RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Presented By:

Kurt Zeus L. Dizon

POLSCI 505: Politics of Revolution
March 12, 2016

Background of Russia: Imperial Russia (1725-1861) Government:

 Tsarism- Absolute Monarchy which is ruled by Romanov Dynasty. The head of state and
government is the Tsar/Czar.
 This system has also been described by the following : imperial autocracy, Muscovite autocracy,
tsarist absolutism, imperial absolutism, Russian absolutism, Muscovite despotism, Russian
despotism, or imperial despotism.
 Since 1613, the Romanov Tsars depend on the power of the feudal system, i.e., a small noble class
which owns both the land and peasant-serfs.
 Bureacracy: Chinovnik System- Peter the Great in 1722 set up a career ladder in the civil
service (14 rungs corresponding to hereditary nobility and military ranks). Chinovniki were
bureaucrats: life time servants of the state.
1861 Reform

 Russia was defeated in the Crimean War (1853-1856) which led to famine and unrest in the
countryside. To solve the famine and unrest in the countryside, Alexander II abolish the serfdom.
 The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 was the single most important event in 19th-century
Russian history. It was the beginning of the end for the landed aristocracy's monopoly of power.
Emancipation brought a supply of free labor to the cities, industry was stimulated, and the middle
class grew in number and influence. The freed peasants had to buy land, allotted to them, from the
landowners with the state assistance. All the land turned over to the peasants was owned
collectively by the mir, the village community, which divided the land among the peasants and
supervised the various holdings.
 The peasant however are saddled with redemption payment because the Tsar has to compensate
the ex-serf-owner. They blame the landlords and officials who collect the taxes.
 The 1861 reform is the capitalism stage in Russia.
 By 1876, the export sale of grain rises by 140%. The landowners are making a huge profit.
 70% of ex-serfs don’t have enough land to feed their families. This “landless army of the unfed”
provides a source of cheap labour for the capitalist industry.
 The construction of the Trans-Siberian Express Railway started.
 Historians tell us how well Capitalism was doing under the Tsarism. But they forget to mention that
Western shareholders owned 90% of Russia’s mines, 50% of chemical industries, over 40% of
engineering plants, and 42% of the banking sector.
 In the 1860s a movement known as Narodniks developed in Russia.

Father of the October revolution:

 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was born on April 10, 1870.

 Born to a wealthy middle-class family in Simbirsk.
 Lenin gained an interest in revolutionary socialist politics following his brother's execution (Sasha)
in 1887.
 Expelled on December 19, 1887 from Kazan Imperial University for participating in protests against
the Russian Empire's Tsarist regime, he devoted the following years to a law degree in University in
St. Petersburg and obtained the equivalent of a first-class degree with honours.
 He remain in Samara for several years, in January 1892 being employed as a legal assistant for a
regional court, before gaining a job with a local lawyer.
 In 1893 he moved to Saint Petersburg and became a senior figure in the Marxist Russian Social
Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).

The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party also known as the Russian Social Democratic
Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist political party
formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations of the Russian Empire into one
party. The RSDLP later split into Majority(Bolsheviks) and Minority (Mensheviks) factions, with the
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Presented By:
Kurt Zeus L. Dizon
POLSCI 505: Politics of Revolution
March 12, 2016

Bolshevik faction eventually becoming the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Interdistricts were
also formed from this party.

The Bolsheviks, founded by Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov, were by 1905 a major
organization consisting primarily of workers under a democratic internal hierarchy governed by the
principle of democratic centralism, who considered themselves the leaders of the revolutionary working
class of Russia. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism

Russian Revolution of 1905

 The Russian Revolution of 1905 was said to be a major factor to the February Revolutions of
1917. The events of Bloody Sunday triggered a line of protests.
 It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies. It led to Constitutional Reform
including the establishment of the State Duma of the Russian Empire, the multi-party
system, and the Russian Constitution of 1906.
 According to the author Sidney Harcave, who wrote The Russian Revolution of 1905, there were
four problems in Russian society at the time that contributed to the revolution: the agrarian
problem, the nationality problem, the labour problem, and the educated class problem.

