Ap Euro unit 17: Russian revolution & the Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Backgrounds: Pre-Revolutionary Russia

Russia in the Late 19th Century:

• 200 nationalities,146 languages

• ¼ the per capita income of Great Britain

• 25% literacy

• 2.4 million industrial workers

• Over 100 million peasants

Reforms in the 19th Century:

1. Alexander II (1855-1881) - Freed serfs, introduced Zemstvos

2. Alexander III (1881-1894)

   a. Increasing represion, emphasis on autocracy and orthodoxy

   b. Russification

   c. Economic reforms (Count Witte)

   i. Railroads

   ii. Factories

   iii. Foreign loans

   d. Development of industry leads to development of proletariat - heavily concentrated in large factories.

Problems under Nicholas II (1884-1917)

1. Frustrations among urban workers

2. Peasants discontented

   a. want more land

   b. still bound to mir

3. Revolutionary intelligentsia

   a. revolutionary parties emerge

Parties:

1. Constitutional Democrats (Cadets) 1905

   a. Liberal nobles, middle class, progressives

   b. demand a constitution and a nationally elected parlaiment (western liberalism)

2. Social Revolutionary Party (populists) 1901

   a. socialist

   b. rural

   c. looked to the peasants as the revolutionary class

   d. admired the mir

   e. believed that Russia could skip capitalism

3. Russian Social Democratic Party (Marxists) 1883

   a. Urban

   b. Believed peasants were not enough, saw that capitalism was developing

   c. Workers as a revolutionary class

   d. International in scope

   e. Capitalism needed to develop in Russia first (Before revolution)

Bolsheviks vs. Mensheviks:

Bolsheviks:

1. (Lenin and Trotsky)

2. Party should be small, elite, centralized, control doctrine, use purges.

3. Dictatorship of Proletariat

4. Party provides leadership for those who cannot see

5. Disgusted with trade unionism

Mensheviks:

1. Open party, influenced by all members

2. Open to cooperation with bourgeoisie and liberals

3. Parlaimentary methods could bring about socialism

The 1905 Revolution

The 1905 Revolution

1. Dramatic turning point in point in Russian history, destroys connection between Tsar and people

2. Direct result of the war with Japan

Bloody Sunday:

1. January 1905 - Workers led by Father Gapon gather together peacefully at the Winter Palace to demand reforms (minimum wage, constituent assembly)

2. Demonstrators are fired upon by troops - “Bloody Sunday”

3. Leads to -

   a. The breakout of strikes

   b. Formation of soviets of workers

   c. Peasant rebellions

   d. Mutinies

   e. General strike in St. Petersburg in October

4. Nicholas II issues October Manifesto

   a. Constitution

   b. Civil Liberties

   c. Duma

5. 5 Dumas meet between 1906-1916, but have little real authority (try to create a “constitutional autocracy”)

Stolypin Reforms, 1906-1911:

1. More power to the Zemstvos

2. Abolished serf redemption payments

   a. Allowed serfs to buy land

   b. Leads to rise of kulaks

Frustration with Tsardom:

1. Frustration over Russian Losses in WW1 - Duma concerned over mismanagement of war

2. Lack of food, wage/price controls in cities

3. 1915 Nicholas II heads for battlefront, leaving Alexandra and Rasputin in charge of government

The 1917 Revolutions

1. March 8, 1917 - Women start a bread riot in Petrograd, which eventually becomes and Anti-Tsar riot

2. Troops in the city join the revolutionaries

3. Soviets of Workers’ and soldiers’ Deputies forms (Petrograd Soviet) to represent workers (socialist parites)

Provisional government:

1. established under Prince Lvov

2. Proclaim equality, freedom of press/assembly (Cadets)

3. Nicholas II abdicates March 15

4. Russia becomes a republic

Lenin Returns from Exile:

1. Lenin’s Demands:

   a. Withdraw from war

   b. Industries controlled by workers’ committees

   c. Soviets as supreme power

   d. Land for the peasants

Kerensky Takes Control of the Provisional Government

Bolsheviks Seize Power, November 6-7, 1917

The Civil War, 1918-1921:

1. Red army led by Leon Trotsky

   a. intense training and indoctrination

2. War Communism - nationalized large industries, confiscated food from peasants

3. Red Terror - Cheka

Why do the Reds win the Civil War?

