Russian revolution

PPT by Vinod Kumar
Socialscience4u.blogspot.com

The Age of Social Change
Before the eighteenth century society was broadly divided into estates and orders and
it was the Aristocracy and Church which controlled economic and social power. In many
parts of the world including Europe and Asia, new ideas about individual rights and
who controlled social power began to be discussed.
Liberals, Radicals and Conservatives
Liberals opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers and wanted to safeguard
the rights of individuals against governments.
Radicals wanted an elected majority government.
Conservative accepted some change was inevitable but believed that the past had to
be respected and change had to be brought about through a slow process.

The London poor in the mid-nineteenth century
Industrial Society and Social Change
As Industrial Revolution occurred it brought men, women and children to factories.
Work hours were often long and wages were poor. Unemployment was common.
Housing and sanitation were problems since towns were growing rapidly. Liberals and
radicals searched for solutions to these issues.
Liberals and Radicals believed in the value of individual effort, labour and enterprise. If
freedom of individuals was ensured, if the poor could labour, and those with capital
could operate without restraint, they believed that societies would develop.
Some nationalists, liberals and radicals wanted revolutions to put an end to the kind of
governments established in Europe in 1815. In France, Italy, Germany and Russia, they
became revolutionaries and worked to overthrow existing monarchs

Coming of Socialism to Europe
Socialists were against private property, and saw
it as the root of all social ills of the time. They
believed that if society as a whole rather than
single individuals controlled property, more
attention would be paid to collective social
interests.
Robert Owen (1771-1858), English manufacturer,
sought to build a cooperative community called
New Harmony in Indiana (USA).
Louis Blanc (1813-1882) wanted the government
to encourage cooperatives and replace capitalist
enterprises, associations of people who produced
goods together and divided the profits according
to the work done by members.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels
(1820-1895) added other ideas to this body of
arguments. Marx believed that workers had to
construct a radically socialist society where all
the property was socially controlled, a
communist society.
By the 1870s, socialist ideas spread through
Europe. To coordinate their efforts, socialists
formed an international body – namely, the
Second International. Workers in England and
Germany began forming associations to fight for
better living and working conditions.

The Russian Revolution
The fall of monarchy in February 1917 and the events
of October are normally called the Russian Revolution.
The Russian Empire in 1914
In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its empire.
85% population were agriculturists, Russia was a
major grain exporter.
Prominent Industrial were – St. Petersburg & Moscow
Workers were divided on the basis of skill. Women
made up 31 per cent of the factory labour force by
1914, but they were paid less than men. Despite
divisions, workers did unite to strike work (stop work)
when they disagreed with employers about dismissals
or work conditions.
In the countryside, peasant cultivated most of the
land owned by the Nobility, Crown and the Orthodox
Church. Russian peasants were different from other
European peasants
(i) Pooled their land together periodically
(ii) Their commune divided it according to the needs
of individual families

Socialism in Russia
All political parties were illegal in Russia
before 1914. The Russian Social Democratic
Workers Party was founded in 1898 by
socialists who respected Marx’s ideas, it
had to operate as an illegal organisation.
Socialists in the countryside formed the
Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900. Social
Democrats disagreed with Socialist
Revolutionaries about peasants.
The party was divided over the strategy of
organisation. Vladimir Lenin (who led the
Bolshevik group) thought that in a
repressive society like Tsarist Russia the
party should be disciplined and should
control the number and quality of its
members. Others (Mensheviks) thought
that the party should be open to all (as in
Germany).

A Turbulent Time: The 1905 Revolution
In the year 1904 prices of essential goods. Workers
in St Petersburg went on strike demanding a
reduction in the working day to eight hours, an
increase in wages and improvement in working
conditions.
A procession of workers led by Father Gapon
reached the Winter Palace, here it was attacked by
the police and the Cossacks. Over 100 workers were
killed and about 300 wounded. The incident, known
as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that
became known as the 1905 Revolution.

During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed
the creation of an elected consultative
Parliament or Duma. The Tsar dismissed the
first Duma within 75 days and the re-elected
second Duma within three months. He
changed the voting laws and packed the third
Duma with conservative politicians. Liberals
and revolutionaries were kept out.

The First World War and the Russian Empire
The Tsar refused to consult the main parties in the
Duma. The Tsarina Alexandra’s German origins and poor
advisers, especially a monk called Rasputin, made the
autocracy unpopular.
Russia’s armies lost badly in Germany and Austria
between 1914 and 1916. There were over 7 million
casualties by 1917. Retreating Russian army destroyed
crops and buildings which led to over 3 million refugees
in Russia.
The war also had a severe impact on industry. Industrial
equipment disintegrated, by 1916, railway lines began to
break down. Labour shortages forced small workshops
producing essentials to shut down. Bread and flour
became scarce, riots at bread shops were common.

The February Revolution in Petrograd
In the winter of 1917, conditions in the capital,
Petrograd, were grim. In February 1917, food shortages
were deeply felt in the workers’ quarters. The winter was
very cold – there had been exceptional frost and heavy
snow.
On 22 February, a lockout took place at a factory on the
right bank. The next day, workers in fifty factories called
a strike in sympathy. In many factories, women led the
way to strikes. This came to be called the International
Women’s Day.

On Sunday, 25 February, the government suspended the Duma. On the 27th, the Police
Headquarters were ransacked. The cavalry refused to fire on the demonstrators. An officer
was shot at the barracks of a regiment and three other regiments mutinied, voting to join
the striking workers. By that evening, soldiers and striking workers had gathered to form
a ‘soviet’ or ‘council’. This was the Petrograd Soviet. Tsar Nicholas II followed his
commanders advice and abdicated on 2 March. Soviet leaders and Duma leaders formed a
Provisional Government to run the country. Petrograd had led the February Revolution
that brought down the monarchy in February 1917.

