1. (not the Disney Anastasia Version)
Russian Revolution
(not the Disney Anastasia Version)

2. Russia – it’s big

3. Problems with Size of Russia
5000 miles
1/6 of world’s surface
Multiple ethnic groups and languages
Much of landmass has 6 months of had winter
City-states

4. Demographics/Economics c.1900
Population doubled (remember France)? 34m out of 36m were serfs (though emancipated in 1861) Industrializing (around Moscow) but far slower than Western Europe Many farms were huge (often 50 sq. km) Debt issues for government – importing too much

5. Early History Ruled since 1328 by Czars – total autocracy
Ruled from Moscow – isolated, not on sea. Reflects isolation of history - neither Asian nor European
Changed with Peter The Great

6. Peter The Great (1682-1725) Wanted to Westernize and modernize
Beard tax
Swedish army model
Azov
Science
Built and moved capital to St. Petersburg
Kept serfdom

8. Early trouble Decembrists attempted coup in 1825
Czar Nicholas I clamped down on revolutionaries but ideas gained a foothold
Revolutionaries represented a small class (no substantial middle class – remember?)

9. Alexander II (1855 – 1881) Abolished serfdom
Free but no wealth – riots
Revolutionaries spur on peasants
Alexander assassinated in 1881
Alexander III – ruthless, secret police, seized printing presses (Alexander Ulyanov, Lenin’s brother executed in plot to kill him in 1887)

10. Nicholas II (1894-1917) – The Last Czar
Not very savvy with what ordinary people went through
Devoted to family

11. Marxism
1848 – Karl Marx wrote “The Communist Manifesto” – the history of all previous societies.
History is the story of class struggle
Capitalism exploits
Revolution is inevitable

12. Marxism
However, Marx did not think revolution would happen in Russia first – why? (Think about the triangles). England/Germany/France
Russian was mostly agrarian (with growing industry from 1880s) with a small m/c and poorly educated proletariat and peasantry

13. Russian Marxism Revolutionary change should come through the peasant
Land redistribution
Split into two groups

14. Bolsheviks and Menchiviks
Mensheviks
Lenin
Plekhanov
small, disciplined party of professional revolutionaries
Build a mass party
No cooperation with any other parties
Work with sympathetic groups
Jump straight from current situation to communism
Will have to an interim government led by middle class
“majority”
“minority”

15. 1905 Revolution 1904-5 Russo-Japanese War Humiliating Defeat
Food shortages and high bread prices
Jan 22, 1905 – unarmed march to Winter Palace

16. Bloody Sunday Father Gapon
Carried pictures of the Czar, sang patriotic songs
Fired upon
Several hundred killed

18. 1905 Revolution Unrest, strikes, peasants seized estates
Sailors mutinied on Battleship Potemkin, raising red flag
Czar desperate, calls duma (parliament), elections and promises to consult
General strike in October
First soviets (workers councils) formed by Mensheviks

19. Reforms Duma Count Witte, prime minister Constitution
Moderates brought on board, revolution loses steam

20. Period of Hope
1906 – 1914 Duma meets (although becomes more conservative under Peter Stolypin)
Perhaps first step to gradual democracy
Need data on improvements

21. 1914 - 1917 Wave of patriotism War goes badly after initial successes
1915 – Czar goes to front line and takes charge – now will get blamed personally for defeats
He’s incompetent

22. Rasputin
Czar left govt under control of unpopular German wife, Alexandria and the monk Rasputin
Rasputin slept with most of the court
Could fix czar’s son’s hemophilia
Murdered in the end of 1916, but faith in govt lost

24. March (Feb in Russia) 1917
Starvation, bread riots in St. Petersburg, barricades
Massive strike
Soldiers refused to fire on rioters; they joined them
City fell to revolutionaries but this was a disorganized revolt

25. Dual Government
Soviet and Duma agree to share power. Soviets told soldiers to come home, Duma wanted to keep fighting
New provisional government formed
Revolution spread
March 16 – Czar Nicholas abdicated throne

26. March – November 1917
Germans sneak Lenin into Russia (on a train, dressed as a woman)
Lenin stirs up trouble – “all power to the Soviets”, more strikes, demonstrations
July - Kerensky (leader of prov gov) called for one last offensive against the Germans. Failed
Lenin urged soldiers to desert
“Peace, Bread, Land”
Lenin indicted for treason, flees to Finland

27. November (October) Revolution
Gen. Kornilov want to restore order, symbol of anti-Rev
July 31 – Kornilov marches on St. Pete. Kerensky panics, arms Bolsheviks. Kornilov loses, Bolsheviks empowered
More support for Bolsheviks

28. November 1917 October – Lenin returns Military HQ set up under Trotsky
Nov 7 – Aurora ship fires blank shot to signal start of revolt
Winter Palace stormed – not as dramatic as made out to be
Bolsheviks in total power, elections held Nov 25
Results not good for Bolsheviks, assembly dissolved in January

29. Staying in Power
Got to get out of the war – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – gave up 1/3 of income, 1/3 farming areas, ½ industry
Civil War Trotsky leads Reds to victory vs Whites (Germany, Czech, America, UK, France)
War Communism
NEP