TWO Revolutions in Russia The Two Revolutions of

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TWO Revolutions in Russia

TWO Revolutions in Russia

The Two Revolutions of 1917 • The March Revolution (March 12) • The November

The Two Revolutions of 1917 • The March Revolution (March 12) • The November Revolution (November 6)

The March Revolution • Origins: Food riots/strikes • Duma declared itself a Provisional Government

The March Revolution • Origins: Food riots/strikes • Duma declared itself a Provisional Government on March 12 • Tsar/Czar abdicated on March 17 • Alexander Kerensky headed the Provisional Government, along w/ Prince Lvov • Very Popular Revolution • Kerensky favoured gradual socialist reform/ saw the war effort as #1 priority

There were problems with stability in the Provisional government • attempted overthrows • Kerensky’s

There were problems with stability in the Provisional government • attempted overthrows • Kerensky’s solution? freed many Bolshevik leaders from prison and supplied arms

The Petrograd Soviet • Leftists who organized to take over the government • Soviet-

The Petrograd Soviet • Leftists who organized to take over the government • Soviet- organized council of workers

Soviet’s Political Ideology • More radical and revolutionary than the Provisional Government • Most

Soviet’s Political Ideology • More radical and revolutionary than the Provisional Government • Most influenced by Marxist socialism • Emulated western socialism

Founder of Bolshevism: Vladimir Lenin

Founder of Bolshevism: Vladimir Lenin

Lenin’s Message • Amnesty granted to all political prisoners in March of 1917 •

Lenin’s Message • Amnesty granted to all political prisoners in March of 1917 • “Peace, Land, Bread” • “All Power to the Soviets” • He preached that the war was a capitalist/imperialist war that offered no rewards for the peasants/workers; he also felt the war was over w/ the czar’s abdication

November 1917 Revolution • Lenin returned • overthrew the Provisional Government • established the

November 1917 Revolution • Lenin returned • overthrew the Provisional Government • established the world’s first Communist regime • ended the war by signing the Treaty of Brest. Litovsk with Germany

November Revolution (cont) • Political Police organized: CHEKA • Revolutionary army created with Trotsky

November Revolution (cont) • Political Police organized: CHEKA • Revolutionary army created with Trotsky in charge = “Red Army” • Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party in March of 1918

Civil War • Civil war broke out between the • Reds ( Bolsheviks) •

Civil War • Civil war broke out between the • Reds ( Bolsheviks) • the Whites (Mensheviks) “looting the looters” – aka “The Red Terror”

Who were the Mensheviks? A bitter three-year civil war was fought in Russia between

Who were the Mensheviks? A bitter three-year civil war was fought in Russia between the Bolsheviks and their opponents. Wealthy landowners Army and navy officers (against the unfavourable terms of the Treaty of Brest. Litovsk) Monarchists (lost their land due to the Bolsheviks) Social Revolutionaries (set up in 1901 with the aim of leading the peasants in a violent revolution against landlords and government officials) The Bolshevik’s opponents Other conservatives

Bolshevik newspaper, Krasnaya Gazeta, announcing the start of the Red Terror on 1 st

Bolshevik newspaper, Krasnaya Gazeta, announcing the start of the Red Terror on 1 st September, 1918. • We will turn our hearts into steel, which we will temper in the fire of suffering and the blood of fighters for freedom. We will make our hearts cruel, hard, and immovable, so that no mercy will enter them, and so that they will not quiver at the sight of a sea of enemy blood. We will let loose the floodgates of that sea. Without mercy, without sparing, we will kill our enemies in scores of hundreds. Let them be thousands; let them drown themselves in their own blood. For the blood of Lenin and Uritsky, Zinovief and Volodarski, let there be floods of the blood of the bourgeois - more blood, as much as possible.

Felix Dzerzhinsky, interviewed in Novaia Zhizn (14 th July, 1918) We stand for organized

Felix Dzerzhinsky, interviewed in Novaia Zhizn (14 th July, 1918) We stand for organized terror - this should be frankly admitted. Terror is an absolute necessity during times of revolution. Our aim is to fight against the enemies of the Soviet Government and of the new order of life. We judge quickly. In most cases only a day passes between the apprehension of the criminal and his sentence. When confronted with evidence criminals in almost every case confess; and what argument can have greater weight than a criminal's own confession.

An English teacher in a Moscow secondary school escaped from Russia during the Red

An English teacher in a Moscow secondary school escaped from Russia during the Red Terror. • Executions still continue in the prisons, though the ordinary people do not hear about them. Often during the executions a regimental band plays lively tunes. The following account of an an execution was given by Mr. A. by a member of one of the bands. On one occasion he was playing in a band, and as usual all the people to be executed were brought to the edge of the grave. Their hands and feet were tied together so that they would fall forward into the grave. They were then shot through the neck by Lettish soldiers. When the last man had been shot the grave was closed up, and on this particular occasion the band-man saw the grave moving. Not being able to stand the sight of it, he fainted, whereupon the Bolsheviks seized him, saying that he was in sympathy with the prisoners. They were on the point of killing him, but other members of the band explained that he was really ill, and he was then let off.

During the Civil War: War Communism • Government nationalized all industries, railroads, and banks

During the Civil War: War Communism • Government nationalized all industries, railroads, and banks • Peasant laborers were drafted for military or factory work • Government took control over the distribution of food • All money was abolished/bartering used • Private trade=illegal • Harsh tactics used by the army

Why did the Bolsheviks win the Russian Civil War? • The Red Army was

Why did the Bolsheviks win the Russian Civil War? • The Red Army was a much more disciplined • leadership --- Leon Trotsky.

What happened to the Romanovs?

What happened to the Romanovs?

Romanov remains are found

Romanov remains are found

Nikolay Kochergin, 1920 Long live the Red Army Trampled beneath the feet of the

Nikolay Kochergin, 1920 Long live the Red Army Trampled beneath the feet of the Red Army are the defeated White generals and the idol of Mammon, symbol of capitalism. 20