russian revolution. russia pre world war i russian society autocratic czarautocratic czar...
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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?