The Russian Revolution general notes and summary

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The Russian Revolution general notes and summary

IB History of the Americas II Notes
The Russian Revolution
General Notes

Alexandra Fyodorovna, the daughter of Louis IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, was born in Germany on 6th June, 1872. Alexandra, the grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, married Nicholas II, the Tsar of Russia, in October, 1894. Over the next few years she gave birth to four daughters and a son, Alexis.

Alexandra and Nicholas II disliked St. Petersburg. Considering it too modern, they moved the family residence in 1895 from Anichkov Palace to Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, where they lived in seclusion.

In 1905 Alexandra met Gregory Rasputin, a monk who claimed he had healing powers. Alexis suffered from hemophilia (a disease whereby the blood does not clot if a wound occurs). When Alexis was taken seriously ill in 1908, Rasputin was called to the royal palace. He managed to stop the bleeding and from then on he became a member of the royal entourage.

Alexandra was a strong believer in the autocratic power of Tsardom and urged him to resist demands for political reform. This resulted in her becoming an unpopular person in Russia and this intensified during the First World War.

In September, 1915, Nicholas II assumed supreme command of the Russian Army fighting on the Eastern Front. As he spent most of his time at GHQ, Alexandra now took responsibility for domestic policy. Gregory Rasputin served as her adviser and over the next few months she dismissed ministers and their deputies in rapid succession.
Rumors began to circulate that Alexandra and Gregory Rasputin were leaders of a pro-German court group and were seeking a separate peace with the Central Powers in order to help the survival of the autocracy in Russia.

Gregory Rasputin was also suspected of financial corruption and right-wing politicians believed that he was undermining the popularity of the regime. Felix Yusupov, the husband of the Tsar's niece, and Vladimir Purishkevich, a member of the Duma, formed a conspiracy to murder Rasputin. On 29th December, 1916, Rasputin was invited to Yusupov's home where he was given poisoned wine and cakes. When this did not kill him he was shot by Yusupov and Purishkevich and then dropped through a hole in the frozen canal outside the house.

As supreme command of the Russian Army the Tsar was linked him to the country's military failures and during 1917 there was a strong decline in support for Nicholas II in Russia. On 13th July, 1917, the Russian Army High Command recommended that Nicholas abdicated. Two days later the Tsar renounced the throne.

The Tsar and his immediate family were arrested and negotiations began to find a place of overseas exile. P. N. Milyukov persuaded David Lloyd George, to offer the family political asylum in Britain. However, King George V, who feared that the presence of Nicholas would endanger his own throne, forced Lloyd George to withdraw the offer.

Nicholas and his family were moved to the remote Siberian city of Ekaterinburg where he was held captive by a group of Bolsheviks. Alexandra Fyodorovna, her husband and children, were executed on 16th July 1918.

Russian Revolution Questions

Explain why Alexander III rejected reforms. What methods did he use to maintain his authority over the Russian people?

He wanted to strengthen “autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality.” To maintain authority, he imposed strict censorship codes on published materials and written documents, including private letters. He used secret police to watch secondary schools and universities. He received detailed reports on students and exiled political prisoners to Siberia.

He oppressed minority groups by forbidding the use of minority languages in schools, he didn’t allow Jews to buy land or live among other Russians, and set university quotas for Jewish students. Alexander also organized pograms against Jews, allowing Russian citizens to loot and destroy Jewish homes, stores, and synagogues.

Since the rapid expansion of Russian industry helped the country prosper, why did industrialization lead to unrest?

Russian industrialization caused unrest because it created harsh conditions, necessitated long working hours, produced low wages, and instituted child labor. Yet it provided no ability for workers to join trade unions, and ultimately increased the gap between the rich and the poor. In essence, it was the rapid industrialization that led to Marx’s “dictatorship of the proletariat.”

Describe the impact of Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.

Social unrest, raid on the Winter Palace 1/22/1905, formation of the Duma.

Discuss the social impact of the Great War on the Russian home front.

It evealed the weaknesses of Czarist rule and military dictatorship. 4 million Russians killed in first year of war. Food and fuel supplies dwindled and prices were heavily inflated. Average Russians wanted the war to end.

Describe the events that led Czar Nicholas II to abdicate the throne as well as the nature of the provisional government that replaced his regime.

