Russia in Revolution (1881-1924): From Autocracy to Dictatorship
Subject Knowledge: Context
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Subject Knowledge: The 1905 Revolution
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Subject Knowledge: The Bolsheviks
- The Bolsheviks financed their work by party supported robberies- what Lenin referred to as 'regrettable necessities'. Only individual or institutions carrying state funds were targeted.
- The Bolsheviks played a minimal part in the 1905 Revolution. Their impact and influence on the workers in that year was weak.
- In St Petersburg in March 1905, the Bolsheviks admitted that they could only muster 200 supporters in the whole of the city whereas the Socialist Revolutionaries claimed that they could call on the support of 10,000- almost certainly an exaggeration- but an indication that the Socialist Revolutionaries had much more support in a city that the Bolsheviks had to have on their side if the revolution was to succeed.
- There was a lack of support for a party that wanted to improve the lifestyle of the poor. Firstly, activities of the police meant that the Bolsheviks had to operate discretely as any slip would have been pounced on by the authorities. Secondly, why would the workers in the city support a party when they had the seemingly more popular socialist revolutionaries to support? Thirdly, there is little doubt that Lenin himself was not fully trusted when compared to the leadership of the Socialist Revolutionaries.
- By April 1905, the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks had become permanent.
- The Bolshevik hierarchy held a meeting in London to decide what to do next. They elected a central committee that was dominated by Lenin.
- Lenin knew that if the Bolsheviks were to have credibility, they had to appeal to the working class in Russia. That meant not making promises that could not be kept.
- Lenin was key factor to the Bolsheviks succeeding. He was a driven man who believed that those who would lead the workers had to be an educated elite capable of doing things that an uneducated majority could not. He also developed a set of beliefs that would appeal to the working class.
- The Bolsheviks did not have an ideology that stressed high ideals. They had an immediate programme for the time when they would attain power but had made few plans for what to do after they had gained power.
- Whereas the Mensheviks were unwilling to force through events, the Bolsheviks were the opposite. Lenin believed that not even the masses could be relied on to move in the way he wished- therefore, the Bolsheviks had to be the party that initiated action.
- To Lenin, practical issues were more important than the development of ideological theories. Whereas the masses could assist in practical issues, they almost certainly would not understand theoretical debate nor understand why time was being wasted on theory.
- Lenin's great strength was an ability to organise the party- and much of this had to be done in secret before November 1917. Though he was a ruthless man, he was also someone who recognised another's talent.
- Leon Trotsky had joined the Mensheviks in the 1903 split but was later welcomed into the Bolsheviks and became a vital member of the party.
- Trotsky's skills as a military leader, his rousing oratory and devotion to the revolution, combined with Lenin's skill as an organiser who could understand the most minute detail, led to a very potent combination.
- Their skill infected the rest of the party with enthusiasm and vigour which was vital in November 1917 and the months that immediately followed the Bolsheviks rise to power in Russia.
- The November 1917 Revolution is a classic example of how Lenin and Trotsky worked together. The planning for the revolution was done by Lenin, the actual execution of what Lenin had planned was all but carried out by Trotsky.
- However, none of this would have been meaningful, if what the Bolsheviks offered the people had no appeal to them. Thousands of soldiers were deserting the army and returning home- they certainly supported any party that called for an end to the war.
- The war had also caused much hunger in the cities and discontent in the countryside. The Socialist Revolutionaries had traditionally been strong in the countryside, but they had failed to achieve anything concrete by 1917.
- Now Lenin promised land to those people. The message was unequivocal and was quickly absorbed. Lenin's message of 'Peace, bread and land' found widespread acceptance.
Subject Knowledge: The Mensheviks
- The Mensheviks formed the minority of the Socialist Democrat Party when they split in 1903. They wanted to make their movement less elitist than the Bolsheviks in the belief that that it would attract the support of the uneducated workers and peasants.
- The organisation accounted for their failure in Russian history. Lenin believed that he and his followers were better equipped to take on the fight for equality in Russia- they were educated, focused and diligent; an elite.
