1. Russian Revolution

2. Imperial Russia,

3. I. Pre-Revolutionary Russia
Only true autocracy left in Europe
No type of representative political institutions
Nicholas II became Tsar in 1884
Believed he was the absolute ruler anointed by God
Revolution broke out in 1905
--Russo-Japanese War (1904)

4. Czar Nicholas II and Family4

5. II. The Revolution of 1905
The creation of a discontented working class
Vast majority of workers concentrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow
Help from the countryside: poor peasants
No individual land ownership

6. Bloody Sunday (1905)

7. II. Revolution of 1905 (cont)
Russia industrialized on the backs of the peasants
Tremendous historic land hunger among peasants
Real winners of the Revolution: Middle Class
--Duma (Think congress)

8. Conservatism Continues: 1905-1917
Tsar ignored Duma
Duma harassed and political parties suppressed
Nicholas was personally a very weak man
Tsar became increasingly remote as a ruler

9. IV. Alexandra: The Power Behind the Throne
Even more blindly committed to autocracy than her husband
The influence of Rasputin over Alexandra
“Holy Man”
Could heal Alexis
Scandals surrounding Rasputin served to discredit the monarchy

10. Alexis: Alexandra’s Son with Hemophilia

11. 11

12. Rasputin 12

13. Rasputin with Admirers

14. V. World War I: “The Last Straw”
War revealed the ineptitude and arrogance of the country’s aristocratic elite
Corrupt military leadership and contempt for ordinary Russian people
Average peasant has very little invested in the War

15. V. World War I (cont) Poorly supplied troops
Result: Chaos and Disintegration of the Russian Army
Spreading Discontent among the public

16. VI. The Collapse of the Imperial Government
Nicholas leaves for the Front—September, 1915
Alexandra and Rasputin throw the government into chaos
Alexandra and other high government officials accused of treason

17. VI. The Collapse of the Imperial Government (cont)
Rasputin assassinated in December of 1916
Refusal to receive assistance of the Russian Middle Class
Complete mismanagement of the wartime economy

18. VII. The Two Revolutions of 1917
The March Revolution (March 12)
The November Revolution (November 6)

19. VIII. The March Revolution
Origins: Food riots and strikes
Duma declared itself a Provisional Government on March12th
Tsar abdicated on March 17th
Very Popular Revolution
The Petrograd Soviet
--Order #1
* Soldiers should return to their barracks and obey their officers

20. IX. Soviet Political Ideology
More radical and revolutionary than the Provisional Government
Most influenced by Marxist socialism
Emulated western socialism
Two Factions
-- “Mensheviks”
-- “Bolsheviks”

21. Founder of Bolshevism: Vladimir Lenin
His Early Years
--Exiled to Siberia in 1897
Committed to Class Struggle and Revolution
Moved to London in and befriended Leon Trotsky

22. X. Lenin (cont) Key role of the Party in the revolution
-- “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”
Bolsheviks split from the Russian Socialist Party in 1912
Character of the Bolshevik Party
--Joseph Stalin
--Pravda

23. XI. The November Revolution
The events of November 6
Council of People’s Commissars
All private property of wealthy was abolished and divided among the peasantry
Largest industrial enterprises nationalized

24. XI. November Revolution (cont)
Political Police organized: CHEKA
Revolutionary army created with Trotsky in charge
-- “Red Army”
Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party in March of 1918
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiated with the Germans

25. XI. November Revolution (cont)
Humiliating Treaty would be nullified since all of the west was on the verge of revolution
Civil War fought between
-- “Reds” versus “Whites”
Complete breakdown of Russian economy and society

26. Did you volunteer for the Red Army?

27. White Recruitment Poster (1919)

29. XII. Rule of Lenin
Economic Reforms included the New Economic Plan (NEP)
-moderate mix of capitalism and socialism
Political Reforms
-Bolshevik party became Communist Party
-Russia becomes the United Soviet Socialist Republics 29

30. Lenin’s NEP
Q. Why did Lenin retreat from his policy of “war communism”?
A. Under party control, factory and mine output had fallen.
Peasants stopped producing grain knowing it would only
be seized by the government.
Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP)
*Allowed some capitalist ventures.
*Small businesses were allowed to reopen for private profit.
*Gov. stopped squeezing peasants for grain.
*Peasants held onto small plots of land and freely sold their surplus
Crops.

31. 31

32. Socialism
A theory or system of social organization that allows everyone (the community) the means to control production, capital, and property

33. Communism A Form of Socialism
Central Planning of the Economy by the State
Government (Communist Party) makes decisions on individual jobs and pay

34. 1924 Lenin Dies Power Vaccuum Leon Trotsky vs. Joseph Stalin
Stalin takes control
Stalin must decide how he will maintain power
Decides to create a totalitarian state 34

35. Lenin Embalmed

37. Characteristics of a Totalitarian State
Dictatorship- Absolute Authority
Dynamic Leader- Vision for the nation
State Control Over All Sectors of Society
Business, Family Life, Labor, youth groups, housing, religion, education, the arts
State Control Over the Individual
Obedience
Denies basic liberties
Organized Violence
Uses force to crush opposition 37

38. Stalin’s Totalitarian State
State Control of the Economy
5 year plan, collective farms
Police Terror
Great Purge, crush opposition
Religious Persecution
Control of the individual
Propaganda (socialist realism)
Molding peoples minds
Education
Controlled by the government 38

39. Stalin’s Five year Plans
Goals?
Improve Heavy industry.
Improve Transportation.
Improve farm output
(Agriculture).

40. Five Year Plan- Results/Positive
Increase in:
*Large factories.
*Hydroelectric power plants.
*Huge Industrial complexes rose across the country
*Oil, coal, and steel production grew.
*Mining expanded and new railroads were built.

