Russia: Industrialization to Bolshevism

Background  Tsar Alexander II –Attempted to reform after Crimean War  Ended serfdom  Military reform  Zemstvos  Judicial reform

Sergei Witte  Alexander III –Political conservative –Encouraged industrialization of Russia  Sergei Witte (finance minister)  Protective tariffs  Taxes  Gold standard  Heavy industry  Textiles  Transiberian Railroad

Russian Social Classes circa 1900  ~approximately 85% peasants  Small industrial proletariat  Landowning aristocracy  Kulaks – landowning peasants  Social Revolutionary Party – opposed industry; embraced rural life  Constitutional Democratic Party - liberals

Vladimir Lenin  Lenin –Rejected SRP’s traditionalism –Rejected the Social Dems call for industry –Criticized trade unionism as being too limited –Rejected mass democracy of voters –Favored a small, organized party –“Bolsheviks” vs. “Mensheviks” –Favored unity among peasants and proletariat

Vladimir Lenin

Tsar Nicholas II (r )

Nicholas, Alexandra, and Their Children

Queen Victoria’s Family Tree

Nicholas II and his uncle, George V

Causes - Revolution of 1905  Russia was only beginning to industrialize  There was general discontentment among peasants  Nicholas II was harsh, but ineffective.  Russia unexpectedly lost in 1905 war w/ Japan.

War with Japan Russia Expected Victory  In 1904/05 Russia and Japan fought for control of Korea and Manchuria  The Tsar expected a quick victory  Russia suffered defeats on Land and sea. Japan destroyed the Russian Navy Results  Tsar becomes more unpopular  Russia is humiliated  Government seen to be weak and incompetent  Conditions for the people get worse  price rises food shortages and unemployment

Russo-Japanese War

Russian and Japanese Cartoons

Russia is humiliated

Bloody Sunday 1905

1905 Revolution Forms of struggle:  Demonstrations  Strikes, many of them political  Takeovers of farmland  Armed revolts  Mutinies in the armed forces  Political self-organization of civil society –Creation of political parties – from Left to Right –Creation of labor unions, independent professional associations, etc. –Creation of “Soviets” as new bodies of democratic government, challenging the autocratic state

Spread of the Revolution

Results The government’s response  Peace with Japan  Repression  Reforms, beginning with the Tsar’s October 1905 Manifesto, granting political freedoms and parliamentary elections  By 1907, the revolution subsides  But no viable new form of state-society relations has been created  Stalemate –The Tsar is a reactionary, rejects democracy –The nobility is stuck in the old order –The capitalist class is too dependent on the state, too afraid to show initiative

Results  The October Manifesto -  promise of freedom of speech, right to form political parties  Establish a Duma  No new laws without consent of the Duma  Broken Promises  Voting system was unfair rich had more influence than the poor  Duma had little influence over the Tsar and new laws  First two Dumas were dismissed for demanding reforms  Further changes introduced to excluded socialist

Why Did the Revolution Fail?  Many disparate groups w/ different objectives  Lack of organized leadership.  Most strikes and naval mutinies were abandoned.  Tsar did grant some concessions which some Russians accepted.  Military was loyal to tsar and the military was used to arrest soviets.

Nicholas II Appoints Stolypin  The Rule of Stolypin –Aim of stability –1. Repress the revolutionaries –2. Introduce reforms to improve living conditions – Stolypin assassinated

Stolypin  1. Great reduction in activities of the revolutionaries  2. Richer peasants (Kulaks) now run farms for profit  3. Kulaks now loyal to Tsar  4. Cities have more food  5. Conditions for some workers improve though many remain discontented. 1912/14 many strikes  6. Revolutionaries like Lenin learn to adopt new more tactics

Rasputin and Alexi