Background to the Bolshevik Revolution

Tsar Nicholas II

Repressive leader, subjects had no political rights

Weak Economy

1913 - 2.4 million worked in large factories

(population was 140 million)

World War One

Russia was incapable of providing food and equipment, led to February Revolution

Opposition to the Tsars

• Russian Social Democratic Labour Party

• Socialist Revolutionaries

Problems Faced by Opposition

Could not effectively organise an overthrow - Tsar’s political police

Lenin’s Political Party

Bolsheviks / RSDLP

End of Provisional Government

Coup d’etat organised by Lenin and Trotsky, October 1917

Marxist View of Socialism

Global revolution - workers should rise up to destory capitalism