Women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike in March 1917, provoking riots over bread and fuel shortages. Soldiers were ordered to shoot the rioters, but as 200,000 workers swarmed the streets, the soldiers sided with the workers, joined the rebellion, and fired at their commanding officers.

In response to this March Revolution, Czar Nicholas abdicated his throne, and he was executed, along with his family.

Who was Alexander Kerensky and why did his government fail?

Alexander Kerensky was born in Simbirsk, Russia, on 22nd April, 1881. The son of a headmaster, Kerensky studied law at the University of St. Petersburg.
In 1905 Kerensky joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR) and became editor of the radical newspaper, Burevestik. He was soon arrested and sent into exile. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1906 and found work as a lawyer. Over the next few years he developed a reputation for defending radicals in court who had been accused of political offenses.

Kerensky joined the Russian Labor Party and in 1912 was elected to the State Duma. A socialist, Kerensky developed a strong following amongst industrial workers. He also played an important role in the exposure of Roman Malinovsky, one of the leaders of the Bolsheviks, as an undercover agent of the Okhrana.

In February, 1917, Kerensky announced he had rejoined the Socialist Revolutionary Party and called for the removal of Nicholas II. When Alexandra Fyodorovna heard the news she wrote to her husband and demanded that he be hung as a traitor.

When the Tsar abdicated on 13th March, a Provisional Government, headed by Prince George Lvov, was formed. Kerensky was appointed as Minister of Justice in the new government and immediately introduced a series of reforms including the abolition of capital punishment. He also announced basic civil liberties such as freedom of the press, the abolition of ethnic and religious discrimination and made plans for the introduction of universal suffrage.

In May, 1917, Kerensky became Minister of War and appointed General Alexei Brusilov as the Commander in Chief of the Russian Army. He toured the Eastern Front where he made a series of emotional speeches where he appealed to the troops to continue fighting an on 18th June, Kerensky announced a new war offensive.

It was Kerensky’s continued support of the war in the face of steadily worsening conditions in Russia that caused his government to fail. Encouraged by the Bolsheviks, who favored peace negotiations, both civilians (angry peasants who wanted more land) and soldiers demonstrated against Kerensky in Petrograd.

How and Why did the Germans arrange Lenin’s return to Russia in 1917?

The Germans arranged Lenin’s return to Russia after he had been exiled for many years because they believed that Lenin and the Bolsheviks would stir unrest in Russia and hinder the Russian War Effort.

What was Lenin's view of the state? Who would be the ruling class? What did he mean by "the dictatorship of the proletariat?"

Before 1875, Marx said little about what in practice would characterize a “dictatorship of the proletariat,” believing that planning in advance the details of a future socialist system constituted the fallacy of "utopian socialism." Thus, Marx used the term very infrequently.
When he did use it, the term "dictatorship" describes control by an entire class, rather than a single sovereign individual (dictator rei gerendae causa), over another class. In this way, according to Marx, the bourgeois state, being a system of class rule, amounts to a 'dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.' In the same sense, when the workers take state power into their hands, they become the new ruling classes. The workers, in other words, rule in their own interest, using the apparatuses of the courts, schools, prisons, and police in a manner required to prevent the bourgeoisie from regrouping and mounting a counterrevolution. Marx expected the victorious workers to be democratic and open in dealings with one another. Theirs is to be a dictatorship of and by, not over, the proletariat.

According to Marx, after the proletariat would take state power, it will aim to eliminate the old social relations of production, and replace these relations by placing the means of production and state apparatus under proletariat control, thus paving the way for the abolition of class distinctions and a classless communist society. He viewed the "dictatorship of the proletariat" as only an intermediate stage, believing that the need for the use of state power of the working class over its enemies would disappear once the classless society had emerged.

