Russian Revolution Quotes/ Interpretations

Question 1

What did Alexander say about his son (Nicholas) in 1891?

Answer 1

“He is still absolutely a child, he has infantile judgements”

Question 2

What did Nicholas say in his first speech?

Answer 2

“I shall preserve the principle of autocracy”

Question 3

What did Corin say about Nicholas’s ‘accommodation’ abilities?

Answer 3

“Nicholas was ideologically incapable of accommodating the new middle class let alone a more demanding peasantry and working class”

Question 4

What did Orlando Figes say in assessing Tsar Nicholas?
“In a sense, Russia gained in him the worst of both worlds…

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 4

“In a sense, Russia gained in him the worst of both worlds: a Tsar determined to rule from the throne yet quite incapable of exercising power”

Question 5

What did D. Liven say in assessing tsar Nicholas?
“These traumatic years required something very different…”

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 5

“These traumatic years required something very different and would probably have destroyed any man who sat on the throne”

Question 6

What did Adcock say about the Tsarist regime, and the liberals?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 6

“Liberals are evidence of the Tsarist regime creating their own enemies”

Question 7

What did the Cadets claim to be (regarding the Tsar)?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 7

claimed to be ‘the opposition of His Majesty, not the opposition to His Majesty”

Question 8

What did Lenin say about who should join the Social Democratic Party? (point 3 outlined in “what is to be done 1902”)

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 8

“An organisation must consist chiefly of people professionally engaged in revolutionary activity”

Question 9

What did Harcave say regarding why the peasants were discontented before the 1905 revolution?
“their earnings were often so small that…”

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 9

“their earnings were often so small that they could neither buy the food they needed nor keep up the payments of taxes and redemption dues they owed the government for their land allotments.
By the tenth year of Nicholas II’s reign, their total arrears in payments of taxes and dues was 118 million roubles” (focus on second sentence for memorisation)

Question 10

What did Richard Pipes say regarding Russias overpopulation in rural areas putting a strain on peasants?
“There was general agreement at the turn of the century that Russia faced…”

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 10

“There was general agreement at the turn of the century that Russia faced a grave and intensifying agrarian crisis due mainly to rural overpopulation with an annual excess of fifteen to eighteen live births over deaths per 1,000 inhabitants.”

Question 11

What did Harcave say regarding discontent amongst workers and how this contributed to the 1905 revolution?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 11

“Dissatisfaction turned into desperation for many impoverished workers, which made them more sympathetic to radical ideas”

Question 12

What did Tsar Nicholas write to Witte in the lead up to the 1905 revolution- regarding giving representation?

Answer 12

“I shall never, under any circumstances, agree to the representative form of government because I consider it harmful to the people whom God has entrusted to my care.”

Question 13

How did Nicholas view Japan in the lead up to the Russo-Japanese war? (2 quotes)

Answer 13

“The Japanese are infidels. The might of Holy Russia will crush them”
“Little yellow monkeys”

Question 14

What did the minister of interior Plehv say regarding having a Russo-Japanese war?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 14

“a little victorious war to stem the tide of revolution”

Question 15

What did ‘The official history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’ say regarding the effects of Bloody Sunday?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 15

“On that day the workers received a bloody lesson. It was their faith in the Tsar that was riddled with bullets that day”

Question 16

After Bloody Sunday when the working class faith in the Tsar was shattered how did their name for him change?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 16

No longer knows as “little father”, became popular known “Bloody Nicholas”

Question 17

What did Robert Service say regarding the military response to Bloody Sunday?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 17

“the monarchy’s fate hung by a thread”

Question 18

What did father Gabon seek for in the Petition?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 18

“to seek justice and protection”

Question 19

What did Witte say regarding the October manifesto?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 19

“The slogan of “freedom” must become the slogan of government activity. There is no other way of saving the state”

Question 20

What did Trotsky say regarding the outcome of the October Manifesto?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 20

“Although there were a few broken ribs, the tsarism came out of the experience of 1905 alive and strong”

Question 21

What did Nicholas put in his letter to his mother two days after he signed the October manifesto?
“There were only two ways to open:..”

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 21

“There were only two ways to open: to find an energetic soldier and crush the rebellion by sheer force… [but] that would mean rivers of blood…

the other way out would be to give the people their civil rights, freedom of speech and press, also to have all laws confirmed by the state Duma… [Prime Minister Witte] says that, while it is not without risk, it’s the only way out”

Question 22

What did the Government reports on the events of Bloody Sunday say?
“On the morning of January 8… the priest Gapon prepared and distributed a petition from the workers addressed to the sovereign…”

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 22

“On the morning of January 8… the priest Gapon prepared and distributed a petition from the workers addressed to the sovereign, in which rude demands of political nature were expressed along with wishes for changes in working conditions… the majority of the workers were led astray”

Question 23

What did Trotsky say regarding the separation the people in Russia?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 23

