2. History progresses in 4 stages:
Stage 1: feudalism
Stage 2: industrial capitalism– rise of bourgeoisie
Stage 3: socialism– communal ownership of means of production
Stage 4: communism– stateless, classless society
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of
class struggles.“ – Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto, 1848
Why was Russia an unlikely place for a
communist revolution?
3. Russian Empire in the 1800s
• Demographics:
– 60 nationalities
– 100 different languages
– Slavs, Europeans, Middle Easterners, & Asiatic peoples
• A feudal agricultural economy (serfdom until 1861)
• Autocracy
– Government in which one person rules with unlimited authority
4. Russia in the Early 1900s
• Late 19th century– state-sponsored industrialization
• Russo-Japanese War– national humiliation
• Revolution of 1905– lack of real reform
• Results: Alienation of the lower classes
– Debts, taxes, & rent kept peasants & urban workers bound
to poverty
• Opposition:
-- Mensheviks When Russia has sizable working class =
socialist revolution
– Bolsheviks Revolutionary leaders could bring socialist
revolution
5. Russia & World
War I (1914-1917)
• Military was ill-equipped &
inefficient
• Losses:
– 1.7 million soldiers dead
– 5 million soldiers wounded
– 2 million civilians dead
• Food supply within Russia scarce
soldiers & civilians starving
6. Spring 1917
• Strikes and food riots break
out in St. Petersburg
– Soldiers & peasants protest &
revolt
– Czar fails to put down revolts,
St. Petersburg soviet (workers
council) takes over city
• March 15, 1917
– Czar Nicholas II abdicated (step
down from rule)
– Romanov dynasty over
7. The Provisional Government
• Alexander Kerensky = prime minister
• Continued fighting in WWI =
very unpopular with the masses!
• Failed to deal with social reform,
land reform
– Life in Russia did not improve!
8. Response to Provisional Government
• Rival Power:
• Monarchists = return to czarist rule
• Mensheviks = moderate Socialists
• Bolsheviks (later “Communists” = Radical
Socialists
• Bolsheviks called for peace, land reforms,
& better working conditions, but lacked
organization…
9. Lenin Biography
• Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov =
V.I. Lenin
• Intelligent, radical, &
passionate
• Middle-class background
(studied law)
• Brother executed by czar in
1885 dedicated his life to
radical revolution
(Bolshevik)
• Exiled for beliefs
10. Return of Lenin
• 1917 Lenin returns
to Russia (escorted by
the Germans)
• Goals:
– Organize Bolsheviks
– Seize power from
provisional government
• “Peace, Land, and
Bread”
11. Bolsheviks Seize Power
• Effects of World War I worsen
• November 6, 1917
– Bolsheviks overthrow
provisional government
– “Bloodless” coup d’etat in St.
Petersburg
• Kerensky = resign; Lenin =
assumes control
• Bolsheviks assume absolute power
by forcefully disbanding rival
parties (e.g. Social Revolutionary
Party)
• Ruled country through local
‘soviets’
12.
13. A Socialist State
• Bolsheviks become the
Communists
• End private ownership of
property
• Distribute land among the
peasants
• Workers control factories &
mines
• Officials:
– Leon Trotsky = Foreign
Affairs
– Joseph Stalin = National
Minorities
14.
15.
16. Russia Leaves World War I
• March 1918 Lenin seeks peace with
Germany
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
– Loses Poland, Ukraine, Caucasus, etc.
– Loses ¼ of land, ¾ of iron & coal, 40% of
population
17.
18. Russian Civil War (1918-1921)
• 1918 Political opponents
contest Communists
• Taking Sides:
– Reds = Communists
– Whites = Moderates
(assistance from U.S., France,
Britain, Japan)
• Fighting destroys Russia for 3
years
– Starvation & economic
depression
19.
20. Outcome of Civil War
• Lenin & Communists maintain power &
defeat the Whites in 1921
• 1922 Communists rename Russia the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(U.S.S.R. or Soviet Union)
• Long-lasting distrust of Western nations
• Communists remain in power until end of
the Cold War (1989)