Although Marx did not plan out the details of how such a dictatorship would be implemented, earlier in The Civil War in France (1871), his analysis based upon the experience of the Paris Commune of 1871, Marx pointed to the Commune as a model of transition to communism.
Later, Frederick Engels, in his 1891 postscript to the Civil War in France stressed the dismantling of the state apparatus, the decentralization of power and popular democratic control over and management of civil society. The pamphlet praised the democratic features of the Paris Commune, arguing that the working class, once in power, had to "do away with all the old repressive machinery previously used against it itself," and that it must "safeguard itself against its own deputies and officials, by declaring them all, without exception, subject to recall at any moment." [1] The 1891 postscript defended the concept of a "dictatorship of the proletariat" by relating it to the Commune:

The "dictatorship of the proletariat" since Lenin
The Paris Commune was short-lived, and no other serious attempt at implementing Marx's ideas was made during his lifetime. After Marx, Vladimir Lenin discussed the concept of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" in The State and Revolution (1917), elaborating his proposals for putting it into practice. Lenin believed that the political form of the Paris Commune was revived in the councils of workers and soldiers that appeared after the 1905 Russian Revolution that called themselves soviets. Their task, according to Lenin, was to overthrow the capitalist state and establish socialism, the stage preceding communism.

According to Lenin, when would real communism be established? What was the difference between socialism and communism?

The role of the revolutionary party, in his case the Bolsheviks, was to serve as a "vanguard of the proletariat," which would start the revolution when the time was right and lead the soviets to victory. Lenin argued that since trade unions are inevitably reformist, seeking only an accommodation with capitalists to improve the lot of their members, revolutionary activity on behalf of the proletariat requires the vanguard of a revolutionary party. The party will then impose a "dictatorship of the proletariat," assisting the workers to transcend their 'trade-union consciousness' by developing a 'true revolutionary class consciousness,' and thus eliminate the intra-class divisions that impede the development of communism.

After the revolution, Lenin envisioned a form of government he called soviet democracy (as opposed to parliamentary democracy). The principle of soviet democracy was that the local workers' soviets would elect representatives that would go on to form regional soviets, which would in turn elect representatives that would form higher soviets, and so on up to a supreme soviet, the highest legislative body of the entire country.
The Stalinists, however, later used the concept to justify a new concentration of power. Critics, including anti-communists but also Trotskyist communists, non-Leninist Marxists and anarcho-communists, contend that this principle has been used as a justification for granting sweeping powers to a new ruling elite.

Why did Lenin accept the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? What were its provisions? How did the average citizen react to Russia's major territorial losses?

On the 3rd December 1917 a conference between a Russian delegation, headed by Leon Trotsky and German and Austrian representatives began at Brest-Litovsk. Trotsky had the difficult task of trying to end Russian participation in the First World War without having to grant territory to the Central Powers. By employing delaying tactics Trotsky hoped that socialist revolutions would spread from Russia to Germany and Austria-Hungary before he had to sign the treaty.

After nine weeks of discussions without agreement, the German Army was ordered to resume its advance into Russia. On 3rd March 1918, with German troops moving towards Petrograd, Vladimir Lenin ordered Trotsky to accept the German terms. The Brest-Litovsk Treaty resulted in the Russians surrendering the Ukraine, Finland, the Baltic provinces, the Caucasus and Poland.

The humiliating terms of the treaty triggered widespread anger among Russians who objected to the Bolsheviks and their policies.

Which groups resisted the new Communist regime in the civil war that broke out at the end of 1918?

The White Army opposed the Bolshevik Red Army that was led by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky quickly established the Red Army to fight the White Army during the Civil War by recruiting a large number of officers from the old army. He was criticized for this but he argued that it would be impossible to fight the war without the employment of experienced army officers.

What role did the Allied governments play in this conflict?

The United States and several Western nations sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army. But Allied intervention was of dubious value: foreign arms and supplies aided the Whites, but were insufficient to insure victory and let the Reds pose as defenders of Mother Russia.

What factors helped the Bolsheviks triumph?

Bolshevik propaganda portrayed White generals (wrongly) as reactionary tools of Western imperialism, and (more correctly) as aiming to restore the landlords. Conversely, the Reds possessed able leadership, a disciplined party, clever propaganda, and a flexible policy of national self-determination. The Red Army had central positions, better discipline, and numerical superiority. Retaining worker support in the central industrial region, the Bolsheviks won the Civil War as they had won power in 1917 with superior leadership, unity, and purpose.

One specific factor in the Bolsheviks success was the introduction of conscription in June 1918 due to heavy losses to the volunteer army. Vladimir Lenin was impressed by Trotsky's achievements and in 1919 remarked to Maxim Gorky: "Show me another man who could have practically created a model army in a year and won respect of the military specialist as well."

