1. RUSSIA – A BACKGROUND
PRE – REVOLUTION

2. By the 20th Century A major crisis was due and had to happen
Russia was an unfair society and needed social, economic and political reform.
WHY????

3. Political Nicholas II – autocratic and ineffective
Ruled a country covering one-sixth of the earth’s total land surface
Massive personal wealth
Backed by a large army and secret police
Political parties banned – critics ended up in prison or exile
Press was censored

4. Yet Many Russians worshipped the Tsar and peasants
typically had a picture of the Tsar on a wall of their hut.

5. His rule His word was law He appointed his ministers
But did not have to listen to them
AND could ‘hire and fire’ them at will
He was a true autocrat.

6. SOCIAL

7. Peasants Only 40% ethnic Russians
80% were peasants – subsistence farmers
60%+ = illiterate
Life expectancy = 40
Low tech and low investment
Land ownership rare
Land owned by communes (OBSCHINA ) which organised taxes and allotted strips of land
Peasants could not leave the commune without the consent of the elders
Discipline and punishments harsh – even to exile in Siberia
Drought and crop failure common
1891 = famine + cholera and typhus = 400,000 dead
1890 – 64 % of peasants called up for military service were declared unfit.

8. YET..Yet…
Some did prosper and it was generally the shortage of land rather than shortage of food that was the irritant.
Rural population grew
Faith in Tsar remained strong
BUT hunger for land would grow.

9. Industrial and urban
Russia had grown industrially but living and working conditions were horrendous
Average working day was 14 hours
Trade unions banned but some strikes took place
Potential for hotbed of political activism

10. Strikes in Russia 1910-1914 Year Number of Strikes 1910 222 1911 466
1912
2032
1913
2404
1914
4098

12. Unrest prior to 1905 The passivity of the Russian people had limits
May 1896 – riots in St. Petersburg
Street demonstrations in Rostov on Don
arson of manor houses in rural areas became commonplace
1904 – Viacheslav Plehve – Minister of the interior assassinated by Social Revolutionary

13. Revolutions 1905 March 1917 November 1917
Failed – Tsar still in control but establishment of Duma.
March 1917
Food shortages led to looting & strikes
Many in the army joined the protesters, police refused to do anything
Group of middle class duma members called themselves the Provisional government. Tsar realised he had no support so abdicated.
November 1917
Provisional Government kept Russia in war
Peasants had seized land, Provisional Government did not support them
Bolsheviks seized power using their Red Guard of armed workers.
“Peace! Bread! Land!” Lenin

14. Civil War
Bolsheviks had overthrown the Provisional Government by other political parties (Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries) thought it undemocratic.
Lenin took all land from Church & nobles and gave it to the peasants, (for support)
He surrendered to Germany, and lost a lot of land in the peace treaty.
Lenin renamed his party the Communist Party in January 1918.
Many army officers were ashamed of the surrender so sided with the Social Revolutionaries & Mensheviks and began to raise an army (the Whites)
Britain, France, USA & Japan agreed to help the Whites
Lenin’s Red army faced Whites on all sides.
July 1918 Bolsheviks murdered the Tsar & his family
Slowly the Red army won the Civil War

15. War Communism
In order to win the Civil War the communists put together an army of 3 million men, who all needed to be fed and supplied.
Lenin introduced a policy known as War Communism – a system that gave the communists direct control of all trade and industry.
At the same time Russian was suffering from soaring inflation and money became almost worthless.
Peasants did not want to accept money in return for produce – so shortage of food in towns.
Communists responded by sending out requisition squads of soldiers to take food from the peasants without payment.
Peasants angry, so cut down the amount they produced – terrible famine – 5 million people died.

16. New Economic Policy
After War Lenin introduced New Economic Policy – aimed to boot the economy and remove opposition from workers & peasants.
He allowed small-scale private businesses and peasants to be able to sell produce from farming, (as long as they paid a tax)
Requisition squads stopped raiding farms so peasants not interested in rebellion.

17. Rise of Stalin
In 1922 Stalin was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party as he was a good administrator.
Lenin died of a stroke in 1924.
After his death a committee of seven (known as the Politburo) ruled the Soviet Union. Stalin was on this committee.
Stalin started handing out key jobs to his supporters.
Stalin took control of the Politburo.
By 1929 five of the other six men in the Politburo had been driven out.

18. Collectivisation
In 1929 Stalin decided that the economic freedoms of the NEP should be abandoned. The state would at once take direct control over every aspect of economic life. He introduced a programme of collectivisation in agriculture. This meant that the thousands of small privately owned farms would be combined into a small number of large collective farms run directly by the state.

19. Collectivisation
Stalin thought bigger farms could make better use of machinery and production would increase.
During the 1920s some peasants had prospered under the NEP. This led to a growth in the class of better-off peasants known as kulaks.
Stalin did not trust the peasants, so decided to destroy the Kulaks as a warning to others.

20. 1928-1941 Five-year Plans – to increase output.
Purges – Opposition (real or imagined) rooted out.
People shot or sent to labour camps (gulags)
Secret police and terror tactics
Supporters gained privileges, higher wages & better housing.
August 1939 – Nazi-Soviet Pact
June 1941 – Hitler invades the Soviet Union.