1. The Russian Revolution

2. Today you will be learning about the Russian Revolution
Today you will be learning about the Russian Revolution. This will help you to understand the Russian/Soviet propaganda posters that you will be influenced by when you produce your own work.

3. Why were the Russians so divided in 1917?
This is the Tsar of Russia and his family in 1913
His empire was huge; it stretched for over 4000 miles east to west million people lived within its borders

4. During the first world war, Russian people became angry and bitter as millions of their soldiers were killed.
At home the war caused terrible shortages. Many ordinary Russians couldn’t afford to keep warm or to feed their families.

5. By March 1917 people were desperate
By March 1917 people were desperate. Thousands of workers in St Petersburg once again filled the streets.
This time they demonstrated against the government.

6. This was now a REVOLUTION
The Tsar’s troops refused to fire on the people and joined in the demonstrations.
This was now a REVOLUTION

7. What is the difference between a demonstration and a revolution?
Why do you think the soldiers refused to fire on the people???
What is the difference between a demonstration and a revolution?

8. The Tsar abdicated in March 1917.
A provisional government took control of Russia.
People rejoiced at the end of the monarchy.
People smashed the statues of the tsars in the streets

9. But the revolution was not yet over
But the revolution was not yet over. In April 1917 this man returned to Russia:
His name was LENIN and he was the leader of a political party called the BOLSHEVIKS. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were followers of communism.

10. Everyone should have an equal share in Russia’s wealth.
They believed that:
Everyone should have an equal share in Russia’s wealth.
Peasants should have a share of the land
Workers should own a share of the factory where they worked
The war should be ended immediately

11. On 25 October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power from the provisional government in St Petersburg
This painting shows the Bolsheviks ‘storming’ the Winter Palace. Inside were the government ministers and their soldiers.
Think of some words to describe the mood captured by this painting
How can you tell from the painting that the artist supported the Bolsheviks?

12. This painting portrays the Bolsheviks as great heroes who fought hard to capture the Winter Palace….
The Bolsheviks only succeeded because hardly anyone came to support the provisional government. Even some of the soldiers went to eat their evening meals instead of fighting!
Sailors who were supposed to help the Bolsheviks arrived late; the guns were too rusty to fire; no-one could find the red lantern which was to signal the start of the attack

13. Work in pairs. One of you is a supporter of the Bolsheviks
Work in pairs. One of you is a supporter of the Bolsheviks. The other is an opponent.
Supporter:
Think of two reasons why the October revolution was something to be proud of.
Opponent:
Think of two reasons why the October revolution was nothing to be proud of.

14. The Peace:
After the October Revolution, the Russian people were desperate for peace with Germany.
The Germans made harsh demands. Lenin was afraid that if a peace treaty was not signed, German troops would capture St Petersburg

15. In March 1918 the two sides finally signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk.
Many Russians felt that the treaty brought a shameful peace. The Russians were forced to give up territory that included:
34% of Russia’s population
32% of Russia’s agricultural land
54% of Russia’s factories
89% of Russia’s coal mines

16. The Bolsheviks seized power quickly but were not yet in control
The Bolsheviks seized power quickly but were not yet in control. Many people opposed the new government.
An election was held in November The Bolsheviks did badly but Lenin had no intention of losing power. He was determined to make Russia communist.
From the very beginning Lenin set to destroy all opposition parties.
Russia became a one party state.

17. Making women equal to men
The communists knew that if they were to remain in power they had to keep the promises that they had made to the Russian people.
They aimed to make Russia a more equal society by:
Making women equal to men
Peasants who had grain surplus had to hand it over to the government to share out to the people.

18. Factories were taken away from their owners and placed under the control of workers committees.
A maximum 48 hour working week was declared for factory workers

19. Rich people were forced to share their houses with poor families.
All land was taken away from the Tsar and the old landlords
Money and jewellery belonging to rich people were taken by the state
Rich people were forced to share their houses with poor families.

20. Many rich and educated people escaped from the new regime
Many rich and educated people escaped from the new regime. For many of those who stayed life became unbearable.
Ordinary Russians were hostile towards them. Armed gangs raided their houses.
Aristocrats, factory directors, lawyers, artists, priests and teachers were rounded up and forced to do jobs like clearing rubbish from the streets
Ex aristocrats clearing snow in the streets.