Finally, The Whites lacked coordination, and were plagued by personal rivalries among their leaders. They denounced Bolshevism, but affirmed nothing. Denikin and Kolchak were moderates, who lacked effective political or economic programs. Their slogan: "A united and indivisible Russia" alienated national minorities, and played into Bolshevik hands. White generals made military blunders, but their political mistakes and disunity proved decisive. As such, the failed leadership of the White Army paled in comparison to that of Leon Trotsky, an outstanding military commander who led his five million man army to victory and in doing so ensured the survival of the Bolshevik government.

What were the net results of the "Terror" and civil war for Russia?

Nearly 15 million Russians died in the civil war and the subsequent famine. The Revolution also destroyed the Russian economy. As industrial production declined, many skilled workers emigrated to other nations. The destruction and loss of life from fighting, hunger, and a worldwide flu epidemic left Russia in chaos.

What were the major components of Lenin's N. E. P.? How was it a major turning point in the development of Communist Russia?

Lenin launched the New Economic Policy in March 1921. Rather than the state controlled economy that Lenin had envisioned, the NEP was in fact a small scale version of capitalism in which peasants were allowed to sell their surplus crops on the market instead of turning them over to the government. Individuals were also allowed to buy and sell consumer goods for profit, although the government maintained control of major industries, banks, and modes of communication.

Some small factories, businesses, and farms were allowed to operate privately, and Lenin encouraged some foreign investment. Even though his new policies allowed the USSR to slowly recover, Lenin had created a dictatorship of the Communist Party rather than a dictatorship of the proletariat and the Party held all the power.

How did the Communist Party govern the Soviet Union in the early 1920s?

Lenin had several strokes in 1922 and ultimately died in 1924. His successor, Joseph Stalin, dramatically transformed the government to control every aspect of citizens’ public and private lives.

Having consolidated power between 1922 and 1927, and after placing several of his supporters in key positions, Stalin took total command of the Communist Party in 1928. Stalin reversed Lenin’s New Economic Policy, which was a mixture of free enterprise and state control, and replaced the NEP with a totalitarian command economy in which the government made all economic decisions. Under this system, Communist Party leaders identified the country’s economic needs and determined how to fulfill them. For example, Party officials chose the workers, assigned their jobs, and determined their working hours. Workers were required to secure police permission to relocate and anyone who did not contribute to the Soviet economy risked imprisonment or execution by the secret police.

To modernize the Soviet state, Stalin ushered in revolutions in industry and agriculture. To modernize industry, the government launched an aggressive Five Year Plan to promote rapid industrial growth and to strengthen national defense. To meet it’s incredible goals to increase the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity, the government limited production of consumer goods. Severe housing, food, and clothing shortages resulted.

To modernize agriculture, Stalin seized over 25 million privately owned farms and combined them into government owned collectives on which hundreds of families worked to produce food for the state. Peasants resisted the government’s efforts by killing livestock and destroying crops. To quell the revolts, Soviet secret police herded peasant farmers onto the collectives by bayonet. Upwards of 10 million peasants died as a result of Stalin’s agricultural revolution and millions more were shipped to Siberia.

Eventually, Stalin’s plans took root. By 1938, 90% of all peasants lived on collective farms that year the country produced twice the wheat than it had in 1928 prior to the advent of collective farming.

