4. + Young
Lenin
Son of Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov and
Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova.
When Lenin went on to study law at the
University of Kazan, he was exposed to
radical thinking and would interact with
members of the revolutionary group,
which caused his expulsion.
Influenced by teachings of Karl Marx,
who believed in an international
revolution of the lower-class workers
(proletariat) who would lead the way to a
new system of power, where property
would be owned by the workers and not
by an individual.
ABHISHEK
1895: Exiled to Siberia for involvement in
revolutionary activities after moving to St.
Petersburg to promote.
5. + Beginning
of Political Career
March 1898: formed the Social Democratic Party, Russia’s first Marxist
political party.
1900: after the exile, he went to Europe and met Plekhanov. Together they
created the newspaper “Iskra” or “Spark”, which targeted the economists
and polices of serving the capitalists. They accused the policy framers of
ignoring the interest of the masses. It later became the official journal of
the Social Democratic Labor Party.
1903: Lenin’s party became known as the Bolsheviks after a difference of
opinion between him and his friend Jues Martov, who became the
Mensheviks.
1917: Revolution broke out and Lenin led his group to control the
government.
1907: Monarch crushed the revolutions, and Lenin was sent to exile. Until
the revolutions of 1917, he spent the majority of his time exiled in Europe.
ABHISHEK
6. The Pravda
The Pravda was the
Russian newspaper.
The first issue was published since
Being closed down as a result
of its peaceful stance on World War I
on March 5, 1917
7. Proclamation of Petrograd Military
Revolutionary Committee
By: Vladimir Lenin
Translation
To Citizens of Russia
The Provisional Government is deposed.
The state power is transferred into the
hands of the Military Revolutionary
Committee, an organ of the Petrograd
Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies,
which heads the Petrograd proletariat and
garrison. The cause for which the people
has been struggling — immediate call for
democratic peace, liquidation of ownership
of land by landed nobility, workers' control
over the industry, creation of the Soviet
government — is ensured.
Long live the revolution of workers,
soldiers and peasants!
•Lenin finished writing this document on
September 12, 1917. It was said to be
his most theoretical work.
8. +October
Revolution
Led
October Revolution- coup
d’etat
After
almost 3 years of civil
war, Bolsheviks took over the
country
November
8, 1917, Lenin was
elected as the Chair of the
Council of People’s
Commissars by the Russian
Congress of Soviets.
ABHISHEK
10. +
Economic Policies
Lenin
was ruthless and pragmatic
Introduced:
New
Economic Policy: measure of private enterprise
was permitted to revive the declining economy of
Russia
Policies included government’s seizing of land from its
owners and redistributing it to the peasants, forming a
peace treaty with Germany, and the nationalization of
banks and industry
Concerned with creating a free health care system
From 1919 to 1921 famine and typhus (an infectious
disease) left over 27 million people dead
ABHISHEK
11. + Lenin’s
1918
May
Death
he survived an assassination attempt
1922: suffered first stroke
Last
two years of he life he tried to correct some extremes
of the regime
Tried
to ensure that Trotsky and not Stalin succeeded him
Failed
> Stalin was far too clever and astute
1923>
paralyzed and speechless from another stroke
Died
ABHISHEK
of a cerebral hemorrhage on January 21, 1924
15. + Young Stalin
Stalin was born into a dysfunctional
family. Grew up in a modest
household, and as a child contracted
smallpox, and was teased by other
children. Contributed to Stalin’s
intense need for respect.
He was sent to study at the Tiflis
Thelogical Seminary, never
completed his education, as he
became in involved in the city’s
Marxist underground, and was
expelled.
ABHISHEK
Worked at first as a private tutor, and
later as a clerk, all while remaining
devoted to his revolutionary ideals.
16. + Beginning of Political Career
Stalin
joined the Russian Social Democratic Party in
1898.
Although
he was never an intellectual like Trotsky or
Lenin, he worked on the home front to support the
cause by distributing illegal literature and helping to
organize workers in demonstrations and strikes.
In
1912, Stalin as appointed by Lenin to the first
Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. He also edits
the Bolshevik newspaper, Pravda.
