Transcript Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution
Causes
Landless peasantry
 Absolute monarchy
 Military inadequately supplied – losing
World War I
 Defeat in a war with Japan

Russian Revolution – March
Revolution
Czar abdicated
 Duma (representative assembly) 
Russian Republic (liberal constitution)
 Provisional government continued war
against Germany (bad decision)

www.yahoo.com
Russian Revolution – November
Revolution
Lenin and the Bolsheviks (communists)
 Lenin organized the communist takeover
of Russia
 Communism – government owns and
operates the means of production
 Executed both the Czar and his family
 Lenin signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – got
Russia out of World War I

Lenin’s Promise
Bread
 Land
 Peace
 Peace, Land, and Bread

Lenin Builds a Communist State

New Economic Policy (NEP) – state
controlled banks, foreign trade, and large
industries while small businesses are
owned and operated by individuals
(socialism) – worked  improved Russian
economy
Lenin Builds a Communist State
Seen as temporary retreat from
communism
 Lenin dies and Stalin comes to power in
the Soviet Union,

www.wikkiped
ia.org
Five Year Plan
Goal – make Soviet Union a modern
industrial power by building heavy
industry, improving transportation, and
increasing farm output
 How – Command Economy 
government controls all economic activity
(communism)

Five Year Plan - Results
Oil, coal, and steel production grew
 Mining expanded and new railroads were
built
 Standard of living remained poor
 Wages were low

Revolution in Agriculture Collectivism
Goal – end peasant ownership of small plots of
land
 How – peasants could keep only homes and
personal belongings and had to give up land
(two choices – live on state owned farms or
collectives – farms owned and operated by
peasants as a group)
 Results – did not improve farm output (grain
production grew slightly while meat,
vegetables, and fruits remained in short
supply)

Great Purge
Goal – seek out and destroy anyone who might
weaken Stalin’s power (writers, intellectuals,
heroes, etc…)
 How – Secret Police (rounded up people),
Show Trials (people confessed to all kinds of
crimes against the government due to torture)
 Results – people sent to labor camps in Siberia
or executed  increased Stalin’s power
 Stalin

Totalitarianism
Stalin
establishes a totalitarian
state (Soviet Union)
 Totalitarianism state  a oneparty dictator (Stalin) attempts to
regulate every aspect of the lives of
its citizens

Propaganda
Radios, movies,
theaters, etc…
 Emphasized
communist success
 Capitalism is evil

Censorship

Government
controlled what books
were published, what
music was heard,
etc…
Communist Ideology
Sacred texts –
Communist Manifesto
by Karl Marx
 Shrine – tomb of
Lenin
 Portraits of Stalin
replaced religious
icons
 Religion

War on Religion
Atheism – belief in no god
 Destroy religious organization in the
Soviet Union

www,stbasil.com
Secret Police
Rounded up the accused
 Sought out people who might threaten
Stalin’s power
