The Russian Revolution

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The Russian Revolution
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• The impact of war
• 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese war
• 1914-1917 The Great War
• The state fails in its most important function
• Impulse for reform
• Impulse for a revolution

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• Whats wrong with the system
• Inefficiency
• Backwardness Russia has not modernized
• The economy is underdeveloped
• The political system is archaic, rigid and
  corrupt
• Society is torn by tensions and conflicts
• Fire in the minds of men

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• Since 1905 a contest between reform and
  revolution
• The inadequacy of reforms
• The Tsar is reactionary
• The nobility is stuck in the old order
• The capitalist class is too dependent on the
  state, too afraid to show initiative
• Reforms dont prevent revolution
• Revolution drives reforms
• Reforms
• Political (liberalization)
• Economic (development of capitalism)

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• The gap between the rulers and the ruled
• Liberal reforms only stimulate radical protest
• THE ATTRACTIONS OF SOCIALISM
• No consensus emerges
• When the state resorts to repression, that only
  makes the gap even wider
• Russias options
• A liberal-capitalist path what it would require
• An authoritarian-capitalist path what it would
  require
• A non-capitalist path

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• Russian Communists
• Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party
  (Bolsheviks)
• Lenin Russia as the weakest link in the world
  capitalist system
• Russian capitalism is unviable
• Therefore, Russia may have to move directly to
  socialism
• Overthrow of the old ruling classes
• Establishing a state run by workers and peasants
• This will be followed by other revolutions

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• Few took this analysis seriously until the fall
  of 1917
• 8 months between the fall of the Tsar and the
  October Coup
• Dual Power
• The Provisional Government
• The Soviets
• The Provisional Government loses its grip
• What about the Soviets?
• The Bolsheviks make their move
• Stage a coup
• Proclaim a Soviet Republic

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• How is this Republic organized?
• As a revolutionary dictatorship
• What it does
• Decree on Peace
• Decree on Land
• Worker control of industry
• How it maintains itself
• The inevitability of a civil war
• The challenges
• Old ruling classes fight back
• Opponents of dictatorship (including many
  leftists) resist
• Foreign powers

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• The Civil War (1918-1920) Reds vs. Whites
• Why the Bolsheviks won
• Their policy goals received wide support in
  society
• Their dictatorship was strong enough
• The Red Army
• The Cheka
• The Party
• Lenin
• The mass base