lecture 26 - communism, russian revolution

describe the background of russian revolution (socialist ideas in russia)

Starting in 1861 - the serfs of Russia are free!

• Set free by Alexander II - The Tsar Liberator

Restrictions on the newly freed serfs lead to massive pushback

• Serfs almost needed to buy themselves out of serfdom over the course of roughly 30 years

• Land given to the serfs was distributed in strips, making farming super inefficient

• Newly freed serfs had very little income

how did alexander ii go away

A group of Russian Nihilists decided that the piecemeal progress offered by the Tsars was not enough for the people

• This group is called People’s Will

• They embarked on a series of assassinations, targeting government officials

  • Their objective was to show people that the government could be toppled by a relatively small amount of people

• In 1881, the Tsar Alexander II was killed in a bombing

  • Following his assassination, the assassination way of reforming died out among People’s Will and other similar organizations

review russian industrialization so far

Russia lagged far behind other European powers in terms of Industrialization

• Began a period of state-sponsored Industrialization

  • Relatively quick in the cities

  • Terrible working conditions for the new urban working class

  • Working class begins to see themselves as opposed to the owner class

• Russo-Japanese war is a major defeat for the Russians, embarrassing them

  • Workers and peasants alike use this as an opportunity to rebel against the government

  • Russian Revolution of 1905 - Tsar creates a representative government… then takes it away a few years later

describe russia in ww1

At first, the war is going well for Russia… then they get absolutely demolished by both Germany and Austria-Hungary

• From then on out, the war is shown to be very poorly managed - both at home and on the front

  • Russia loses significant territory

  • Tsar Nicholas goes to the front himself… leaving his country without a leader in the capital. 

  • His wife, Tsarina Alexandra, is left in charge of most of the government

    • She has an advisor that most people are not fans of

    • She is also German - people think that she is working for the other side of the war

describe the homefront of russia in ww1

War was very poorly managed

• Literally millions of men died

• Food shortages both at the front and at home

  • Huge lines for bread take nearly all day to go through, and frequently they do not have enough food.

  • In these lines, socialist agitators begin to tell people how terrible the Tsarist government is

describe the fall of the tsar

In March 1917, everyone in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) was very upset with the Tsarist government.

• On International Women’s Day, the women of Petrograd went out into the streets to protest against the terrible conditions they were living in - February Revolution

• When these protests broke out, army units throughout the Empire began to rebel as well - Nicholas had lost both the Army and the People.

• Tsar Nicholas abdicated shortly after being stopped on a train going back to Petrograd.

describe Lenin deciding the Provisional Government is cringe

Basically as soon as the Provisional Government is formed, Lenin and his Bolsheviks decide that it is not good.

• Lenin promised Land, Bread, and Peace

• They attempt to overthrow the government multiple times, once in July (The July Days), and then The October Revolution - which was successful.

• October Revolution resulted in the overthrow of the Provisional Government.

  • The Bolsheviks are leading a coalition government of other leftist parties, until they deal with them. 

  • Lenin becomes the de Facto leader of the new Soviet Union

describe Soviet Union under Lenin

Lenin’s promises of Land, Bread, and Peace needed to be met.

• Land: Massive land requisitions from the upper classes, distributed not to peasants, but to collectives

• Bread: Lenin ordered that food be taken directly from the farms and brought to the cities - who might hate this?

  • Kulaks - Farmers that have done too well for themselves

• Peace: left ww1 at expensive costs

after lenin, stalin takes control