1. The Winter palace 1917 Russian Revolutions

2. Background to Revolution—At home
Food shortages, shortage of farm workers
Railroads carrying war supplies, not shipping food to cities
Price of goods up… inflation
Coal & industrial materials in short supply so factories closed… unemployment up
Winter 1916 train lines iced up and trains could not get into Petrograd
Farming difficult… lacked horses

3. Background to Revolution—at the Front
Lack of supplies for the army initially
By 1916 training & supply had improved but generals would not work together
Incompetent military leadership led Nicholas II to decide to take over control of the army & go to the front
Government did not work with industry to improve efficiency
Troops did not receive grain due to transportation problems

4. March 1917 Bread rationing had been instituted
The average working woman was spending 40 hours per week in bread lines
Many bakeries had closed; women slept over night outside bakeries that still operated to be first in line
March 8 was International Women’s Day
Women began marching for bread and an end to the war
Husbands from factories joined them; a general strike shut down many of the factories

5. March 1917
March 11 troops were ordered to fire on the crowds and put down the marches
The troops joined the demonstrators

6. March 1917 12th—Duma formed a Provisional committee
Formation of the Petrograd Soviet… controlled at first by Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries
Army Order #1 issued by Petrograd Soviet
The Tsar abdicated in favor of his brother, Michael, who abdicated the next day
The Provisional Committee became the Provisional Government, led by Prince Lvov—a Kadet

7. Abdicating Tsars
Tsar Nicholas II Grand Duke Michael

8. Provisional Government & Petrograd Soviet
Both were trying to be in charge
PG believed Germany must be defeated so they continued the war
PG freed political prisoners, gave civil rights, issued amnesty for political & religious offenses
PG felt social changes & land reform had to wait until a national assembly was elected
PS believed they must follow Marx’ stages of revolution strictly, so Russia needed a period of capitalism… had to have the stage of conflict between proletariat and bourgeois… controlled railroads, postal service, telegraph offices

9. Alexander Kerensky Member of the Duma (elected 1912), so in the PG
Was a Social Revolutionary, vice-chair of the PS
Picture taken 1938
in New York City

10. April 1917 Lenin returned to Russia; published April Theses
Marx used the terms “socialism” and “communism” interchangeably
1880s communism was considered a stage after socialism
Socialism… compensation for work
Communism… no compensation for work; moneyless economy without wages or prices; things produced for free & distributed for free
After 1917 communism meant the ideology of Marxism-Leninism

11. Lenin
Disguise used in 1917

12. Lenin
“This struggle must be organised, according to “all the rules of the art”, by people who are professionally engaged in revolutionary activity. The fact that the masses are spontaneously being drawn into the movement does not make the organisation of this struggle less necessary. On the contrary, it makes it more necessary. “ from What Is To Be Done (1901)

13. Lenin
Lenin took two phrases from Marx which Marx used very little, but Lenin made central to his theory
“Dictatorship of the proletariat”… the transitional phase from capitalism to a communist society
“Vanguard of the proletariat”… the small, disciplined group of professional revolutionaries who would lead the proletariat and run the socialist state

14. Lenin
Believed that capitalism could only be destroyed by violent revolution
A socialist revolution was possible in a backward country… it was not necessary to have a bourgeois revolution first
Slogan… Peace, Land, Bread

15. April Theses Opposed the Provisional Government
Supported “all power to the soviets”
Bolshevik control of the government
War should become a revolution against capitalism
Land, factories, banks should be nationalized
Bolshevik Party should be called the Communist Party
Other Bolsheviks did not agree with Lenin & thought the time was not yet right for revolution

16. May 1917 PG was reorganized; Kerensky became Minister of War and Navy
New PG included members of the PS

17. June 1917 First All-Russian Congress of Soviets met
A month-long speech event

18. July 1917
Kerensky Offensive… PG convinced the army to attack, but the army was defeated
PG collapsed when four Kadet members resigned, unrelated to the military defeat, due to disagreement over land reform
Kerensky became the PM
July Days… soldiers & workers protested against the PG; supported by the Bolsheviks but was suppressed by the PG; Lenin fled to Finland

19. August 1917
Bolsheviks became the majority in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets
Kerensky called the Moscow State Conference to try to get support for the government before the elections for the Constituent Assembly

20. September 1917
Kornilov Affair… Kerensky believed Kornilov was trying to take over the PG
PG asked Bolsheviks for help… released them from prison and gave them weapons
Kornilov’s mutiny does not materialize in the end
Lenin decided PG was weak and could be overthrown

21. November 1917 Trotsky became chairman of the PG
Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, Workers & Soldiers Deputies met
Coup led by Lenin & Trotsky
Congress taken over by Lenin’s supporters
Lenin to be Chairman, Trotsky Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Stalin Commissar of Nationalities
Elections were held for the Constituent Assembly; Bolsheviks received 25% of the vote

22. RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTIONS
Cheka founded Dec. 1917
As Foreign Minister, Trotsky published secret treaties made by the Tsarist government
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918
Allies landed troops at Murmansk, Archangel & Vladivostok
Trotsky appointed War Commissar March 1918
Russian Civil War
Comintern (Communist International) founded 1919

23. RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTIONS
New Economic Policy (NEP)
Helped found the People’s Republic of Mongolia 1924

24. Sources http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/historian/hist_figes_05_hope.html
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