Russian Revolution 1905-1917

Economic Weaknesses

• Backwards• top 1% controls

majority of Land & wealth

• bottom 85% = peasants• Landless &

extremely poor

Typical Noble Estate

Russian Peasants

Economic Weaknesses

• Govt. Modernization Program:• Raised taxes• Borrowed money• Hired foreigners to

run factories• Workers paid low

wages• extremely poor

conditions

Women Textile Workers

Extensive Foreign Investments &

Influence

Building the Trans-Siberian RR[Economic benefits only in a few

regions.]

Political Weaknesses

• Autocratic ruler• Ignorant to Russia’s

problems• No personal

freedoms• Govt. opposition not

allowed• Political divisions

Tsar Nicholas II

Social Weaknesses

• Citizens = internally divided:• Only ½ population =

Russian• Desires:

• Minorities—independence

• Workers—better conditions

• Peasants—land reform

Bloody Sunday January 9, 1905

• Peaceful demonstration of workers

• Demands: • end to war• formation of a constituent

assembly• Troops open fire on

workers

Father Gapon

Bloody Sunday

• Result:• widespread riots &

strikes (spring-summer)

• Radicals organize workers into ‘Soviets’

• October—nation paralyzed by 10 day strike

• Tsar agrees to make changes

Demonstration at the winter palace in St. Petersburg

Bloody SundayJanuary 22, 1905

The Czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

October Manifesto• Russia’s first

constitution• Establishes the

‘Duma’-First Parlament

• Grants some civil liberties

• Results:– Divides opposition

• October Manifesto in practice:• Had little power• Tsar could veto

decisions & dismiss members at will

Duma

World War I

•Tsar enters war with hope of unifying nation

• Army suffers defeat after defeat

• Morale decreases• Desertions increase

World War I

• 1916 Nicholas II takes over Army– Weaknesses of govt.

further exposed– War increases

suffering & discontent– Revolution is near

Rasputin• Nicholas II leaves country

to command army• Tsarina in charge of gov’t• Heavily influence by

Rasputin, ‘the Holy Man’ – given power to make

governmental decisions• Dislike by nobility—

murdered– Scandals surrounding Rasputin served to

discredit the monarchy

The Collapse of the Imperial Government

• Rasputin assassinated in December of 1916

• Refusal to receive assistance of the Russian Middle Class

• Complete mismanagement of the wartime economy

March Revolution 1917

• Strikes & bread riots break out in Petrograd. • Soldiers, sent to

restore order• Ordered to shoot

rioters, instead, shoot the officers and join rioters

March Revolution 1917

• Abdication of Tsar Nicholas II– Orders the dismissal

of the Duma– Instead the Duma

forms a Provisional government.

– Next day - March 15, 1917 abdicates

Petrograd Soviet 1917

• Competes for power• Extremely well

organized & supported

• Increases power w/failures of provisional govt.

• Lenin returns from exile

April – October 1917

• April 23• Lenin calls for power to

the soviets• Rallies behind the

slogan: “Peace, Land, Bread”

Lenin’s Speech

April – October 1917

• July 3-5, increased support from sailors, workers, & peasants.

• Lenin—October 24• Call to power speech• Demands action now

October Revolution 1917

• Bolsheviks launch successful coup• Establish the ‘Cheka’• Political opposition

banned• Confiscate church

property• Treaty of Brest-litovsk

March 1918• Assassination of Tsar &

his family July 16, 1918

Civil War War Communism (1917-

1921)• Lenin: “Dictatorship

of the Proletariat”• Bolsheviks focus on

maintaining power• Red Army (Bolsheviks)

led by Trotsky vs. the Whites (socialists, nationalist, liberals)

War Communism (1917-1921)

• Nationalize industry, banks, & forbid strikes

• All men under 50 drafted

• Result: – famine, worker

revolts, political divisions

– Leaves Russia w/out industry, transportation, & trade.

NEP

Goal: increase food productionIntroduce incentives: Small factories, businesses, & farms allowed to return

to private ownership Large factories, banks, railways, & communication kept

under state controlResult: huge successSoviet Union (USSR) established 1922

NewEconomic

Policy1921

Section 2 – Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism• Totalitarianism• Stalin builds a totalitarian state.

– Stalin’s dream– Great Depression

• Other totalitarian governments emerged.– Germany – Hitler– Italy – Mussolini– China - Mao Zedong– North Korea - Kim Il Sung

• Result of Totalitarianism

Similar characteristics of all totalitarian States

• Dictatorship and One-Party Rule• Dynamic Leader• Ideology• State Control Over All Sectors of Society• State Control Over the Individual• Dependence on Modern Technology• Organized Violence

An Industrial Revolution• 1st and 2nd Five-Year Plan

– set impossibly high quotas• Government controlled the

worker's life.• made impressive gains.• agricultural nation → industrial

nation

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1928 1933 1938

CoalSteel

An Agricultural Revolution

• 1st and 2nd Five-Year Plan• Collective farms• Resistances of peasants• Kulaks• development

05

1015202530354045

1928 1933 1938

LivestockWheat

Police Terror• Used terror and violence to stop the opposition• No privacy• GREAT PURGE: campaign of terror. • Eliminate whoever got in Stalin’s way• 1939; ended the great purge • Historians said that Stalin is responsible for all deaths

Indoctrination and Propaganda• Indoctrination: Instruction in the government’s beliefs. • Propaganda: biased or incomplete information used to sway

people to accept certain beliefs or actions. • ART was used for Propaganda • Socialist realism: Artistic style that praised Soviet life and communist values.

Censorship• Stalin wouldn’t tolerate individual creativity that threatened

the conformity and obedience required of citizens in a totalitarian state.

• Controlled ALL medias• No privacy• Even children were supposed to tell the government about

what they heard from their family.

Religious Persecution• Ideals of communism• The Russian Orthodox church was the main target of

persecution. • Other religions also suffered. • Destroyed religion

Soviet Women

• Equal rights • Under 5year plans, they

were forced to join the labor force.

• Educational opportunities.• Medicine was popular. • 1950: There were 75% of

women Soviet doctors• Job, child, and housework. • Motherhood was a

patriotic duty.

Education• Controlled all education.• College professors and students who went against the

communist party lost their jobs or faced imprisonment.• Needed many skilled workers.