Social Democratic- Bolsheviks & Mensheviks
A Marxist political party – the Social Democrats- were closely associated with the labor movement. Both branches of the Social Democrats- Bolsheviks and Mensheviks- developed large scale activities such as forming strikes. In 1912, 725,000 workers went on strike, in 1914, over a million and a quarter went on strike. The Social Democratic preached class struggles and revolution, exhorting workers to rise against their masters and to seize control of both the factories and state. After returning from exile, Lenin (a Bolshevik) wrote a paper called the April Theses to persuade the people to rise against the current tsar by promising them bread, land, and peace. World War I caused the famine and the masses wanted the war to end. Trotsky, an influential Bolshevik leader, also made speeches that stirred the discouraged citizens, workers, soldiers, and peasant alike. “All power to the Soviets both in the capital and in the provinces. Immediate truce on all fronts. An honest peace between peoples. Landlord estates-without compensation-to the peasants. Worker’s control over industrial production. A faithfully and honestly elected Constituent Assembly.”
Social Revolutionaries
The Social Revolutionaries appealed to the peasants of Russia. The group gave the peasantry a greater and more independent role in the revolutionary process, thought that all land should be the property of the State and the State should parcel out land to all peasants on the basis of their labor ownership, and concentrated on assassination and other terrorist methods along with propaganda to persuade the peasants to revolt, to achieve their goals.”
February Revolution
On January 22, 1917 [Bloody Sunday Anniversary] antigovernment and antiwar demonstrations for World War I, were around the country to protest the critical food situation. More demonstrations continued on February 28 -the day generally acknowledged as the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Instead of taking action, Nicholas II believed his wife’s words that all will be fine if the Duma (elected legislative body) didn’t take action the riots. The inaction of the Duma stopped nothing. Demonstrations continued on. Even the police force didn’t take action against the demonstrators. Nicholas II called on General Khbalov to use the military to stop the Petrograd Soviet (a council that is a representative body of the city’s workers), but each unit in the military declined to recognize the tsar’s authority. This shows that the people no longer respect or believe in the tsar.
- Evaluation of Sources
Sources: Pipes, Richard. A concise history of the Russian Revolution . New York: Knopf, 1995. Print.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas Valentine. "The Revolutions of 1917." A history of Russia. 4. ed. New York [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984. 421-430. Print.
The book, A Concise history of the Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes, was published in 1995. Its purpose is to provide information of the Old Regime of Russia and the Bolsheviks who conquered it. The value of the book is that Richard Pipes is a Professor of History at Harvard University for over 40 years. He is also the author of 18 published books and essays on Russia, past and present. He also served as President Reagan’s National Security Council adviser on Soviet and East European affairs in 1981-82, and he has twice received a Guggenheim fellowship. This shows that he is very knowledgeable about topics on Russia. A limitation would be that he is biased because Pipes had consistently labeled the Soviets an aggressive imperialistic power bent on world domination. The New York Times states that the book is “A deep and eloquent condemnation of the revolution and its aftermath.” This proves that the author does indeed have a bias with his diction.
The book, A History of Russia, by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, was published in 1984. The purpose of the book is to provide information on the five periods of Russia: Kievan, Appanage, Muscovite, Imperial, and Soviet Russia. The value of the book is that the author is a Professor of European History at the University of California- Berkley since 1957. This shows that he is well educated in Russian History. He has also worked in several West European and Soviet centers of Slavic studies, including the Russian cities of Moscow and Leningrad. This shows that he not only has an American view of issues, but also a Russian one, which could help him be less biased in his book. Another value would be that although he states his own position on points of contention, he also presents the information in contrasting viewpoints which enables the readers to form their own judgment. A limitation of the book would be that because the book covers the whole Russian history starting with Kievan Russia 862 AD to 1900s, the information presented has to be very broad which limits the book on the amount of detail of the Russian Revolution. As a result, the book does not explain or mention the smaller radical factions frequently but talks more instead about the bigger radical groups such as the Bolsheviks and Social Revolutionaries. Another limitation of the book would be that the author does not have the viewpoint of the time period so he has to draw his sources from other people or sources himself. This entails that the information in this paper that is drawn from his book is indirect and not a primary source. This limits the information on the views of the people during the revolution.
- Analysis
The early radical groups did influence citizen’s beliefs on how to handle issues such as hunger, worker’s rights, and land ownership, but the main cause of the Russian Revolution was Nicholas II’s inadequacy at handling foreign and domestic affairs. Because he allowed his wife Alexandra and her advisor Rasputin to influence his political decisions, people discredited the tsar’s government.
