1. Lenin: History will not forgive us if we do not assume power
Russian Revolution
Lenin: History will not forgive us if we do not assume power

2. Russia at the turn of the century 1900
Approx 128 million people
23 million square kilometres
Frontiers with 12 countries
Washed by 12 seas from 3 oceans
Occupies 1/6th of earth’s land surface
¼ of Russia in Europe ¾ in Asia
=1/2 Europe and 1/3 of Asia
Southern Russia tropical
Northern Russia in arctic circle- 1/3 permanently frozen
Around 85% of pop’n live in countryside
Population of St Petersberg = 1,
Moscow= 1,040,000
Between 1850 and 1900 Russia’s population had doubled

3. Peasants had been serfs until 1861 (Emancipation Act)
Majority of population is slavic (aprox 3/4) remaining pop’n made up of over 200 nationalities
Main religion is Russian Orthodox however 40 religions practised

4. What does this mean?
Nobility owned best land, peasants lived in extreme poverty
Orthodox Church became a gov’t department called Holy Synod. Run by Chief Procurator, an official appointed by the tsar, completely under the control of the tsar- church VIP in Russification program (forbidding the use of local languages and the suppression of local customs)
Land is in reality a source of national weakness not strength
Conditions in factories were well below those enjoyed in the rest of industrialised Europe. Average working day = 11 hours, 10 on Saturday
Trade unions illegal
Strikes are illegal- army called in to disperse problems

5. Facets of life: Army In 1826 over 1 million conscripts
Conscripts served for 25 years
Way of maintaining order- lower ranks were large and filled with conscripts- a punishment for those who broke the law
Brutal experience
Notorious for severity of discipline and grimness of the conditions in which soldiers lived
Based on the idea that a large country needed a large army

6. Politically:
Compared with other European nations it had remained outside the mainstream of European political thought
Desperately needed to rebuild SP and Moscow, improve transport and make army more efficient
No Parliament, free press, government censorship was imposed on published books and journals
Supporters of reform went underground, secret societies dedicated to political reform or revolution grew
Lynch argues that in a society where state oppression was met with revolutionary terror there was no moderate ground on which tradition of ordered political debate could develop

7. Church Moscow considered 3rd Rome, God’s city
Close link between patriotism, church and government
Assumption was that all loyal subjects should belong to State Church
Church perceived as arm of the State
“God commands us to love and obey from the inmost recesses of the heart every authority, particularly the tsar” over half of primary schools are run by the church
Church was a deeply conservative body which opposed political change and determined to preserve tsarist authority
Reactionary

8. Economy Overwhelmingly agricultural Some industry
Long winters encouraged peasant handicrafts as vital supplement to farming
Poverty of masses discouraged enterprise
Factories founded for State needs
Low numbers of urban workers= Russia not achieved major industrial growth
Absence of effective banking system
Russia could not raise capital on a large scale
Black sea is a crucial area for access to Mediterranean