The Russian Revolution

The
Russian
revolution
Liberals
Conservative
Radicals

• Wanted a nation which tolerated all religions. They were against the
uncontrolled power of the dynastic rulers . They wanted rights for
individuals. They argued for an elected parliamentary government,
subject to laws interpreted by a well trained judiciary that was
independent of rulers and officials. They were not democrats because
they did not believe in universal adult franchise.

•Wanted a nation in which government was based on
the majority of a country’s population. They disliked
concentration of property in hands of a few, not the
existence of private property.

•They resisted change. After the revolution they
started accepting change provided it was slow and
had links and respected the past.

• This was the time of economic and social change. It was
also the beginning of the industrial revolution. Men, women
and children were pushed into factories for low wages,
Liberals and radicals who were factory owners felt
that efforts must be encouraged so that benefits of
industrialization should be passed on to workers.

• socialists were against private property and saw it as root of
social evils . They had different visions of the future. Some
believed in cooperatives, some demanded that
governments must encourage cooperatives.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels added that industrial society
was capitalist. Marx believed that a socialist society would
free the workers from capitalism. This would be a
communist society.

• Most of the Russian population( about 85 %) were agriculturalist.
Industries were being set up which was mostly private property of
industrialists. Workers were divided into groups but they did unite to
strike work when they were dissatisfied. Peasants had no respect for
nobility, very unlike the French peasant. Russian peasants were the
only peasant community which pooled their land and their commune
divided it.

• All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1914.
The Russian Socialist Democratic Labor Party was formed in 1898. It
struggled to give peasants their rights over land that belonged to
nobles. As land was divided among peasants periodically which
makes them natural socialist and it was felt that peasants and not
workers would be the main source of the revolution. But Lenin did not
agree with this as he felt that peasants were not one social group. The
party was divided into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

• Russia was an autocracy. The Tsar was not subject
to the parliament. Liberals wanted to end this state
of affairs. They worked towards demanding a
constitution during the Revolution of 1905.

• Prices of essential goods rose so quickly by 1904 that the real wages
declined by 20%. During this time, four members of the Putilov Iron
Works were dismissed. Action was called for. Over 110,000 workers in
St. Petersburg went on strike demanding a reduction in working hours
and increase in wages. The procession was led by Father
Gapon.This procession was attacked by the police and Cossacks.
Over 100 workers were killed. Strikes took place as a reaction. People
demanded a constituent assembly.
• The Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or
Duma. The Tsar dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and
announced the election of a second Duma.

• In Russia, the war was initially very popular but later the
support grew thin. Anti-German sentiments ran high.
Russian armies lost badly in Germany and Austria. There
were 7 million casualties and 3 million refugees in Russia.
The war also affected the industry. There was labor
shortage, railway lines were shut down and small
workshops were closed down. There was shortage of grain
and hence of bread.

• In the winter of 1917, Petrograd was grim. There was food shortage in the workers’ quarters.
• 22 February : a lockout took place at a factory. Workers of 50 other factories joined in sympathy. Women also led and participated in the
strikes. This came to be called the International Women’s Day.
• The government imposed a curfew as the quarters of the fashionable area and official buildings were surrounded by workers.
• On the 24th and 25th, the government called out the cavalry and police to keep an eye on them.
• On 25th February, the government suspended the Duma and politicians spoke against this measure. The people were out with force
once again.
• On 27th, the police headquarters were ransacked.
• Cavalry was called out again however it refused to fire on demonstrators.
• An officer was shot at the barracks of a regiment and other regiments mutinied, voting to join the striking workers gathered to form a
soviet or council. This was the Petrograd Soviet.
• A delegation went to meet the Tsar, military commanders advised him to abdicate.
• The Tsar abdicated on 2nd March.
• A Provincial Government was formed by the Soviet and Duma leaders to run the country.

• Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed.
• Soviets were set up everywhere.
• In individual areas factory committees were formed which began questioning the
way industrialists ran their factories.
• Soldiers’ committees were formed in the army.
• The provisional government saw its power declining and Bolshevik influence grow. It
decided to take stern measures against the spreading discontent.
• It resisted attempts by workers to run factories and arrested leaders.
• Peasants and the socialist revolutionary leaders pressed for a redistribution of land.
Land committees were formed and peasants seized land between July and
September 1917.

• Most industry and banks were nationalized in November 1917.
• Land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the
nobility.
• Use of old aristocratic titles was banned.
• New uniforms were designed for the army and officials.
• Russia became a one party state.
• Trade unions were kept under party control.
• A process of centralized planning was introduced. This led to economic growth.
• Industrial production increased.
• An extended schooling system developed.

• When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the
Russian army began to break up. Non-Bolshevik socialists,
liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the
Bolshevik uprising. They formed their troops and were
called ‘Greens’ which would fight against Bolshevik ‘Red’.
The pro Tsar ‘Whites” controlled most of the Russian
empire. They were supported by French, American, British
and Japanese troops. All these fought a war with the
Bolsheviks.

•Stalin believed that rich peasants and traders
stocked supplies to create shortage of grains.
Hence, collectivization was the need of the hour.
This system would also help to modernize farms.
Those farmers who resisted collectivization were
punished, deported or exiled.

• By the 1950s, it was recognized in the country and outside that
everything was not in keeping with the ideals of the Russian
revolution. Though its industries and agriculture had developed and
the poor were being fed, the essential freedom to its citizens was
being denied. However, it was recognized that social ideals still
enjoyed respect among the Russians. But in each country the ideas of
socialism were rethought in a variety of different ways.

The Russian Revolution

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