Causes Of 1917 Revolution

Question 1

What is communism?

Answer 1

A system in which different classes are abolished and the state controls all aspects of life.

Question 2

What is capitalism?

Answer 2

A system in which those who own wealth have political and economic power.

Question 3

What is Industrial Revolution?

Answer 3

Changes in society as a result of new industrial machinery which made production easier.

Question 4

What are reformers?

Answer 4

People who want to chance something in society.

Question 5

When did the ideas of communism begin?

Answer 5

Ideas of communicant first began before the 19th century, but they were developed more fully during the Industrial Revolution.

Question 6

What did the Industrial Revolution mean for people’s movement?

Answer 6

The Industrial Revolution was when hundreds of thousands of people left the agricultural areas and moved to the towns to find work in new factories.

Question 7

What did the movement of people during the Industrial Revolution result in?

Answer 7

Their living and working conditions were bad and many lived in severe poverty.
A large gap in wealth developed between a small number of rich people and the majority who were poor.
The economic system that developed from industrialisation was capitalism.

Question 8

When did capitalism become the dominant system and where?

Answer 8

By the 1850s it had become the dominant economic system in Western Europe and North America.

Question 9

Who spoke out against the capitalist system?

Answer 9

Some philosophers and reformers spoke out against the inequality between those who had wealth and power and those who owned very little.
They questioned the value of the whole capitalist system and suggest an alternative form of government which became known as socialism or communism.

Question 10

What are the key features of the theatre of communism? (5)

Answer 10

Resources (land, mines, factories etc) are owned by the state on behalf of the people; no private ownership; all profits used for the benefit of society as a whole.
Greater equality; no class divisions caused by an unequal spread of wealth.
Government control of the economy; all decisions to be centrally planned by it (such as what should be made, which factory or farm should make it, what price it would be, who should get what job).
Housing, medical services, the education system and all social services provided free by the state.
Equality and the common good are valued more than individual freedom.

Question 11

Who did Marx believe the struggle during the Industrial Age was between?

Answer 11

The capitalists (who owned factories, businesses and land) and the proletariat (who owned only their labour)

Question 12

How did Marx believe the proletariat would have to go about getting change?

Answer 12

He believed that the proletariat would have to use an armed revolution to bring about change because the capitalists would not give their control willingly.
Once in power, the working class would need to establish a “dictatorship of the proletariat” for a while to prevent the old rulers from getting back into power.
They would have to nationalise the factories, banks, land and communications networks, in order to redistribute wealth in society.
When this I achieved Marx believed there would be no need for governments, and all people would be free and equal in a perfect communist society.

Question 13

How did Russia find out about Marx’s ideas?

Answer 13

Marx wrote many books about his ideas, the most famous was Das Kapitol.
His ideas attracted a following of many intellectuals and political activists throughout Europe, including Russia.

Question 14

What are proletariat?

Answer 14

The urban working class

Question 15

What was the rulership of Russia in the beginning of the 20th century?

Answer 15

Russia was ruled by a tsar who had absolute power over a population of about 175 million people.
The last tsar, Nicholas II (1894-1917), made the laws himself and appointed appointed all the ministers.
He failed to see that the whole system needed to be reformed and modernised.

Question 16

Discuss the peasant situation in Russia at the time and why they would’ve been angry at the government system?

Answer 16

Most Russians were peasants who lived I poverty and hardship working on the land.
Few owned their land so depended on landowning nobles for shelter and food.
Farming methods were backward so levels of production were low and food shortages were common,
There were frequent peasant uprisings usually because of famine, and these were brutally crushed.
There was an urgent need for land reform, but the tsarist government did nothing about it.

Question 17

How were Russia far behind the rest of Europe?

Answer 17

In industry.
In the 1900 only 16% of the population worked in factories. (Unhappy about low wages and poor working and living conditions)
Majority of population were illiterate only 4% received formal education in 1914.

Question 18

Why could t opposition movements openly criticise the government?

Answer 18

Revolutionary movements were ruthlessly crushed by the Okhrana (the secret police)
Revolutionary leaders were executed, imprisoned or sent into exile in Siberia, the frozen northern and eastern regions of Russia.

Question 19

Who were the most important opposition groups?

Answer 19

The socialist revolutionaries and the social democrats
Both followed the theatrics or Karl Marx

Question 20

Who supported the social revolutionaries?

Answer 20

Most peasants supported the socialist revolutionaries because they wanted to redistribute the land amounts themselves.

Question 21

Who supported the social democrats?

Answer 21

Workers and students

Question 22

Which two groups did the social democrats split into?

Answer 22

The Mensheviks (the minority) and the Bolsheviks (the majority)

Question 23

What did the Mensheviks believe in?

Answer 23

Building the organisation slowly and once they had mass support, they would take power

Question 24

What did the Bolshevik’s believe in?

Answer 24

They were more radical and what’re a direct and immediate revolution to overthrow the tsarist government.

