HISTORY GRADE XI: TOPIC: RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

WHAT IS RUSSIAN REVOLUTION?The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a

series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which dismantled theTsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Russian SFSR

The Emperor was forced to abdicate and the old regime was replaced by a provisional government during the first revolution of February 1917 (March in theGregorian calendar; the older Julian calendar was in use in Russia at the time). In the second revolution, during October, the Provisional Government was removed and replaced with a Bolshevik (Communist) government.

How was Russia governed?Tsar; Romanov family since

1613Nobles and Clergy:

Landowning classSerfs: 90%, lived in 750,000

small villagesNo political partiesNo legislatorNo constitution

What were the political groups struggling for?Largely supportive of the TsarGenerations of repression and

suffering left intellectual groups seeking change

Non-Russian minorities (Poles, Jews, Finns, Ukrainians) wanted to free themselves from tsar

Groups roughly divided into two categories:

Liberal Reformers Socialists

POLITICAL ISSUESMany sections of the country had reason to be dissatisfied

with the existing autocracy. Nicholas II was a deeply conservative ruler and maintained a strict authoritarian system. Individuals and society in general were expected to show self-restraint, devotion to community, deference to the social hierarchy and a sense of duty to the country. Religious faith helped bind all of these tenets together as a source of comfort and reassurance in the face of difficult conditions and as a means of political authority exercised through the clergy. Perhaps more than any other modern monarch, Nicholas II attached his fate and the future of his dynasty to the notion of the ruler as a saintly and infallible father to his people

WORLD WAR IThe outbreak of war in August 1914 initially served to quiet

the prevalent social and political protests, focusing hostilities against a common external enemy, but this patriotic unity did not last long. As the war dragged on inconclusively, war-weariness gradually took its toll. More important, though, was a deeper fragility: although many ordinary Russians joined anti-German demonstrations in the first few weeks of the war, the most widespread reaction appears to have been skepticism and fatalism. Hostility toward the Kaiser and the desire to defend their land and their lives did not necessarily translate into enthusiasm for the Tsar or the governmen

Between February and throughout October: "Dual Power"

The effective power of the Provisional Government was challenged by the authority of an institution that claimed to represent the will of workers and soldiers and could, in fact, mobilize and control these groups during the early months of the revolution – the Petrograd Soviet [Council] of Workers' Deputies. The model for the soviet were workers' councils that had been established in scores of Russian cities during the 1905 revolution. In February 1917, striking workers elected deputies to represent them and socialist activists began organizing a citywide council to unite these deputies with representatives of the socialist parties. On 27 February, socialist Duma deputies, mainly Mensheviksand Socialist Revolutionaries, took the lead in organizing a citywide council. The Petrograd Soviet met in the Tauride Palace, the same building where the new government was taking shape.

Marx’s IdeasGerman philosopherCommunist Manifesto, 1848; Capital,

1867History is struggle between class

struggleFundamental crisis between property

owners and those who labor on that property

Stages of economic development; industrial capitalism is last stage

In each stage, oppressed class rises up against owners,

Eventually, private property abolished and collectively owned

Vladimir Lenin Birth: April 10, 1870, in Simbirsk, Russia Death: Jan 21, 1924, in Moscow, Russia Vladimir was the son of a school and civil service official and

was drawn to the revolution at a young age when his brother, Aleksander I. Ulyanov, was executed in 1887 for his participation in a plot to kill Alexander III.

Lenin's studied law at the University of Kazan but was banished from the school because of revolutionary activities. He completed his studies independently and practiced law briefly. He soon gave up his legal practice, and turned to studying the teachings of Karl Marx.

Lenin was exiled to Siberia in 1895, his exile ended in 1900. He was founder of the Bolsheviks, and was the leader of the

Bolshevik Revolution. He was the first head of the Soviet state from 1917 to 1924. Lenin’s speeches and writings were highly regarded by his

successors and followers. He contributed to Marxism in many ways. Lenin was known as one of the greatest and most practical revolutionists of all times. He combined his theories with his political instincts. Although he attacked any theoretical revisionism or gradualism, he supported opportunistic compromises to further the establishment of socialism.

Who were the Bolsheviks? Bolshevik means "majority" in Russian. A Bolshevik was a

member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which was a Marxist political party. They were led by Vladimir Lenin. They made lots of promises such as withdrawing Russia from WWI, they said they would give land and power to the peasants, and said that they would improve working conditions and lifestyles of those who worked in the industrial cities. This gave them popularity all over Russia. They believed in day to day practical issues.