1. Agrarian Problem

 The peasants are saddled with redemption payment because the Tsar has to compensate the
ex-serf-owner.
 The land, known as "allotment land", would not be owned by individual peasants, but would
be owned by the community of peasants; individual peasants would have rights to strips of land
that were assigned to them under the open field system.
 Unfortunately a peasant was unable to sell or mortgage his piece of land so in practice he could
not renounce his rights to his land and thus he would be required to pay his share of redemption
dues to the village commune.
 The government had created this plan to ensure the proletarianisation of the peasants
would never happen, but the peasants were not given enough land to provide for their needs.
The crisis worsen when the land rent doubles. Their earnings were often so small that they
could neither buy the food they needed nor keep up the payment of taxes and redemption dues
they owed the government for their land allotments.
2. Nationality problem

 Russia was a multi-ethnic empire. Russians saw cultures and religions in a clear hierarchy.
Non-Russian cultures were tolerated in the empire but were not necessarily
respected. "European civilization was valued over Asian or African culture, and Christianity was
on the whole considered more progressive and 'true' than other religions."
 Besides the imposition of a uniform Russian culture throughout the empire, the
government's pursuit of Russification, especially during the second half of the nineteenth
century, had political motives. After the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, the Russian state
was compelled to take into account public opinion, but the government failed to gain the
public's support.

3. Labour Problem

 The economic situation in Russia before the revolution presented a grim picture. The
government had experimented with laissez faire capitalist policies, but this strategy largely
failed to gain traction within the Russian economy until the 1890s. Meanwhile, "agricultural
productivity stagnated, while international prices for grain dropped, and Russia’s foreign debt
and need for imports grew.
 War and military preparations continued to consume government revenues. And the worst thing
is that Russia was defeated during the Russo-Japanese War (Feb. 1904 – Sep. 1905).
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Presented By:
Kurt Zeus L. Dizon
POLSCI 505: Politics of Revolution
March 12, 2016

 Rural unemployment runs to 10 million. At the same time, the peasant taxpayers' ability to
pay was strained to the utmost, leading to widespread famine in 1891, 1895-6 and 1901.
4. Educated Problem

 The Minister of the Interior, Plehve, designated the schools as a pressing problem for the
government, but he failed to realize it was only a symptom of antigovernment feelings among
the educated class. Students of universities, of higher learning, and those of the secondary
schools and theological seminaries were part of this group. To express their feelings, students
boycotted examinations, rioted, arranged marches in sympathy with the strikers or political
prisoners, circulated petitions, or wrote anti-government propaganda.
Creation of a State Duma

 Coming under pressure from the Russian Revolution of 1905, on August 6, 1905, Sergei Witte
issued a manifesto about the convocation of the Duma, initially thought to be a purely advisory
body.
 In the subsequent October Manifesto, the Tsar pledged to introduce further civil liberties,
provide for broad participation in a new "State Duma", and endow the Duma with legislative and
oversight powers.
 The State Duma was to be the lower house of a parliament, and the State Council of Imperial
Russia the upper house. However, Nicholas II was determined to retain his autocratic power (in
which he succeeded).
 The Tsar issued the Fundamental Laws, which gave him the title of "supreme autocrat".
Although no law could be made without the Duma's assent, neither could the Duma pass laws
without the approval of the noble-dominated State Council (half of which was to be appointed
directly by the Tsar), and the Tsar himself retained a veto. The laws stipulated that ministers
could not be appointed by, and were not responsible to, the Duma, thus denying responsible
government.
 Furthermore, the Tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections
whenever he wished
Socio-Political Turmoil

 Workers experience overcrowded housing with often deplorable sanitary conditions, long hours at
work (many were working 11–12 hours a day by 1916), constant risk of injury and death from poor
safety and sanitary conditions, harsh discipline (not only rules and fines, but foremen’s fists), and
inadequate wages (made worse after 1914 by steep war-time increases in the cost of living).
 World War I added to the chaos. Conscription swept up the unwilling across Russia. The vast
demand for factory production of war supplies and workers caused many more labor riots and
strikes. Conscription stripped skilled workers from the cities, who had to be replaced with unskilled
peasants, and then, when famine began to hit due to the poor railway system, workers abandoned
the cities in droves seeking food. Finally, the soldiers themselves, who suffered from a lack of
equipment and protection from the elements, began to turn against the Tsar.
FEBRUARY REVOLUTION

