Russian Revolution 1894-1921

Question 1

Rule of Nicholas II

Question 2

Impact of 1905 Revolution Duma (change)- October manifesto/dumas

Answer 2

October Manifesto 1905: promised civil rights and freedoms of all people, elections for a State Duma with universal franchise, Duma would pass state laws. March 1906 Duma had 179 seats occupied by Kadets, Trudoviks and SRs (liberal/left-wing parties). 197 Duma members sign a petition to defy the tsar and to continue to meet despite him shutting down the Duma.

Question 3

Impact of 1905 Revolution Duma (continuity)- Fundamental laws limits on duma

Answer 3

Fundamental Laws declared that Nicholas retained full sovereignty by divine right, only the Tsar had legislative or constitutional authority, he could amend, repeal laws without the endorsement of the Duma. Government ministers are appointed by the Tsar alone and are not accountable to the Duma.
Reactions to revolution followed the concessions. Secret police arrest 260 members of the St Petersburg Soviet. Union leaders, strike organisers were targeted. 8 newspapers in the capital were forcibly closed.

Question 4

The End of Romanov Rule

Question 5

Duma (change/instability) duma response to fundamental laws

Answer 5

April 1906 first Duma ignored the agenda declared by the Tsar and debated land reform and constitutional change, urging Nicholas to remove the Fundamental Laws, which he rejected. He dissolved the Duma, and 197 signed a petition to continue meeting despite him shutting down the Duma.
January 1907 Duma produced an assembly that was even more hostile to the Tsar. 250/518 deputies were socialist - the Duma’s 18 Bolshevik deputies delivered speeches against the tsar.

Question 6

Duma (continuity/stability)- fundamental laws limits on duma+ impacts of third duma

Answer 6

Fundamental Laws declared that Nicholas retained full sovereignty by divine right, only the Tsar had legislative or constitutional authority, he could amend, repeal laws without the endorsement of the Duma. Government ministers are appointed by the Tsar alone and were not accountable to the Duma.
1907 Duma is dissolved by Stolypin, Menshevik and Bolshevik deputies are arrested.

Third Duma - Stolypin’s electoral law reduced the number of Duma delegates by 70 and reduced the right to vote. In 1907, 44 per cent of the elected were nobles, 20 percent peasants, Socialists and Kadets occupied less than 1/5th.

Question 7

Stolypin Reforms (success)- Stolypin dumas(3+4)

Answer 7

Third Duma - Stolypin’s electoral law reduced the number of Duma delegates by 70 and reduced the right to vote. In 1907, 44 per cent of the elected were nobles, 20 percent peasants, Socialists and Kadets occupied less than 1/5th.
Stolypin

Stolypin’s land reforms hoped to de-radicalise the peasantry and improve agriculture. Provided assistance and incentives to hard-working peasants, to work for profit rather than landlords or the mir.

Provided aspiring kulaks with banking facilities, loans and assistance, a land bank ensured land was allocated fairly and efficiently. Small plots of land were given to peasants who were successful. 1906-15 total land owned by peasants had increased from 4320 million to 4590 million acres.
Made trade unions legal in 1905, 1912 he sent safety inspectors into the factories to assess working conditions and provide insurance schemes. Production of iron and steel rose by 50 per cent.

Issued a new court system of martial law that allowed for fast arrests and trial of offenders. 3,000 suspects were executed 1906-1909

Question 8

Stolypin Reforms (failure) lena goldfields massacre + Baku oil field

Answer 8

By 1915, more than half the nation’s peasants remained in communal land-ownership, 15 per cent could be classed as kulaks.
Industrial unrest continued. 1912 Workers on the Lena River went on strike 1912, troops fired on protesters, killing 250. 1912 1000 strikes just in St Petersburg.
In 1914, workers at the Baku oil field walked out, in St Petersburg, 118 strikes broke out in reaction. July 1914 12,000 workers from the Putilov steel plant march into the capital where they are fired on by tsarist soldiers. Great general strike of July 1914, which removed 4/5ths of St Petersburg’s industrial output.

