RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
In 1917 the world saw the biggest change in the social,
political and economic system of Russia. This event is known as the Russian
Revolution (or the Bolshevik / October Revolution). The revolution forced
Nicholas II to resign and transformed the Russian Empire into the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or the Soviet Union. During this period of
time, Russia's traditional monarchy and Tsarist system was abolished and
replaced with the world's first Communist state. Lenin played a key role in the
Russian Revolution and the communist leader brought many social, political and
economic reforms.
In November 1917, Lenin took over Russia and a series of reforms
were introduced to institute a new social system in accordance with communist
ideology. To establish this new legislation, Lenin ended the reign of
oppressive Tsarist Russia, the Russian Provisional Government and placed the
Bolsheviks in charge of what was now no longer Russia, but the Soviet Union. In
order to spread the message of communism throughout the Soviet community, Lenin
completely changed the way education, literature, cinema and music were
portrayed.
Historical Background
In the years leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917,
the country had a succession of wars. These were, The Crimean War (1854-56),
The Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), and World
War I (1914-18). All of these required a lot from the state, including tax
dollars and manpower. Russia suffered defeat in all, except against Turkey.
This series of war caused great discontent among the people and caused
suffering in the country's economy and government.
Along with these wars, there were three major parties that
contributed to the cause of the revolution. First, there were the peasants, who
maintained the majority of the population in Russia. They were excessively poor
and could barely escape famine from harvest to harvest. The population boom in
Russia from 1867-1896 was felt most drastically by the peasants. The increase
of 30 million people in less than 30 years was too great that the land to the
peasants' disposal did not increase sufficiently. The government tried to help,
but war took precedence. Second, there was a rise of the industrial working
class. These workers were employed in the mines, factories and workshops of the
major cities. They suffered low wages, poor housing and many accidents. Again,
the government tried to help by passing factory acts to restrict the amount of
hours one could work. However, their efforts were at too small a scale to have
any real effect.
As a result, there
were many strikes and constant conflicts between the workers and the police.
Lastly, the tsar of Russia was the cause of much disapproval. Tsar Nicholas II
was much more interested in his family life, than matters of the state. He had
an obsession with retaining all his privileges and the belief that he was
chosen by God to rule. Also, he didn't understand the forces of
industrialization and nationalism that were growing throughout Russia. His
disregard for the struggles of the people led them to lose faith in him and the
long-standing tradition of autocracy. The people were not content and were
ready to revolt. They just needed a good reason and a strong leader.
CAUSES OF OCTOBER
REVOLUTION
The failure of the
Provisional Government
These Failures of
provisional Government helped the Bolshevicks gain support. During the war
Russia were suffering heavy military defeats, especially in the battle of
Tannennburg. Due to this mass loss of lives that the Russian army had suffered,
Russia's position was in a very bad state and troops were deserting the army.
The provisional government was failing to deal with the issues in Russia.
Russia was too weak to carry on fighting in the war. The soldiers and peasants
did not want the war to continue, but the Provisional Government kept the war
going and was alienating these people, and therefore these groups weren't happy
with the provisional Government and so they lost support from the troops. This
meant that some were turning to the Bolshevicks. So here, the failure of the
provisional government meant a loss of support from the troops. During the war,
prices rose high because food and goods were becoming more and more scarce
The Role and the
strengths of the Bolshevicks (The opposition of the PG)
Was one of the other main factors to why there was a
revolution. They had a very big part to
play in the revolution. They had much
strength as a party to gain support and revolt.
They had the ability to recognise where their votes could come from and then
channel their slogans to these groups.
They were able to win the peasants support with their slogan “Peace,
bread and land”. This was effective
because during the war peasants were starving and had lost their land. They wanted the war to end so things could
get back to normal and they could have things like bread and land. It was key to the Bolshevicks to gain the
support of the peasants as they made up the majority of the population and had
revolutionary potential. They could gain
the support of the soldiers wanted peace and the provisional government kept
the war going. The “Peace” part of their
slogan obviously appealed to the soldiers because they wanted peace, and so a
lot of soldiers supported the Bolshevicks because of this promise that was
made.An issue, which greatly increased support for the Bolshevicks was the fact
that they were the only party who wanted to finish the war, this increased support for their
party because all the troops and most of the Russian public wanted the war to
finish. This revolution was organized by Lenin who played a key role in the
revolution, in fact without Lenin the revolution probably wouldn't have
happened. He was a strong and determined
leader, which meant he could make key policy decisions happen, for example, the
April Theses.
