1. How do you resist oppressive rule- with violent or non-violent action?
Russian Revolution
How do you resist oppressive rule- with violent or non-violent action?

2. Facts on Russia Geography
Russian occupied 1/6th of the earth's land surface
it occupied 1/2 of Europe and 1/3 of Asia
it had frontiers with twelve countries
it was washed by twelve seas from three oceans
Southern Russia is sub-tropical
Northern Russia is within the Arctic Circle: 1/3 of the land is permanently frozen.

3. Facts on Russia
People
total population approximately 110 million
three quarters of the population was Slavic
the remaining quarter belonged to 180 different nationalities
125 languages were spoken
40 religions were practiced - the main religion was Orthodox Christianity

4. Causes Autocracy- ruler has unlimited power
Russo-Japanese War- in 1905, Russians lost a war with Japan
Serfs were not emancipated until 1860’s- life did not get much better for them
Industrialization- low wages, bad working conditions, child labor.

5. Autocracy

6. Czar Nicholas II and Family

7. Peasant Conditions

8. Peasants

9. Peasants

10. Workers in Moscow

11. Strikes/Revolutionary Movements
Poor conditions led to strikes and revolutionary movements
Bolsheviks- radical Marxists who believed the proletariat- or workers, would overthrow the Czar
Vladimir Lenin- leader of the Bolsheviks- in hiding until WW1

12. Vladimir Lenin

13. Bloody Sunday
200,000 workers and their families marched to the Czar’s palace.
They wanted better working conditions, more freedom, and an elected legislature
They were led by a priest and had a signed petition
Over 1,000 wounded and hundreds killed

14. Cossacks

15. WW1 Russia not prepared for War- over 4 million died in 1st year.
Czar Nicholas moves to war front to rally troops- leaves wife in charge of Russia
She ignored advisors and listened only to Rasputin- a holy man who put his friends in charge

16. Rasputin

17. Rasputin

18. March Revolution
Rasputin was murdered by Russian nobility- now the Czar did not have support of Nobles OR common people
Women in Petrograd led a strike- riots flared up all over the country over shortages of bread and fuel

19. Petrograd

20. Bread Line

21. “Down with the Autocracy! Down with the War!!”
Soldiers disobeyed orders to shoot citizens
Czar Nicholas gives up the throne and a temporary government is put in place
Germans ship Lenin back to Russia by train- hoped Lenin would hurt Russian war effort

22. Lenin

23. Bolsheviks Gain Power
Bolsheviks gain power in Soviets- local councils made up of workers, peasants, soldiers
Russians pull out of WW1
Czar and family executed by revolutionaries
Civil war ends in Bolsheviks win

24. Duma Messenger

25. Revolutionary Comparison
The Russian revolution was more like the French revolution than the American revolution
French/Russians wanted to destroy society and replace it with something else- Americans built on English society

26. Nikolay Kogout, 1920
Your enemies want to send you to war against me, your brother, by deceit and intimidation. Do not listen to them! If you want peace and freedom, take up your rifle with me and beat your enemies. Publisher: Revvoensovet, Moscow (Lithography, 83x60 cm., inv.nr. BG E11/737) Poster with text in Tatar, meant for distribution in the Crimea. The Tatars are to fight on the Red side against the White generals Vrangel and Joffre, who are pictured as the accomplices of bourgeoisie and capitalism.

27. Designer unknown, 1919
A general military training is a safeguard for freedom Publisher: Vsebovuch, Moscow (Lithography, 110.5x74.5 cm., inv.nr. BG L3/210) In the years following 1917, the Soviet Union is torn by a bloody civil war between the 'Reds' (the communists) and the 'Whites'. This poster calls for the farmers to fight on the side of the Reds.

28. Designer unknown, 1920
What the October Revolution has given to working and peasant women Publisher: Gosizdat, Moscow (Lithography, 106x73 cm., inv.nr. BG L3/212) The woman gestures towards a library, a mensa, a workers club, a school for adults and a 'house of mother and child'. The 'October Revolution' is nowadays usually referred to as the November Revolution, due to differences in calendar systems.

29. Viktor Deni, 1919
Capital (Lithography, 51.5x36 cm., inv.nr. BG D23/103) Capital as the source of all evil. Under the image a satirical poem by Demjan Bedny. The red text on the left states that damaging the poster or pasting another one over it is a counter-revolutionary crime.

30. Dimitry Moor, 1919
Proletarians of all countries, unite! (Lithography, 97x69.5 cm., inv.nr. BG L3/208) Soldier, farmer and worker: the new rulers. The text at the top, 'Proletarians of all countries, unite', is taken from the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848). The emblem of a hammer and a plough, in the red star at the centre above, is soon replaced by the familiar hammer and sickle.