Russia

The First Communist Revolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMGrIwLj7gU&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpEaPxNW0g&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mReH_vgrf-U&feature=related

Questions to Ponder

1. Who did Marx think would start a Revolution?

2. What was Russia’s political and economic situation prior to the revolution?

3. Why was the Czar so unpopular?

4. What factors made the Russian Revolution successful?

5. What were the obstacles to Revolution?

6. How would you assess the success of the Communist government between 1921 and the 1930s?

Czars of Russia- 19th Century

Alexander I

Alexander II

Nicholas II and family

Nicholas I

Alexander III

Autocratic leaders- some such as Alexander II were more enlightened than others

Czar’s Palace- Hermitage

Emancipation of Serfs-

Free at Last

• 1861 Alexander II Ends Serfdom-– most serfs remain poor peasants

• Serfdom was still powerful in the mid-19th Century in Russia- Nobles could even exile serfs to SIBERIA (later communist leaders did the same to critics)

• Alexander II (enlightened despot?) – gave more rights to those accused of crimes.

Site of the Assassination of

Alexander II (1881)• Anarchists kill

the Czar• Alexander’s

son- (yes Alexander III) responded by ruling with an Iron Fist

Church of the Blood of the Savior was erected on this site to commemorate Alexander II’s assassination

AUTOCRACY, ORTHODOXY AND NATIONALITY

Alexander (3rd) Demands– Powerful Autocratic Rule – Power of the Czar

is absolute– Compliance with the Russian Orthodox

Church– Oppressing ethnic groups that act “non-

Russian”

A powerful Russian Orthodox Church supported the Czar and the

Czar supported the Church

Nicholas II- “The Last Czar”- Moving into the 20th Century

• End of the 19th Century– Cultural Revolution in Russia

• Novelists- Tolstoy War and Peace• Composers- Tchaikovsky

– Urbanization and Growth• Towns and Cities grow- factory production increases• Government policy to lend money to invest in new

businesses• Foreign investment increased- Trans Siberian

Railroad Built

Radicals and Revolutionaries

• New Urban Radicals created two competing groups– Social Revolutionaries

• The Revolution will start from the Peasant Class

– Social Democrats• The Urban Poor would start the new Revolution

Vladimir Lenin• Marxist- • early Social Democrat (poor urban

class would initiate the Revolution together w/a small cadre)

• Brother (radical) was killed by Alexander III

• Despite weak Support Lenin and his followers manage to take control of Russia in October 1917

• By 1921 suffers stroke, 1924 Dies

Bolsheviks and Menshiviks• Social Democrats split into 2 Groups

– Lenin leads the Bolsheviks– Bolsheviks (majority) believe the time has

come for the Revolution and a small group would overthrow the Czar and create a

– DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETERIAT

1905 Revolution- Bloody Sunday

• Demanding more rights 200,000 workers march on the Czar’s Palace– Generals fire on the crowd, 500-1000 killed– Afterward strikes spread through the country and a

demand for representation

A Parliament is created- “Duma”

Czar Nicholas II new changesOctober Manifesto of 1905.

- A Parliament was created- called the Duma

- Nicholas II will begin a more oppressive rule

World War I• Allied with Great Britain, Serbia and France-

Russia entered WWI- Allied Powers• ill prepared and lacking in industrialization

Russia saw much death and destruction on the battlefield– More Russians were killed in WWI than any other

country

• Sieges on major cities led to famine and cold

A strange advisor

• Rasputin, a mystic monk began to advise Nicholas wife (Alexandria)

• Told the Czarina to not allow reforms

• Rasputin is famous in part for the various ways he was ultimately killed- poisoned (survived), shot (survived), thrown into icy waters (died)

Nicholas II and Alexandria- Abdicate

Riots over the price of bread, together with demands for new leadership because of the lack of food and coal cause Czar to leave the throne

- PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED- Duma led by moderates and conservatives

(Constitutional Democrats- Menshiviks also involved)

- Alexander Kerensky led the Government

Alexander Kerensky

• Social Revolutionary

• Continued the War against Germany

• Peasants began to desert the army

Lenin Returns

• Exiled and living in Switzerland, through the help of Germany (at war with Russia) is secretly brought back into Russia

• Initially little popular support amongst Russians• First attempted coup fails, goes to Finland

PEACE, LAND AND BREADA Short Revolution

• Army General tries to take Government

• Lenin and Bolsheviks gain popular support for defending Petrograd (St. Petersburg, and for 70 years, Leningrad)– Victory fuels popular support of Bolsheviks

PotemkinIn October 1917, the Bolsheviks threaten to fire

shells at the Provisional Government- the mere threat leads to the takeover by the Communists

ELECTION RESULTS – BOLSHEVIKS LOSE???

Before the Elections• Bolsheviks take government offices• Truce signed with Germany• Land Reform begins- Redistribution of

Land• OCTOBER 1917- FIRST ELECTION

– BOLSHEVIKS LOSE– LENIN AND COLLEAGUES CANCEL

ELECTION RESULTS

Leon Trotsky• Fellow leader of the Bolsheviks-

Active since the 1905 Revolution (Bloody Sunday)

• Ideologue• Lenin’s right hand man• Battled with Stalin for power after

Lenin’s death- many feared he would become a dictator

• Stalin won- Trotsky escaped to Mexico City, later killed their by agents of Stalin’s Government

Josef Stalin- Mad, Bad and Sad

• Ruled the Soviet Union from 1924-1953

• Totalitarian and ruthless leader-

• Estimated to have killed between 10 and 20 million people

• Famous for his “purges”

Civil War

• 3 year Civil War, Red Army v. White Army– Red Army were Communists

• America and other countries try to stop the Revolution

• Communists Win

Kronstadt uprising A lesson learned!

    • Bolshevik Sailors Revolt against the new

communist Government (March 1921)– Demand Free Elections, Speech and Abolition

of the Secret Police

• Government Brutally crushes the Rebellion

Communist Government is beginning to look as bad or worse than the Czars

New Economic Policy

• Lenin changes course- Mixture of Capitalism and Socialism– Profit is allowed– Individuals can buy and sell

goods– Some private business allowed

• Lenin becomes disabled with several strokes and later dies w/his death also goes the NEP

Communist “theology”

Lenin’s Death leads to a power struggle

• Stalin will be Victorious, takes Absolute Rule

• Totalitarian Government becomes Permanent

Totalitarian Government• Use of all tools available to the

Government– Censorship– Ownership of Industry– Secret Police– Unfair legal system– Propaganda: Posters

Radio, Movies, Speeches– Control Education

Command Economy

• Government dictates– What should be made– What the price will be– How much will be made

– Shortages and Oversupplies become common

– Workers have little to no rights– Consumers are given little consideration

REBUILD THE ECONOMY• The 5 Year Plan!

– Stalin devises several 5 year plans to make the Soviet Union an Industrial Powerhouse

– INDUSTRIALIZE• Focus on Infrastructure, Railroads, Mines, Oil and

Electrical Production

– AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION• Collectivization

• Europe and America undergo a Horrible Economic Depression as the Soviet Union moves forward at a rapid pace!!!

Collectivization

• Stalin forced Millions of people off their family farms and made enormous farms which the Government Owned– Millions were forced to move away, especially

in the western Soviet area called the Ukraine– Estimated deaths due to starvation are in the

Millions