Russian Revolution Research Paper

From 1856 onwards the aim of turning Russia from a once agrarian, illiterate and backwards country and into a political superpower was set. A multitude of developments began with Nicholas II being a catalyst of change for the Russian people. Writers of Marxist Russia such as Joan Hasler1 however believe that the Tsars abdication merely prevented revolution happening for a few years. The significance of his abdication caused demands for a new and improved governmental structure to be in place in order to get Russia back on its feet after the devastating defeat in world war one. New political developments took place after the abdication of the Tsar including a new improved Duma who quickly realised they had little trust and loyalty to the tsar and decided to take it upon themselves to improves Russia on their own. Nearing the end of the Romanov dynasty there were 3 new political groups aiming to rule Russia, the duma, the Bolsheviks and the soviets which alone gives us significant evidence that the Tsars reign and abdication created a significant turning point in the political development 1856-1964.

There were four elected Duma which were all dispersed by the Tsar who would find an excuse to not trust them. Once the October Manifesto and the Fundamental Laws were passed, the Tsar Nicholas II ordered the army to shoot at protestors but the army refused and took the side of the revolutionaries. These Fundamental Laws re-established the autocracy as the Tsar became more reactionary. After the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar was able to regain control the uprisings in his country. He sent the police to arrest the leader of the St. Petersburg Soviet, a Worker’s Council, Trotsky and exiled him to Siberia. The army crushed a strike in Moscow which caused 1000 deaths. The Black Hundred who were the official strikebreakers, stopped riots in different parts of Russia and murders approximately 500 Jews. Eventually, the workers lost the will to fight and started working again in order to feed their families. The split of the opposition parties turned out to be an advantage for the Tsar who was able to use this against them.

In 1905 and 1917 Russia was tormented by chaotic revolutions. The workers and the intelligentsia had arrived at the point of hating the autocracy because they could no longer endure the suffering, hunger and repression that the tsarist policies brought with them. Years later Lenin referred to the revolution of 1905 as a “dress rehearsal for the October Revolution” of 1917. In 1905 tsardom nearly fell. Nicholas II succeeded in remaining in power, stabilizing the situation, only thanks to various concessions. However, his continuing to rule harshly and unwisely brought him to be forced to abdicate in the February of 1917, signing the end of the Russian monarchy.

tried to create a western style society. Nevertheless, this government led by Alexander Kerensky lasted for only seven months, by which at the end Lenin and the communist Bolsheviks seized power over Russia. When the peasants claimed land from the government the government refused which made the Bolsheviks extremely mad making them riot against the government. The Provisional Government lost to the

This downfall came due to the amount of soldier and horses being placed into the war leaving the peasants at home with a loss of man power to continue a, "standard of living"( Causes of the Russian Revolution 2). Due to the decrease in man power, and materials to use at the home front, prices increased and a hunger endemic began. With hunger increasing and inflation of prices continuing strikes began, which eventually stopped transportation. When the transportation stopped supplies and food did not get to the soldiers at war decreasing the amount of people who believed in the czar. The goal of the peasants of the Russian Revolution of 1917, was to gain a new leader and for their voices to be heard. In March 1917, a riot of peasants, and soldiers stormed the streets with the support of the Duma, a group of government officials, forcing Nicolas II out of power.

In all major countries they’ll always go through some type of “revolution,” in order to sort everything out. There will always be a rise and fall in a country’s history and in 1917 it was Russia’s turn to revolt. When the current czar during the revolution said, “I am not yet ready to be Tsar. I know nothing of the business of ruling.” (Doc 1) He wasn’t lying, everyone

The Success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in October 1917 The Bolshevik seizure of power or coup de’tat of October 25th, 1917 was a culmination of both internal and external failure to satisfy the needs of an oppressed Russian society. In contrast to the spontaneous revolts earlier in 1917, the Bolshevik revolution was ‘a carefully planned plot carried out by ‘professional’ revolutionaries. ’[1] The victory of the Marxist Lenin’s

The Russian Revolution was a series of two revolutions that consisted of the February Revolution and the October Revolution. The February Revolution of March 8th, 1917 was a revolution targeted and successfully removed Czar Nicholas II from power. The February Revolution first began to take place when strikes and public protests between 1916 and early 1917 started occurring. These strikes were created to protest against and to blame Czar Nicholas II for Russia’s poor performance in WWI and severe food shortages that the country facing. Soon, violence between protesters and authorities began to escalate, and on February 24th, 1917 in the city of Petrograd, hundreds of thousands of male and female workers flooded the streets. They all had the same purpose which was to protest against the “Great War” and the monarchy. The protests began to escalate and the vastly outnumbered police were unable to control the crowds. When news of the unrest reached the czar, he ordered the military to put an end to the riots by the next day, and on February 26th, 1917, several troops of a local guard regiment fired upon the crowds, but however many soldiers felt pity and empathy for the protesters than the czar, and on the next day, more than 80,000 soldiers join the protest even directly fighting the police.