Question 9

Provisional Government

Question 10

Provisional Government Initial Problems

Answer 10

The Provisional Government claims to support liberal democracy, it had not been elected, it had no mandate, no endorsement from the people. It was also supposed to be temporary so many people ignored its decrees - the PG had increasing difficulty getting anything passed, by 1917, most of its policies were not carried out fully.
PG decided to keep Russia in the War. Mid April 1917, Milyukov’s note to the Allies, promising that Russia would stay in the war, was leaked to radical socialists and the press, triggering large-scale protests. Collapse of the First Cabinet, six socialist ministers join the Cabinet, Kerensky continues to increase the war effort, orders a new offensive against the Austro-Hungarians, which is a disaster, 400,000 soldiers die

Petrograd Soviet had become a representative council with delegates from almost every factory, workplace and military unit in the capital, and had around 3,000 members. It passed Order Number One calling on all military units to maintain discipline and readiness to seek approval of the Soviet before carrying out any orders passed by the State Duma, producing the ‘Dual Power’ where political control was divided between the Provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet.

Question 11

Provisional Government Reforms

Answer 11

Lack of authority and stable government meant that the Peasant Land Bank became ineffective. Peasants made 700 complaints about landowners in 1917 alone.
Shortages of fuel, raw materials. Inflation increased. Price of grain was raised by 100% to encourage peasants to grow and sell more.
Political prisoners were released and flocked to Petrograd and Moscow. During this period Russia became the freest country in the world. 2 million people joined the trade unions.

Question 12

Bolshevik Party

Answer 12

One of a number of revolutionary parties in a democratically elected institution. Lenin published his April Theses in April 1917. Attacked Bolsheviks who support the PG, claiming that they were traitors to socialism. Urges that the PG be overthrown. Peasants should take land from rich landowners. Alexander Bogdanov considered the speech a ‘delusion of a lunatic’. Joseph Goldenberg claimed that these were a betrayal of socialism and all they had built so far. Kamenev and Zinoviev both consider this rash and wish instead to wait for the Constituent Assembly.

Question 13

Kerensky offensive and the July Crisis

Answer 13

As a result of the Kerensky offensive, on July 3rd, thousands of factory workers demonstrated in Petrograd. 30,000 go to the Petrograd Soviet, where they anticipate a declaration of power from the Soviet. Meanwhile another group gathered outside Kshesinskaya Palace, the place of meeting for Bolshevik leadership and call for Lenin to take power. Lenin meets the crowd but doesn’t throw his support behind them. The crowd turns to looting. Government calls in troops and crushes the rebellion, around 700 are killed, most of them Bolsheviks, more than a 1,000 are arrested. Hundreds of Bolshevik leaders are forced into exile, including Lenin, and Kerensy publishes a report, which claims that Lenin was working for the Germans.

Question 14

Kornilov Affair

Answer 14

Kornilov (Tsarist loyalist, army general) meets with Kerensky to discuss how to preserve the Russian state against revolutionary chaos. Kornilov believed he was given justification to march on Petrograd and destroy the Soviet. Kerensky believes he was attempting a coup. Called upon the Bolshevik Red Guards to help defend Petrograd. Provided with ammunition and weaponry. Trotsky is released from prison.
February-October card-carrying members increased from 24,000-400,000. Red Guards numbered 100,000. Bolsheviks commanded a voting majority in the Petrograd Soviet.

Question 15

Trotsky’s Role

Answer 15

Trotsky and others had set about rebuilding the party’s organisational structure after the July Days. Anti-war and anti-government propaganda was produced. Trotsky became more closely tied to the Bolsheviks from this point. Trotsky sets up the MRC(military revolutionary committee), which oversees Red Guards - Trotsky is the chairman of this organisation.
Trotsky sides with Lenin in supporting the idea of an armed Revolution. Zinoviev and Kamenev had disagreed with this, and wished to wait for elections. He was important in voting them down.

