Russia

The Russian Revolution was like a firecracker with a very long fuse. The explosion came in 1917, yet the fuse had been burning for nearly a century. The cruel, oppressive rule of most 19th-century tsars caused widespread social unrest for decades. Army officers revolted in 1825. Secret revolutionary groups plotted to overthrow the government. In 1881, revolutionaries angry over the slow pace of political change assassinated the reform-minded tsar, Alexander II. Russia was heading toward a full-scale revolution.

## Tsars Resist Change

In 1721, Peter the Great founded the Russian Empire which lasted up to 1917. It extended across Eurasia and North America. The rulers of Russia before 1917 were known as Tsars. The Tsars were autocratic rulers, their power was unlimited by laws or institutions. They believed in the Divine Right of the Rulers and ruled accordingly.

Compared to the European powers, the Empire of Russia was a backward territory. Eighty percent of the population were subsistance impoverished peasants.

In 1881, Alexander III succeeded his father, Alexander II, and halted all reforms in Russia. Alexander III clung to the principles of autocracy. Anyone who questioned the absolute authority of the tsar, worshiped outside the Russian Orthodox Church, or spoke a language other than Russian was labeled dangerous.

To wipe out revolutionaries, Alexander III used harsh measures. He imposed strict censorship codes on published materials and written documents, including private letters. His secret police carefully watched both secondary schools and universities. Political prisoners were sent to Siberia. He also made Jews the target of persecution. A wave of pogroms (organized violence against Jews) broke out in many parts of Russia. Police and soldiers stood by and watched Russian citizens loot and destroy Jewish homes, stores, and synagogues.

When Nicholas II became tsar in 1894, he continued the tradition of Russian autocracy. He became Emperor of Russia at a time of rapid world changes and he was ill-prepared to face the challenges. During his rule he made numerous mistakes, and the political and social situation of Russia resulted in the Revolution of 1917 that overthrew him from power.

## Russia Industrializes

Rapid industrialization changed the face of the Russian economy. The number of factories more than doubled between 1863 and 1900. Still, Russia lagged behind the industrial nations of western Europe.

In the 1890s, Nicholas’s most capable minister launched a program to move the country forward. To finance the buildup of Russian industries, the government sought foreign investors and raised taxes. These steps boosted the growth of heavy industry, particularly steel. By around 1900, Russia had become the world’s fourth-ranking producer of steel.

Rapid industrialization stirred discontent among the people of Russia. The growth of factories brought new problems, such as grueling working conditions, miserably low wages, and child labor. The government outlawed trade unions. To try to improve their lives, workers unhappy with their low standard of living and lack of political power organized strikes.

## Revolution Groups Arise

As a result of all of these factors, several revolutionary movements began to grow and compete for power. A group that followed the views of Karl Marx successfully established a following in Russia. The Marxist revolutionaries believed that the industrial class of workers would overthrow the tsar. These workers would then form “a dictatorship of the proletariat.” This meant that the proletariat (the workers) would rule the country.

In 1903, Russian Marxists split into two groups over revolutionary tactics. The more moderate Mensheviks wanted a broad base of popular support for the revolution. The more radical Bolsheviks supported a small number of committed revolutionaries willing to sacrifice everything for change.

The major leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin. He had an engaging personality and was an excellent organizer. He was also ruthless. These traits would ultimately help him gain command of the Bolsheviks. In the early 1900s, Lenin fled to western Europe to avoid arrest by the tsarist regime. From there he maintained contact with other Bolsheviks. Lenin then waited until he could safely return to Russia.

## Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905

The defeat of Russia during the Russo-Japanese war damaged the fragile image of Tsar Nicholas II. He became really unpopular ashe was seen as weak and incompetent. Prices went high as well as unemployment as consequences of the war.

On January 22, 1905, about 200,000 workers and their families approached the tsar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. They carried a petition asking for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. Nicholas II’s generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd. More than 1,000 were wounded and several hundred were killed. Russians quickly named the event “Bloody Sunday.”

Bloody Sunday provoked a wave of strikes and violence that spread across the country. In October 1905, Nicholas reluctantly promised more freedom. He approved the creation of the Duma—Russia’s first parliament. The first Duma met in May 1906. Its leaders were moderates who wanted Russia to become a constitutional monarchy similar to Britain. But because he was hesitant to share his power, the tsar dissolved the Duma after ten weeks.

## The Fall of Nicholas II

In 1914, Nicholas II made the fateful decision to drag Russia into World War I. Russia was unprepared to handle the military and economic costs. Before a year had passed, more than 4 million Russian soldiers had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. As in the Russo-Japanese War, Russia’s involvement in World War I revealed the weaknesses of tsarist rule and military leadership.

To make things worse, the tsar insisted on fighting on the battle front leaving the ruling of the country in the hands on his wife, Alexandra, and Rasputin. She ignored the tsar’s chief advisers. Instead, she fell under the influence of the mysterious Rasputin, a self-described “holy man” who claimed to have magical healing powers. Alexandra allowed Rasputin to make key political decisions. He opposed reform measures and obtained powerful positions for his friends. In 1916, a group of nobles murdered Rasputin. They feared his increasing role in government affairs.

