Russian Revolution

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Russian Revolution Through the Rise of Stalin

• Marxist Dream?

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I. Background Marxism

• A. Communist Manifesto (1848) by Marx (1818
  1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)
• 1. Dialectal materialism communism is the final
  form of government resulting from a historical
  progression. It is capitalisms successor.
• 2. Surplus value theory the proletariat can no
  longer use the products of manufacture because
  the bourgeois capitalists lower wages. Therefore,
  a revolution is inevitable and a socialist
  government will be formed.
• 3. Equality of classes will result from the
  abolishment of private property.

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II. Other Background

• A. Czar Alexander III, from 1881-1894, instituted
  policies of autocracy and Russification
  (persecution of all non-Russians).
• B. Political parties
• 1. Constitutional Democrats (Cadets) Reflected
  the middle class by not worrying about the
  proletariat.
• 2. Social Revolutionaries (Narodniks) Believed
  that the formation of capitalism was not
  necessary for socialism to take hold (from
  agrarian system directly to socialism).
• 3. Social Democrats (Marxists) Adherents to
  Marxism. In 1903, the party split
• - Bolsheviks small group of elite
  revolutionaries, ed by V.I. Lenin, the strong
  authority at the top. No toleration of varying
  opinions or cooperation with outside influences,
  unless strategically used.
• - Mensheviks mild revolutionaries who favored a
  more democratic style (everyone has input).
• C. The Russians suffered a humiliating defeat in
  the Russo Japanese War.
• 1. Treaty of Portsmouth Russia loses all land
  and rights in Manchuria, as well as military
  strength. This allows the underground political
  parties to surface and the Revolution of 1905 to
  begin.

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III. Revolution of 1905

• A. Bloody Sunday (January 1905) Father Gapon, a
  Russian Orthodox priest, led 200,000 Russians on
  a peaceful march to the czars Winter Palace. The
  czars troops fired on the demonstrators, killing
  hundreds.
• 1. Soviets, or workers councils, formed and
  demanded reform.
• 2. Peasant uprisings (burning of manor houses and
  overrunning of lands)
• B. October Manifesto issued by Czar Nicholas II
  in response to a massive strike by the Petrograd
  (St. Petersburg) Soviet. It promised the
• 1. Development of a constitution.
• 2. Establishment of a Duma (legislature) to
  represent all classes.
• 3. Freedom of speech, assembly, association and
  conscience.
• C. Peter Stolypin, the czars principal minister,
  initiated reforms
• 1. Peasants can leave their land communes (mirs)
  and take land that is rightfully theirs.
• 2. Abolishment of peasant debts led to a wealthy
  peasant class (Kulaks).
• 3. Increase in the power of zemstzos (provincial
  councils).

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Revolution of 1917 March

• A. World War I Russia is again devastated by
  loss of manpower and ammunition.
• 1. Over 2,000,000 soldiers are lost due to
  the advance of the Central Powers, as well as
  incompetent leadership from Russian aristocrats.

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Revolution of 1917 March

• B. Rasputin Mad monk who apparently healed
  the czarevitch of hemophilia.
• 1. He had a say in appointments of officials
  to high office.
• 2. Anyone wishing to speak to the czar must
  first go through Rasputin.
• 3. As a result, members of all classes
  resented the royal family and government.

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Revolution of 1917 March

• C. Other dissatisfaction
• 1. Anti-German sentiment is high (the
  czarina is German).
• 2. Czar Nicholas is thought to be
  incompetent and arrogant.
• 3. More food shortages in industrial towns.

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Revolution of 1917 March

• D. Fighting breaks out in St. Petersburg.
• 1. Peasant food riots.
• 2. Soldiers turned traitors and support the
  peasants. Some of them free political prisoners.
• 3. Armed workers stormed factories.
• 4. Soviets formed.
• 5. Two authorities emerged
• - Petrograd Soviet representing
  revolutionary forces, 58 Menshevik, supported by
  soldiers and workers. It wanted to end Russias
  involvement in WWI.
• - Duma committee (Provisional Government and
  then later the Constituent Assembly)
  representing moderates and constitutionalists

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Revolution of 1917 March

• E. Provisional Government set up by Duma
  because of pressure from the soviets.
• 1. Prince Lvov (non-party moderate) is
  appointed President.
• 2. To appease socialists, Alexander
  Kerensky, a Narodnik, is appointed Minister of
  Justice.
• 3. It wanted to expand Russias territory.
• 4. Institution of local self-government by a
  police force.
• 5. Abolition of class, religious and
  nationality restrictions.
• 6. Czar Nicholas II abdicates the throne.
• 7. Russia is now a republic.