Nicholas II personality also made him “ill equipped to be an autocrat…mild-mannered, of limited ability, narrowly educated, disliking governance, and drawn more to the trivia of administration than to major policy questions”. During his reign, Russia was rapidly changing because of industrialization and urbanization, and he failed to pass policies that dealt with the resulting issues. “He also bears responsibility for the major negative development during his reign: “Russification” (imposition of requirements to use Russian, limitations on the use of native languages and cultural practices, etc.) against some minority people and anti-Semitic policies, indifference to the suffering and discontent of the new industrial working class, and economic policies that contributed to rural famine.” To make matters worse, he was also an advocate for expansion policies to the east that sparked the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The war and his policies made living difficult for the common Russian citizen, thus providing a basis for the Russian Revolution that led to his abdication from the throne. For example: The main factors that caused the February Revolution were antiwar demonstrations and food shortages. “On the city’s main thoroughfare, Nevsky Prospekt, crowds shouted ‘Down with the autocracy!’ and ‘Down with the war!’ Here and there, mobs sacked food stores.” Had Nicholas II been a competent ruler, those issues would not have occurred in the first place for the radical groups to use propaganda to sway the public. The Social Revolutionaries made demonstrations that appealed to the peasants but also took a more terrorist like approach (assassinating government official).The provisional government also continued with the struggle with Germany while the citizens wanted the war to end. To take advantage of the opportunity, Social Democrats advocated for peace. The citizens have all the more reason to revolt against the government and join with the Social Democrats now that they are desperate for change. The Bolshevik members spend their time making speeches to the mass citizens, with logos and posters that state, “Peace, Land, and Bread!” This is of course, going to appeal to the people who are concerned that World War I has taken their food and men and peasants who have no places to live since serfdom was banned.
- Conclusion
The fact that radical groups had no influence on the Russian Revolution is false. The groups formed organized strikes, and used speeches to sway the people. However, to say that the radical groups were the most important cause of the Russian Revolution is false. It was due to the tsar’s inadequacy at ruling the Regime that led to its collapse. Instead of effectively controlling the army, he allowed his wife and her advisor to influence his beliefs which caused the Russian populous to discredit their rulers. During Nicholas II’s reign, two wars occurred in Russia that caused mass poverty, hunger, and loss of hope. Instead of passing policies that would help the citizens, he passed policies that isolate the populous even more which thus invoked the Russian Revolution.
- List of Sources
Chung , TK. "1905 Russian Revolution." TheCorner. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. < >.
Gibson, Michael. "The Revolutionaries ." The communist bloc . Hove, Eng.: Wayland, 1979. 12. Print.
McClellan, Woodford. "Toward October." Russia: a history of the Soviet period. Englewood cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1986. 8, 9. Print.
Pipes, Richard. A concise history of the Russian Revolution . New York: Knopf, 1995. Print.
Reed, John. Ten days that shook the world . Reprint. ed. New York: Lawrence Wishard, 1934. Print.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas Valentine. "The Revolutions of 1917." A history of Russia . 4. ed. New York [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press, 1984. 421-430. Print.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Murder of Rasputin." 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/a/rasputin.htm>.
Ross, Stewart. "March- November 1917." The Russian Revolution . New York: Bookwright Press, 1989. 29, 32. Print.
Wade, Rex A.. "Biographies." The Bolshevik revolution and Russian Civil War . Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2001. 129-130. Print.
Nicholas Riasanovsky, A History of Russia Fourth Edition, (New York: Oxford Press, 1984), 402.
Chung, < http://www.thecorner.org/hist/russia/revo1905.htm>
Nicholas Riasanovsky, A History of Russia Fourth Edition, (New York: Oxford Press, 1984), 421.
Richard Pipes, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution, (New York: Knopf, 1995), 68-69.
Rosenberg, < http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/a/rasputin.htm>
Richard Pipes, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution, (New York: Knopf, 1995), 73.
Nicholas Riasanovsky, A History of Russia Fourth Edition, (New York: Oxford Press, 1984), 430.
Michael Gibson, The Communist Bloc, (England: Wayland, 1979), 12.
Stewart Ross, The Russian Revolution, (New York: The Bookwright Press, 1989), 32.
John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World, (New York: Lawrence Wishard, 1934)
Woodford McClellan, Russia A History of the Soviet Period Second Edition, (New Jersey:Prentice Hall, 1990), 8.
Woodford McClellan, Russia A History of the Soviet Period Second Edition, (New Jersey:Prentice Hall, 1990), 8.
Woodford McClellan, Russia A History of the Soviet Period Second Edition, (New Jersey:Prentice Hall, 1990), 9.
Richard Pipes, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution, (New York: Knopf, 1995), title.
Rex Wade, The Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War, (Wesport: Greenword Press, 2001), 129.
Rex Wade, The Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War, (Wesport: Greenword Press, 2001), 130.
Richard Pipes, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution, (New York: Knopf, 1995), 77.