They ruled Russia completely after the Russian Revolution.

What was the Bolshevik Revolution? In October 1917, Lenin convinced the Bolshevik Party to form an immediate

revolt against the Provisional Government. The Bolshevik leaders felt it was important to act quickly while they had the strength to do so. The armed workers known as Red Guards and the other revolutionary groups moved on the night of November 6. They were under the orders of the Soviet's Military Revolutionary Committee. The Red Guards seized post and telegraph offices, electric works, railroad stations, and the state bank. Once the shot rang out from the Battleship Aurora, thousands of people in the Red Guard stormed the Winter Palace. The Provisional Government had officially fallen to the Bolsheviks way of government. Once the word came to the rest of the people that the Winter Palace had been taken, people from all over came and filled it up. Lenin announced his attempt to construct the socialist order in Russia. This new government was made up of Soviets, and led by the Bolsheviks. By early November, the factory workers were definitely backing up the Bolshevik motto: "All power to the soviets!"

The October RevolutionThe October Revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin

and was based upon Lenin's writing on the ideas of Karl Marx, a political ideology often known as Marxism-Leninism. It marked the beginning of the spread of communism in the 20th century. It was far less sporadic than the revolution of February and came about as the result of deliberate planning and coordinated activity to that end.

Death of the imperial family

In early March, the Provisional Government placed Nicholas and his family under house arrest in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, 15 miles (24 km) south of Petrograd. In August 1917 the Kerensky government evacuated the Romanovs to Tobolsk in the Urals, allegedly to protect them from the rising tide of revolution during the Red Terror. After the Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917, the conditions of their imprisonment grew stricter and talk of putting Nicholas on trial increased. As the counter revolutionary White movement gathered force, leading to full-scale civil war by the summer, the Romanovs were moved during April and May 1918 to Yekaterinburg, a militant Bolshevik stronghold.

Red Guard Take Over

General Kornilov attempts to take Petrograd, seeking military dictatorship

Provisional gov’t sought help from Red Guard, the Bolshevik militia

Red Guard easily defeats military troops, gains weapons, respect and experience

Three weeks later, Red Guard overtake the provisional gov’t

Little resistance

Civil War

Only Bolsheviks were selected to lead

Anti-Bolshevik forces formed in provinces, called Whites

Civil WarLenin nationalized all land

(no private property)Peasant farmed in the name

of the partyWar Communism: State

could seize grain from peasants to help Red guard and city workers

Harsh police-state tacticsSecret police: Cheka

Results of the Revolution Within days after the revolution, Lenin began to take charge. He ordered all the farmland to be

distributed to the peasants . The Bolsheviks decided to give control of the factories to the workers. They also signed a truce with Germany to stop all of the fighting in Russia during WWI, and they began peace talks. In March of 1918, Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This treaty made Russia surrender large parts of its territory to Germany and its allies .

Russians were very angry about the embarrassing terms of the treaty, and they objected to the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks now had to deal with solving more problems. Their opponents were known as the White Army. The White Army was made up of different groups, some wanted the czar to return, some wanted a democratic government, and there were socialists who opposed Lenin’s form of socialism. The three groups didn’t get along very well, the only thing uniting them was their desire to defeat the Bolsheviks. Leon Trotsky commanded the Bolshevik Red Army. For about three years there was civil war in Russia. Many died in the civil war, around 14 million.

Russia was left in chaos after the war, there was loss of life from fighting, hunger, and a flu epidemic. The Red Army won on the end, and defeated all its opponents. This showed that the Bolsheviks were able to seize power and keep it.

War and Revolution destroyed Russia’s economy, Lenin started to revive the economy and restructure the government. Russia slowly recovered because of new policies and the peace that followed the civil war. Russia was organized into several self-governing republics all under the Central government.

The Bolshevik revolution tried to destroy the existing political structures. They used violence to control people, and millions were killed. A positive effect was that Russia had established a state controlled society that lasted for decades.

REFERENCES

B. Bergey, (2007). Russian Revolution: Study Guide Part I. http://www.slideshare.net/bradleybergey/russian-revolution-presentation-910424?qid=47d158b3-051b-471e-bb59-004016d836d2&v=default&b=&from_search=1

S. BALI. RUSSIAN REVOLUTION http://www.slideshare.net/sabhyatabali/russian-revolution-25846117

Miss Houlson. Russia : 1917http://www.slideshare.net/johngethin/bolsheviks-seizepower1#