30.1 - Russian Revolution

The Autocratic Romanov Dynasty

• Authoritarian state of Alexander III (clung to the principles of autocracy)

• No questioning of authority (divine right)

• Consolidation of power

• Worship of only the state religion (Russian Orthodox)

• Censorship of published materials

• Attempted to wipe out revolutionaries

• Secret police force used to control and intimidate subjects

• Russian was the only permitted language

• Russification: tried to establish a uniform Russian culture by oppressing other national groups within Russia

• Pogroms: organized, violent riots targeting Jewish communities in the Russian Empire

• Nicholas II became czar and continued the tradition of Russian autocracy

Russian Marxists: Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

• Marxism — “a dictatorship of the proletariat”

• The Marxist revolutionaries believed that the industrial class of workers would overthrow the czar, and then rule the country

• The Marxists split over revolutionary tactics

Russian Marxists Split:

• Mensheviks (more moderate): orthodox beliefs; thought a revolution would be spontaneous, and wanted a broad base of popular support for the revolution

• Bolsheviks (more radical): Marxist-Leninist beliefs; the leader was Vladimir Lenin

  • Vanguard — disciplined party that will implement the revolution (members included Stalin and Trotsky)

  • Peasants (incorporated them into the proletariat)

  • Dictatorship of the party

Fall of the Old Order — The Three Events

Three events weakened the czar and paved the way for revolution.

1. Russo-Japanese War: competed for control of Korea and Manchuria. Russia lost and was humiliated

2. The Great War: the homefront sacrificed food and resources (led to famine and suffering) for the war effort, and there were also huge casualties

3. Bloody Sunday (Revolution of 1905): workers wanted better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. Soldiers fired on the crowd. This provoked a wave of strikes and violence across Russia. People called for reform and a constitutional monarchy (they got the Duma — parliament)

World War I & Rasputin

World War I:

• Russia was unprepared to handle the military and economic costs

• Weak generals and poorly-equipped troops (no match for the German army)

• Russia’s involvement in the war revealed the weakness of czarist rule and military leadership

Rasputin:

• Mysterious man who influenced the Romanov Dynasty government

• Claimed to have magical healing powers

• Had an increasing role in government affairs

• Murdered by a group of nobles

The March Revolution (1917) & The Rule by Moderates

• Czar Nicholas II abdicated, and the Romanov Dynasty collapsed

• Duma created a provisional government, led by Alexander Kerensky

  • Their mistake: continued the war effort

• Soviets from and Lenin returns to change Russian society

Soviets

Local councils consisting of workers, peasants, and soldiers.

In many cities, the soviets had more influence than the provisional government.

Bolshevik Revolution

• “All power to the soviets”

• “Peace, land, and bread”

• Provisional government toppled — no longer a liberal democracy

• Bolshevik monopoly of power

• Distributed farmland to all peasants

• Signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, deemed to be humiliating by many

• Murdered the Romanov Dynasty

Russian Civil War

• The White Army: made up of many groups that opposed the Bolsheviks

• The Red Army: the Bolsheviks

• The Bolsheviks won, seized power, and maintained it

• 10 million Russian died

Post-Russian Civil War & Lenin

• Trade at a standstill, and Russia isolated (other nations wouldn’t recognize them)

• Industrial production dropped, and skilled workers fled to other countries

Vladimir Lenin:

• In years prior, Lenin was forced to flee to Western Europe to avoid the czarist regime (maintained contact with the Bolsheviks)

• Small-scale version of capitalism implemented (New Economic Policy)

• Allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government

• Government kept control of major industries, communications, and banks

• Encouraged foreign investment

• In a communist society, the government holds the means of production

Leninist Political Reforms:

• Saw nationalism as a threat to unity and to the party

• Created self-governing republics to combat nationalism (USSR)

• Established a dictatorship of the Communist Party, not a dictatorship of the proletariat

Joseph Stalin

• Lenin suffered a stroke and survived, but this set off a flurry of competition to be his successor

• Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin (“man of steel”) emerge

• Stalin slowly accumulated power as the General Secretary of the Communist Party — worked behind the scenes to appoint his loyal supporters to positions of power

• Lenin died and Stalin eventually took complete control of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a centralized communist state led by the Communist Party that formed after the Russian Revolution