Lenin's role in Bolshevik success

April Theses created radical thoughts among Bolshevik Party - simple messages for everyone

Oct 1917: Lenin was really persuasive in terms of how it was the right time to have a takeover (even though he had differing views)

Failures of Prov. Govt.

Kornilov Revolt weakened Kerensky and the support for Prov Govt.

Peasants seized land everywhere, and Prov Gov did nothing to stop it—landowners stopped supporting

German army was close to invading Russia—Petrograd was at risk of being captured

Kerensky should have stopped Bolsheviks sooner

Role of Trotsky

Organised Bolshevik takeover using Lenin's strategy

Considered a hero by revolutionaries bc he was involved in 1905 rev

Trotsky made it seem like the soviets wanted to take over Russia, not just from one party (the Bolsheviks) - balanced Lenin's strong ideas out

Constituent Party

Kerensky promised democracy for Constituent Assembly in Nov

Lenin had pressure - Socialist Revolutionary Party had lots of peasant support - he had to act now (or forever hold his peace)

Decree on Peace

Bolsheviks seemed too optimistic - conservatives thought it would be unsuccessful - eventually led to civil war

Decree on Land

Landowners' land belonged to peasants - simply legalised the peasants seizing land

December: Church's land belonged to govt. too

Decree on Workers' Rights

8-hour day, workers' committees controlled the factories, unemployment insurance

Decree on Nationalities

Ethnic minorities could have their own govts. managed by the Bolsheviks

Showed that Bolsheviks weren't intending on taking over their nationalities

1922: Bolsheviks united all of them under USSR

Constituent Party Elected

12 Nov, 1917

Constituent Party - Socialist Revolutionaries

53% of votes

Had peasant support - SR had been fighting for their rights for a long time already

Constituent Party - Bolsheviks

Less than 25% of votes despite having half of Moscow and Petrograd's votes

Lenin claimed results didn't represent Russians' views

Said Constituent Party would have to close bc they opposed soviets - left the party

Aftermath of Constituent Party

13 Nov: Red Guards summoned, ordered to keep Constituent Assembly closed

oppositional parties were banned; leaders arrested as they were 'enemies of the public'

One-party rule

Brest-Litovsk Treaty

Discussions began 22 Dec 1917

Armistice between Russia and Germany (other allies didn't attend)

Signed 3 March 1918

Trotsky and Lenin's hopes

Hoped for German communist rev

Thought Germans were too tired to continue fighting

Moscow became capital - Petrograd was at risk for capture

Lenin feared opposition to Bolsheviks - told Trotsky to stop fighting at any cost

Terms of Brest-Litovsk

Harsh terms - Germany knew Russia was desperate

Lost Ukraine, Baltic provinces, Finland, parts of Poland and Georgia

74% of coal mines and iron ore

50% of industry

26% of railway network

27% of farmland

300M gold roubles

Effects of Brest-Litovsk

Russians were angry; humiliated

June 1918: ppl left Petrograd to countryside (more food), workforce decreased by 60%

Major cause for civil war