- The Mensheviks had a far less disciplined approach to the revolution that Lenin envisaged was coming to Russia- but it was this more open approach that initially got the Mensheviks far more support than the Bolsheviks, along with such slogans as 'eight hours work, eight hours play, 8 hours sleep and eight bob pay'.
- In 1917, out of a total 822 delegates in the Constituent Assembly, the Mensheviks had 248 delegates- far more than the Bolsheviks. However, people sitting around discussing the way the future did not equate to getting things done- and getting things done was Lenin's main quality.
- Lenin got things done as a result of meticulous organisation. The Mensheviks were skilled philosophers but failed to carry things out at a grass roots level.
- The Mensheviks also had a major internal weakness. their openness allowed Mensheviks to hold differing views to other Mensheviks within the party.
- Therefore there was open disagreement in the party that was not only tolerated but, in the spirit of democracy, encouraged. If the Mensheviks had one belief, it was the support of pure Marxism as laid down by Karl Marx in his publications.
- The Mensheviks also made a number of practical errors. While Lenin wanted to pull Russia out of World War One, the Mensheviks wanted Russia to continue fighting in this highly unpopular war.
- As Bolsheviks became more popular with the working class in the major cities of Russia, so the Mensheviks became less popular. As one rose, the other had to decline. The Mensheviks also suffered from people in the party joining the Bolsheviks when it became obvious that they were winning over the people.
- During the days of Kerensky's Provisional Government, the Mensheviks made the mistake of associating themselves with Kerensky- as they deemed that the Bolsheviks were more of an enemy to Russia than the leader of the Provisional Government. Kerensky was from a comfortable middle class family, did not want the redistribution of land and wanted Russia to continue in the war. To be associated with such beliefs was bound to lose the Mensheviks even more support among the workers.
Subject Knowledge: The First Dumas
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Subject Knowledge: The Second Dumas
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Subject Knowledge: The Third Duma
- The make up of the third duma was what Stolypin had hoped for. The representation of the left was hit very hard- dropping from 200 in total to just 67 in the third.
- The Kadets dropped from 179 to 92 and finally to 52. The Octobrists climbed from 17 to 131 in the third. The Rights climbed from 63 in the second duma to 145 in the third.
- With a duma Stolypin could work with, it is no surprise that the third duma went the full distance it legally could- five years.
Subject Knowledge: Peter Stolypin
- Peter Stolypin was the one man who is most associated with having the ability to save the Romanov's. His assassination in 1911 probably doomed the Romanov's to history.
- He was the son of a provincial officer in Saratov. He rose to be a provincial governor in 1905. He gained a reputation as the only governor who was able to keep a firm hold on his province and was the first governor to use effective police methods against those who might be suspected of causing trouble.
- Stolypin also ensured that his police force was totally loyal. The only criteria for promotion was effectiveness. While you were in Stolypin's police force, you were safe. This bound you to the police. Any hint that a police officer was involved in corruption was met with dismissal. This took away from you the protection that the police offered- and Stolypin's police force had many enemies.
- One of Stolypin's great strengths as a politician was his ability to wait and observe rather than make an immediate decision. This served him well at the meeting of the first duma. The reform programme of the duma had been rejected by the government as inadmissible.
- Stolypin believed that the peasants were natural conservatives at heart He planned to introduce reforms that would harness this conservatism and bring them on to the side of the government.
- In short, he wanted to foist onto them a bourgeois mentality by moving them away from their communal responsibilities and substituting this for individual responsibilities.
- Stolypin wanted to introduce a freehold system of land tenure. Stolypin believed that the peasants would thank the government for this improvement in their lifestyle and scupper any chance there might have been of the workers in the cities joining ranks with the peasants in the countryside.
- What Stolypin planned was nothing less than a major revolution in the countryside. Logic was on his side- the peasants were by nature conservative. Also by giving them the ownership of the land they worked, he would have been making them property owners.
- Some historians believe that if Stolypin had been able to introduce his land reforms and the peasants had ownership of their land, a large part of the anger that was building up against the government would have been dissipated.
- Some historians believe that if Stolypin had been able to introduce his land reforms and the peasants had ownership of their land, a large part of the anger that was building up against the government would have been dissipated.
- Stolypin's time in government was a curious mix of desired for reform mixed with ardent repression of any unrest and Russification.