1. Revolution in Russia
World History

2. Review Themes The Proletariat? Who? Communism V. Capitalism?
Democracy V. Absolutism (monarchial system)
Industrialized nations are RICH! Powerful! Influential!
Russia is RESOURCE rich. Economically and technologically decades behind the West.
Led by a Czar (Tsar, in some cases) Absolute leader-religious and political leader.

3. Write a few sentences about what you see in this photograph.

4. The Czar, the Proletariat, Lenin, and revolution

5. Rapid industrialization:
Russia was CONSIDERABLY behind Western Europe, they tried to play catch up
Horrible working conditions
Low wages
Child labor
Higher taxes
Trade unions outlawed
Workers organize strikes

6. Weak Leadership Nicholas II Ruled through fear
TOTALLY out of touch with his people
Foolish
The Romanov dynasty began its rule of Russia in 1613
The last member of the Romanov dynasty was Nicholas II who ruled from using oppression and police control

7. Development of Revolutionaries
Marxists: “a dictatorship of the proletariat”
Proletariat=Workers
Bolsheviks: very radical, willing to sacrifice everything for change

8. Development of Revolutionaries
Lenin
Leader of the Bolsheviks
Charismatic, Organized, Ruthless
His brother was hanged as a traitor. He faced similar fate.
He FLED to Germany
Lenin’s older brother had been arrested and hanged for plotting to assassinate the tsar
Lenin was in exile in Switzerland were he studied Marxism and wrote political pamphlets

9. Russian Losses = angry Russians back home
Russo-Japanese War
Late 1800’s
Russian Losses = angry Russians back home

10. 200,000 approached the Winter Palace to petition for:
Bloody Sunday, 1905
200,000 approached the Winter Palace to petition for:
Better Working Conditions
More Personal Freedom
An Elected Nat’l Legislature
In Jan 1905, soldiers killed 130 workers who were marching in protest to Nicholas’ rule
Sparked countrywide protests and forced some concessions

11. Bloody Sunday, 1905 Czar ordered soldiers to fire
1000 wounded, Several hundred killed
Sparked protests and riots
Czar created the Duma
Russian Parliament
Dissolved after 10 days

12. Involvement in WWI Nicholas was a weak military leader
Russia was losing
Nicholas focused on the war not on the people
Czarina listened to Rasputin
Soldiers began to revolt

13. The March Revolution March 1917
Women workers went on strike in Petrograd
Riots erupted the next day (bread and fuel shortages)
Soldiers first shot the rioters but then joined them

14. The Czar Loses Power Czar Nicholas II abdicated (gave up) the throne
A provisional (temporary) government was created

15. Provisional Government Loses Power
Stayed in WWI
Conditions worsened
People grew more radical

16. Provisional Government Loses Power
Soviets: local councils of workers, peasants, and soldiers
Elected
Originally strike committees
More power than local government
1921 poster declares,
“Long live the Communist Councils!”
The Petrograd (means St. Petersburg) soviet demanded Russia pursue an immediate peace in World War I

17. The Bolsheviks Take Power
Lenin Returns to Russia
The Germans smuggled Lenin back into Russia to destabilize (weaken) the country
Lenin gains power
Peace, Land, and Bread!

18. The Storming of the Winter Palace
October 1917: Armed Factory workers (Red Guards) stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd
At night
Combination of factory workers and Bolshevik leaders
Little to no resistance
Lenin headed the Bolsheviks, the radical wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party
The Bolsheviks capitalized on the government’s insistence on continuing the war, its inability to feed the population, and its refusal to undertake land reform
Eventually the Bolsheviks gained control of the Petrograd soviet

19. Bolshevik Changes All farmland given to the peasants
Factories were run by the workers
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Ended Russian war w/Germany
Gave up territory to Germany

20. Civil War in Russia People oppose Bolshevik changes White Army
Several different groups
Only common factor was opposition to the Bolsheviks
Supported by West
At one point there were 3 white armies against the red army
During the civil war, the Bolsheviks adopted a hasty and unplanned course of nationalization called “war communism”
The Bolshevik government assumed control or ownership of banks, industry, and privately held commercial property
Landed estates and the property of monasteries and churches became national property
Private trade was abolished
The Bolsheviks and their opponents fought a civil war from 1918 to 1920

21. Political Spectrum Proletariat Bourgeoisie
______________________________________
Radical Liberal Moderate Conservative Loyalist
Bolsheviks Mensheviks Tsarists
Proletariat Bourgeoisie

22. Rasputin

23. The Romanov Family

24. Civil War in Russia Three years Romanovs Killed
14 million died from fighting and famine
Bolsheviks retained power
Lenin established Moscow as his capital and initiated the “Red Terror” against the “Whites”
Secret police killed 200,000 of Lenin’s opponents
In July 1918, the Bolsheviks executed Nicholas II and his family to prevent them from being manipulated by the Whites

25. Now what do you think of the photograph.