Mr. Davis

IB History of the Americas II Notes
The Russian Revolution
Identifications

Tsarevich Alexei Nicolaievich
Alexei was born on 12 August 1904 (NS) at Peterhof, much to the great joy of Nicholas and Alexandra. The empire rejoiced with a 301 cannon salute at the birth of the heir to the throne. He inherited hemophelia from his mother, making simple bumps and bruises dangerous, if not deadly. He had a body guard with him at all times to help prevent accidents from endangering his life.
Despite the deadly disease, Alexei lived through childhood. Once, in a particularly dreadful hemorrhage, he told his mother that he welcomed death. Strangely, Alexei's hemorrhages were stopped several times (in front of the Imperial Family), from the prayers of a starets named Rasputin after many of the doctors failed to improve the boy's health.
Alexei's body was missing from the mass grave found in the early 1990's. It is suggested that he survived the massacre in the basement that July night in 1918. It would not be likely, however, due to the hemophelia. Alexei, being a bleeder, could not have escaped the damage his body sustained in the hail of gunfire. It is more likely that the murderers, to hide their crime, buried his body apart from the others.
February Revolution 1917
Russia’s incompetent and corrupt system could not supply the necessary equipment to enable the Russian Army to fight a modern war. By 1917 over 1,300,000 men had been killed in battle, 4,200,000 wounded and 2,417,000 had been captured by the enemy.
In January 1917, General Krimov, returned from the Eastern Front and sought a meeting with Michael Rodzianko, President of the Duma. Krimov told Rodzianko that the officers and men no longer had faith in Nicholas II and the army was willing to support the Duma if it took control of the government of Russia. Rodzianko was unwilling to take action but he did telegraph the Tsar warning that Russia was approaching breaking point. He also criticised the impact that his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna was having on the situation and told him that "you must find a way to remove the Empress from politics".
The First World War had a disastrous impact on the Russian econimy. Food was in short supply and this led to rising prices. By January 1917 the price of commodities in Petrograd had increased six-fold. In an attempt to increase their wages, industrial workers went on strike and in Petrograd people took to the street demanding food. On 11th February, 1917, a large crowd marched through the streets of Petrograd breaking shop windows and shouting anti-war slogans.
The situation deteoriated on 22nd February when the owners of the Putilov Iron Works locked out its workforce after they demanded higher wages. Led by Bolshevik agitators, the 20,000 workers took to the streets. The army was ordered to disperse the demonstrations but they were unwilling to do this and in some cases the soldiers joined the protestors in demanding an end to the war.
Other workers joined the demonstrations and by 27th February an estimated 200,000 workers were on strike. Nicholas II, who was at Army Headquarters in Mogilev, ordered the commander of the Petrograd garrison to suppress "all the disorders on the streets of the capital". The following day troops fired on demonstrators in different parts of the city. Others refused to obey the order and the Pavlovsk regiment mutinied. Others regiments followed and soldiers joined the striking workers in the streets.
On 26th February Nicholas II ordered the Duma to close down. Members refused and they continued to meet and discuss what they should do. Michael Rodzianko, President of the Duma, sent a telegram to the Tsar suggesting that he appoint a new government led by someone who had the confidence of the people. When the Tsar did not reply, the Duma nominated a Provisional Government headed by Prince George Lvov.
The High Command of the Russian Army now feared a violent revolution and on 28th February suggested that Nicholas II should abdicate in favour of a more popular member of the royal family. Attempts were now made to persuade Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich to accept the throne. He refused and on the 1st March, 1917, the Tsar abdicated leaving the Provisional Government in control of the country.
Alexander Kerensky was born in Simbirsk, Russia, on 22nd April, 1881. The son of a headmaster, Kerensky studied law at the University of St. Petersburg.
In 1905 Kerensky joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR) and became editor of the radical newspaper, Burevestik. He was soon arrested and sent into exile. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1906 and found work as a lawyer. Over the next few years he developed a reputation for defending radicals in court who had been accused of political offenses.
Kerensky joined the Russian Labour Party and in 1912 was elected to the State Duma. A socialist, Kerensky developed a strong following amongst industrial workers. He also played an important role in the exposure of Roman Malinovsky, one of the leaders of the Bolsheviks, as an undercover agent of the Okhrana.
In February, 1917, Alexander Kerensky announced he had rejoined the Socialist Revolutionary Party and called for the removal of Nicholas II. When Alexandra Fyodorovna heard the news she wrote to her husband and demanded that he be hung as a traitor.
When the Tsar abdicated on 13th March, a Provisional Government, headed by Prince George Lvov, was formed. Kerensky was appointed as Minister of Justice in the new government and immediately introduced a series of reforms including the abolition of capital punishment. He also announced basic civil liberties such as freedom of the press, the abolition of ethnic and religious discrimination and made plans for the introduction of universal suffrage.
