Russian Revolution 1905-1917

Economic Weaknesses

• Backwards• top 1% controls

majority of Land & wealth

• bottom 85% = peasants• Landless &

extremely poor

Typical Noble Estate

Russian Peasants

Economic Weaknesses

• Govt. Modernization Program:• Raised taxes• Borrowed money• Hired foreigners to

run factories• Workers paid low

wages• extremely poor

conditions

Women Textile Workers

Extensive Foreign Investments &

Influence

Building the Trans-Siberian RR[Economic benefits only in a few

regions.]

Political Weaknesses

• Autocratic ruler• Ignorant to Russia’s

problems• No personal

freedoms• Govt. opposition not

allowed• Political divisions

Tsar Nicholas II

Social Weaknesses

• Citizens = internally divided:• Only ½ population =

Russian• Desires:

• Minorities—independence

• Workers—better conditions

• Peasants—land reform

Bloody Sunday January 9, 1905

• Peaceful demonstration of workers

• Demands: • end to war• formation of a constituent

assembly• Troops open fire on

workers

Father Gapon

Bloody Sunday

• Result:• widespread riots &

strikes (spring-summer)

• Radicals organize workers into ‘Soviets’

• October—nation paralyzed by 10 day strike

• Tsar agrees to make changes

Demonstration at the winter palace in St. Petersburg

Bloody SundayJanuary 22, 1905

The Czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

October Manifesto

• Russia’s first constitution• Establishes the

‘Duma’-First Parlament

• Grants some civil liberties

• Results:– Divides opposition

• October Manifesto in practice:• Had little power• Tsar could veto

decisions & dismiss members at will

Duma

World War I

•Tsar enters war with hope of unifying nation

• Army suffers defeat after defeat

• Morale decreases• Desertions increase

World War I

• 1916 Nicholas II takes over Army– Weaknesses of govt.

further exposed– War increases

suffering & discontent– Revolution is near

Rasputin

• Nicholas II leaves country to command army• Tsarina in charge of gov’t• Heavily influence by

Rasputin, ‘the Holy Man’ – given power to make

governmental decisions• Dislike by nobility—

murdered– Scandals surrounding Rasputin served to

discredit the monarchy

The Collapse of the Imperial Government

• Rasputin assassinated in December of 1916

• Refusal to receive assistance of the Russian Middle Class

• Complete mismanagement of the wartime economy

March Revolution 1917

• Strikes & bread riots break out in Petrograd. • Soldiers, sent to

restore order• Ordered to shoot

rioters, instead, shoot the officers and join rioters

March Revolution 1917

• Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II– Orders the dismissal

of the Duma– Instead the Duma

forms a Provisional government.

– Next day - March 15, 1917 abdicates

Petrograd Soviet 1917

• Competes for power• Extremely well

organized & supported

• Increases power w/failures of provisional govt.

• Lenin returns from exile

April – October 1917

• April 23• Lenin calls for power to

the soviets• Rallies behind the

slogan: “Peace, Land, Bread”

Lenin’s Speech

April – October 1917

• July 3-5, increased support from sailors, workers, & peasants.

• Lenin—October 24• Call to power speech• Demands action now

October Revolution 1917

• Bolsheviks launch successful coup• Establish the ‘Cheka’• Political opposition

banned• Confiscate church

property• Treaty of Brest-litovsk

March 1918• Assassination of Tsar &

his family July 16, 1918

Civil War War Communism (1917-

1921)• Lenin: “Dictatorship

of the Proletariat”• Bolsheviks focus on

maintaining power• Red Army (Bolsheviks)

led by Trotsky vs. the Whites (socialists, nationalist, liberals)

War Communism (1917-1921)

• Nationalize industry, banks, & forbid strikes

• All men under 50 drafted

• Result: – famine, worker

revolts, political divisions

– Leaves Russia w/out industry, transportation, & trade.

NEP

Goal: increase food productionIntroduce incentives: Small factories, businesses, & farms allowed to return

to private ownership Large factories, banks, railways, & communication kept

under state controlResult: huge successSoviet Union (USSR) established 1922

NewEconomic

Policy1921

Section 2 – Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism

• Totalitarianism• Stalin builds a totalitarian state.

– Stalin’s dream– Great Depression

• Other totalitarian governments emerged.– Germany – Hitler– Italy – Mussolini– China - Mao Zedong– North Korea - Kim Il Sung

• Result of Totalitarianism

Similar characteristics of all totalitarian States

• Dictatorship and One-Party Rule• Dynamic Leader• Ideology• State Control Over All Sectors of Society• State Control Over the Individual• Dependence on Modern Technology• Organized Violence

An Industrial Revolution

• 1st and 2nd Five-Year Plan– set impossibly high quotas

• Government controlled the worker's life.

• made impressive gains.• agricultural nation → industrial

nation

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1928 1933 1938

Coal

Steel

An Agricultural Revolution

• 1st and 2nd Five-Year Plan• Collective farms• Resistances of peasants• Kulaks• development

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1928 1933 1938

Livestock

Wheat

Police Terror

• Used terror and violence to stop the opposition• No privacy• GREAT PURGE: campaign of terror. • Eliminate whoever got in Stalin’s way• 1939; ended the great purge • Historians said that Stalin is responsible for all deaths

Indoctrination and Propaganda

• Indoctrination: Instruction in the government’s beliefs. • Propaganda: biased or incomplete information used to sway

people to accept certain beliefs or actions. • ART was used for Propaganda • Socialist realism: Artistic style that praised Soviet life and communist values.

Censorship

• Stalin wouldn’t tolerate individual creativity that threatened the conformity and obedience required of citizens in a totalitarian state.

• Controlled ALL medias• No privacy• Even children were supposed to tell the government about

what they heard from their family.

Religious Persecution

• Ideals of communism• The Russian Orthodox church was the main target of

persecution. • Other religions also suffered. • Destroyed religion

Soviet Women

• Equal rights • Under 5year plans, they

were forced to join the labor force.

• Educational opportunities.• Medicine was popular. • 1950: There were 75% of

women Soviet doctors• Job, child, and housework. • Motherhood was a

patriotic duty.

Education

• Controlled all education.• College professors and students who went against the

communist party lost their jobs or faced imprisonment.• Needed many skilled workers.