Question 16

Defending the Bolshevik revolution October 1917-24 (economy and rebellions)

Question 17

Agricultural Problems

Answer 17

War Communism had involved the government taking central control of industry and agriculture, which meant that the government provided little incentive to make more goods.
In the countryside, grain requisitioning set quotas, and any surplus was taken, reducing the incentive to produce more food.
1921, there is very low rainfall, and this, combined with grain requisitioning, and the destruction of the Civil War. Highest estimates are that 8 million died in this famine.
The policy in the countryside led to peasant uprisings. The largest in Tambov in 1920-21 resulted in the Union of Toiling Peasants being formed, which issued a manifesto calling for land reform, an end to the civil war and political equality. By 1921, it had 20,000 men, but it was brutally suppressed. In Ufa in February 1920, there was another uprising against food requisitioning. Similar uprisings in Siberia, in Sorokina.

Question 18

Problems in the Cities

Answer 18

In the cities, food supplies were running short, factories were closed because of food shortages. Kronstadt was a naval base outside of Petrograd. They had been involved in the most important stages in the revolution. Protests followed a January 1921 announcement in which the government reduced bread rations by a third for all inhabitants of cities. Protests broke out in Petrograd when 60% of large factories closed due to a lack of fuel. In late February, the Bolshevik government established a Defence Committee, with powers to end the protests. When this didn’t work, the city was flooded with Red Army troops and martial law was declared. Bolsheviks form a detention campaign, resulting in the arrest of 500 workers and union leaders.

During the war, former sailors had left Kronstadt, and had been replaced by people from the countryside, particularly from Ukraine. By February 1921, the Bolsheviks were losing control. Groups of sailors form a resolution calling for full freedom of agitation, freedom of speech, for Anarchists and for Socialist parties, the right to assembly, liberation of political prisoners. Various opposition groups within the party form based on the government’s decision not to accept or listen to the sailors: the left communists, democratic centralists, and the Workers Opposition agree with the criticisms.

Trotsky organised a military response, which was a large campaign considering there were 15,000 of them. It was winter, so the sea around Kronstadt was frozen, allowing for a land attack. First wave was driven back and failed. Trotsky increased troop numbers to 60,000, and using heavy artillery, laid siege to the fortress for three weeks. Capture 2,000, most were executed. Trotskty and Lenin claim that they were infiltrated by foreign powers, that they were counter-revolutionary, that they wanted more food, in a time of starvation. Individuals in the Bolshevik Party such as Alexandra Kollontai, expressed concern about the conduct of party leadership.

Question 19

New Economic Policy

Answer 19

NEP starts by replacing grain requisitioning with a fixed tax. They allowed peasants to retain their surplus and sell them at agricultural and town markets. The Soviet government retained the control of the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy, this is banking, finance and heavy industry. Mid 1920s, Russian agricultural production had reached its pre war levels. Wages of industrial workers doubled between 1921 and 1924. The Soviet regime introduced currency reforms that restored trust in the rouble and food security returned to the cities. Food production jumped by 40% 1921 - 1922. A new class of NEPmen thrived, these were small scale business owners that became conspicuously rich as a result of the NEP.

Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin disagreed over the NEP. Trotsky and left wing supporters believed that socialism would only survive if the state controlled everything. Stalin and Bukharin argued for more moderation.

Grain production increased, and the Soviet government continued to purchase grain and to set prices to keep grain affordable. Industrial sector on the other hand grows far more slowly. There was a shortage of capital (investment), a shortage of labour, and also a shortage of transport and infrastructure. Manufactured goods became short in supply and scarce. Prices for anything manufactured increased rapidly by 1923, manufactured items cost three times their 1913 prices, in contrast food prices had dropped by 10%. This causes food production to go down, because prices were lower, and the farmers could not modernise because this was all too expensive