“A population of 150 million people, 5.4 million square kilometres of land in Europe, 17.5 in Asia. Within this vast space every epoch of human creature is to be found”

Question 24

What did Robert Service say regarding the political, social, and economic inequalities in Russia. (in the book - History of Twentieth-Century Russia)

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 24

“… the Russian Empire was deeply fissured between the government and the tsar’s subjects; between the capital and the provinces; between the educated and the uneducated; between Western and Russian Ideas; between rich and poor; between privilege and oppression; between contemporary fashion and centuries-old fashion”

Question 25

What did Steve Smith say when blaming Nicholas for the situation after the 1905 revolution?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 25

“That the autocracy came out of the Revolution unscathed had little to do with political tactics.”

Question 26

How did Lenin describe the events of 1905

Answer 26

a “dress rehearsal” for the revolutions of 1917

Question 27

What did Fitzpatrick say about the political outcomes of 1905

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 27

“the political outcome of the 1905 Revolution was ambiguous and in some ways unsatisfactory to all concerned”

Question 28

What did Pipes say about the outcome of the 1905 revolution?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 28

“In the end, Russia gained nothing more than a breathing spell.”

Question 29

What did Nicholas say when angry at Witte for the Duma?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 29

“Curse the Duma. It’s all Witt’s fault”
and
“As long as I live, I will never trust that man again with the smallest thing. I had quite enough of last years experiment. It is still like a nightmare to me”

Question 30

What did Trotsky say regarding the effectiveness of the Duma?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 30

“A constitution is given, but the autocracy remains. Everything is given, and nothing is given.”

Question 31

What reason did Nicholas put for ‘creating’ the Duma?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 31

“I created the Duma , not to be directed by it , but to be advised.”

Question 32

What did article 87 say in the Duma’s fundamental laws?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 32

tsar could dismiss the Duma and legislate on his own under ‘exceptional circumstances’

Question 33

What did Lynch say about the fundamental laws?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 33

“The Fundamental laws made it clear that the tsarist regime had no intention of allowing the concessions made in 1905 to diminish its absolute authority”

Question 34

What was Stolypin’s philosophy on reform?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 34

“Suppression first and then, only then, reform”

S = committed monarchist + quickly set about protecting the Tsar from revolution by suppressing revolutionary movements

Martial law dec. in August 1906
- 1906-1913 = 3376 ppl executed for ‘terrorist’ Or revolutionary activities
- ^in press censorship + arbitrary arrests + Okhrana ^ surveillance of universities + liberal activists

introduced sweeping agrarian reforms

Question 35

What did Stolypin say when looking to lower peasant reforms?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 35

“First of all, we have to create a citizen, a small landowner, and then the peasant problem will be solved”
- Purpose= create a class of self-sufficient and prosperous peasants (Kulaks) who would be more likely to obey the government – lowered chance of revolutionary upheavals
- Abolished the much-hated redemption payments
turned attention to land shortage, rural overpopulation + widespread poverty
- Agrarian Reform act issued by excitative decree on 9th November 1906 + other reforms followed

Question 36

What did Stalin say about the lena Massacre?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 36

Stalin “The Lena shots broke the ice of silence, the river of popular resentment is flowing again”

• 12th April 1912 = Lena Goldfields Massacre in Siberia
• 6000 miners strike for better pay + conditions (8 hour work day, cap on food prices)
• 500 shot by government forces (250 killed)

next two years = 3 million workers staged 9000 strikes

Question 37

What did Malcom say about societies reaction to the Lena Massacre?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 37

“society reacted furiously”

• 1911- 24 strikes with political demands –1914 = 2000 strikes with political demands (July 1914 general strike = general strike – S.P shutdown)
• Rise in revolutionary extremism – wave of assassinations of gov. officials

Question 38

What did Lynch say about the Tsar’s chosen ministers during the 4th Duma?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 38

Lynch : “The various ministers the Tsar appointed were distinguished only by their incompetence”

• Tsar struggled to find a replacement for Stolypin (died 1911)

Question 39

What did Guchkov say about the effectiveness of the Duma/ society after the October rev?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 39

Octoberist Leader Guchkov: “a peaceful, painless transition from the old condemned system to a new order” has failed

Although duma = v conservative, relationship b/w tsarist gov + parli. ^strained
- Gov. response to industrial unrest = ^ harsh repression (‘years of reaction’)
Many moderate deputies alarmed by reactionary approach of the Tsar – ^ level of criticism from the Duma

Question 40

What did Pipes say Stolypin’s greatest accomplishment with his reforms?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 40

Pipes = LT results of reforms remained ‘on paper’ BUT Stolypin’s greatest achievement = his ability to offer ‘a sense of national purpose and hope’ after 1905.

no: Only 10% of rural population could fully benefit.
Resulted in redistribution of land, not expansion, failing to address rural poverty.

yes: Began to slowly meet demands of worker’s petition 1905.
Number of primary schools doubled between 1906 and 1913.
– As did local council expenditure on health, poor relief and agricultural advice.
15% pop Kulaks

Question 41

what did Lynch say about why Stolypins reforms didn’t work very well?
-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 41

Lynch ‘Even in advanced economies land reforms take time to work.’
‘The deep conservatism of the Russian peasants made them slow to respond.’

