Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution (1917)

I. Background

a. Alexander II assassinated in 1881 by terrorists à Alexander III who is a total throwback to the old days until he dies in 1894 at which point the inept Nikolas II came to power

II. Nicholas II

a. Russo- Japanese War 1904-1905

i. First Russian revolution 1905 – liberalization

ii. Bloody Sunday January 1905 – peasants march on Winter Palace à general strike, paralysis of the country

b. First concession by Nicholas on his power à Duma (October Manifesto) – was supposed to be an advisory body to the tsar, with representatives elected by universal male suffrage

i. The majority of people elected to the Duma were liberals “Kadets” – constitutional democrats

ii. 1906 – cancels the Duma twice and it won’t come back until 1907, and then with more conservatives

c. Government Violence used to suppress critics

i. 1906 – in both Latvia and Estonia he uses heavy handed tactics to get rid of dissidents – over 1000 people killed

ii. Involved in the persecution of Jews

iii. Across Russia 1,000 political opponents will be executed (1906-07)

iv. Ironically, things will start to get better leading up to WWI, economically, new prime minister Stolypin, who pushes for more land and control over the land for peasants which works pretty well and gets him assassinated in 1911, because the nobles don’t want their peasants owning land

v. 1911-1914 – although the economy has improved there will be industrial strikes, peasant violence and then it does very badly in WWI

III. Socialism – makes a comeback because Nicholas II is so weak

a. First party founded in 1898 by Lenin, Social Democratic Workers Party founded in Minsk which gets Lenin exiled to Switzerland and there he will becomes the intellectual heir to Marx

i. He begins to refine Marx’s thought which becomes Leninism: three ideas

1. Violent Revolution – believed in going back to the basics, the only way to get rid of capitalism is violent revolution

2. Conditions: industrialization was needed according to Marx, Lenin revises it to any repressed workers, not necessarily in an industrial economy

3. Highly focused, controlled cadre of dedicated, intellectually revolutionaries they could pull off a revolution, unlike Marx would needed a huge ground swell of dissatisfied workers

b. Not everybody agreed with Lenin – the socialist party splits: Bolsheviks vs. Mensheviks (minority) who wanted to wait, they wanted mass participation

c. Soviets: workers councils

IV. 1917 –February Revolution

a. Causes – WWI embarrassment

i. Duma with no power

b. Wife – Alexandrina – Rasputin

c. St. Petersburg – centre of the revolution, people strike, which leads to massive food shortages, leads to riots

d. Nicholas II Abdicated on March 7^th – he is put under house arrest, only 1,000 people died

e. Factions – Constitutional democrats vs. Petrograd Soviets (Mensheviks) à wanted a seat at the political table and supported the provisional government and will eventually take it over

i. Kerensky takes over – worker, has some legitimacy à seeks peace with the central powers to get Russia out of the war. His program:

1. Didn’t want outright social revolution, so huge changes right away

2. Equality under the law

3. Freedom of religion, speech, assembly

4. Right of unions to organize

5. Amnesty for political prisoners

6. Election of local officials

7. 8 hour work day

f. Issuance of Army Order No. 1: issued by the Petrograd Soviets trying to replace military officers loyal to the tsar. It said that the officers would be stripped of their powers and they would go to elected bodies of normal soldiers

V. October Revolution – Lenin comes back, he is actually a German weapon of War. Germany is worried about the Russian’s getting back into the fray.

a. April 1917 – they arrange to get Lenin smuggled back into Russia to stir up trouble there is a good thing for them. Lenin, true to form starts trouble. He refuses to to cooperate with the provisional government.

i. He wants nationalization of all banks and landed estates

ii. April Thesis – socialist revolution, nationalization.

1. “All Power to the Soviets”.

2. “All land to the peasants”.

3. “Stop the War now”.

b. Lenin is creating the first communist revolution a country that Marx would have called unfit for a communist revolution

c. Provisional government tries to repress Lenin and his government

i. He is forced to flee again to Finland (which is part if Russia) but continues to direct the Bolsheviks from afar

ii. Eventually the Bolsheviks will win a majority

iii. Kornilov Affair – overthrow Kerensky’s government by the conservatives (bourgeoisie)

1. It doesn’t work, but not the way they wanted it to, the government does fall, but they don’t get power, Lenin and the Bolsheviks do

iv. The provisional government falls ,which creates chaos

d. Politburo created – including Trotsky, Lenin, and Stalin

i. Trotsky was the leader of the Red Army, a Guerrilla General, leader of the Petrograd which will evolve into the RA

ii. The Red Army will overthrow the provisional government and arrest its members

e. Oct. 26^th the Bolsheviks will officially take over the government, arrest many opponents, to oppress their opponents, they create the Cheka – Soviet Police (Russian Stasi)

f. New Elections for a government assembly are held. Lenin runs on the campaign “Peace, Land, Bread.” – they loose (29%), but they overthrow them anyway (January 1918)

g. Lenin institutes Reforms to keep power – he gives land to the peasants, which they have already taken, gives control of the factories to the workers committees (Soviets)

h. March 1918 – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – Russia withdraws from WWI, moral of the story, don’t make deals with Germany. They lost 1/3 and 25% of their land, lost the Baltic states, Finland, Ukraine, and Poland (the treaty will be nullified when Germany lose the war in November)

i. Lenin moves the Government to Moscow

j. Trotsky takes official charge of the Army and reorganizes it

i. People don’t like what he does and resist

VI. Russian Civil War – (1918-1920)

a. Red à Bolsheviks

b. Whiteà incl. Old Army

c. Brutal war peasants side with the reds

d. Operation Ark Angle – US sent 5,000 troupes to help the whites à one of the reason why there will be such an antagonism between the US and USSR because Stalin will never forget that the US sent troupes against them

e. Eventually the reds will win by engaging in war communism – applied total war concept the their civil war – declared all industries nationalized, took control and ended private trade, forced peasant to deliver food to towns, Cheka hunted down and assassinated thousands of opponents incl. the Tsar and his family.

f. Reds were organized and the whites were not

g. They declared themselves the USSR in 1922

h. Final toll: 15million dead (many starved because the economy completely collapsed and international trade stopped) 2 million workers fled the country