The Fall of Tsarism The Fall of Tsarism Revolution

What is a Revolution?  A complete change in the way things are done (Agricultural Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Russian Revolution)  Sometimes peaceful  Sometimes violent  Russian Revolution = the overthrow of the Tsar’s government and the establishment of Communist Rule

Events and Personalities Leading up the 1917 Revolution Karl Marx  Spontaneous revolution of the working class  “Let the ruling classes tremble at the prospect of a communist revolution. Proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have the world to win. Proletarians of all lands, unite!” Vladimir Lenin  Planned revolution by professional revolutionaries  Revolution of all oppressed classes of society

Tsar Nicholas II  Not a strong leader  Did not keep promises made to increase personal freedoms (free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of movement, freedom of language)  Easily influenced by Rasputin  Did not give DUMA (national parliament, much power)

Bloody Sunday  Unarmed peasants, led by Father Gapon, marched to Winter Palace singing, “God Save the Czar” carrying petition requesting shorter work days, minimum wage, calling of a constituent assembly to create a constitution for Russia.  Palace Guards fired upon crowd killing hundreds, injuring thousands (without orders)  Bond between Czar and his people broken forever

World War I  Russia unprepared for war  Not enough supplies (food, weapons, clothing)  Army poorly organized  Soldiers didn’t understand why they were fighting  Tsar Nicholas II and his ministers provided poor leadership and organization

Events of the Revolution February 1917  Spontaneous uprising of peasants  Protesting shortage of bread:  Industrial strikes  Tramcars (city transit) forceably stopped  Breaking of shop windows  Waving red flags that read, “Down with war!”

Provisional Government  Declared all Russian citizens equal  Freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly given to all citizens  Unions and strikes legal  Planned on continuing war  Provisional Government made these promises, but asked people to wait  People tired of waiting and listened more and more to the revolutionaries

Bolsheviks  Believed that a small group of trained revolutionaries could lead the workers to overthrow the tsar and establish socialism in Russia  Led by Lenin  Tried to attract the people with slogans like, “All Power to the Soviets” and “Bread, Peace, and Freedom”

X.Founder of Bolshevism: Vladimir Lenin  His Early Years --Exiled to Siberia in 1897  Committed to Class Struggle and Revolution  Moved to London in 1902 and befriended Leon Trotsky  What is to be Done? Tract

X. Lenin (cont)  Key role of the Party in the revolution -- “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”  Bolsheviks split from the Russian Socialist Party in 1912  Character of the Bolshevik Party --Joseph Stalin --Pravda

Bolshevik Revolution  By end of September, there was widespread peasant rebellion in Russia  Lenin left Finland in disguise and attended a secret Bolshevik meeting in Petrograd  Bolsheviks held mass meetings with thousands in attendance  Kerensky declares Russia to be in a state of emergency and orders arrest of Trotsky and other Bolshevik leaders

What Did Lenin Do Upon Coming to Power?  Immediately proposed an end to War (WWI) (what peasants wanted most was peace)  Proposed the distribution of all land to peasants, landowners would not be paid for land taken from them  Lenin’s proposals adopted

After the Revolution  Bolsheviks encountered stiff resistance in some cities  Bolsheviks defeated in Kiev (Ukraine)  Bolshevik power weak in Siberia, Georgia, Armenia, and Central Asia  Strongest in Central Russia and in large cities where many workers lived

Ending WWI  Bolsheviks needed peasant support to stay in power  Lenin decided to get Russia out of WWI and send peasant soldiers home  In March of 1918, Lenin signed treaty with Germany accepting German occupation of Ukraine, Belorussia, the Baltics, and Finland  Russia lost over one quarter of its farmland and one third of its population, almost all its coal mines, and more than half its industries  Huge loss to Russia’s economy

Civil War  After signing peace treaty, Bolsheviks faced armed resistance to their rule  Civil war lasted from 1918 to 1921  Some non-Russian nationalities took up arms to win independence from Russia  Great Britain, France, and the USA sent troops to Russia to defeat Bolsheviks because they did not want these ideas of revolution spread around the world  Fight by Bolsheviks to establish communism in Russia, which was renamed the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (USSR) in 1918  Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Part  Bolsheviks defeated their enemy’s in 1921

Bolshevik Success  Their enemy was not united  Trotsky created a well-organized and disciplined army increasing the size of the Red Army by conscripting thousands of workers and peasants as well as former Tsarist soldiers  Bolsheviks increased their support among workers and peasants by promising land and a brighter future  Used terror against opponents  In newly conquered areas, Bolsheviks used secret police to destroy all opposition, arresting and executing people on the spot

Results of Civil War  Much of Russia in ruins  Cities, land, factories destroyed after almost eight years of fighting  Millions died or fled country  Bolsheviks had mammoth task of rebuilding country

End of Romanovs  Taken to Western Siberia  After Bolsheviks took power taken to Ekaterinburg (in Ural Mountains)  Lenin sent telegram authorizing their execution  Taken to cellar at 1:30 a.m. with family doctor and servants  Nicholas and Alexandra fell first under the hail of bullets  Bullets bounced off the daughters, diamonds found in their corsets  Those who survived the bullets were killed by bayonets  Bodies loaded onto truck, stripped of jewels, thrown into a mine  Mine not deep enough to hide them, bodies dumped into a pit in a marshy area  Even the family dog was killed

XIV. Interpreting the Russian Revolution  The official Marxist Interpretation --The importance of a permanent international revolution  Function of Russian History and Culture  Imposed Revolution on an unwilling victim  A Social Revolution