After February
‘Soviets’, like the Petrograd Soviet, were set up
everywhere, though no common system of election
was followed. In April 1917, the Bolshevik leader
Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from his exile. He
declared that the war be brought to a close, land be
transferred to the peasants, and banks be
nationalised. These three demands were Lenin’s ‘April
Theses’. He also argued that the Bolshevik Party
rename itself the Communist Party to indicate its new
radical aims.

In June, about 500 Soviets sent representatives to
an All Russian Congress of Soviets. As the
Provisional Government saw its power reduce
and Bolshevik influence grow, it decided to take
stern measures against the spreading discontent.
Popular demonstrations staged by the Bolsheviks
in July 1917 were sternly repressed. Many
Bolshevik leaders had to go into hiding or flee.
Socialist Revolutionary leaders pressed for a
redistribution of land. Encouraged by the Socialist
Revolutionaries, peasants seized land between
July and September 1917.

The Revolution of October 1917
On 16 October 1917, Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and the Bolshevik Party to
agree to a socialist seizure of power. A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed
by the Soviet under Leon Trotskii to organise the seizure. The uprising began on 24
October. Sensing trouble, Prime Minister Kerenskii had left the city to summon troops. The
Military Revolutionary Committee ordered its supporters to seize government offices and
arrest ministers. By nightfall, the city was under the committee’s control and the ministers
had surrendered. At a meeting of the All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd, the
majority approved the Bolshevik action. By December, the Bolsheviks controlled the
Moscow-Petrograd area.

What Changed after October?
The Bolsheviks were totally opposed to private property. Most industry and banks were
nationalised in November 1917. Land was declared social property and peasants were
allowed to seize the land of the nobility. In cities, Bolsheviks enforced the partition of
large houses according to family requirements, banned the old titles of aristocracy, new
uniforms were designed for the army and officials.
The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). In November
1917, Bolsheviks conducted the elections to the Constituent Assembly, but failed to gain
majority support. In January 1918, Lenin dismissed the Assembly. In March 1918 made
peace with Germany at Brest Litovsk. The Bolsheviks became the only party to participate
in the elections to the All Russian Congress of Soviets, which became the Parliament of
the country. Russia became a one-party state. Trade unions were kept under party
control. The secret police (called the Cheka first, and later OGPU and NKVD) punished
those who criticised the Bolsheviks.

The Civil War
Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik
uprising. Their leaders moved to south Russia and organised troops to fight the Bolsheviks
(the ‘reds’). During 1918 and 1919, the ‘greens’ (Socialist Revolutionaries) and ‘whites’ (pro-
Tsarists) controlled most of the Russian empire. They were backed by foreign forces who
were worried at the growth of socialism in Russia. As these troops and the Bolsheviks fought
a civil war, looting, banditry and famine became common. Supporters of private property
among ‘whites’ took harsh steps with peasants who had seized land. Such actions led to the
loss of popular support for the non-Bolsheviks. By January 1920, the Bolsheviks controlled
most of the former Russian empire. Most non-Russian nationalities were given political
autonomy in the Soviet Union (USSR) – created from the Russian empire in December 1922.

Making a Socialist Society
A process of centralised planning was introduced.
Officials assessed how the economy could work
and set targets for a five-year period. The
government fixed all prices to promote industrial
growth during the first two ‘Plans’.
Centralised planning led to economic growth.
Industrial production increased. New factory cities
came into being. However, rapid construction led
to poor working conditions. The effect of all this
was uneven, though, since government resources
were limited.

Stalinism and Collectivisation
The period of the early Planned Economy was linked to the disasters of the
collectivisation of agriculture. The government fixed prices at which grain must be sold.
In 1928, Party members toured the grain-producing areas, supervising enforced grain
collections, and raiding ‘kulaks’ – the name for well- to-do peasants. As shortages
continued, the decision was taken to collectivise farms.
From 1929, the Party forced all peasants to cultivate in collective farms (kolkhoz). The
bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms.
Peasants worked on the land, and the kolkhoz profit was shared. Those who resisted
collectivisation were severely punished. Stalin’s government allowed some independent
cultivation, but treated such cultivators unsympathetically.

The Global Influence of the Russian Revolution and the USSR
The possibility of a workers’ state fired people’s imagination across the world. In many
countries, communist parties were formed. Many non-Russians from outside the USSR
participated in the Conference of the Peoples of the East (1920) and the Bolshevik-founded
Comintern.
Yet by the 1950s it was acknowledged within the country that the style of government in
the USSR was not in keeping with the ideals of the Russian Revolution. It had denied the
essential freedoms to its citizens and carried out its developmental projects through
repressive policies. By the end of the twentieth century, the international reputation of
the USSR as a socialist country had declined though it was recognised that socialist ideals
still enjoyed respect among its people.

Writing about the Russian Revolution in India
Among those the Russian Revolution inspired were many Indians. Several attended the
Communist University. By the mid-1920s the Communist Party was formed in India. Its
members kept in touch with the Soviet Communist Party. Important Indian political and
cultural figures took an interest in the Soviet experiment and visited Russia, among them
Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote about Soviet Socialism. In India,
writings gave impressions of Soviet Russia. In Hindi, R.S. Avasthi wrote in 1920-21
Russian Revolution, Lenin, His Life and His Thoughts, and later The Red Revolution . S.D.
Vidyalankar wrote The Rebirth of Russia and The Soviet State of Russia. There was much
that was written in Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.

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