HIST136: Russian Revolution 1

Russian Revolutions in the Early 20th Century

Three revolutions occurred:
- Failed revolution in 1905.
- Successful revolution in February 1917: Overthrew the monarchy.
- Successful revolution in October 1917: Bolsheviks came to power, leading to 74 years of Soviet rule.

The Great October Socialist Revolution

The October 1917 revolution was known as the Great October Socialist Revolution in the Soviet Union.
It had significant global consequences that are still felt today.

The 1905 Revolution

A failed revolution that laid the groundwork for the events of 1917.
Discussion will cover causes, course, and consequences of the revolution.

Russia's Anachronistic State

Russia was the largest country with an antiquated form of rule: autocracy.
Autocracy: Power concentrated in one person (the Tsar) without constitutional limitations.
Russia lacked a constitution, leading to absolute rule by the Tsar.
No cabinet government, censorship, and secret police.
Everything depended on the Tsar.

Nicholas II: An Inadequate Tsar

The last Russian monarch who was considered inadequate.
His father, Alexander III, died young (at 49) from a kidney infection.
Alexander III's policies hindered progress in most areas except industrialization and empire-building.
Alexander III was a firm leader who could make decisions and listen to advice.
Nicholas II was indecisive and uninterested in running the state.
He was more interested in his family but was a poor leader.
Poor at listening to advice; often agreed with the last person he spoke to and then changed his mind.
Shared his father's views against legislatures, freedom of speech, and human rights.
Anti-Semitic and saw Jewish influence in liberalism and socialism.
Would have been a good conservative country gentleman, but was fated to be Russia's last monarch.

Social and Economic Context

Autocracy and serfdom were anachronistic elements.
Serfdom: Most of the Russian population was tied to the land and indebted to landowners.
Abolished in 1861 by Alexander II, who recognized it as an evil and a hindrance to economic development.
The disastrous defeat in the Crimean War (ended in 1856) convinced him serfdom had to be abolished.

Emancipation of Serfs

Serfs were emancipated with land, but it wasn't free.
The state compensated landlords to avoid their anger.
Peasants had to pay the state for the land over 49 years, incurring heavy mortgages.

The Village Commune

Land was given to the village commune, an ancient institution responsible for payments and discipline.
Land was distributed based on family need, with larger families getting more land.
The commune was anachronistic and discouraged effective agricultural production.
Medieval tools, practices, and way of life in the villages.
Chemical fertilizer was unknown, natural fertilizer inadequate, machinery rare.
Peasants were too poor to modernize their farms due to redemption payments and rents.
The nobility, except for the great aristocracy, was unable to modernize.
Poverty, debt, medieval living standards, poor hygiene, alcoholism, and unrest were common.

Industrialization Under Alexander III

Alexander III oversaw significant industrialization in the late 19th century.
Investment was mainly funded by foreign loans.
Rapid growth of factories in major centers like Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Major infrastructure projects like the Trans-Siberian Railroad (started in 1891).
Economic growth was considerable: 8% per annum in the 1890s, dropping to 6% per annum in 1907-1914.
By 1914, Russia was the fifth-largest industrial nation, still lagging behind Britain, France, Germany, and the United States.
Urban population doubled between 1867 and 1897 due to migration of impoverished peasants to cities.

Plight of the Peasants and Workers

Peasantry was impoverished on the eve of 1905.
The Russian gentry, who benefited from free labor, was declining.
Workers also suffered from poverty.
About 2,000,000 industrial workers by 1900, and another 2,000,000 seasonal workers.
Long hours, minimal protection, poor pay, and appalling housing.
People lived in huge dormitories with minimal privacy.
No legal trade unions due to Alexander III's opposition to political freedoms.

Treatment of Minorities

Russia was a "Prison House of Nations" (Lenin's term) due to policies aimed at making everyone Russian.
Extremely diverse cultures, religions, and languages spoken.

Discrimination Against Jews

Russia had the largest Jewish population in Europe, and they were heavily discriminated against.
About 650 anti-Jewish laws were in place.
Jews could not settle in rural districts or major cities (except by converting to Christianity).
The Pale of Settlement included contemporary Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and Central Ukraine.
Jews could not use Christian names to hide their religious identity.
Periodic violence against Jews incited by anti-Semitic organizations, with police often turning a blind eye.
Caused the great Jewish exodus to the United States and Palestine in the early 19th century.
The Kibbutz movement in Israel started with immigrants from Russia.