 At the beginning of February, Petrograd workers began several strikes and demonstrations. On 22
February, workers at Putilov, Petrograd's largest industrial plant, announced a strike.
 The next day, a series of meetings, rallies and riots were held for International Women's Day, which
gradually turned into economic and political gatherings. Demonstrations were organized to demand
bread, and these were supported by the industrial working force who considered them a reason for
continuing the strikes.The response of the Duma, urged on by the liberal bloc, was to establish a
Temporary Committee to restore law and order; meanwhile, the socialist parties establish the
Petrograd Soviet to represent workers and soldiers
 The Tsar took a train back towards Petrograd, which was stopped on 1 March by a group of disloyal
troops. When the Tsar finally reached his destination, the Army Chiefs and his remaining ministers
(those who had not fled under pretense of a power-cut) suggested in unison that he abdicate the
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Presented By:
Kurt Zeus L. Dizon
POLSCI 505: Politics of Revolution
March 12, 2016

throne.On 16 March a provisional government was announced. The center-left was well represented
a member of the Constitutional Democratic party (KD).The socialists had formed their rival body,
the Petrograd Soviet (or workers' council) four days earlier. The Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional
Government competed for power over Russia.
The leaders of the Petrograd Soviet believed that they represented particular classes of the population,
not the whole nation. They also believed Russia was not ready for socialism. So they saw their role as
limited to pressuring hesitant "bourgeoisie" to rule and to introduce extensive democratic
reforms in Russia. They met in the same building as the emerging Provisional Government not to
compete with the Duma Committee for state power but to best exert pressure on the new government,
to act, in other words, as a popular democratic lobby

OCTOBER REVOLUTION

 The October Revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin. It marked the beginning of the spread of
communism in the 20th century. It was far less sporadic than the revolution of February and came
about as the result of deliberate planning and coordinated activity to that end.
 Though Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik Party, it has been argued that since Lenin was not
present during the actual takeover of the Winter Palace, it was really Trotsky's organization and
direction that led the revolution, merely spurred by the motivation Lenin instigated within his party.
 Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin led his leftist revolutionaries in a revolt against the ineffective
Provisional Government (25 October). The October revolution ended the phase of the revolution
instigated in February, replacing Russia's short-lived provisional parliamentary government with
government by soviets, local councils elected by bodies of workers and peasants. Liberal and
monarchist forces, loosely organized into the White Army, immediately went to war against the
Bolsheviks' Red Army, in a series of battles that would become known as the Russian Civil War.

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

 The Russian Civil War, which broke out in 1918 shortly after the revolution, brought death and
suffering to millions of people regardless of their political orientation. The war was fought mainly
between the Red Army ("Reds"), consisting of the uprising majority led by the Bolshevik minority,
and the "Whites" – army officers and cossacks, the "bourgeoisie", and political groups
ranging from the far Right to the Socialist Revolutionaries who opposed the drastic
restructuring championed by the Bolsheviks following the collapse of the Provisional Government to
the soviets.

 The Red Army defeated the White Armed Forces of South Russia in Ukraine and the army led by
Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak in Siberia in 1919. The remains of the White forces commanded by Pyotr
Nikolayevich Wrangel were beaten in Crimea and evacuated in late 1920. Lesser battles of the war
continued on the periphery for two more years, and minor skirmishes with the remnants of the
White forces in the Far East continued well into 1923.

 War Communism
War communism included the following policies:
o Nationalization of all industries and the introduction of strict centralized management
o Introduction of State control of foreign trade
o Strict discipline for workers, with strikes forbidden
o Imposition of obligatory labor duty onto non-working classes
o Prodrazvyorstka – requisition of agricultural surpluses (in excess of an absolute minimum)
from peasants for centralized distribution among the remaining population
o Rationing of food and most commodities, with centralized distribution thereof in urban
centers
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Presented By:
Kurt Zeus L. Dizon
POLSCI 505: Politics of Revolution
March 12, 2016

o Private enterprise banned

o Military-style control of the railways
The goals of the Bolsheviks in implementing war communism are a matter of controversy. Some
commentators, including a number of Bolsheviks, have argued that its sole purpose was to win the war.

