The Russian Revolution

1. The Russian Revolution 1905,1917 By: Jennifer Mascia

2. Background • The reign of Czar Alexander II (1855-1881) resulted in widespread discontent among the Russians • Russian moral was low after their defeat in the Crimean War

3. Reforms of Alexander II • March 3rd Emancipation Edict • Left peasants unhappy with their infertile land and high taxes paid to the government for the land • Zemstvas and Town Councils • Gave the people more power to govern themselves • Resulted in liberalism which challenged Czardom

4. Reforms left the intellectual class disappointed. They wanted to see more radical reforms so they created underground revolutionary societies that aimed to overthrow the Czar. • Nihilism-Czar & Orthodox Church must be destroyed before new society could be created • Populism-Russian peasantry would make a socialist movement • Split into two groups after 1871: Black Partition & Will of the People • March 13, 1881 Alexander II was assassinated by members of the Will of the People

5. Reign of Czar Alexander III(1881-1894) • Aimed to counteract the reforms of his father • He was autocratic and repressive and wanted to crush the revolutionaries • “Russification”. He wanted to bring Russia back to pre-1861 times where the nobles shared the power with the Czar

6. During Alexander III’s reign, the problems among the peasants and their landholdings remained and the revolutionary movement was only made more secret instead of being done away with. • 1883 the first Russian Marxist group was formed in St. Petersburg

7. Czar Nicholas II (1894-1917) • 1894 Alexander III died and his son, Nicholas II, became Czar • He was weak and indecisive

8. Starting from the 1890s and on, there were massive worker strikes under Nicholas’s reign. • They wanted to protest the intolerable working conditions. • They wanted economic as well as political reforms under the Czar.

9. Lenin • In 1898 he formed the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party • 1903 held a congress in London • Signified the split in the Social Democratic party • Bolsheviks (Lenin) & Mensheviks • The main difference between the two is in the number of people (revolutionaries) who would overthrow the government • The Split was formalized in 1905

10. Russo-Japanese War1904 • Nicholas thought that if Russia was successful in a war, it would take the people’s minds off revolution. • Huge disaster for the Russian government. Showed inadequacy • After the Russian defeat at Yalu, the Minister of Interior, Vyacheslav von Plehve, was assassinated by Social Revolutionary terrorists.

11. 1st stage of revolution:Bloody Sunday (January 22,1905) • The Russian workers were now angered by the losses in the war as well as the continual labor unrest and rise in food prices. • Father Gapon, a pro-government trade union organizer, took a list of political and economic demands to the Winter Palace.

12. Demands of Workers • Political demands were the calling of an elected Duma, freedom of speech and assembly, guarantee of fair trials and an amnesty for political prisoners. • Economic demands were more labor legislation, the eight-hour day, a reduction in indirect taxes and the introduction of a graduated income tax. The petition also demanded to end the war immediately. • The petition was signed by 135,000 persons.

13. Thousands gathered peacefully and expected to be granted their demands. • Instead they were fired on by the guards at the Winter Palace. • More than 100 died and several 100 were wounded. • The people now had lost complete faith in their Czar

14. 1905 • The Revolutionaries failed to overthrow the Czar • The problems carried over to the revolution of 1917 where the will be more successful

15. Russian Revolution of 1917 • After 1905, Nicholas went right back to his autocratic ways. • Any reforms he tried to put in place did little for the struggling peasantry class. • WWI was their breaking point.

16. The First Duma • Lasted 73 days • Consisted mainly of people other than nobles. They demanded a constitutional monarchy. • Nicholas soon dissolved it. • 2nd Duma met a similar fate

17. Third (1907-1912) & Fourth (1912-1917) Dumas • Lasted for five years. • Nicholas made it so that revolutionaries didn’t make up the majority. • Octoberists and Monarchists did • Socialists made up only about ¼ • The Duma grew more conservative and the people grew angrier and once again turned against Czardom

18. In 1906, Stolypin became the Prime Minister. • Persecuted Jews, rioters, and Finnish nationalists. • Also exiled Lenin and other Social Democrats. • He abolished the communal system. • It only made the situation better for the wealthy peasants and not the lowest peasants.

19. Some conditions improved such as wages for the workers. • 1905-1909 the # of strikes and revolutionary members declined • Conditions were still bad and strikes were considered illegal. • Secret meetings were held between workers. • Terrorism was also revived. • Stolypin was assassinated

20. WWI • In 1915, Nicholas left the capital city to act as commander-in-chief in the field. • This left the rule of Russia under the power of his wife Czarina Alexandra. • She then turned to the help of Rasputin

21. March Revolution • The czarist regime collapsed under the pressures and failures of Russians involvement in WWI. • Petrograd (St. Petersburg) troops were sent to strikers demanding bread. • The troops sided with the strikers instead. • The Czar tried to suspend the session of the Fourth Duma but it refused.

22. Abdication • On March 15, 1917 Nicholas abdicated his throne for his brother Michael. • Michael decline the title and the Romanov dynasty ended after three centuries of reign (1613-1917). • A Provisional Government was set up. The Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries supported it

23. Lenin came out of exile in April and began his attack on the government • The Provisional Government continued the war effort. • So the Social Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks became despised • This helped Lenin and the Bolsheviks rise and popularity and eventually take over

24. October Revolution • On October 20, 1917, Lenin decided to seize power from the Provisional Government and set up a “Military Revolutionary Committee” • On November 7, in Petrograd, Lenin and his Red Guards and Military Revolutionary Committee led a coup d’etat. • Under the Council of People’s Commissars • Lenin was the Chairman • Trotsky was the Commissar of Foreign Affairs • Stalin was the Commissar of Nationalities

25. Sources • http://www.thecorner.org/hist/russia/revo1905.htm • http://www.thecorner.org/hist/russia/revo1917.htm • http://signaveritae.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/rasputin.jpg • http://www.tkinter.smig.net/QueenMarie/RecentBooks/BornToRule/images/Alexandra.jpg • http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t304/T304434A.jpg • http://www.white-history.com/hwr60_files/duma_1915.jpg • http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Vyacheslav_von_Plehve.jpg • http://pro.corbis.com/images/IH000454.jpg?size=67&uid={97410FCC-A9F6-4B35-B26C-A847305DD150} • http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Alexander_III._Czar_Of_Russia_Nadar.jpg • http://www.theosophycardiff.care4free.net/Nicholas%20II.jpg • http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/memoir/RusRev/images/rr19.jpg • http://www.bolshevik.org/graphic/lenin.jpg