Social Polarization

Russian society was polarized, with peasants living in medieval conditions.
The upper and middle classes were Western-educated but dependent on the state.
They wanted democratic institutions, freedom of press, and liberal reforms.
Russian radicalism had been developing, including the populist movement that idealized the peasant commune.
Populists turned to terrorism and assassinated Alexander II in 1881, leading to reactionary policies under Alexander III.
Russian Marxism was a fringe movement that believed in a proletarian revolution, despite Russia being a peasant country.

Events of 1905: The Russo-Japanese War

The trigger for the 1905 Revolution was the Russo-Japanese War, which broke out in February 1904.
The war stemmed from Japanese concerns about Russian activity in Manchuria and Korea.
Nicholas II's inadequateness and racist attitudes led to the war.
The Japanese proposed a deal to protect their interests in Korea, but czarist officials ignored these overtures.
Russian officials underestimated Japan's military power due to racist attitudes.
Minister of the Interior Pleiwe thought a short, victorious war would quell unrest.
Japan launched a surprise attack in 1904 on Russian military units in the Far East.
Supplies to the front were difficult and disorganized.
The Russian Baltic fleet was destroyed after an epic journey to the Sea of Japan.
100,000 Russian soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured in the Battle of Mukden.
The war was not helpful for the political situation at home.
Peace was brokered by the United States, with Russia losing half of Sakhalin Island and making other concessions.

Bloody Sunday

A peaceful demonstration led by a priest to deliver a petition to the Tsar.
The Tsar was not present at the Winter Palace.
Cossack guards opened fire on the procession, which carried crosses, icons, and portraits of the Tsar and sang hymns.
The petition urged the Tsar to redress the people's grievances, ease their living and working conditions, and implement political reforms.
The tone of the petition was respectful and supplicatory, seeking justice and protection.
The front ranks were fired upon, and a massacre occurred.
The workers, 400,000 of them, went on strike in Petersburg alone.

Revolution Spreads

Strikes broke out in other cities.
Trade unions and socialist parties organized themselves.
Workers' councils (Soviets) formed in factories and elsewhere, most importantly in St. Petersburg.
Peasants revolted, engaging in rent strikes, felling trees, cutting hay, and attacking landlords.
3,000 manor houses were burned, about 15% of the total.
The Socialist Revolutionary Party spread their influence.
National minorities revolted.

Revolution and Political Concessions

Liberals protested, forming student and professional unions, and political parties like the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Octoberist Party.
Nicholas issued the October Manifesto, granting civil rights, a legislature, and a responsible government.
Middle-class liberals generally accepted this compromise.
Workers were distrustful and continued their strikes.
There was a failed uprising in Moscow in December 1905.
The government regrouped, used troops to suppress strikes and peasant uprisings, disbanded Soviets and trade unions, arrested activists, and encouraged violence against radicals and Jews.
Nicholas issued fundamental laws promising Russia a constitution and approving the Duma (legislature).
However, the Duma did not have real power, as the franchise was skewed, and the Tsar had the right to dismiss it at will.
Ministers were not appointed by the legislature nor responsible to the Duma.
Legislation had to be approved by the State Council (appointed by the Tsar) and by the Tsar himself.
The first Duma, elected in 1906, lasted only three months before being dismissed by Nicholas, as it was too radical.

Reasons for Failure

Important groups like the clergy remained loyal to the Tsar.
Most of the army and navy remained loyal.
Big business and extreme right organizations channeled public anger against the Jews.

Consequences of 1905

The Tsar's reputation was further eroded.
The landed gentry continued to decline.
Prime Minister Piotr Stolypin encouraged European-style farming and breaking up the peasant commune.
He ended the redemption payments in 1907.
He initiated a program of peasant resettlement to Siberia.

Positive Consequences of 1905

The Duma, despite having no real power, provided a forum for liberal opposition.
The Russian masses found socialism.
Opposition to the Tsar became more vocal, with more or less free press.

Conclusion

The years between 1907 and 1913 were the best economically for Czarism, but the fundamentals didn't change.
Nicholas remained an inadequate autocrat.
In 1914, World War I broke out, marking the beginning of the end for the Russian monarchy.