Aimed for a 20-25 year timeline; achieved only 5 years. (killed 1911)
Resistance to changing farming practices; adherence to tradition and mir.

Question 42

What did Pyotr Durnovo (member of the State Council), say about Russia’s preparedness for war in 1914?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 42

“(Russia’s preparations are) quite inadequate considering the unprecedented scale on which a future war will inevitably be fought”
“It is our firm conviction … that there must inevitably break out in the defeated country a social revolution”

• 1911- 24 strikes with political demands –1914 = 2000 strikes with political demands (July 1914 general strike = general strike –S.P shutdown)
  servere inflation
• 1914-1916 earnings = 2x h/w food + food prices x4
• by 1916, Petrograd and Moscow were receiving only a third of their food and fuel requirements
  6.5 million men but only 4.6 million rifles.
  Poor military leadership led to mounting opposition, especially Nickolas’s inability to handle a crisis that was revealed by 1917 when they suffered continuous military failures and growing disorder.

Question 43

What did Nicholas say about the Russian military might?

-what’s evidence to support/disagree?

Answer 43

Nicholas had committed his nation to war and put his faith in God + the military might of the ‘Russian steamroller’.

• In proportion to population, put fewer than half the troops into the field than either Germany or France
• (8.8% compared to Germany’s 20.5% of pop.)- Artillery rationed to only 3 rounds a day.
• Still very large army h/w lacked equipment - 6.5 million men but only 4.6 million rifles.
• (short of food ammunition and supplies), so not as effective as it should have been, poor administration + lack of liaison b/w the government departments

– C-in-C Grand Duke Nikolai freely admitted his limitations as a tactical commander.
– War Minister General Sukhomlinov supported outdated military tactics eg. mass bayonet charges + sabre-wielding cavalry.
– Appointments to Russian High Command based on seniority + loyalty to tsar NOT competence.

Question 44

what was said in the mixed response in the April thesis from Trotsky?

Answer 44

Trotsky: ‘produced the impression of an exploding bomb’

Question 45

what was said in the mixed response in the April thesis from Sukhanov (Men)?

Answer 45

Sukhanov (Men): ‘I cannot forget that speech, like a flash of lightning, which shook and astonished not only me…but also the true believers…no one had expected anything like it.’

Question 46

what was said in the mixed response in the April thesis from Bogdanov (Men)?

Answer 46

Bogdanov (Men): ‘This is the ravings of a madman! It’s indecent to applaud this rubbish!’

Question 47

What is the extract from the April thesis (Lenin) which follows “In our attitude towards the war, which under the new government of Lvov and company unquestionably remains on Russia’s part …”

Answer 47

In our attitude towards the war, which under the new government of Lvov and company unquestionably remains on Russia’s part

a predatory imperialist war, owing to the capitalist nature of that government, not the slightest concession to “revolutionary defensism” is permissible.

Question 48

What did Trotsky say about the April thesis?

Answer 48

The Theses became a radical manifesto that appealed to the ranks of workers + soldiers  a ‘rearming (of) the Bolshevik ranks’ (Trotsky)

Question 49

what slogans did Lenin create to express the essence of his ideas to the working masses?

Answer 49

• ‘Peace! Bread! Land!’
• ‘Turn the imperialist war into a civil war!’
• ‘All power to the Soviets!’

Question 50

What did Rabinowitch (Historian) say about Lenin adapting the Bolshevik ideas to agree with popular ideas?

Answer 50

Rabinowitch (Historian): ‘Tailoring the Bolshevik programme so that it would reflect popular aspirations was one of Lenin’s most important contributions to the development of the revolution’.

Question 51

What were the Provisional Governments War aims on the 27th of march 1917?
x2

Answer 51

‘objective of free Russia is not domination of other nations, nor the seizure of their property, nor the forcible seizure of foreign territories, but the ratification of a stable peace on the basis of national self-determination’.
‘The Russian people will not allow its native land to emerge from the great war humbled and sapped of its life strength’.

Question 52

what did Miliukov’s note claim?

Answer 52

Miliukov’s note at odds with PG declaration = claimed that the PG desired

‘to bring the world war to a decisive victory’ and that the ‘leading democracies will find a way to establish those guarantees and sanctions which are required’.

Question 53

what were the 20th April = mass protests across Petrograd asking for?

Answer 53

‘Down with Miliukov and Guchkov!’ + ‘Down with the Imperialist War!’ (^25,000 of them)