RUSSIA Analysing the Leaders Events and Ideas of

RUSSIA: Analysing the Leaders, Events and Ideas of the Russian Revolution Nick Frigo, Santa Maria College/Education Consultant. I just found the most amazing information about Lenin. ’ ‘Did you know what Kerensky did after the revolution? ’ ‘How was Rasputin killed? ’ The ideas, leaders and movements of the Russian Revolution abound in rich content, the challenge is balancing the amount of material, the student 'interest' level and building student preparedness for the exam. During the session Nick will explore a range of visual and written primary sources relevant to the first Outcome for Unit 3 and strategies for scaffolding student learning. ‘. .

Advice to students • • Key Historical Terminology ‘Leader’ Profiles Chronology of events Document and image analysis Overview of revolutionary groups Note taking grid: Date/Event-Leader. Group/Factual/Primary/Secondary • Historiography

Ideas Autocracy Marxism Socialism Leninism

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The Social Revolutionaries • Secondary Evidence • “The SR’s also belief that peasants were crucial to revolution made them a primary political party of rural Russia. ” – Malone • Lynch emphasises the two differing groups within the SR’s, “Left social Revolutionaries wanted to continue the policy of terrorism inherited from “The People’s Will. ” In contrast to, “The Right Social Revolutionaries, the more moderate members believed in revolution as the ultimate goal, but were prepared to work with other parties for immediate improvement in the conditions of the workers and peasants” – Lynch

The Social Revolutionaries • Secondary Evidence • Referring to the Socialist Revolutionaries, they believed that “…Societies only had two classes: The exploited or “toilers” and the exploiters – those who earned their livelihood and those who lived off the labour of others. ” – Richard Pipes. • The SR’s also“…demanded greater political liberty, an eight hour day in factories and villages, and a constituent assembly representing the whole people and entrusted them with the task of working out a new political system for the Empire. ” – Lionel Kochan

The Kadets Secondary Evidence • “The government under the old regime was, of course, incapable of grasping and sharing these ideas of the liberating character…” Milyukov’s speech from Kadet’s newspaper in 1917. • “The Kadets were the party of the liberal intelligentsia, containing progressive landlords, the smaller industrial entrepreneurs and members of the professions. ” Lynch • “Backwardness of Russia, and tradition of lack of initiative from below, made Russian Liberalism weak. ” John Hitte

• • The Octobrists Secondary Evidence They were a “…group which had accepted the October manifesto as a signal to halt the opposition to the tsar” – A J Koutsoukis “They may not have wanted the overthrow of Tsardom, but they were very willing to point out its failings. ” - Lynch. “Moderates sought to use the manifesto as a basis for the peaceful reconstruction of Russia” – Graeme Gill

Mensheviks Secondary Evidence • “Martov believed that behind Lenin’s tactics was a fierce determination to become dictator of the party. ” Lynch • “It was in their mutual interests to campaign for the dismantling of the despotic state and the establishment of a democracy. ” – Orlando Figes • “It was the Mensheviks (as opposed to the Bolsheviks) who were closely monitored by the Okhrana as the major revolutionary threat. ” - Malone

Revolutionary Leader - Lenin

Revolutionary Leader - Kerensky

Revolutionary Leader – Father Gapon

• (1) Bernard Pares, a British academic, was a regular visitor to Russia during the reign of Nicholas II. Gapon's organization was based on a representation of one person for every thousand workers. He planned a peaceful demonstration in the form of a march to the Winter Palace, carrying church banners and singing religious and national songs. Owing to the idiocy of the military authorities, the crowd was met with rifle fire both at the outskirts of the city and the palace square. The actual victims, as certified by a public commission of lawyers of the Opposition, was approximately 150 killed and 200 wounded; and as all who had taken a leading part in the procession were then expelled from the capital, the news was circulated all over the Empire.