Despite all the work Alexander II did toward reforming Russia, the “Era of Great Reforms” left one crucial aspect unaltered: the power of the emperor. The intentional neglect of this was what kept the reforms from realizing their true potential. This led to dissatisfaction, which encouraged repression, terror, and most importantly: revolution. The first was the Polish Rebellion, caused by the failure of Russian authorities to suppress Polish nationalism. Although the Poles failed, other minorities sprung up for their voice

Russia, as a country, has had a long and proud history. However, for a small time starting in 1917, things started to take a turn for the worse. There was widespread famine, disease, and killing by the instituted government. There was also no Russia. Instead, there was the glorious United Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR. This new country did not come around peacefully, but instead under the 1917 Russian Revolution and the revolting communist Bolsheviks. The Russian people were not in a better condition after the Russian revolution due to Stalin’s leadership of his country; the reason being the GULAGs that Stalin was sending his people to, the communes that the peasants were sent to, and the disastrous effects of his five year plans.

Beset by internal and external enemies, the Bolsheviks were engaged in a desperate struggle for survival. Pre-1917, they had been spent in

Despite the fact that the Provisional Government survived the Kornilov revolt, prominent backing for the legislature blurred quickly as the national temperament swung to one side in the fall of 1917. Laborers took control of their processing plants through chose boards; workers confiscated lands having a place with the state, church, honorability, and nobility; and armed forces dissolved away as worker warriors forsook to partake in the land seizures. The Bolsheviks, skillfully misusing these prevalent patterns in their promulgation, overwhelmed the Petrograd Soviet and the Moscow Soviet by September, with Trotsky, liberated from jail after the Kornilov revolt, now executive of the Petrograd

Outbreak of the Russian Revolution, provides an understanding of the emotions of the Russian people, who felt joy and relief to the news that a "revolution had begun in St. Petersburg" (Hunt et al., 847). Total strangers acted as life-long friends towards one another. The author shared his emotions about the event; "For the fist time in my life I sensed the atmosphere of joy, when everyone you met seems close to you, your flesh and blood, when people look at one another with eyes full of love" (Hunt et al., 847). Behind the guise of joy, the anger of the Russian people towards the tsarist regime remained. The people could not forget the poor choices of Tsar Nicholas II, which resulted in massive casualties. A majority of those who once supported

Ten years in exile had not swayed Lenin?s determination to create and direct a powerful revolution. Lenin returned to Russia from exclusion in February 1917, believing that the time was ripe to seize power. The Russian economy was in ruin after the army was nearly defeated and the people exhausted as a result of the First World War. The country was in an unstable state, suitable for a revolution (Levinthal 119). Around October 20, Lenin, in disguise and at considerable personal risk, slipped into Petrograd and attended a secret meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee held on the evening of October 23. Not until after a heated 10-hour debate did he finally win a majority in favour of preparing an armed takeover. Now steps to enlist the support of soldiers and sailors and to train the Red Guards, the Bolshevik-led workers' militia, for an armed takeover proceeded openly under the guise of self-defense of the Petrograd Soviet. Even at great personal risk, Lenin was adamant in spurring a successful revolution.

It is clear that a lot of people did not want to put up with the constant down spiralling because of the autocracy, many people decided to rise against the situation. These people were split between the reformers and a smaller group of revolutionaries. The reformers, or Liberals, wanted to modernise Russia gradually.They wanted free elections, more education for the people and no censorship. The revolutionaries, on the other hand, wanted to throw out the whole tsarist system and build a different one.Revolutionaries were the ones waiting for the perfect moment to strike the match since the autocratic regime had caused a long term fatigue in the society - the long term situation let them was highly in favour of this group in terms of revolution, only a slight push to the angered people was needed to proceed.