Stalin
did not have a huge part in the Bolshevik
revolution of 1917, he is appointed General Secretary
by Lenin, a seemingly unimportant position, but which
allowed him to appoint people and build support.
ABHISHEK
17. +
Ascent To Power
When
Lenin had a stroke, Stalin formed a troika with
Kamenev and Zinoviev.
Lenin
recovers and asserts power, saying that “Stalin is
too rude”. Lenin did not believe that Stalin was well
suited for a position of power.
The
Party did not act in favor of Lenin’s warnings, and
Stalin remained general secretary after Lenin’s death.
The
troika again became powerful, but Stalin
eventually breaks with the other too members.
ABHISHEK
18. +
Stalin’s Purges
Stalin ended up in a fit of paranoia, destroying
all of the old leaders of the Party, using a
methodical divide and conquer approach.
After exiling did not work, Stalin held a vast
amount of false trials, where he would trick the
defendant into admitting that they were and
“enemy of the people”, and then would be
executed.
The purges scoured much deeper then top
party members, and at least one million people
were executed for political offenses.
The purges left Stalin at the very top of the
Communist party, and as virtually the only one
with any power at all.
ABHISHEK
19. +
Stalin’s Policies
The Soviet Union did succeed
in creating Stalin’s desired
industry, but about 14.5 million
people died because of it.
ABHISHEK
Stalin invoked five-year plans
upon the people, in which he
sought rapid industrialization,
and forcefully collectivized the
agriculture.
There was massive famine
among peasants, because
Stalin was exporting too much
food, creating the worst ever
man made famine.
20. STALIN DURING WWII
Made a non-aggression pact with Hitler, consisting of an agreement to divide
Poland and leave each other alone. Stalin trusted Hitler and did not listen to
warning that the Wehrmacht was planning to attack.
The Soviet army was unprepared and was defeated multiple times when the
attack did come. The military had been purged, and was severely lacking in
brainpower.
Eventually the Red Army did regroup and pushed Hitler back.
During post-war negotiations Stalin argued alongside Roosevelt and Churchill,
and urged that Eastern Europe would be under communist power.
The Soviet Union emerged as a great power.
ABHISHEK
21. +
Stalin’s Death
In
1953 a plot to kill Stalin was discovered
within the Kremlin, and a new purge seemed to
be on the horizon.
Stalin’s
health was steadily deteriorating, and
the purge never occurred because he died.
Supposedly,
there is some debate as to the
promptness with which a doctor was called
after Stalin originally fell ill, and whether his
death could have been prevented, but wasn’t
because the people closest to him were afraid
of becoming victims of the next great purge.
ABHISHEK
23. Results of the Revolution
Within days after the revolution, Lenin began to take charge. He ordered all the farmland to be
distributed to the peasants . The Bolsheviks decided to give control of the factories to the
workers. They also signed a truce with Germany to stop all of the fighting in Russia during WWI,
and they began peace talks. In March of 1918, Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This
treaty made Russia surrender large parts of its territory to Germany and its allies .
Russians were very angry about the embarrassing terms of the treaty, and they objected to the
Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks now had to deal with solving more problems. Their opponents were
known as the White Army. The White Army was made up of different groups, some wanted the
czar to return, some wanted a democratic government, and there were socialists who opposed
Lenin’s form of socialism. The three groups didn’t get along very well, the only thing uniting them
was their desire to defeat the Bolsheviks. Leon Trotsky commanded the Bolshevik Red Army. For
about three years there was civil war in Russia. Many died in the civil war, around 14 million.
Russia was left in chaos after the war, there was loss of life from fighting, hunger, and a flu
epidemic. The Red Army won on the end, and defeated all its opponents. This showed that the
Bolsheviks were able to seize power and keep it.
War and Revolution destroyed Russia’s economy, Lenin started to revive the economy and
restructure the government. Russia slowly recovered because of new policies and the peace that
followed the civil war. Russia was organized into several self-governing republics all under the
Central government.
The Bolshevik revolution tried to destroy the existing political structures. They used violence to
control people, and millions were killed. A positive effect was that Russia had established a state
controlled society that lasted for decades.
