Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution
Russian Government Before

Revolution
 Monarchy: The Czar (Tsar)
 Until 1905 the Tsar's powers were unlimited.
 Russia had no constitution, no political
parties or voting
 A strong secret police terrorized the people
and ensured loyalty to the tsar
Tsar Nicholas II (1894)
Last Tsar of Russia
 Nicholas II was a harsh and weak ruler
 The Russian economy was bankrupt because
of the Russo-Japanese War
(1904-5)
 Then because of WWI (1914)
Tsar Nicholas II and Family
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
 Dispute over Manchuria with

Japan (Japan won it… and then wanted more in
the 1930s)
Shook national confidence in their

progress and rule of Tsar;
revolutionary feelings started boiling
Japanese
Propaganda
Bloody Sunday (1905)
Russia and World War I
 Russia was Germany’s Eastern front and
suffered early losses at Tannenburg
 The war was wildly unpopular
 Rationing of food led to starvation
 Nicholas II left St. Petersburg to lead the
war effort
 This left his wife Alexandra at home under
the influence of a strange man named
Rasputin
Rasputin
Rasputin with Admirers
February Revolution (1917)
 1917- protests spread through St.
Petersburg and the Royal palace was
taken over
 Tsar Nicholas abdicated
 Provisional government (Duma) takes
control led by Alexander Kerensky
 Provisional government was unpopular
after decision to stay in WWI
October (Bolshevik) Revolution-
1917
 Led by VIadmir Lenin:
 “Peace, Bread, and Land”
 Popular with peasants
 Began a Civil War in Russia from 1917-
1923—ultimately overturned the
Provisional Government and created the
Soviet Union in 1922
 Civil War between Bolsheviks (red) and
Mensheviks (white)
1918
 1918 March The Bolsheviks accept the

peace of Brest‑Litovsk, ending WWI with
Germany
1919-1920
 1919 White Armies (Royal and Menshevik
troops) attack the Reds (Bolsheviks) from
all directions
 The far eastern front in Siberia was
particularly nasty
 Wiki: Russian Civil War
 Grain was “requisitioned” (read: taken)
from farmers as needed
 1920- Bolsheviks win
Casualty Numbers in the Civil War
 300,000 military deaths (red & white)
 450,000 disease deaths in the military
 250,000 executions of “enemies of the
people”
 3-500,000 Cossacks
 100,000 Ukrainian Jews
 3,000,000 died of typhus in 1920 alone
 6,000,000 died of starvation 1920-1921
More Casualty Stats
 Population in northern towns declined
24%
 Agriculture happened more in the south, and
railway lines were sparse or destroyed
heading north
Rule of Lenin 1920-1924
 Economic Reforms included the New
Economic Policy (NEP) 1921
-moderate mix of capitalism and socialism
 Individuals could own small properties,
the government would run banks, trade,
large industries
 Instead of “requisitioning” grain from
farmers, a set “tax” amount was required
Lenin’s Politics
 Political Reforms
-Bolshevik party became the Communist
Party
-Russia becomes the United Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR)
 Moved away from full nationalization of
the state
 Said it was “state capitalism” the final
step before full socialism
Communism
 A Form of Socialism
 Central Planning of the Economy by the State
 Gov’t (Communist Party) makes decisions

on individual jobs and pay
1924
 Lenin Dies, leaving a power vacuum
 Leon Trotsky vs. Joseph Stalin
 Stalin takes control
 Now must decide how he will maintain
power
 Decides to create a totalitarian state
Characteristics of a Totalitarian
State
 Dictatorship- Absolute Authority
 Dynamic Leader- Vision for the nation
 State Control Over All Sectors of Society
 Business, Family Life, Labor, youth groups, housing,
religion, education, the arts
 State Control Over the Individual
 Obedience
 Denies basic liberties
 Organized Violence
 Uses force to crush opposition
Stalin’s Totalitarian State
 State Control of the Economy
 5 year plan, collective farms
 Police Terror
 Great Purge, crush opposition
 Religious Persecution
 Control of the individual
 Propaganda (socialist realism)
 Molding peoples minds
 Education
 Controlled by the government
http://www.marxists.org
/reference/archive/stalin/
works/1937/12/11.htm

Russian Revolution

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Russian Revolution

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Russian Revolution

Russian Government Before

 Dispute over Manchuria with

Shook national confidence in their

 1918 March The Bolsheviks accept the

 Gov’t (Communist Party) makes decisions

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