(2) Father George Gapon, letter to Nicholas II (21 st January, 1905) The people believe in thee. They have made up their minds to gather at the Winter Palace tomorrow at 2 p. m. to lay their needs before thee. Do not fear anything. Stand tomorrow before the party and accept our humblest petition. I, the representative of the workingmen, and my comrades, guarantee the inviolability of thy person.

(3) Nicholas II, diary entry (21 st January, 1917) Since yesterday all the factories and workshops in St. Petersburg have been on strike. Troops have been brought in from the surroundings to strengthen the garrison. The workers have conducted themselves calmly hitherto. Their number is estimated at 120, 000. At the head of the workers' union some priest - socialist Gapon. Mirsky came in the evening with a report of the measures taken.

(4) Extract from the petition that Father George Gapon hoped to present to Nicholas II on 22 nd January, 1905. We workers, our children, our wives and our old, helpless parents have come, Lord, to seek truth and protection from you. We are impoverished and oppressed, unbearable work is imposed on us, we are despised and not recognized as human beings. We are treated as slaves, who must bear their fate and be silent. We have suffered terrible things, but we are pressed ever deeper into the abyss of poverty, ignorance and lack of rights.

Gapon – The Story of My Life (1905) Suddenly the company of Cossacks galloped rapidly towards us with drawn swords. So, then, it was to be a massacre after all! There was no time for consideration, for making plans, or giving orders. A cry of alarm arose as the Cossacks came down upon us. Our front ranks broke before them, opening to right and left, and down the lane the soldiers drove their horses, striking on both sides. I saw the swords lifted and falling, the men, women and children dropping to the earth like logs of wood, while moans, curses and shouts filled the air.

Gapon – The Story of My Life (1905) • An old man named Lavrentiev, who was carrying the Tsar's portrait, had been one of the first victims. Another old man caught the portrait as it fell from his hands and carried it till he too was killed by the next volley. With his last gasp the old man said "I may die, but I will see the Tsar".

Gapon – The Story of My Life (1905) • At last the firing ceased. I stood up with a few others who remained uninjured and looked down at the bodies that lay prostrate around me. Horror crept into my heart. The thought flashed through my mind, And this is the work of our Little Father, the Tsar". Perhaps the anger saved me, for now I knew in very truth that a new chapter was opened in the book of history of our people.

(8) Victor Serge, Year One of the Russian Revolution (1930) Gapon is a remarkable character. He seems to have believed sincerely in the possibility of reconciling the true interests of the workers with the authorities' good intentions. At any rate it was he who organized the movement to petition the Tsar which ended with the massacre of 22 January, 1905. The petition of the workers of St. Petersburg on Nicholas II, drafted by Gapon and endorsed by tens of thousands of proletarians, was both a lugubrious entreaty and a daring set of demands. . . From all quarters of the capital the petitioners, carrying icons and singing hymns, set off marching through the snow, late on a January morning, to see their "little father, the Tsar". cont.

(8) Victor Serge, Year One of the Russian Revolution (1930) – cont. . . “At every cross-road armed ambushes were waiting for them. The soldiers machinegunned them down and the Cossacks charged them. "Treat them like rebels" had been the Emperor's command. The outcome of the day was several hundred dead and as many wounded. This stupid and criminal repression detonated the first Russian revolution. ”

Revolutionary Leader? – Rasputin

• • Lenin Rediscovered? Exploration of political ideas. Lenin’s work What is to be done? 1901 -2 • In What Is to Be Done? , Lenin argues that the working class will not spontaneously become political simply by fighting economic battles with employers over wages, working hours and the like. To convert the working class to Marxism, Lenin argues that Marxists should form a political party, or ‘vanguard’, of dedicated revolutionaries to spread Marxist political ideas among the workers.

Lenin Rediscovered? • Lenin’s attitude towards the workers. . . • Lenin’s concerns about how to motivate and mobilise the workers. . . • Lenin and the impact of producing a newspaper. . .