New Economic Policy

The NEP represented a more capitalism-oriented economic policy, deemed necessary after the
Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1922, to foster the economy of the country, which was almost ruined. The
complete nationalization of industry, established during the period of War Communism, was partially
revoked and a system of mixed economy was introduced, which allowed private individuals to own
small enterprises, while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade, and large industries. In
addition, the NEP abolished prodrazvyorstka (forced grain requisition] and introduced prodnalog: a
tax on farmers, payable in the form of raw agricultural product.

Lenin considered the NEP as a strategic retreat from socialism. He believed it was capitalism but
justified it by insisting that it was a different type of capitalism, "state capitalism" which was the last
stage of capitalism before socialism evolved.

After NEP was instituted, agricultural production increased greatly. Instead of the government taking
all agricultural surpluses with no compensation, farmers now had the option to sell some of their
produce, giving them a personal economic incentive to produce more grain. This incentive, coupled
with the breakup of the quasi-feudal landed estates, surpassed pre-Revolution agricultural production.
The NEP succeeded in creating an economic recovery after the devastation of World War I, the Russian
Revolution, and the Russian Civil War. By 1925, in the wake of Lenin's NEP, a "... major transformation
was occurring politically, economically, culturally and spiritually." Small-scale and light industries were
largely in the hands of private entrepreneurs or cooperatives. By 1928, agricultural and industrial
production had been restored to the 1913 (pre-World War I) level.

Sources:

 Abraham Ascher, The Revolution of 1905: a short history, page 6

 Allan Wildman, The End of the Russian Imperial Army, vol. 1 (Princeton, 1980): 76–80
 Appignanesi, Richard (1977), Lenin for Beginners, Pantheon Books: New York
 Hubertus Jahn, Patriotic Culture in Russia During World War I (Ithaca, 1995)
 Figes, A People’s Tragedy, 257–258.
 Wildman: The End of the Russian Imperial Army (I), p. 85–89, 99–105, 106 (quotation).
 Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution: A Personal Record, ed. and trans. Joel Carmichael (Oxford, 1955;
originally published in Russian in 1922), 101–8.
 Zhurnal [No. 1] Soveta Ministrov Vremennogo Pravitel'stva," 2 March 1917, GARF (State Archive of
the Russian Federation), f. 601, op. 1, d. 2103, l. 1
 Lenin, Vladimir (27 September 1964) [1917]. Apresyan, Stephen, ed. One of the Fundamental
Questions of the Revolution (in Russian)
 Jim Riordan (4th ed.). Moscow: Progress Publishers. pp. 370–77.
 Stephen Cohen, Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography 1888–1938(Oxford
University Press: London, 1980) p. 46.
 Riasanovsky, Nichlas V.; Steinberg, Mark D. (2005). A History of Russia (7th ed.). Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0195153944.
 Civil War and military intervention in Russia 1918–20", Big Soviet Encyclopedia, third edition (30
volumes), 1969–78
 The Kronstadt Mutiny notes on Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy (1996)"
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Presented By:
Kurt Zeus L. Dizon
POLSCI 505: Politics of Revolution
March 12, 2016

 Petrograd on the Eve of Kronstadt rising 1921. Flag.blackened.net (10 March 1921). Retrieved on
2013-07-26.
 Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 (New York: Viking Press
1997), 767.
 Kronstadtin kapina 1921 ja sen perilliset Suomessa (Kronstadt Rebellion 1921 and Its Descendants
in Finland) by Erkki Wessmann.
 Robert K. Massie (2012). The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. Random House. pp. 3–24.
 Edvard Radzinsky, The Last Tsar: The Life And Death Of Nicholas II (New York: Knopf, 1993).
 Acton, Critical Companion, 5-7.
 Edward Acton, ed. Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution, 1914–1921 (Indiana University
Press, 1997), pp 3-17.
 Robert Service, "Lenin" in Edward Acton; et al. (1997). Critical Companion to the Russian
Revolution, 1914-1921. Indiana University Press. p. 159.
 Robert W. Menchhofer (1990). Animal Farm. Lorenz Educational Press. pp. 1–8.