The Russian Revolution 1917. Causes of the Russian Revolution.
Russian Revolution
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Transcript of Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution
Czars = cruel, oppressive rule (19th cent)Social unrest
I. Czars Resist Change
Czars = autocrats Czar Alexander III (1881-1894) Imposed strict censorship codes
Written docs. Secret police Political prisoners = sent to Siberia Other groups oppressedCzar Nicholas II (1894)—last czar
II. Russia Industrializes
Factories doubled: 1863-1900still behind WestAcquired foreign investment & raised taxes 1900: Russia = 4th largest steel producer
Trans-Siberian RR (1891 – 1916)
A. Revolution Grows
I.R. = discontent? Factories = poor working conditions, low
wages, child labor Trade unions outlawed
Marxist Revolutionaries
B. Marxism
Karl Marx & Friedrich EngelsThe Communist Manifesto Society = warring classes
Middle class = “haves” or employers “bourgeoisie”
Poor = “have-nots” or workers “proletariat”
I.R. enriched wealthy & impoverished the poor Proletariat would overthrow bourgeoisie
C. Bolsheviks
Vladimir I. Lenin Fled to W. Euro (early 1900s)
II. Crisis at Home
1904-1917 = CRISIS
A. Bloody Sunday
Jan. 22, 1905: 200,000 workers petitioned czar’s winter palace
Wanted change
Soldiers fired on crowd Over 1,000 wounded, several hundred killed
Strikes & violence spread Nicholas did nothing
B. WWI: Final Blow
1914: Russia & WWI Unprepared—no match for Germans
Over 4 mill. killed in less than 1 yr. 1915: Nicholas moved h.q. to war front
Czarina Alexandra ran govt. Rasputin made political decisions
Murdered by nobles (1916) Soldiers mutinied, food & fuel was low, inflation
III. The March Revolution
March 1917: workers strike in Petrograd Riots over shortages (bread & fuel) 200,000 workers
Down with the autocracy! Down with the war!
Soldiers sided w/workers
A. Czar Steps Down
Protest led to March Rev. Nicholas forced to abdicate
He & family executed Romanov dynasty ended
Provisional govt. est. Cont’d to fight WWI Unrest spread
Socialist revolutionaries Soviets: local councils of workers, peasants, & soldiers
More influence than provisional govt.
B. Lenin Returns
Germans supported Lenin’s return to Russia Reached Petrograd (April 1917)
IV. Bolshevik Rev.
Bolsheviks took Petrograd soviet All power to the soviets! Peace, Land, and
Bread!
Lenin. The new brush that sweeps clean.
The Tsar, the Priest and the Rich Man on the Shoulders of the Labouring People
Capital as the source of all evil.
Under the image is a satirical poem by Demjan Bedny.
The red text on the left states that damaging the poster or pasting another one over it is a counter-revolutionary crime.
"The workers and the peasants are finishing off the gentry and the barons, but the workers on the home front also have not forgotten about help to the peasant economy. Long livethe union of the workers and peasants!"
"Without a saw, axe, or nails you cannot build a home. These tools are made by the worker, and he has to be fed."
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the helm.
A. Provisional Govt. Topples
Nov. 1917: workers stormed Winter Palace “Bolshevik Red Guards” Took over govt. (provisional govt./the Duma)
B. Bolsheviks in Power
Everything collectivized March 1918: signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
C. Political Reforms
Nationalism seen as threat Russia organized into several self-governing
republics under central govt. 1922: U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
Bolsheviks = “Communist Party” Communism = classless society Held ALL power
A dictatorship of the Communist Party, NOT dictatorship of the “proletariat”
D. Stalin Becomes Dictator
1922: Lenin suffered strokeDied 1924
Stalin gained control“Comrade Stalin…has concentrated
enormous power in his hands, and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution.
In power until 1953