Russia 1894-1945: Tsardom and Communism

THE TSAR- NICHOLAS 2

Period: 1890 to 1918

• 'Little father of Russia'
• Sergei Witte appointed as minister- oil and coal production trebled, Witte was disowned.
• Same happened with Stolypin
• Autocracy
• aristocracy made up 1.5% of society but owned 25% of the land
• Support grew temporarily when he decided to become commander for WW1
• Dissolved 3 Dumas.

The Socialist Revolutionaries

1902

• Radical Movement
• Aim: to hand over huge estates of nobility to peasants.
• Believed in a violent struggle
• Assassinated two government officials
• Wide support in towns and countryside

The Social Democratic Party

1903

• Smaller More disciplined Party
• Followed ideas of Karl Marx
• Party split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, both of which were illegal.

1905 Revolution and October Manifesto

1905

• 200,000 peaceful protesters led by Father Gapon
• at least a hundred killed, over a hundred injured- event known as Bloody Sunday
• Wave of strikes and protests in many cities
• Potemkin Mutiny in June 1905
• Tsar survived by issuing October Manifesto, which gave concessions to middle class (Duma, freedom of speech, right to form political parties)

The (multiple dissolved) Dumas

1906

• Duma gathered for the first time in 1906.
• Tsar continued to rule without taking them seriously
• 1st and 2nd were critical of the Tsar so he dissolved them quickly.
• 1907, Tsar changes rules so his opponents can't be elected into Duma
• The third Duma lasted until 1912 (this was only because they were less critical of Stalin and they could not make any changes to his regime)

Pyotr (Peter) Stolypin

Period: 1906 to 1911

• Carrot and stick approach
• Stick: Over 20,000 strikers, protesters and revolutionaries exiles, over 1,000 hanged- Brutal suppression
• Carrot: He allowed wealthier peasants to opt out of Mir communes and buy land. These wealthier peasants were called Kulaks. Production increased significantly.
• impressive economic growth between 1908 and 1911
• Assassinated in 1911

The First World War

1914

• Russia enters First World War.
• Tensions within Country seem to ease.
• Display of patriotism and Tsar is Popular.

Impacts of First World War- Military

1915

• Early on in the war, they suffered defeats at Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes
• They were badly led and treated appallingly by aristocrat officers.
• Poorly supported by industries at home- short of rifles, ammunition, artillery and shells. Many didn't even have boots!
• Tsar takes control of army in 1915
• Defeats throughout 1916, Tsar held personally responsible.

Impacts of the First World War- Socio-economic

1916

• The war has killed 13% of the population by August 1916
• This left many widows and Orphans needing war pensions
• War contracts created an extra 3.5 million jobs between 1914 and 1916
• Food and Fuel shortages- couldn't be transported into cities
• Inflation.

PG + war

1917

• main decisions to make: Continue war or make peace (continued), distribute land or wait until elections, how to get food to workers
• Bolshevik Opposition:
• Led by Lenin - 'peace, land and bread'
• led to revolution

Cheka

1917

• Lenin set up secret police to root out potential enemies of the country, eg, army deserters
• Brutal, dictatorship
• 200,000 members by 1921

Kornilov revolt

1917

• Lavr Kornilov made an attempt to seize power
• Army led by Kerensky
• Response: Bolsheviks ready in case of combat
• Trotsky elected president of Petrograd Soviet

Rasputin

1917

• 'cured' Alexei Romanov of his haemophilia
• Won support of Tsarina- influenced her decisions greatly
• Rumours of an affair between Tsarina and Rasputing
• Government/ people in cabinet disliked him

The Tsar's Abdication- The February Revolution

1917

• January- Strikes broke out in some cities
• February- Strikes spread
• Supported by Tsar's army
• 7th March- Workers at Putilov steelworks go on strike
• They joined thousands of women (International Women's day)
• 7-10 March: number of strikers rose to 250000
• Duma set up a provisional committee
• 12 March: Tsar orders soldiers to put down revolts with force and they refuse, shooting down their own officers.
• Tsar abdicated on 15th March.

Provisional Government

Period: 1917 to 1917

• members: revolutionaries with no experience of government.
• Kerensky: Justice Minister in PG, member of Petrograd Soviet -Worked with Soviets spring 1917

July Days

Jun 3, 1917

• spontaneous uprising
• Caused by PG's escalation of War effort, collapse of the government's ministry, bolshevik propaganda
• Neither Soviets or Bolsheviks prepared to help
• Lenin - underwhelming and didn't support which caused an uproar
• Lenin forced to flee
• over 100,000 people on streets of Petrograd
• over quickly
• Bolsheviks held responsible
• 700 dead

October Revolution

Sep 7, 1917

• Bolsheviks stormed the winter Palace with little opposition
• Arrested ministers of PG
• Kerensky escaped
• underwhelming
• unpopularity of PG > popularity of Bolsheviks

Civil War

Period: Nov 7, 1917 to Oct 25, 1922

• White army composed of anti-Bolshevik politicians (eg Socialist Revolutionaries) in Russia and foreign countries (eg Czech Legion) against Communist Russia

Vladimir Lenin

Period: Nov 8, 1917 to Jan 21, 1924

• Bolshevik revolutionary leader took over from Provisional Government in 1917 with help of Trotsky
• Marxist, Communist dictator

The Red Army

1918

• Founded, all men over 18 eligible, combination of old imperial army and of volunteers
• answerable to Bolshevik government, fighting political enemies, civil war

