Opposition to the Tsar Who were the revolutionaries?
Illegal opposition groups were all called ‘revolutionary’ Some groups favoured the use of assassination Others preferred to use propaganda Some groups bitterly resented the others
LIBERALS Formed in 1905 repressed in 1918 Aimed to remove corruption Wanted a system like that of Britain Wanted a democratically elected parliament to curb the Tsar Poorly organised Did not form the Kadets until 1905 Led by Paul Milyokov and Victor Guchkov Supported by industrialists, merchants and intellectuals
SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARIES (SRs) Formed 1901 repressed 1921 Anti-Marxist, believed Russia was not industrial enough Wanted to end the monarchy Wanted government by peasant communes Wanted land to be redistributed Made up of small secret groups who used terrorism Led by Victor Chernov Supported by about 50,000 peasants
Socialists Supported Marx’s ideas Saw how the industrial workers suffered Wanted industry, mining and banking to be commonly owned by the people
Split of the Social Democrats The biggest socialist party but disagreed over ideas of revolution They split into two groups One groups supported Julius Martov who wanted to wait for Russia to be more industrialised to be able to create a mass movement The second group supported Vladimir Lenin who endorsed a small group of revolutionaries to seize power
Lenin’s supporters won a crucial vote and called themselves ‘Bolsheviks’ (those in the majority) Martov’s supporters became the ‘Mensheviks’ (those in the minority)
Karl Marx Social Democrats -Workers and peasants revolution -Overthrow Tsar -Small secret groupings -Supported by industrial working class poor and peasants members Bolsheviks Led by Lenin Broke from Social Democrats in 1903 dissolved in 1991 Mensheviks Led by Julius Martov Formed 1898 repressed Workers and peasants revolution when they are ready in the future -Overthrow Tsar and have socialist state -Mass membership wanted through trade unions -Supported by industrial working class and trade unions members-