1. Opposition fails to unite (Tsarists and Social Revolutionaries)

2. Bolsheviks take control the center - Whites control the “fringes”

3. Red army better disciplined, prepared “War communism” mobilized the home front - labor, supplies

4. Foreign intervention was both too little and too much

Formation of the USSR

1. An attempt to deal with nationalism

2. Socialism/Communism

3. Bolshebiks were the only party acknowledging Russia’s multi-ethnic makeup

4. A Federal Union of SSR’s (Soviet Socialist Republics) is created - each republic is theoretically sovereign, based on nationality

5. Theoretically democratic (indirect elections), although party exercises real authority

The Party:

1. Rigidly controlled doctrine from the top

   a. Politburo: dominates Central Committee

   b. General Secretary with authority over all appointments (this is how Stalin comes into power)

The New Economic Policy (NEP) 1921-1927

1. A huge compromise - war communism had taken a huge toll

2. State still owns major industries, but private ownership of land and private trade for profit is permitted

   a. Kulaks gain more power/land

A Shift in Power: From Lenin to Stalin

1. Trotsky: “Permanent revolution” - international; wanted to end the NEP

2. Stalin: “Socialism in One Country” (argued that the Soviet Union could and should build socialism independantly)

3. Stalin and supporters force Trotsky to step down in 1925, expelled in 1927 from party

4. By 1929, Stalin has dictatorial control

Stalin:

1. Brutal, cruel, paranoid - “Man of Steel”

2. Party Secretary - 1922, Dicatator by 1929

3. Eliminates all forms of opposition

Economic Policy: By 1928, The Economy was Stagnated

1. The Five-Year Plan (1928-1932) - To industrialize USSR, make it modern and self-sufficient, lay the groundwork for true communism

2. Creates a command economy - directed by state

3. Industrially, it is a sucess - USSR goes from an garicultural to industrial society in one generation

4. This is done at the cost of the peasantry

   a. all peasants are forced to from collective farms by pooling livestock and land (an end to private property) - 9 mil. sent to industries

   b. Kulaks resist - They are killed or sent to labor camps (gulag); 5-6 million kulaks dead or missing by 1932

5. Collectivization and Liquidation

   a. Peasant output does not increase, yet they must meet high demands for food - livestock slaughtered in resistance

   b. It is estimated that 10 million die in collectivization (famines, murder, camps)

   c. A new form of serfdom - no incentive for labor

Class System Does Emerge:

1. Party members and managers have more privileges than others

2. competition still exists in economy - Stakhanov

The Purges:

1. The government is totalitarian (one strong leader, no opposition allowed, eliminate enemies of the state)

2. 1936-1938: “Show Trials” - several high ranking party members confessed to crimes and were executed (The “Great Purge”)

3. By 1938 there are no “old Bolsheviks” (Those who had been around pre-1917) all party members were those who had joined the party under Stalin, and therefore accepted his views

4. Controversy exists over why he used the purges - there is no evidence of a serious threat to him: scare tactic, paranoia

Impact of the Russian Revolution

A Split in Socialism: Bolshevism/Leninism vs. Liberal Socialists

1. Many socialists by 1917 believed that the Revolution could not be forced, and Parliamentary means would work.

2. Leads to the founding of the Third International

The Third International

1. Founded in 1919 as an international organization (dominated by Russians) to promote the worldwide Proletarian revolution on the Bolshevik model

2. All other Communist parties had to follor Comintern (Soviet) policy - Strict discipline, work against “bourgeois” socialism, infiltrate unions and armies

The Comintern:

1. Sent agents to other nations to prome revolution

2. Becomes more moderate under Stalin

3. Popula Fronts - 1930’s

The Russian Revolution: An Evaluation

1. A new model for society not based on democracy or capitalism

2. Modernization without the “evils of capitalism” or dependancy on foreign capital (an Asian model)

3. A “Marxist” society is now a reality

Important Terms and People

Father Gapon: Priest who tried to organize the St. Petersburg factory workers. Took up the workers grievances with seriousness. Drew up pa petition for an 8 hr work day, daily wage of 1 ruble, democratically elected constituent assembly.

