Transcript Trotsky in Mexico

The Russian Revolution and the
Major Players 1905-1917
Pre-Revolution
• Russia had been oppressed for centuries by
tyrannical czars (Russian Kings)
• Ended with Nicholas II. From the beginning of
Nicholas’ reign he failed;
– Coronation-- hundreds were killed because of poor
crowd control.
– Poor harvest in the late 1890’s led to civil unrest,
Many without enough food or wages.
– Wasn’t ready for the Japan-Russo war 1904-05.
Russian Revolutions
1905 - 1917
•Revolutions were actually several protests
(people revolting) against the Czar over a 12 year
span, finally ending with the October Revolution
of 1917.
•It ended hundreds of years of oppression from the
Czarist Regimes.
•It paved the way for the totalitarian communist
governments to exist for the next 70 years and
created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(U.S.S.R.)
Background: Causes of
Revolution
• Repressive and aristocratic regimes of the
Romanov dynasty: Nicholas II
• Severe economic and social crisis in Russia
• Russia in WWI: Unpopular war, many
Russians were being killed.
• Corruption in Government
• Numbers of Poor and Rich
Causes Continued
• Revolutionary Middle Class
• Nicholas II refused to allow any type of
government reform and refused to let go of
total control
• New Ideas of Marxist Communism in
Europe
• A new leader of the visionary Revolutionary
class named Vladmir Lenin
Due to Russia’s economic problems,
the lower classes looked for an
answer.
•No social classes!
•Wealth to be shared among more
people!
Karl Marx and Communism
• Marxist Communism
is an ideology that
seeks to establish a
classless social
organization based on
common ownership of
the means of
production (farms,
factories, etc.)
• Wealth to be shared
among the society
• Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov or
Lenin
• Supporter of Marx’s ideas of
Communism and wanted to
overthrow the Czar
• Weak Government paved the way
for Lenin to rise to power.
• Lenin appealed to the masses
“Peace, Land, Bread ”
• Led group known as the
Bolsheviks (Social Democrats) in
the revolution.
• First leader of the new communist
Russia
• Died of a stroke after only a few
years in power
Lenin
•
•
•
•
Leon Trotsky founded “Red Army”, or MRC (military revolu
MRC was the group that actually removed of the Duma (Rus
Trotsky allowed Lenin to lead in the following years but was
Later he would battle for power with Stalin after Lenin’s deat
October Revolution October 25 1917
•
•
•
1.
2.
Trotsky’s “red army” took
over the government in St.
Petersburg
Lenin seized power
immediately with Trotsky and
Joseph Stalin by his side.
First 2 acts:
End Russian involvement in
WWI.
Give peasants land. “private
ownership shall be abolished
forever”.
• Took control of the
government after Lenin died
of a stroke 1924
• Lenin had actually wanted
Trotsky to lead. He
distrusted Stalin.
• Stalin was popular with the
people. He seemed like a
regular guy and spoke in a
way that people could
understand.
• Stalin’s first policies were
his Five Year Plans and the
Collective Farms.
Joseph Stalin
“Man of Steel”
Trotsky Flees the Country
• Stalin fears Trotsky will take his power
• Uses secret police to threaten and attempt
to assassinate Trotsky
• Trotsky flees the country and hides in
various countries
• Tries to work against Stalin from “outside”
• Eventually moves to Mexico
Five Year Plans:
Modernize the Soviet
Union in five years no
matter what the cost.
It caused massive
shortages and
suffering for all.
Collective Farming:
All farmers are forced to give up their
own farms and work and farm in groups.
It was a huge failure.
The Secret Police:
Terror police whose job it was to kill
and eliminate all people thought to
oppose Stalin.
Propaganda:
Designed to influence
and control peoples
beliefs and information
flow. Stalin used it and
when he took over he
forced it on people
everywhere.
The U.S.S.R. :
1922, The Union of Soviet Socialists
Republic was formed to unite all
Russian people under one government.
Trotsky in Mexico:
Leon Trotsky was hunted
down by Stalin’s agents
and killed in his hotel
room in Mexico City
with an ice pick in 1940.
Joseph Stalin
Leon Trotsky
Karl Marx
Vladimir Lenin
End of slide show. KEEP YOUR
NOTES!
George Orwell
• British Author (Famous for: Animal Farm, 1984)
• Admired Marx and to some extent Lenin
• Believed in some parts of communist theory, but
not others
• Disliked Joseph Stalin
• Believed that Stalin and warped ideas of
communism into totalitarianism
• Expressed his views through allegorical writing
Eric Blair
(George Orwell)
Animal Farm
1945