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The Communist Manifesto
Written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the Communist Manifesto explains the theory of communism. In the publication, Marx addresses the problems of history and the proletariat blaming capatalism and class struggle. With communism, the class system will be abolished and no one will be able to own private land, essentially making everyone equal. Marx's ideas and theory of communism inspired Lenin and Stalin. -
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Russo-Japanese War
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Russo-Japanese War
Since Russia owned a naval station near the Yellow Sea and had presence in Manchuria, they thought they could create an empire, pushing into the Pacific. But, Japan also sought out what the Russians were looking for. In 1904 to 1905, the Japanese attacked the Russian owned naval station, took Manchuria and took Korea. This defeat resulted in a discouragement in the Russian population, further fueling their discontent in Russia. -
The October Manifesto
In response to the revolution, the Tsar publishes the October Manifesto, granting some civil liberties and the creation of a legislative assembly, the Duma. However, the Tsar reneged his promises, kept the power to call or close the Duma (which he did) The October Manifesto did stop the stikes for a short while, but the successes were followed by the Tsar's failure to keep his promises. This resulted in a return to the violence and strikes as the Tsar slowly regained his power. -
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The First World War
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Bloody Sunday 1905
On January 22, 1905, a group of workers led by priest Georgy Gapon marched to the czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to voice their discontent against the useless Tsar. The Tsar's forces opened fire on the protesters, killing innocent workers and citizens. In response to this, strikes broke out, in which the Tsar responded by promising the formation if a representative parliament, or the Duma. The strikes caused the formation of the 'Soviets', who were workers with Marxist ideas. -
March Revolution
Due to the Tsar's incompetence, massive strikes, demonstrations and general unrest broke out in Petrograd. In response to the riots and outbreaks, the Tsar orders the military to stop the riots. The military starts shooting at the stikers, and not soon after that, the military turns on the Tsar and commit mutiny. The Duma and Workers' Soviet begin making decisions about establishing a new state. Later, Tsar Nicholas II abdicates. -
The Provisional Government
After the Tsar abdicated his role on the throne, the Duma and the Soviets (workers) formed the Provisional Government. The Provisional Governments goals included creating a constituent assembly, and thus legalizing strikes. But, the P.G did not recongnize the horrible state Russia was in, and not getting Russia out of the First World War. -
Lenin and the April Thesis
During the Febuary Revolution, Lenin had been exiled in Switzerland. After the Tsar abdicated, Lenin was smugged in back to Russia by the Germans. Once he arrived, he was dissapointed, as he though the Revolution hadn't gone far enough. He introduced the April Thesis, stating the Proletariat and peasants to bring revolution against the P.G. In the April Thesis, Lenin addresses Russia's problems through his slogan, "Peace, Land, and Bread." -
The July Days
On July 16th to 18th, the Bolsheviks tried to join with radical soldiers and mobs to seize power and overthrow the government. After failing at overthrowing the P.G, Lenin then fled from the P.G not only because he failed, but he was also accused to be a German agent. Even though Lenin fled to Finland, he was still available to control the Bolsheviks. -
The Second Coalition
After Lenin had fled and Bolshevik presses smashed, the Second Coalition came into power on July 24th with Keresnky as prime minister. -
August Conference
In August there was a major conference held between former and current government officials with revolutionaries to try and solve the problems that Russia was having. However, all the conference did was seperatet the Marxists and the Non Marxists. The Bolsheviks control Petrograd. -
The Kornilov Affair
General Kornilov, who was in command of the armies, was a right-wing conservative who did not agree with the Soviet (workers). He formed an alliance with the prime minister of the P.G, Keresnky, and both agreed to send troops to Petrograd to destroy Petrograd Soviet. Kornilov planned to overthrow Kerensky and wanted to replace him as prime minister. Kerensky asked the Bolsheviks' Red Gaurd to defend the P.G. The Red Guard/ Bolsheviks saving the P.G clearly showed that the Bolsheviks had power. -
The Bolshevik/October Revolution
The Bolsheviks took advantage of this discontent to launch a second "revolution" against the P.G in October. Unlike the February Revolution, the October revolution was planned and was carried out by a few thousand armed Bolshevik supporters, and on November 7th, Trotsky arrested the P.G and took over. -
Civil War 1917-1922
