Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution 5 Paragraph Essay

The Assignment • Look at the Assignment Sheet • Look at the Rubric • It’s an IB rubric • You’ll be seeing more of these • Any questions?

Your Topic • Was the Russian Revolution a success? • What makes a Revolution a success? • 3 minutes writing on that question • Do not pick your pen/pencil up – write the entire time. • Look over your writing: anything interesting?

Your choice… • Was the Russian Revolution a success? • Your choice: YES or NO (or I Don’t Know) • Think of three reasons WHY you believe it was/was not successful • Write those reasons in your notebook • You will explain them in your paper

Your thesis statment • Your thesis statement is at the end of your introduction. • It gives an outline of your paper. The Russian Revolution was successful because of [Reason A], [Reason B], and [Reason C]. The Russian Revolution was not successful because of [Reason A], [Reason B], and [Reason C].

Your Sources • Look at the reasons you wrote in your Thesis Statement. • Which sources will help you support those reasons? • You can choose 3 of the following: • The Communist Manifesto • The Execution of the Czar narrative • Soviet Propaganda Posters • Lenin, “The Dual Power” • Goldman, “There Is No Communism In Russia”

Source Justification • Please explain WHY you chose the sources you did. • Example: “I chose Emma Goldman because she goes into details about the failings of the Soviet Union.” • Exit ticket = Re-write your thesis statement on the paper slip. Give it to me. • Homework = WHY did you choose your sources?

Thesis: A new hope • The Russian Revolution was successful because the workers improved their lives, Russia got a new government, and Marx’s predictions were correct. • Sources: • Lenin, “The Dual Power” • “Execution of Czar” narrative • Marx, “Communist Manifesto”

The Thesis Strikes Back • The Russian Revolution was not successful because of the violence against innocent people, the nationalization of industry, and it went against Karl Marx’s predictions. • Sources: • “Execution of the Czar” narrative • Emma Goldman, “No Communism…” • Karl Marx, “Communist Manifesto

Return of the Thesis • The Russian Revolution was not successful because the Czar’s family was killed, the workers’ conditions did not improve, and the state power took over. • Sources: • “Execution of the Czar” narrative • Emma Goldman, “There Is No Communism…” • If you do not have a thesis statement, you might want to borrow/modify one of these.

Topic Sentence Examples: • Thesis: The Russian Revolution was successful because the workers improved their lives… • Topic Sentence: First, the Russian Revolution was successful because the workers improved their lives. • In the body paragraph, all of your examples should be from Lenin, “The Dual Power.” • All links will connect the quotes to the topic sentence.

Example II • Thesis: The Russian Revolution was not successful because of the violence against innocent people… • Topic Sentence: First, the Russian Revolution failed because there was violence against innocent people. • All of the examples in this paragraph will be from “The Execution of the Czar” • All links are going to connect the quotes to the topic sentence.

Example III • Thesis: The Russian Revolution was not successful because the Czar’s family was killed… • Topic Sentence: First, the Russian Revolution was not successful because the Czar’s family was killed. • All examples in this paragraph should be from “The Execution of the Czar” • All links are going to connect the quotes to the topic sentence.

Body Paragraph #1 • Look at your thesis statement. You should have listed three reasons why the Russian Revolution was/was not a success. • What is your first reason? • It will be the topic sentence for your first body paragraph. • Please write that sentence now. • Example: “The Russian Revolution was a success because it followed Karl Marx’s predictions in the Communist Manifesto.”

First Body Paragraph! • Get out the document you’ll be using to support your Topic Sentence. • Re-read it for the quotes you’re going to use. • Put those three quotes in as examples. • Write your links, connecting your examples to your topic sentence.

Second & Third body paragraphs • Look at your thesis • What is your second reason? • It should be the topic sentence for your second body paragraph. • Get out the document you’ll be using and find three quotes. • Those are your Examples. • Please do the same thing for your third body paragraph.

Second Body Paragraph, example • Thesis: …Russia got a new government… • Topic Sentence #2: The Russian Revolution was successful because Russia got a new government. • Source: “Execution of the Czar” • Thesis: …the nationalization of industry… • Topic Sentence #2: The Russian Revolution failed because industry was nationalized. • Source: Goldman, “There Is No Communism in Russia” • Thesis: …the workers’ conditions did not improve… • Topic Sentence #2: The Russian Revolution did not succeed because the workers’ conditions did not improve. • Source: Goldman, “There Is No Communism in Russia”

Third Body Paragraph, Example • Thesis: …Marx’s predictions were correct. • Topic Sentence #2: The Russian Revolution was successful because Marx’s predictions were correct. • Source: “Communist Manifesto” • Thesis: …it went against Karl Marx’s predictions • Topic Sentence #2: The Russian Revolution failed because it went against Karl Marx’s predictions • Source: Goldman, “Communist Manifesto” • Thesis: … the state power took over. • Topic Sentence #2: The Russian Revolution did not succeed because the the state power took over. • Source: Goldman, “There Is No Communism in Russia”

Student Leaders:

Introduction • Your introduction needs to describe a cause of the Russian Revolution. You could… • Describe the living conditions of the peasants. • Describe the workers’ lives. • Describe the incompetence of the Czar • Discuss Bloody Sunday • Connect this cause to the Russian Revolution • You must end your introduction with your thesis statement.

Introduction, Example Imagine that you are a Russian peasant in 1917. The way you live has not changed for centuries: your house is made of wood, and does not keep the cold out during the long winters; the streets in your village are unpaved. Your grandfather was born a serf, unable to move from the land. Nobody you know can read, yet you have eyes: you can see the rich landowners, and you know they are not sharing any of their money with you, although you do the work that earns them their money. Now, the Czar is demanding that people from your village go fight in a war far away, and none of them are coming back. Would you be unhappy enough to rise up and get rid of the rich once and for all? Many people did, in the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Russian Revolution was successful because the workers improved their lives, Russia got a new government, and Marx’s predictions were correct.

Conclusion: You have 2 Choices • Why would someone take the opposite position than you? • What evidence would they use? • You should quote it! • Why are they wrong? • You could quote more evidence here! • Why should anyone care about this? • You might want to think about: • Class struggle • Revolutionary movements today • People who want change Address an Opposing Argument (more difficult) Explain why it matters today (easier)

Conclusion, Example 1 Some people might claim that the Russian Revolution was successful. They would point to Lenin, who claimed that the revolution had “a power directly based on revolutionary seizure, on the direct initiative of the people from below, and not on a law enacted by a centralized state power.” However, Lenin was wrong. Lenin’s words were based in theory – and a theory to justify his actions – more than they were based on facts. Goldman, who saw the living conditions of Russian citizens after the revolution, described what she saw, and was correct. Goldman was also disappointed – as an anarchist, she, too, wanted the revolution to succeed. So, who is more trustworthy, the man writing to justify his own actions, or the woman writing to describe her reality? The Russian Revolution could have been a success, but, alas, it failed.

Conclusion, Example 2 At first, the Russian Revolution seems too long ago and far away for those of us in Chicago, in 2014, to care about. Why should we bother analyzing the actions of workers, peasants, and their leaders across the world, over 100 years ago? In fact, nothing could be more tied to our experience. We, too, face a growing divide between rich and poor. We, too, have a wealthy ruling class setting laws in this country that deny the poor basic human rights such as a living wage. We, too, have a government intent on involving us in unpopular wars for obscure reasons. And we, too, have a growing social movement of young people speaking out against the injustices they and their families face. Should we ever learn to work together to establish our own government – should we ever have a revolution of our own – we can learn to not make the same mistakes that led to the failure of the Russian Revolution.

Russian Revolution