The role of the
people as a mass (workers and peasants)
The workers, peasants and soldiers were the main social
groups involved as they were most directly affected. The people as a mass were of key importance
really, as they had the revolutionary potential because without them then
parties would have no support. The
workers realised their aspirations tied in with the Bolshevicks ideas and so
supported them. The soldiers wanted to
the war to end, these turned to the Bolshevicks because they were the only
party who also said they wanted to pull Russia out of the war. The peasants supported the Bolshevicks
because they were also attracted to the Bolshevick ideas and aspirations. The Bolshevicks used a slogan “Peace, Bread
and Land”. This was effective because it
appealed to the three major social groups and gradually led them to supporting
the party. The people are of importance
because the Bolshevicks needed their support and revolutionary potential to
gain power in October.
Economic difficulties
Had played a major
role in Nicholas II's fall from power. The Provisional Government had very
limited success in dealing with these problems. Prices went on rising, food was
in short supply and the peasants' desire for control of more land was not met.
Inevitably, the continuing economic crisis discredited the Provisional
Government, and strengthened the appeal of the Bolsheviks.
The War’s
The Russian people wanted the war to come to an end. The
country was exhausted and the people had had enough. Incredibly, the
Provisional Government could not see this. They persisted in trying to continue
with the military campaigns. A final unsuccessful offensive against the Germans
was attempted in June 1917 with the remaining loyal troops. The collapse of the
army's morale continued with desertion being encouraged by the Bolsheviks.
EFFECTS OF RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION
Russia’s
transformation into a communist country.
Vladimir Lenin was
one of the main leaders of the Bolsheviks party, which was a political party
that believed in socialism. Lenin was accepted by the people of Russia because
he promised them peace through the end of war. Lenin stood up and argued for
two points that he wrote on his way back to Russia from his exile to
Switzerland. These two points were the end of war and the replacement of the
provisional government by a soviet one. The provisional government was
consisted of the remains of the Duma, which was the Russian government that was
previously suspended by the Tsar, thus it was mainly consisted of the upper
class. The soviets on the other hand were revolutionary councils. The Russian
people saw Lenin as their path to freedom, they didn’t know that he wanted to
cease the revolution, make it his own and captivate the people’s freedom.
The Cold War,
Which took place between 1947 and 1991. This war was mainly
between the Western World and the Communist World that was led by the Soviet
Union. This Cold War was a continuous state
Established a liberal
program of various rights.
These included freedom of speech, religion and assembly;
equality before the law; and the right of unions to organize and strike. The
leaders of this new established government, including Alexander Kerensky were
still opposed to social revolution and saw the continuation of the war effort
as a national duty. The government had to compete for power with the Petrograd
Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. This group scrupulously watched the
provisional government and even made decrease of their own. One of which took
away the authority of the officers and placed it with elected committees. This
lead to a collapse of army discipline. Later that year, soldiers began returning
home to seize some land for their families. Peasants were looting farms and
having food riots because the provisional government had not overcome the
problem of food supply. Anarchy was taking the place of liberty and this was
the perfect situation for a radical socialist like Vladimir Ilyich Lenin to
take control.
Economic revival
Vladimir Lenin was confident in
the economic revival of the Soviet Union. In 1917, four days after the October
Revolution, Lenin incorporated the eight hour working day which dramatically
improved the working condition of Russia's population. Three years later, Lenin
introduced free universal healthcare to all citizens of nation and it is clear
that this would have made immediate positive effects on the quality of life for
the Soviet community.
Apart from those effects there other effects are as follows
- · The banks are nationalized and a national, assembly is assembled to run the economy.
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- · Industrial growth and organization of economy on five year plans.
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- · Political End of Autocratic Rule Establishment of a Socialist/Communist government.
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- · Withdrawal of Russia from WWI Formation of the Soviet Union.
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- · Emergence of Soviet Union as a world power.
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- · Withdrawal of Russia from WWI.Spread of Communism throughout the world.
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- · Tremendous focus on education led to huge impact on the population.
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- · Criticism of Imperialism.
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- · Economically, the country became destabilized, Due to crash led to starvation and lack of public order. Traded one absolute ruler for another.
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- · Increase of global tensions between Capitalists and Communists.
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- · A third of Russia's population sliced away by the Brest-Litvosk treaty in March 1918.
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- · Led to Cold War at the end of WWII. Thousands killed in the aftermath for not sharing the same beliefs.
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- · Lenin began using secret police to put down and potential dissidents.
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- · The people were not united. Jacob L. Austin By
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