Russian Russian RevolutionRevolution

Russia

Pre World War I

Russian SocietyRussian Society

• Autocratic czarAutocratic czar• UkaseUkase: police action, army under direction of

Czar• Rise of the intelligentsia – radical ideology

– Dissatisfied, demanded reform in western style– Alexander Herzen – socialist (Polar Star)– Nihilists – Anarchists, Terrorists

• Bakunin• Secret terrorist societies

RussiaRussia• Alexander II: Liberal Reformer

– Abolish feudalism 1861 (imperial ukase)– Mir: self-governing community of peasant

households • assumed communal control of the community’s land

and periodically redistributed it among the households, according to their sizes

– Zemstvos : Provincial councils (self-government)– Westernize legal systems & law

• Lawyers, no class distinction, public trials, juries• Eased censorship and travel restrictions• Eliminated “Third Section” (secret police)

– Assassinated 1881 (after 4 other attempts)

• Alexander III reactionary – Nicholas II

Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Attacks

Pale of Settlement

Revolution of 1905Revolution of 1905

The Czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

Bloody SundayBloody Sunday

organized by Father Gapon petition with workers demands to present to Czardeaths numbers in the 1,000

Spread of RevolutionSpread of Revolution

The Battleship Potemkin

The Path to 1917The Path to 1917

October Manifesto, 1905October Manifesto, 1905• The Manifesto on the Improvement of the State

Order • Sergei Witte , Prime Minister• Grant civil liberties to the people

– freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association;

– a broad participation in the Duma; – introduction of universal male suffrage; – and a decree that no law should come into force

without the consent of the state Duma.

The Russian Constitution of 1906The Russian Constitution of 1906

Known as the Fundamental Laws April 23, 1906.Article 4 states: "The supreme autocratic power is vested in the Emperor of

all the Russias. It is God's command that his authority should be obeyed not only through fear but for conscience's sake." Article 9 provides that: "The Sovereign Emperor approves the laws, and without his approval no law can come into existence."

The autocracy of the Russian Tsar was declared.

The Tsar was supreme over the law, the church, and the Duma.

It confirmed the basic human rights granted by the October Manifesto, BUT made them subordinate to the supremacy of the law.

The DumaThe Duma

• The Czar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished.

• The imperial State Duma was elected 4 times: in 1906, twice in 1907, and in 1912.

• Subordinate to the Czar

Russian HumiliationRussian Humiliation

Czar Nicholas IICzar Nicholas II

Causes of 1917Causes of 1917

1. Social Hierarchy

2. Weak Economy

3. Early Industrialization

4. Russo-Japanese War

5. Extensive Foreign Investment/influence

6. Unrest among peasants & urban poor

Causes of 1917Causes of 1917

• World War I losses & hardships– 1916-1917 Turnip winter

• Social tensions– Intelligentsia, peasants (legacy of Razin, Pugachev),

new working classes, aristocracy

• Political Tensions– Revolution of 1905, Russo Japanese War, Duma

• Leadership Failures (Nicholas II)

Established “Political Parties”

• Socialist Revolutionaries (Populist - Liberals)– Socialists believed Peasants were source of

Revolution (Kerensky)

• Social Democrats (Marxist)– Supported true revolution of proletariat– Split into Mensheviks & Bolsheviks

• Bolsheviks– Party of Lenin– Necessary for elite group to direct Revolution– Dictatorship of the Proletariat

February 1917

• Food shortages• Bread riots in Petrograd• Army sides with rioters• Czar abdicates• Provisional Government Established

– Alexander Kerensky Moderate liberal– Implements Constituent Assembly & liberal

reforms

October: Failure of Kerensky’s Government

• Petrograd Soviet demands greater reforms– Soviets develop through Russia

• Lenin returns from Western Europe• Bolshevik ‘highjack’ Revolution

– Align with Soviets– Promises of Peace, Land, Bread– Coup October 1917

• Congress of All Soviets– Bolsheviks take majority in Congress – Elect Lenin

Civil War: 1918 Whites vs Reds

• Brest –Litovsk Treaty

• Leon Trotsky : Red Army

• Cheka: Secret Police

• War CommunismRedistribution of land

Nationalization of Major Industries

Establish Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicsLocal autonomy in local affairs

Important state issues in hands of Central Government

One Party system

Allied Intervention• Allies at Archangel –until 1919• Japanese and American forces at

Vladivostok until 1922• Worked against counterrevolutionary

efforts Beginning of the Cold War?