The Bolshevik Revolution & Beyond World History 10B The Bolshevik Revolution & Beyond

The Bolshevik Revolution The Bolsheviks took control of many soviets soon after Lenin’s return to Russia Remember soviets are councils composed of representatives from workers and soldiers In November 1917 the Bolshevik Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd Made up of armed factory workers Arrested leaders of the provisional government The revolution was over in mere hours

Storming the Winter Palace

Problems in Russia Lenin now had to deal with the czar’s problems Distributed farmland among the peasants Gave control of the factories to the workers Signed a truce with Germany to stop fighting in World War I Russia lost land to Germany in this truce, which angered many people

Vladimir Lenin

Getting Rid of enemies The Bolsheviks felt they had to get rid of their enemies in Russia As a result their opponents formed the White Army Civil War 1918-1920 – Red Guard vs. White Army Western nations (like the U.S.) helped the whites 15 million Russians died from war, famine, and flu Red Guard wins the war Victory shows they were able to gain power and keep it The still have lots of problems

Russian Civil War

Lenin Restores Order The Russian economy was in shambles Lenin creates the New Economic Policy NEP = small scale version of capitalism They call the country the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Their constitution was based on socialist and democratic principles Lenin dies in 1924 By 1928 the economy is like it was before WW1

Countries in the USsR

Stalin Takes Control Joseph Stalin takes control of the country upon Lenin’s death He chose the name Stalin which means “man of steel”, he was cold, hard, and impersonal Lenin had been wary of Stalin before his death Stalin had moved up in the communist party and placed supporters in key positions to help him take over

Joseph stalin

Violates democratic values  Stalin Takes over Stalin builds up a totalitarian state Totalitarianism – government controls all aspects of public and private life Stalin also sets up a command economy Command economy – government makes all economic decisions Security  Violates democratic values 

Joseph Stalin

The Great purge Stalin wanted to make all decisions by himself This led to the Great Purge, the removal of the Old Bolsheviks that had been involved in the early days of the movement Purge = an abrupt or violent removal Those purged were put on trial and condemned to death Stalin also purged army officers, diplomats, union officials, party members, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens

The Great Purge An estimated 8 million Russians were arrested Millions of others were sent to labor camps (gulags) in Siberia and never returned Poor food rations, inadequate clothing, overcrowding, bad housing, poor hygiene, inadequate health care All this while forced to do harsh physical labor Others were executed There are an estimated 56-62 million unnatural deaths during this time period 34-49 million of these are directly linked to Stalin

Gulag