Meanwhile, on the war front Russian soldiers mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders. On the home front, food and fuel supplies were dwindling. Prices were wildly inflated. People from all classes were clamoring for change and an end to the war. Neither Nicholas nor Alexandra proved capable of tackling these enormous problems.

## The March Revolution

At the beginning of March 1917, a series of strikes broke out in Petrograd. In February, the government had introduced bread rationing in thecapital city. On March 8th, about 10,000 women marched through Petrograd demanding "Peace and Bread" and the end of autocracy. Soon, women were joined by other workers.

All factories in the city were closed on the 10th in a general strike. Nicholas was at the war front and ordered the troops in Petrograd to disband the crowds, but a large number of the soldiers joined the protesters. The Duma met and on March 12th it set up a provisional government forcing the tsar to abdicate.

The provisional government decided to keep Russia into the war. His decision did not please the angered Russian population. The soviets, or councils composed of deputies from the workers and soldiers, put pressure on the provisional government. They represented the interests of the lower classes and they were made up of socialists of different kinds. The Bolsheviks played a crucial role in the October Revolution.

## The Bolshevik Revolution

The Germans believed that Lenin and his Bolshevik supporters would stir unrest in Russia and hurt the Russian war effort against Germany. They arranged Lenin’s return to Russia after many years of exile. Traveling in a sealed railway boxcar, Lenin reached Petrograd in April 1917.

Lenin and the Bolsheviks soon gained control of the Petrograd soviet, as well as the soviets in other major Russian cities. By the fall of 1917, people in the cities were rallying to the call, “All power to the soviets.” Lenin’s slogan—“Peace, Land, and Bread”—gained widespread appeal. Lenin decided to take action.

In November 1917, without warning, armed factory workers stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd. Calling themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards, they took over government offices and arrested the leaders of the provisional government.

Within days after the Bolshevik takeover, Lenin ordered that all farmland be distributed among the peasants. Lenin and the Bolsheviks gave control of factories to the workers. The Bolshevik government also signed a truce with Germany to stop all fighting and began peace talks.

In March 1918, Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia surrendered a large part of its territory to Germany and its allies. The humiliating terms of this treaty triggered widespread anger among many Russians. They objected to the Bolsheviks and their policies and to the murder of the royal family.

## Russian Civil War

The Bolsheviks now faced a new challenge—stamping out their enemies at home. Their opponents formed the White Army. The White Army was made up of very different groups. There were those groups who supported the return to rule by the czar, others who wanted democratic government, and even socialists who opposed Lenin’s style of socialism. Only the desire to defeat the Bolsheviks united the White Army. The groups barely cooperated with each other. At one point there were three White Armies fighting against the Bolsheviks’ Red Army.

The revolutionary leader, Leon Trotsky, expertly commanded the Bolshevik Red Army. From 1918 to 1920, civil war raged in Russia. Several Western nations, including the United States, sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army. However, they were of little help.

Russia’s civil war proved far more deadly than the earlier revolutions. Around 14 million Russians died in the three-year struggle and in the famine that followed. The destruction and loss of life from fighting, hunger, and a worldwide flu epidemic left Russia in chaos. In the end, the Red Army crushed all opposition. The victory showed that the Bolsheviks were able both to seize power and to maintain it.

## Lenin Restores Order

War and revolution destroyed the Russian economy. Trade was at a standstill. Industrial production dropped, and many skilled workers fled to other countries. Lenin turned to reviving the economy and restructuring the government.

### New Economic Policy

In March 1921, Lenin temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy. Instead, he resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism called the New Economic Policy (NEP). The reforms under the NEP allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government. The government kept control of major industries, banks, and means of communication, but it let some small factories, businesses, and farms operate under private ownership. The government also encouraged foreign investment.

Thanks partly to the new policies and to the peace that followed the civil war, the country slowly recovered. By 1928, Russia’s farms and factories were producing as much as they had before World War I.

### Political Reform

Bolshevik leaders saw nationalism as a threat to unity and party loyalty. To keep nationalism in check, Lenin organized Russia into several selfgoverning republics under the central government. In 1922, the country was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in honor of the councils that helped launch the Bolshevik Revolution.

The Bolsheviks renamed their party the Communist Party. In 1924, the Communists created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles. In reality, the Communist Party held all the power. Lenin had established a dictatorship of the Communist Party, not “a dictatorship of the proletariat,” as Marx had promoted.

## Stalin Becomes Dictator

Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922. He survived, but the incident set in motion competition for heading up the Communist Party. Two of the most notable men were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Stalin was cold, hard, and impersonal.

Stalin began his ruthless climb to the head of the government between 1922 and 1927. In 1922, as general secretary of the Communist Party, he worked behind the scenes to move his supporters into positions of power. Lenin believed that Stalin was a dangerous man. Shortly before he died in 1924, Lenin wrote, “Comrade Stalin . . . has concentrated enormous power in his hands, and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution.”

By 1928, Stalin was in total command of the Communist Party. Trotsky, forced into exile in 1929, was no longer a threat. Stalin now stood poised to wield absolute power as a dictator.