41. Downside of Five Year Plan
*Standard of living remained low.
*Wages were low
*Consumer goods were scarce
*Quality of goods produced was low.
Summary- Five Year Plan resulted in an increase in heavy industry
But the Soviet command economy failed to match that of the
Capitalist world in making consumer goods such as clothing, cars’
refrigerators etc.

44. Soviet Propaganda

45. The Bolshevik Era ( )
Lenin emphasized the use of “agitprop”. This was a combination of propaganda and agitation in order to win the support of both the intellectuals and average worker
Struggle of Ideology, battle from within
Over 3,600 posters were created during this time
As The Civil War intensified in 1919, the Bolsheviks set up a new Literary-Publishing Department to coordinate propaganda efforts.
Dimitri Moor and Viktor Deni were the main cartoonists of the era.
Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA)
Stenciled posters that summarized the news.
Displayed in shop windows across Moscow.
Era ended when Bolsheviks defeated the Whites.

46. Rosta Window #216 (No Bureaucracy) - 8 panels, 1921
Cossack - Who are you with, them or us?, 1920
Never buy in a Private Shop - when you can buy in a cooperative,
Universal War Training Education is the Key to Victory. The worker's hand is powerful with a rifle a, c.1919
Rosta Window #216 (No Bureaucracy) - 8 panels, 1921
Only the Red Army can bring peace to your farms and villages. Peasants, join your workers' and peasants’, 1920

47. The New Economic Policy (1921-1927)
Small farms and businesses flourished, while the State kept control of heavy industry, transport and foreign trade.
“Roaring Twenties” of Russia.
Mayakovsky and Rodchenko known as "advertising constructors" for State-run businesses. They developed an ‘agitational’ style of advertising in which shrill slogans and aggressive compositions were used with strong diagonals and color
became the peacetime equivalent of the revolutionary poster.
State poster production was headed by Yakov Ruklevsky
Other Famous Artists
Stenberg brothers, Georgii and Vladimir
Nikolai Prusakov
Mikhail Dlugach who created more than 500 posters

48. Be ready to defend October, 1927
Sailors- Buy in the Cooperatives, 1925
The Horror of Future War, 1924
No Knowledge=No Bread. Knowledge Lies in Books. Books are on the Cooperatives., 1925
Be ready to defend October, 1927

49. The First and Second Five Year Plans (1928-1937)
First Five Year plan
Upon assuming complete control in 1928, Stalin immediately put an end to the New Economic Policy and embarked on a new course to full communism with the Five Year Plan. Intended to turn the USSR rapidly into a powerful industrial nation. Stalin demanded an increase in production and wide scale construction
Created strictly controlled propaganda
Posters appeared everywhere, in factories, farms and all public spaces, in vast quantities and variety
Messages of Propaganda: ": fulfill the plan, exceed quotas, defend the USSR”
Master of this message was Gustav Klutsis
Used mostly red and black All designed to stress the monumental and heroic aspect of the age.
His propaganda attacked the enemies of the State both within and without, always portraying the Soviet Union as the victor of peace and social justice
Second Five Year Plan
Beginning in 1934, Stalin embarked on a thorough purge of the Party, then the army. Anyone remotely suspected of opposition or even lack of enthusiasm was exiled to the camps or shot
Purges claimed the lives of many artists even Gustav Klutsis
Literature, art and posters of this period overwhelmingly stressed the role of the infallible Leader, Joseph Stalin.
Terror, drove out originality and spontaneity in not only propaganda, but in art until the death of Stalin in 1953

50. Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, 1936
Greeting to those who have joined the work at the world-wide giant Dneprostroi DGES (Dnieper Hydroelectirc Dam), 1932
A Country should know its Heroes, c.1930
The Komsomol Fleet greets the great Stalin!, 1939
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, 1936

51. The Great Patriotic War (1939 - 1945)
The forces unleashed in the crisis of the Civil War were rekindled, and Soviet artists rose to the challenge.
The themes of Soviet propaganda shifted dramatically as the threat of the Nazis grew. Patriotic themes began to overshadow communism and class struggle.
Speeches and posters were populated by references to great pre-Soviet heroes.
Two most famous phrases, both by Moor.
“How have you helped the Front”
“Have you enrolled as a volunteer”.

52. Liberate them!, 1942 Liberate!, 1942
How have you Helped the Front?, 1941
A blow to the enemy. There will be a celebration even on our street., 1944
Let's give a hand of brotherly help to the inhabitants of villages and towns freed from the fascists, 1942

53. The Cold War ( )
Return of “Social Realism” and other Utopian Views
Up until his death in 1953, posters focused on the glory of Stalin
The middle years of the Cold War depicted the Vietnam War and the great strides taken in the Space Race
Denounced the aims and goals of Capitalism, viewed as the main threat of communism
Denounced religion as a threat to the communist ideals
12,000 churches closed by Krushchev in 1959

54. Under Lenin's banner, with Stalin's leadership - ahead toward Communism, 1948
Religious rites - Young and old, Tear these strings!, c. 1966
The Republic of the Free - The Hammer & Sickle forever forge the shield, 1966
Pledge to the Motherland and Communist Ideas, 1978
Stop U.S. Agression in Vietnam, 1974