The Russian
Revolution, Part I
State
Emblem
of the
Russian
Empire,
1890s
THE RUSSIAN SYSTEM
The state, militarized and costly, heavily exploited society
(especially the peasantry)
The political system was autocratic-patrimonial, with the
monarch being the supreme owner of the country and the
sole source of sovereignty
The church was subservient to the state
Real power in the state was held by massive and corrupt
bureaucracy
Individual rights and liberties were severely curbed
Society had no legal means of influencing government
policies – the people had an impact on the state either by
obedience to it or by resistance to it (passive or active)
Market economy and private ownership had limited
potential for development
When reforms became overdue, the state acted as the
main agent of change, usually with limited effect
Russia’s 19th century:
The apex of expansion – and the lag behind the West
The pressures for change
The reforms of Alexander II
Development of capitalism
vs.
Political modernization
Capitalism was creating new classes, new issues, new
conflicts – and the state was expected to evolve to be
able to deal with them.
But the Russian state was not up to the task.
It was not part of the solution, it was the source of
additional problems
Coronation of Nicholas II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b-Cfe7fPok
Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov
Family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Bo9sNh5InkY&feature=related
The Russian “battle order”
The effects of wars on the Russian system:
successful wars (1721, 1815, 1878, 1945) –
reaffirmed the status-quo, strengthened the state,
discouraged reforms
unsuccessful wars (1856, 1905, 1917, 1989)
– fostered reforms and revolutions
Start of the Russo-Japanese War
Jan.1904: Japan attacks Russian
Navy in Korea and China
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
PwxHNGAM-KU&feature=related
Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05
1904: How Russia expected to beat Japan
Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05: A Japanese cartoon
The Battle of Tsushima, May 1905: Japanese Navy sinks Russian fleet
The 1905-07 Revolution
January 1905
Defeats of the Russian army and navy in war with
Japan trigger off discontent over socioeconomic
conditions and lack of political rights
January 9: The Bloody Sunday
In St. Petersburg, 140,000 workers, led by a priest,
march to the Royal Palace with a petition to the
Tsar, asking for reforms
They are met with troops who fire on the crowds
January 9, 1905, St. Petersburg:
January 9th, 1905: 200 killed, 800 wounded,
the first victims of the Russian revolution
Classic confrontation between state and society
Repression backfires
Society revolts against the state, demanding:
Resolution of pressing social issues, such as land
reform
Political freedoms
Accountable government
Peace
Participants:
Industrial workers
Peasants
Soldiers
Students
Intellectuals
Businessmen
Clergy
Non-Russian nationalities
Forms of struggle:
Demonstrations
Strikes, many of them political
Takeovers of farmland
Armed revolts
Mutinies in the armed forces
Political self-organization of civil society
Creation of political parties – from Left to Right
Creation of labour unions, independent professional
associations, etc.
Creation of Soviets as new bodies of democratic
government, challenging the autocratic state
Mutiny on
battleship
“Potemkin”,
June 1905
http://www.y
outube.com/
watch?v=z3
NmRPjesOA
&feature=rel
ated
The government’s response
Peace with Japan
Repression
Reforms, beginning with the Tsar’s October 1905
Manifesto, granting political freedoms and
parliamentary elections
By 1907, the revolution subsides
But no viable new form of state-society relations
has been created
Stalemate
The Tsar is a reactionary, rejects democracy
The nobility is stuck in the old order
The capitalist class is too dependent on the state,
too afraid to show initiative
The gap between the rulers and the ruled
Reforms stimulate radical protest
THE ATTRACTIONS OF SOCIALISM
When the state resorts to repression, that only
makes the state-society gap even wider
Russia’s options:
A liberal-capitalist path: what it would require
An authoritarian-capitalist path: what it would require
A non-capitalist path
EUROPE 1914
The summer of 1914 marked a watershed in world
history:
For the first time ever, a world war began
Since 1914, we’ve experienced 4 world wars
They are historically connected with each other –
like links of a chain
They may be viewed as 4 stages of one continuous
period of global conflict
What made world wars possible:
1. An integrated world – globalization
2. Struggle for power within countries acquires
international dimensions
3. Availability of economic resources
4. Development of military technologies
5. The culture of war
New rationalizations of war
The idea of total war
August 1914 - Berlin
August 1914 - London
Canadian
recruitment
poster, WWI
Australians
are urged
to
volunteer
for WWI
German troops moving on Paris
French troops happily marching to the front, 1914
War without end
World War I: 1914-1918
Resulted from:
- -Rivalries between states (Germany-Britain, France-
Germany, Russia-Austria, Russia-Turkey, etc.)
- -Social tensions within states
- -Nationalist struggles against empires
The war for power and influence inside the global capitalist
system
Expected to be brief
The reality: a bloody 4-year stalemate
Ended by revolutions in Russia (1917) and Germany (1918)
15 mln. deaths, incl. 9 mln. combat
The flu pandemic of 1918-1919: 20-40 mln. deaths: a direct
environmental effect of “the Great War”
Causes of Russia’s involvement in World War I:
- own imperial goals (the Balkans and
Transcaucasus): natural behaviour of an empire
- influence of Britain and France
- a war to avoid a revolution
The clash of empires:
The interstate conflict
The internal factors:
- interplay of nationalisms
- class conflicts
- struggles over democratic reforms
Russian soldiers pledge allegiance to the Tsar: World War I
Russian
WWI
poster:
“The Great
European
War”
Russian infantry attack, 1914
THE WAR AS A REVOLUTIONARY FORCE: it
tested the West and undermined capitalism
Results of the war:
-Collapse of 4 empires: Russian, Austro-Hungarian,
German, Turkish
-World capitalism severely undermined – North and
South (economically, politically, socially, ideologically)
-The rise of social protest and revolutionary
movements everywhere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7B-nlmdX0g
1917
The protracted, stalemated war puts heavy burden on Russia
The growing mood of anger and protest
February 1917: mass demonstrations break out in Petrograd
The government orders troops to fire on demonstrators
Soldiers turn on their officers and join the protest
Massive revolt engulfs the country
The Tsar abdicates
The state authority collapses within a week
Abdication of Nicholas II
February 1917: Crowds in front of the Royal Palace
“Long live the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies!”
Women demand voting rights
Armed citizenry
Citizen militias patrol streets
Arrest of generals
Down with autocracy!
8 months in 1917: February-March
Dual Power:
The caretaker Provisional Government
The Soviets, created again as democratic bodies
of government
The Provisional Government has limited control,
little legitimacy, but continues the war
The Soviets are divided between reformist and
radical parties
Radicals push the Soviets for full takeover of
power in Russia
The Provisional Government – the Rodzyanko Cabinet
1917 cartoon: The Provisional Government depends on war victory
Alexander Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government, July-October 1917