Question 25

What were the causes of the revolution in Russia and how many were there?

Answer 25

The political system, the social structure, the economic conditions and the spread of revolutionary ideas were all causes of the revolution in Russia. There were three revolutions in Russia: one in 1905 and two in 1917.

Question 26

Discuss the break out of the 1905 Revolution

Answer 26

It broke out when soldier fired on 200 000 workers who had marched to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, the capital, to present a Pretoria to the tsar.
The petition asked for improved working conditions and basic human rights.
The brutal shooting became known as the “Bloody Sunday” massacre.

Question 27

What happened as a result of the “Bloody Sunday” massacre?

Answer 27

It sparked off strikes, demonstrations, riots, mutinies (rebellions against the authorities) and unrest throughout Russia.
This unrest fuelled the protests against the government.

Question 28

Explain how soviets were formed

Answer 28

Workers in St Petersburg formed the first soviet to organise the protests and to put together the workers demands.
Soon soviets were formed in other parts of Russia too.

Question 29

Who was Leon Trotsky?

Answer 29

Leon Trotsky was a social Democrat, who then supported the Mensheviks, and was an important leader of the St Petersburg Soviet.
He wrote pamphlets and newspaper articles to inspire the workers.
Although the tsar closed down the Soviet and Trotsky was sent to prison, many people realised that he was an outstanding leader.

Question 30

What is a Soviet?

Answer 30

A council formed by workers, as an alternative form of government.

Question 31

What is a Duma?

Answer 31

Parliament

Question 32

Discuss Russias first Duma

Answer 32

To stop the protests, the tee established Russia’s first Duma.
All adult men could vote and the Duma could pass new laws.
This promise of reform and the fact that the armed forces remained loyal to him kept the tsar in power.
Some opposition groups welcomed the establishment of a Duma, but Lennon didn’t believe its come to real change.

Question 33

How was Lenin right about the Duma?

Answer 33

He was proved correct when the tsar dismissed the first two Dumas after only a few months because he felt their demands were too radical.
He made sure the Duma had no real power.

Question 34

How did the 1905 revolution make Trotsky believe they shouldn’t wait to start the revolution?

Answer 34

Socialists had believed that change would be made by the workers in an industrialised country, where the old society of landlords and peasants had already been overturned by a capitalist class.
But after the 1905 revolution, Trotsky argued that there was no need for Russia to wait until it was fully industrialised before there was a revolution.
Instead a small but unified urban working class could start a revolution in a mainly rural peasant society.

Question 35

How was Lenin influenced by Trotsky?

Answer 35

Lenin was influenced by the experience of the 1905 and by Trotkys ideas about the importance of organising the industrial workers to lead the revolution without alliances with other classes or parties.
Lenin believed that only a small and well organised group of vanguard revolutionaries could bring about change in Russia.

Question 36

How did the 1905 revolution influence the 1917 revolution?

Answer 36

It showed how mass participation of workers and peasants could be a powerful force for change.
The 1905 revolution also showed that the tsarist government was still strong enough to keep control.
By 1917 this had changed.

Question 37

Which event led to downfall of the tsar?

Answer 37

First World War which started in 1914

Question 38

How was Russia involved in WWI?

Answer 38

Russia joined the allied side but was badly prepared for war, because it lacked the money to manufacture weapons, and to feed, clothe and train soldiers and ad a result was defeated several times by the German army.

Question 39

How did WWI affect Russia?

Answer 39

Thousands of Russians were killed or taken prisoner.
Many Russian soldiers began to desert because of terrible conditions at the front, shortages of arms, ammunition and provisions, and poor leadership.
The way put great strains on the Russian economy.
Agriculture and industry were affected by military conscription and hundreds of factories closed down because of shortages of raw materials, fuel and labour.
By 1917 Russia was in a state of crisis.

Question 40

What was the result by February 1917 that led to the Tsar’s abdication?

Answer 40

Unemployment, rising prices and food shortages led to demonstrations in the capital.
The soldiers who were sent to crush the protests openly supported the demonstrators instead.
The tsar could no longer suppress the revolution as he had done in 1905 and was persuaded to abdicate by his ministers and generals.

Question 41

What happened after the tsar abdicated?

Answer 41

The Duma appointed a provisional government from its own members to rule Russian until elections could be held.
The members of this government didn’t have the experience or the authority to tackle the huge problems facing Russia in 1917.
The government introduced some liberal reforms: it freed political prisoners, allowed political exiles to return and recognised freedom of speech and of the press. But it didn’t tackle the most pressing issues such as the redistribution of land amount the peasants. It decided to continue ti right in the First World War against Germany, in spite of the desperate conditions within the Russian army.

Question 42

What happened when people lost faith in the government in Russia?

Answer 42

Workers and soldiers elected soviets to govern factories, regiments and entire cities. The most powerful force f these was the Petrograd Soviet.