21. Do these changes make you think that Russia was becoming a fairer society?

22. After the abdication of the Tsar in March 1917 the members of the Royal family (the Romanovs) were placed under house arrest
To the Bolsheviks they were a symbol of centuries of unfair government
In a palace near St Petersburg, they spent their days gardening, reading etc but they had no power. Guards patrolled the garden to make sure that they could not escape.

23. The Romanovs soon became a big problem for the Bolshevik government; they feared that if the Tsar escaped he might help the opponents of a new regime.
On the 16th July 1918, secret police took the family into the cellar and opened fire and killed them.

24. The corpses were driven off in a lorry
The corpses were driven off in a lorry. The officers wanted to throw them down a deep mine shaft but on the way the lorry got stuck in the mud. Instead, the royal family were buried in the ground. The soldiers poured sulphuric acid on the faces of the family so that they could not be recognised.
For years afterwards the communist government insisted that the decision to murder the Romanovs was made by local Bolsheviks. We now know that the orders came from the communist leadership in Moscow.

25. The summer of 1918 saw the start of a terrible civil war in Russia
The summer of 1918 saw the start of a terrible civil war in Russia. On one side were the Reds – the Communists. On the other side where the Whites – royalists who were the opponents of the new government. Both sides produced propaganda posters in order to win support.

26. Which is ‘The Reds’ and which is ‘The Whites’ poster
Which is ‘The Reds’ and which is ‘The Whites’ poster? What similarities can you see?

27. Over the next seventy years the communists transformed Russia into a new kind of empire.
From being a poor and backward land of peasants, it became an enormously powerful state known as the Soviet Union.
The communists followed the ideas of a socialist German writer, Karl Marx.
Marx believed that countries should make and share wealth

28. Propaganda posters taught the people that capitalism was an evil system that fed greedy people and created no wealth.
Socialism (where people were not allowed to start their own businesses) was always shown to be the best possible system.

29. Lenin never managed to turn the Soviet Union into a totally socialist state. That task was completed by Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin.
Stalin wasn’t his real name – he chose it because it meant ‘Man of Steel’
Stalin modernised the Soviet Union and made it wealthy through industry, although ordinary people got few of the benefits.
Stalin abused the power of the state to transform the Soviet Union; he was determined to create a massive, powerful and fully communist state.

30. Stalin made sure that nobody challenged his power – no opposition to the communist party was allowed.
No one was safe. Everyone feared the secret police, who would call in the middle of the night and take away anyone who had shown the slightest resistance to Stalin.
The people were taught that loyalty to the Communist party was more important than anything else. As many as 8 million people were shut away in brutal work camps.

31. Churches were destroyed. People were told that religion was a poison.
Soviet books, newspapers, radio, tv and films were censored.
Schools taught children what to think and discouraged discussion
Historians think that Stalin ordered the execution of over a million of his own people

32. In areas on the edge of the Soviet Union, some nationalist groups wanted to break free from Soviet control. Soviet propaganda said nationalism was foolish and that the whole world would eventually be united in one vast Soviet Union.
It also said that capitalist countries were determined to crush and invade the Soviet Union
Soviet leaders put communist leaders in charge across the whole of western Europe – protecting them from the West and creating what was dubbed the ‘IRON CURTAIN’

33. He gave the Soviet people freedom of speech and religion.
The Soviet leaders kept firm control of their people between 1917 and 1985
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became their leader. He was a communist but believed that the time had come for change.
He gave the Soviet people freedom of speech and religion.

34. Gorbachev tried to encourage trade by allowing capitalist businesses to start up.
Gorbachev said that non communist parties would be allowed in the Soviet Union
A man called Boris Yeltsin started up a capitalist party.
The Soviet Union ended on 1st January It broke up into 15 separate nations. Yeltsin was the leader of the biggest of these – Russia.

35. Gorbachev’s new ideas destroyed his own career, the communist state that he was trying to save and led directly to the collapse of the Soviet empire.