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V. Revolution of 1917 November (Bolshevik
Revolution)

• A. Causes
• 1. The promised redistribution of land never took
  place.
• 2. Discipline collapsed in the army because of
  Order Number 1, stating that command will be
  given to committees. Both officers and soldiers
  refused to
• 2. Tried to continue war w/ Germany
• 3. Promised peasants redistribution of land, but
  took no actions.
• 4. Was opposed by Petrograd Soviet that wanted a
  speedy end of the war.
• 5. Lost the discipline of the people by issuing
  Order No. 1

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B. Lenin and the Bolsheviks

• 1. Arrive in Petrograd (St. Petersburg). Mid
  April, took sides w/ Petrograd Soviet
• 2. After abortive coup in July, they flee to
  Finland.
• 3. Prince Lvov gave his power to Kerensky
• 4. Kerenskys government did not succeed because
  he wanted to stay in war w/ centralized powers
  and didnt help w/ storages of food.
• 5. General Kornikov dispatched a force of cavalry
  to restore order by suppressing the soviets.
  Didnt work.

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C. Lenins points won over soldiers, peasants,
and workers by promising them Peace, Land, and
Bread.

• The points called for
• 1. Immediate peace w/ central powers.
• 2. Redistribution of land to peasants
• 3. Transfer of industrial plants from capitalists
  to committees of workers
• 4. Recognition of soviets as the supreme power

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D. The Bolsheviks take over

• 1. Nov. 6 7, 1917 Bolsheviks take over
  telephone exchanges, railway stations, and
  electric power plants of Petrograd
• 2. They storm the Winter Palace where Kerenskys
  government sat and seized other key centers of
  Petrograd
• 3. Instead of Provisional Government, Council of
  Peoples Commissars was formed.
• a. Lenin was the head of it, Trotsky was
  commissar for foreign affairs, and Stalin was
  commissar for nationalities
• 4. Caused Kerensky to fled to USA
• 5. Congress of Soviets tried to set up just
  democratic peace and abolished all landowning
  property
• 6. Constituent Assembly broken up
• 7. March 1918 renamed themselves Communists

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VII. The New Regime The Civil War, 1918 1922

• a. Russia and Germany signed the peace of
  Brest-Litovsk that surrendered to Germany control
  of the Baltic provinces, Poland and Ukraine.

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A. Civil War lasted until 1922

• 1. Tsarist reactionaries, liberals, bourgeois,
  zemstvos members, Constitutional Democrats,
  anti-Leninist socialists, Mensheviks, and Social
  Revolutionaries Vs. Bolsheviks and Communists
• 2. First institution found Dec.7,1917- secret
  political police commonly known as Cheka, also
  goes under the names OGPU, NKVD, MVD, KGB.
• 3. Jan 1918 Red Army is founded w/ Leon Trotsky
  as war commissar and founder
• 4. Government required peasant to make states
  deliveries and invited labor unions to send armed
  men into the country to procure food by force.
• 5. Class Wars broke out between the farmers and
  the city workers

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B. Foreign Interventions

• 1. Spring of 1918 Georgia, Armenia, and
  Azerbaijan in the Caucasus proclaimed their
  independence
• 2. Omsk a disaffected group, proclaimed
  independence of Siberia.
• 3. Red Army fought in Ukraine first against
  Germans, then the French who occupied Odessa as
  soon as the war ended in Europe.
• - It also re-conquered Georgia, Armenia, and
  Azerbaijan, the ones that proclaimed their
  independence
• 4. French aided the Poles and Ukrainians while
  Britain and U.S. wanted nothing to do with wars
  after the armistice of World War I was signed
• 5. National peace was finally reached.

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C. Red Terror (Bolshevik Terror) was carried out
by Cheka SUCCEEDED

• 1. Broke out during the civil war, it was a
  response to civil and foreign war
• 2. In Russia, thousands were shot.
• 3. The terror was aimed at the physical
  extermination of all who opposed the new regime
• a. Strengthen and enrich the country
• b. Make it military and industrially
  self-sufficient
• c. lay the groundwork for a true workers society
• d. overcome the Russian reputation for
  backwardness

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Stalins Rise to Power

• Lenin dies in mid 1920s
• Stalin uses secret police and alliances within
  the Communist Party to eliminate his
  enemies/rivals
• By 1929 he had consolidated his power and has
  become a dictator of the USSR

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First Five Year Plan

• declared successful in 1932, it was administered
  by an agency called Gosplan. Gosplan determined
  the number of people to go into each profession,
  and the number of quantities of different
  materials that should be produced.