“Soviets”: Councils of workers formed in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The mobilized and undermined the provisional government.

St. Petersburg Soviet: Acted as a government, organizing strikes, distributing inormation and trying to negotiate with authorities. One of the first large-scale worker organizations to directly challenge the Tsarist state.

Rasputin: Self-appointed holy man, apparently cured Tsarina Alexandras son of hemophilia. Had a voice in appointments in high office, this geatly angered people who demanded represention in government.

Prince Lvov: Founder of the Provisional Government. Led until Kerensky.

Alexander Kerensky: Moderate, legal minded, social revolutionary. Demanded the abdicaton of Tsar Nicholas II. Head of Provisional Government in place of Price Lvov.

General Kornilov: Military commander. People hoped that he would suppress the soviets. Dispatched to restore order. Attempted a counterrevolution (was blamed on Kerensky)

Congress of Soviets: Supreme governing body of Russia, comprised of local workers’, soldiers’s and peasants’ soviets across Russia.

Council of People’s Commissars: A new provisional government in place of the old one with Lenin at its head.

Cheka: Political secret police. suppressed political opposition, enforced Soviet rule.

Red Army: Military force of the Bolsheviks. Used to defend the Bolshevik government against international and internal armies.

White Armies: Coalition of anti-Bolshevik armies. Composed of all who opposed Bolshevik rule, regardless of ideology.

Kronstadt Mutiny: Sailors rise in objection to the Soviets. They were branded as petty bourgeois and killed.

Central Committee: Highest governing body in Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Elected by the party congress, which was made of delegated from various regional party organizations. Responsible for setting party policy, overseeing goverment operations, and directing major political and economic initiatives.

General Secretary: De facto leader of the Soviet Union, meant to handle party administration and personnel appointments. Used by Stalin to consolidate power.

Politburo: Highest decision making body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Controlled all major aspects of Soviet policy, including government operations, the economy, military affairs, foreign relations.

Kulak: Class of relatively wealthy peasants. Known for having larger farms, hiring labor, or having surplus grain.

Gosplan: Agency that administered Stalin’s 5 year plan. Determined how much of every article the country shoud produce, waht wages workers should recieve, and at what prices all goods should be exchanged. undertook control, the flow of resources and workforce what was regulated in capitalist economies by shifts in demand, and supply and through changed in prices, wage levels, profits and interest rates.

Collective Farm: Each farm was a few thousand acres apiece. Considered property of the peasants collectively who resided on them. Individual peasants were to pool their privately owned fields and livestock in these collectives. Intentended to convert the peasantry into a class of people who owned no capital and employed no labor and whp would therefore fit better into a proletarian socialist state. Collectivization made it possible to apply capital to the soil.

Revisionism:

Zimmerwald Program: Program created by antiwar socialists that called for immediate peace without annexations or indemnities.

First International

Second International: Represented socialist parties and labor organiations of all countries

Third International:

Zinoviev: Comintern alegedly urged British workers to provoke revolution, led to a great electoral victory for the conservative party.

Twenty-One Points: Included that each party must call itself communist, repdiate “reformist” socialism, propagandize labor unions and get communists into important union offices, infiltrate the army, impose an iron discipline upon both legal channels and secret underground methods and expel any member not hewing to the party line.

Liquidation of the Kulaks: Kulaks resisted to surrendering their fields and livestock, they were ruthessly liquidated as a class. Poor peasants turned upon rich ones. Hundereds of thousands of Kulaks and their families were killed and many more were transported to labor camps in remote parts of the Soviet Union.

Stakhanovite: Increasing daily output of coal and increasing his wages. His example proved contagious and workers began to break records.

Constitution of 1936: