Post on 25-Dec-2015
transcript
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
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
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
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1928 1933 1938
Coal
Steel
An Agricultural Revolution
• 1st and 2nd Five-Year Plan• Collective farms• Resistances of peasants• Kulaks• development
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1928 1933 1938
Livestock
Wheat
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.