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Second Five Year Plan

• launched and lasted until 1937

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The Collectivization of Agriculture

• 1. The plan set up collective farms- averaging a
  few thousand acres apiece
• 2. Individual peasants were to pool their
  privately owned fields and livestock in these
  collectives
• a. Kulaks (prosperous peasants) who possessed
  fields and stock in considerable amount resisted
  surrendering them to the new collectives. ?
  Kulaks were liquidated as a class.
• b. Big farmers slaughtered their animals (horses,
  cattle, pigs, and poultry) rather than give them
  up ? worst unforeseen calamity of the first Five
  Year Plan
• 1. Sparked a deadly famine in southeast Russia in
  1932 (cost millions of lives)

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The Growth of Industry

• 1. Great Britain industrialization had been
  gradual in Germany and the United States it had
  been more rapid but in the USSR (1928-1938)
  production of steel and iron had expanded four
  times and that of coal three and a half times.
• 2. Copper mines were open in the Urals and around
  Lake Balkhash, lead mines in eastern Asia and in
  the Altai Mountains
• 3. Grain producing regions were developed in
  Siberia
• 4. The Kuznetsk Basin was found to possess coal
  deposits
• 5. For the first time, inner Asia was turning
  industrial
• 6. The USSR industry lagged behind the West
• D. Social Costs and Social Effects of the Plans
• 1. Kulaks lost their lives and others were sent
  off to correctional labor camps.
• 2. Those being forced to enter a program of
  self-denial (peasants were all collectivized)
  were going without the better food and housing,
  all for the industry of the country
• 3. People were told to look forward to better
  clothing, better housing, more leisure, etc ?
  Morale was preached by propaganda
• 4. Hard work and low wages
• 5. No one could leave the country without special
  permission
• 6. No free labor unions, no free press, no
  freedom of association, low religious tolerance
• 7. Socialism caused a) No cycle of boom and
  depression b) Less misuse of women and children
  c) No complete equality of income government
  officials, managers, engineers, and favored
  artists and intellectuals received the highest
  rewards. d) Competition persisted

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The Purge Trials of the 1930s

• 1. Stalin was paranoid and though that there were
  plots in the party and government to unseat him.
• 2. He executed those who were original
  Bolsheviks, instrumental in carrying out the
  revolution, as well as high military officers.
  (They were tried on trumped-up charges)
• 3. Stalin became on of the most powerful
  dictators by gaining more power and strength over
  the party, the government, and the nation.

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The international Impact of Communism

• A. Lenin, after the Bolshevik Revolution, saw
  Russia merely as a center for actions to be made
  in an international class war.
• 1. In Germany, followers of Lenin organized the
  Spartacist Movement and attempted to overthrow
  their moderate socialist government.
• 2. In Hungary, Nela Kun set up a soviet regime
  for several months.
• 3. Lenin and the Bolsheviks lent all possible aid
  to these attempts.

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B. Third International (communist International
or Comintern)

• 1. Formed when radicals of the Second
  International joined with the Russian Communist
  Party.
• 2. Its purpose, according to Lenin To begin to
  carry into effect the dictatorship of the
  proletariat. It was also set up to discredit and
  isolate the moderate socialists, whom the
  Bolsheviks despised the most.
• 3. Its Executive committee was filled with
  members of the Russian Central Committee.
  Therefore, Russia dominated the Third
  International.
• 4. It was a weapon for revolution, not a welfare
  system.
• 5. In 1927, under Stalins policy of building
  socialism in one country, the Third International
  moderated its activities. In 1943, Russia
  terminated it as an act of good will to both
  Britain and the U.S.

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C. Other impacts

• 1. Europe now feared an existing Marxist society,
  covering 1/6th of the Earth
• 2. Socialists, previously seen as dangerous, now
  considered respectable
• 3. People planned against the uncertainty of
  capitalism
• 4. The 3rd World (poor) Countries, under European
  colonization, showed admiration toward Russia
  because it modernized without foreign intervention