The Russian
Revolution
V.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Tsar Nicholas II
1905 Rehearsal
• Tsarist government won’t
accept liberal ideologies
• 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese
war leads to hardships and
embarrassing defeat
• Liberal and radical groups
press for change
• January 22, 1905, workers
gather to peacefully protest
economic hardships
• Tsar’s troops fire on the
crowd
Bloody Sunday Anniversary Poster
Bloody Sunday (1905)
Outcome
• Demands for reforms spiral out of control (1825
Decembrist Revolt serves as a model)
• General strike paralyzes country in October
• Army is occupied with Russo-Japanese war
• Government falters
• Nicholas II issues a new manifesto promising
civil liberties, a popularly elected Duma
(parliament), legalization of unions
• Troops return, repression restores the old order
by 1907
Countdown to Revolution
• August 1915, Nicolas II leaves to supervise
WWI troops personally
• People blame the Tsar for heavy losses of
trench warfare
Nicholas II Congratulating Soldiers
Countdown to Revolution
• Tsarina Alexandra
comes under the sway
of Rasputin (who
claims to be able to
heal her son)
• Even aristocratic
supporters rebel at his
access to the royal
families, influence on
policies
Rasputin has a “hold” on the royal family
1917 Revolution Begins
• Cities face severe hardships due to WWI
• Women strike in March 1917, demand an end to
high prices and the rule of Nicholas II
• Troops reluctant to fire on the crowd because of
the presence of women
• Government falls
• March 12 – 1st Provisional Government
organized, Nicholas II abdicates
Provisional Government (March-May)
• Initial plan is for a modern constitutional
parliamentary democracy, politicians from the
upper classes
• Must share power with workers’ groups
(soviets), which want socialist self-rule
• Government continues unpopular involvement
in WWI
• Neither group can control the peasants, who
hoard food, seize land, make shortages worse
Provisional Government (May-
November)
• Initial leaders resign,
moderate socialists
(led by Kerensky) head
the new government
• Bolshevik minority
agitates for radical
change
• Kerensky stays in
WWI, throws
Bolsheviks in prison,
forces them to flee
Alexander Kerensky
Petrograd Street Fighting (1917)
Lenin Sweeps Away Workers’ Enemies
Nov. Revolution
• Threat of military coup
forced Kerensky to
release Bolsheviks to
defend the capital
• Provisional
government discredited
• Demonstrations on
Nov. 6/7 cause
Kerensky to flee
• Lenin takes control to
“defend” the state
Bolsheviks Fulfill Promises
(1918)
• March – Sign Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with
Germany, despite harsh terms
• Russia loses Finland, Latvia, Lithuania,
Estonia, Ukraine, and Georgia
• Much of the population no longer in Russia,
¾ of iron, 9/10 of Russia’s coal
• Begin to give power to the workers
Russian Diplomats at Brest-Litovsk
Civil War Begins
• 1918-1920, Civil War
between Whites
(aristocracy, supported by
Allied Powers) and Reds
(anticapitalist Bolshevik
government)
• Reds see betrayal
everywhere and try to
spread revolution to
Central Europe (where
post-war instability
makes it possible)
Red Army
Soldier
brandishing
a sword
over White
Generals
(1920)
Consolidation of the Russian
Revolution: The USSR
Revolutionary Social Changes
• Abolish private property, nationalize factories,
legalize universal suffrage
• Attempt to centralize agricultural production
(seize grain to feed army and workforce)
• Not successful: industrial production at 13% of
pre-WWI levels
• Famine strikes, peasants revolt, workers strike,
sailors mutiny
• NEP (New Economic Plan) attempts to solve the
problems in 1921 with its “compromise with
capitalism)
NEP (1921)
• Peasants manage and sell their own crops
• Small amounts of private ownership are
allowed
• Other countries become less threatened by
Bolshevism and recognize Russia (except
USA, which doesn’t recognize the USSR
until 1933)
New Political Structures
• Communist Party becomes formalized (and
all candidates must belong)
• Cheka (secret police, precursor to KGB)
• New structures promote totalitarian state,
brutally suppress opposition.
Struggle for Power post-Lenin
Joseph Stalin
• Lenin dies in 1924 – who
is his heir?
• Most assume Trotsky
(brilliant leader of the Red
Army)
• Stalin posed as Lenin’s
heir, led movement to
deify Lenin
• Stalin brings new people
into the Party
• Stalin uses control over
Central Committee to
seize power in 1928
Stalin Transforms Russia
• Calls for rapid and massive
industrialization
• Attacks the Kulaks who
protest collectivization
• 5 Year Plan (1928) moves
away from NEP toward
original ideals
• “Mobilize for
industrializaton”
• Consumer goods remain
scarce
Totalitarianism
• Use Political Propaganda
• Engineered Famine
• Developed Cult of Stalin
• Eliminated Political Enemies through
Purges (1936-38 especially)
• Millions executed or died in forced labor
camps