Russian Revolution

Russian Empire, 19th c.

*Tsar (czar)

Tsar Nicholas

Gunpowder

Agriculture

Roots of the Russian Revolution

Government sponsored modernization, late 19th c.

Heavy industry

Railways, iron, steel

Industrial workers

Almost 0, 1850

3 million, 1900 (Less than 2% of pop.)

Russians living in cities

5% of population, 1851

15% of population, 1914

Comparative statistics, 1914

Britain: 80%, Germany: 60%

Tsar's critics

Autocratic government

Censorship

Slow pace of modernization

Russian Communist Party, established in 1898

*Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924

Internal exile in Siberia, 1895-1900

External exile in Switzerland, 1900-17

*Communist Manifesto, 1848

*Karl Marx, 1818-1883

*Friedrich Engels, 1820-1895

Marxist theory of history

*Class struggle

Communist Revolution

Congress of the Russian Marxist Party, London 1903

Mensheviks "minority"

Gradual revolution

*Bolsheviks "majority"

Immediate revolution

Professional revolutionaries

Sparking the Russian Revolution

World War I

Strained economy

Army lacking supplies and weapons

Food and fuel scarce

February Revolution, March 15, 1917

Petrograd (Saint Petersburg)

Strikes, protests, soldier mutiny

Tsar abdicates

Duma in control

Lenin arrives, April 16

October Revolution, November 6, 1917

Bolshevik military coup

Initial Bolshevik policies

Domestic Policy

Nationalized land, factories, banks

Church property seized

Foreign policy

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918

Finland, Poland, Baltic states, Ukraine

Civil War, 1918-1921

Red vs. White Armies

Keys to Red victory

Peasants support

Superior organization

New Economic Policy, March 1921

Private enterprise allowed

Study Questions Lecture

1. What were the long-term roots and immediate sparks of the Russian Revolution?

2. Why did the Bolsheviks succeed in carrying out the October revolution and winning the civil war?

Study Questions Lecture

Hansen 683-87, 800-9

1. What reforms did tsars of the Russian land-based empire carry out in an attempt to catch up with Western Europe in the 19th century?

2. Why did the Chinese and Russian land-based empires experience revolutions that ended their monarchies in the early 20th century? How did Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks manage to turn the Russian Revolution into the world's first communist revolution?

Andrea 277-281

1. According to Marx and Engels, what is "class struggle"? What role does it play in history?

2. What are the proletariat and bourgeoisie classes? Why do Marx and Engels think the bourgeoisie class is doomed?

3. What do Marx and Engels think will be the end result of a communist revolution?

4. Would Marx and Engels have thought that their ideas were suited to Russia in the early 20th century?