Russian revolution. (Lecture 4) презентация

War
1922 – Creation of USSR

to overthrow at the start of 1917?
In what ways was the provisional government weak?
What role did Lenin play in the Russian revolution?
What evidence do we have that outcomes would have been different if Lenin had not existed?

to Europe
Heavily indebted to West

Working Class
Small but growing working class
Highly concentrated industry in key cities
Very radical
Government responded violently to any types of labor demands because wanted to protect foreign investment – thus radicalized labor

into the police

First modern terrorists – terrorism to lead to rise of “real Russia”
Nihilists
1881 assassinate Tsar Alexander II

the next
1898 foundation of Russian Social Democratic Labor Party
1903 – break between Bolsheviks (Lenin) and Mensheviks
Lenin and Bolsheviks: elite revolutionary party to act as vanguard of people
Mensheviks: Socialist party with broad membership and support

(troops in Asia)
1904: Demands for National Legislature (Duma)
January 1905 Bloody Sunday – 1,000 deaths
Strikes throughout Russia
Creation of “Soviets” – council of worker reps
October Manifesto – creation of Duma
Coup of 1907 – Duma Dissolved

France and England against Germany and Austro-Hungarian empire
15 million Russians mobilized
Most support involvement in war but protests occur because of defeats and shortages
Severe shortages of basic military equipment
Defeats leads to broad disaffection against tsar
1.6-1.8 million dead by 1916;

workers
? general break-down of tsarist authority and abdication of tsar
State breakdown

electoral mandate
Supported continued involvement in war
2. Workers create Soviets in factories – real power
Controlled many soldiers, railway stations, telegraf stations
Unworkable:
Order #1
Officers recognized provisional government while soldiers recognize Soviet

in Switzerland during February revolution – returns to Petersburg in April with German help
April Theses – opposition to provisional government
Membership increases from 2,000 to 350,000 February-October 1917
Peasant rebellion
Peasant based army “votes with its feet” – mass desertions – whole armies disintegrate
Soldiers return to villages – promote revolution
Form revolutionary councils
200 million acres of land seized by peasants

majority of Soviet in Petrograd in August
Lenin: immediate armed take-over by party
Very controversial position – many prominent Bolsheviks oppose it (including initially Stalin)
Bolsheviks vs. Soviets
October 24: Bolshevik seize winter palace
Exclude most other parties from Soviet
Constituent assembly election November
Disbanded in January ‘18

power in February 1917
Small base of support/very weak
Worker Soviets (Councils)
Spontaneously organized councils of urban workers
Dominated by leftist parties Mensheviks, Bolsheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries
Bolsheviks
One of the parties in the Soviets; dominate Soviet in Petrograd
Only one to oppose war early on
Lead October revolution that abolishes Provisional govt; creates Communist state
Peasants:
Spontaneously take over countryside; weak connections to cities/Soviets

small revolutionary party
But just how disciplined was the party in 1917?
Lenin and the Provisional government
April Theses
Peasants?

left it far behind England, France and Germany
Extreme International Pressures: W. W. I
Organizational basis for peasant rebellion: Mir creates peasant solidarity and autonomy

economy
No match for West:
Income 1/3 of UK
Much weaker industrial base than Germany
Military: no match for neighbors
1850s lost Crimean war to England
Russian wooden sailing vessels faced British steel steam powered ships
1905 revolution: lost war to Japan

Land distributed to households according to the number of men or “eaters” in the household
Autonomy:
Mir (village assembly)enjoys almost complete autonomy
Responsible for tax collection

.

state to offset bulk payments to landowners at the end of serfdom
Mir responsible for this payment
Peasants discouraged from leaving land – state feared influx of landless peasants into cities

advantage of opening to seize land
Bolsheviks in cities take advantage of state breakdown to seize power in Petrograd

about Peasants?
Skocpol
What about workers?
Ideology

did attitudes towards the Provisional government change over the course of 1917

What did Lenin do to promote the Bolshevik seizure of power?