The Russian Revolution Flashcards
What happened on Bloody Sunday?
In 1905 following strikes in St. Petersburg, peaceful demonstrators who had suffered under Laissez-Faire policy marched to the Winter Palace to present Czar Nicholas II with a petition requesting basic human rights, but hundreds were gunned down by the empirical guard. Russians were outraged and gradually grew more dissatisfied with the government until the Revolution
What was the objective of the Russian revolution?
Under the Czarist system, the bourgeoise benefitted from the poor working conditions of the peasants and proletariat. The Bolsheviks aimed to destroy the class system, reject classical liberal economics and increase living and working conditions
Who was the Bourgeoise?
The Russian middle class
Who were the Proletariat?
The Russian working class
Who were the Bolsheviks?
The Russian communists
How do totalitarian regimes achieve conformity to the state?
Propaganda, forced athletic and community groups, secret police, indoctrination through education, media censorship and redirecting popular discontent.
What were the conditions in Russia prior to the Russian revolution?
80% of Russians were peasants. The Serfs had just recently been emancipated by Czar Alexander II but this took years to implement and many were expected to pay for the land they no longer lived on. The Russian population had rapidly doubled, and while other countries had reformed the capitalist systems, the Russian autocracy remained.
What happened in the assassination of Alexander II?
He was killed by a group called ‘Land and Freedom’ in 1881, and his son Alexander III inherited the throne, reacting by imposing more political control and using the secret police to persecute liberals. Alexander III was disorganized and not ready to rule.
Who was Lenin?
Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov. He later became the leader of the communist soviet union.
What happened prior to the 1905 revolution?
The Socialist Revolutionary party assassinated several political leaders and the government responded with repression. In addition to this, Russians were embarrassed they had just been defeated by Japan.
What was the aftermath of the 1905 revolution?
The revolution was suppressed by the Czar allowed some reforms; basic human rights were established, as well as universal sufferage. The Duma (an elected legislative assembly) was established, but the Czar greatly limited its power.
What happened in the 1917 Russian revolution?
Food shortages and strikes bred discontent, and in 1917 strikes became a revolution. In 1919 Lenin’s Bolsheviks used a well-organized attack to take over the government.
What was the Bolshevik slogan?
Land, peace and bread
What was the fundamental Bolshevik belief?
That violent revolution was the only way to overturn the government and avoid the further development of liberalism in Russia
What happened between the red and white armies?
The bolshevik red army was in a civil war with the white army (supporters of the old regime and reformers). In 1922 the civil war ended and communism was established. In 1994 Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