The Red Terror

1918

• over 200,000 non-Communists and suspected opponents killed
• Trotsky ruthless leader
• both Reds and Whites were brutal, killed many civilians

War Communism

1918

• Lenin imposed harsh economic measures to put Communist theories into practice in Russian society and to help Civil War efforts by redistributing food, weapons, etc.
• large factories nationalised
• much harsher discipline for workers
• grain requisitioning - causing Civil War Sausage, up to 7 million Russians died in 1921 famine
• free enterprise and private trade illegal - causing Cigarette Lighterism

Constituent Assembly

Jan 19, 1918

• Lenin's initial attempt at reinforcing a democratic system - proportional representation!- failed, as Socialist Revolutionaries rather than Bolshevik party gained majority
• Illegally dissolved this using Red Guards, replaced with Bolshevik majority Congress of Soviets to pass laws, for dictatorship

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Mar 3, 1918

• Getting Russia out of WWI
• 34% population lost
• 32% agricultural land lost
• 54% industry lost
• 26% railways lost
• 89% coal mines lost

Death of Tsar

Jul 17, 1918

• was being held in Ekaterinburg with family
• Trotsky ordered them to be shot as White forces were approaching, did not want a figurehead for anti-Communists

Leon Trotsky

1919

• ruthless leader of Red Army, 300,000 men, strict discipline, holding families hostage to maintain troops' loyalty
• destroyed Admiral Kolchak's forces in 1919, large major White army defeated in Crimea 1920
• Trotsky used propaganda through railway network, cinematics and speeches for morale

New Economic Policy

1921

• Grain requisitioning abolished -> 'tax in kind' (lower taxes) -> could sell their own surplus
• Ban on private trade removed
• Small businesses re-opened
• State control of heavy industry

Kronstadt Uprising

1921

• Mutiny on Kronstadt naval base
• 60,000 troops
• Killed over 1000 sailors
• Lenin removed war communism policies after this

Triumvirate

1924

• Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev forming triumvirate against right-wing Bukharin
• has idea of 'Socialism in One Country', 1925, Trotsky sacked as War Commissar

Lenin's funeral + Testament

Jan 27, 1924

• Stalin gave Trotsky the wrong date + appeared to mourn a lot
• boosted his own imagine
• Lenin's Testament was never released - would have ended Stalin's career + put Trotsky in power
• Ban on factions - can't divide parties

Kamenev, Zinoviev, Trotsky expelled from Communist Party

1925

• Stalin introduces idea of 'Socialism in One Country'

Collectivisation

1926

• Established during First Five Year Plan
• Removed private ownership of land
• Sovkhozes (state farms) proved too expensive and were shut down
• Kolkhozes (collective farms consisting of small plots, all produce to state) were established to try to use machinery for faster production (Motor Tractor Stations)

First Five Year Plan

1928

• 1928 to 1932
• Focused on materials such as coal, crude oil, iron steel etc.
• Most targets were not met
• New technology flourished, such as dams and hydroelectric power systems as well as settlements in remote locations where natural resources were abundunt

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin

Period: 1928 to 1953

• Started the Five Year Plans
• Began 'Purges'
• Was General Secretary to Lenin before his death

Dekulakisation

1929

• Stalin hated Kulaks (prosperous peasants/ former NEP men who owned land) due to their making profits, employment of others, independence (resisting central control)
• Led to 10 million people being taken, decreased in grain production (leading to famine between 1932-34)
• Grain requisition (taking of required food regardless of will) and increased propaganda against kulaks encouraged them to burn crops and slaughter animals as to not give them to the Communists

Cult of Personality

1930

• Stalin shown as wisest/ all powerful man who could do no wrong to stop further conflict against him
• Rewrote history books against old Bolshevik leaders as propaganda
• Controlled culture/ arts/ music: to be understood by everyone to contain the spread of socio-political messages and to spark happiness amongst citizens
• Control on religion: 60,000 places of worship shut down, 'League of Godless' destroyed churches
• Education made compulsory, revolved around propaganda and censorship

Life

1930

• No unemployment
• Free health service
• 7 day week
• Free sports/ leisure facilities
• Absence from work was criminalised
• Pay rise did not keep up with cost rises

Nationality

1930

• Stalin wanted everyone to be 'Soviet'
• Sent populations back to to homelands in Siberia etc.
• Sent 172,000 Koreans to Uzbekistan/ Kazakhstan

The Second Five Year Plan

1933

• 1933 to 1937
• While heavy industry was still a priority, secondary industry such as mineral farming, textiles and entertainment were also developed
• 1 doctor per 40 people
• Transport and communications also boosted (railways and canals in particular, note: Moscow underground railway)
• Farming machinery developed

The Purges

1934

• 7 million people 'disappeared'
• Leaders, creatives, scientists, army members
• Sent to gulags/ labour camps or killed

Show Trials

1935

• Removal of old Bolshevik leaders aware of Lenin's testament
• Ridiculous claims
• 35 removed

The Third Five Year Plan

1938

• 1938 to 1941 (interrupted by Russia's involvement in WW2)
• Industrialisation boomed due to new industrial cities, slave labour (from the purges/ gulags/ labour camps)
• Stalin thought Russia was 100 years behind West
• Women encouraged to work

WW2 ( The Great Patriotic War)

1939

• Cult of Sacrifice
• Propaganda - 'kill him', national anthem
• military reforms
• Gulag prisoners to fight - exploited - always intended purpose? - labourers produced 15% of ammunition + uniform
• Scorched Earth Policy
• Hitler surrendered 1943
• more soviets died defending Stalingrad than USA lost overall