The Bolsheviks, whom were led by Trotsky, were called the 'Reds'. The anti-Bolsheviks, who were P.G supporters, anti-communism supports, Tsarists supporters were called the 'Whites'. The Whites were supported by the western countries, making them look anti-Russian. The Reds won because no one would stand up to the Reds. This shows that no one could defeat Lenin and his Red troops. -
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Lenin's Government
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The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Lenin had promised to get Russia out of the war. He was determined to find a way to reach peace that would spare Russia from loss of territory. In order to save Russia, he let go of 60 million people, and large pieces of land in order to make peace with Germany. -
War Communism (1918-1921)
War Communism was an attempt by Lenin in response of food shortages during the Civil War. There were three main points to War Communism: Nationalization of production, compulsory labor, and the suppression of private trade. War Communism was successful in some ways, such as it fed cities, proved that the Bolsheviks were leaders, and political success. But, it didn't please the peasants as they were squeezed for their hard work. -
Comintern
In 1919, comintern was created with the purpose of supervising the spread of communism on an internation level. -
The New Economic Policy
Since War Communism was largely unpopular among the majority of the Russian population, Lenin showed he was flexible and compromised. Even though he had Marxist views, he compromised, allowing some private trade, and allowing workers in factories establish co-op businesses. The N.E.P showed that Lenin was flexible, mixing his Marxist views with what the Russian population wanted. -
Treaty of Rapallo
The Treaty of Rapallo renounced all territorial and financial claims made by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed in 1918. They agreed that Russia would manufactuare armaments for Germany (Breaking agreements of the Treaty of Versailles) and in return, Russia would recieve steel manufacturing from Germany. -
Lenin's Death
Lenin was not in a healthy state, having a series of strokes before his death. When he died, his body was put on display and many Russian citizens traveled to see his body. His death is extremely signifigant as it left the position of leader of the Communist Party open to either Trotksy (Lenin favored) or Stalin. -
Trotsky/ Lenin conflict
Once Lenin died, it left the position for 'leader' open to either Trotsky or Stalin. Stalin, the leader of the Moderates, who wanted to continue the N.E.P, won, as he exiled Trotsky in 1928. -
Kellog-Briand Pact
The Kellog-Briand Pact denounced war as a method of solving problems against countries. The USSR's involvement in this is signifigant as it is the first participation the USSR was involved in with western affairs. -
First 5 year plan (1929-1933)
Because Stalin was a nationalist, he concetrated on improving the USSR's economy. He wanted to force industrialization aswell as defense power. The first five year plan included: a command economy, which elimated the free market and the production and distribution controlled by the state, collectivization of the peasant's land, and rearmaments. This resulted in the Kulak killed off as a class, and an abundance in grain. -
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First 5 year plan
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Second 5 year plan
Like the first 5 year plan, Stalin planned to accomplish lots in order to push the economy forward. This time, his goals were mostly met in oil production. It was done in 4 years, but there was lots of human suffering. These sufferings led to a mini-revolt by Kirov, which led to a revision of the plan in 1934. Stalin started the Purges with Kirov, which he had shot by the Soviet secret police. -
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Second 5 year plan
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U.S.S.R joins the League of Nations
Previously, the Russia was not invited into the League of Nations. Now, being recongnized on a world scale, they were invited into the League of Nations. This helped Stalin's foreign policy. Before this, the President of the United States, Roosevelt, recongnized Stalin's Communist government, creating a new trade agreement. -
Purges (1934-1940)
Since Stalin feared of an overthrow of his government, Stalin started 'eliminating' he thought people who were coming after him or plotting against him. He had established a Soviet secret police to help him. Hundreds of thousands were accused of crimes, and in result, executed by being shot or were sent to Gulag labor camps. The Purges spilled into the Red Army, where Stalin killed 1 in 5 officers. He held 'show trials' for these 'criminals'. -
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The Purges
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Nazi-Soviet Pact
The Nazi-Soviet pact was essentially an agreement stating that the two countries wouldn't attack eachother. This was odd because Hitler hated the communists. Germany had signed this pact to protect itself from fighting a two front war in the soon coming second world war. In return, the USSR was given parts of Poland.