In May, 1917, Kerensky became Minister of War and appointed General Alexei Brusilov as the Commander in Chief of the Russian Army. He toured the Eastern Front where he made a series of emotional speeches where he appealed to the troops to continue fighting. On 18th June, Kerensky announced a new war offensive. Encouraged by the Bolsheviks, who favoured peace negotiations, there were demonstrations against Kerensky in Petrograd.
The July Offensive, led by General Alexei Brusilov, was an attack on the whole Galician sector. Initially the Russian Army made advances and on the first day of the offensive took 10,000 prisoners. However, low morale, poor supply lines and the rapid arrival of German reserves from the Western Front slowed the advance and on 16th July the offensive was brought to an end.
The Provisional Government made no real attempt to seek an armistice with the Central Powers. Lvov's unwillingness to withdraw Russia from the First World War made him unpopular with the people and on 8th July, 1917, he resigned and was replaced by Kerensky.
Kerensky was still the most popular man in the government because of his political past. In the Duma he had been leader of the moderate socialists and had been seen as the champion of the working-class. However, Kerensky, like George Lvov, was unwilling to end the war. In fact, soon after taking office, he announced a new summer offensive.
Soldiers on the Eastern Front were dismayed at the news and regiments began to refuse to move to the front line. There was a rapid increase in the number of men deserting and by the autumn of 1917 an estimated 2 million men had unofficially left the army.
Some of these soldiers returned to their homes and used their weapons to seize land from the nobility. Manor houses were burnt down and in some cases wealthy landowners were murdered. Kerensky and the Provisional Government issued warnings but were powerless to stop the redistribution of land in the countryside.
After the failure of the July Offensive on the Eastern Front, Kerensky replaced General Alexei Brusilov with General Lavr Kornilov, as Supreme Commander of the Russian Army. The two men soon clashed about military policy. Kornilov wanted Kerensky to restore the death-penalty for soldiers and to militarize the factories.
On 7th September, Kornoilov demanded the resignation of the Cabinet and the surrender of all military and civil authority to the Commander in Chief. Kerensky responded by dismissing Kornilov from office and ordering him back to Petrograd.
Kornilov now sent troops under the leadership of General Krymov to take control of Petrograd. Kerensky was now in danger and so he called on the Soviets and the Red Guards to protect Petrograd. The Bolsheviks, who controlled these organizations, agreed to this request, but in a speech made by their leader, Vladimir Lenin, he made clear they would be fighting against Kornilov rather than for Kerensky.
Within a few days Bolsheviks had enlisted 25,000 armed recruits to defend Petrograd. While they dug trenches and fortified the city, delegations of soldiers were sent out to talk to the advancing troops. Meetings were held and Kornilov's troops decided to refuse to attack Petrograd. General Krymov committed suicide and Kornilov was arrested and taken into custody.
Kerensky now became the new Supreme Commander of the Russian Army. His continued support for the war effort made him unpopular in Russia and on 8th October, Kerensky attempted to recover his left-wing support by forming a new coalition that included more Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. However, with the Bolsheviks controlling the Soviets, and now able to call on 25,000 armed militia, Kerensky was unable to reassert his authority.
On 7th November, Kerensky was informed that the Bolsheviks were about to seize power. He decided to leave Petrograd and try to get the support of the Russian Army on the Eastern Front. Later that day the Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace and members of the Kerensky's cabinet were arrested.
Kerensky assembled loyal troops from the Northern Front but his army was defeated by Bolshevik forces at Pulkova. He remained underground in Finland until escaping to London in May 1918. He later moved to France where he led the propaganda campaign against the communist regime in Russia. This included editing the Russian newspaper, Dni, that published in Paris and Berlin. In 1939 Kerensky urged the western democracies to intervene against both communism in the Soviet Union and fascism in Germany.
On the outbreak of the Second World War Kerensky moved to the United States. He worked at the Hoover Institution in California and wrote his autobiography, The Kerensky Memoirs: Russia and History's Turning Point (1967). Alexander Kerensky died of cancer in New York on 11th June, 1970.
In 1896 the Northern Union of Socialist Revolutionaries was formed. This was followed by other such groups in other parts of Russia. In 1901, some of the leading figures in these groups, including Catherine Breshkovskaya, Victor Chernov, Gregory Gershuni, Nikolai Avksentiev, Alexander Kerensky and Evno Azef, founded the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries (SR).
The main policy of the SR was the confiscation of all land. This would then be distributed among the peasants according to need. The party was also in favour of the establishment of a democratically elected constituent assembly and a maximum 8-hour day for factory workers.
Victor Chernov edited the SR journal, Revolutionary Russia, where he argued against Marxists who claimed that the peasants were a totally reactionary social class.
The SR, great influenced by the tactics used by the People's Will, also had a terrorist wing, the SR Combat Organization. Membership of this group was secret and independent of the rest of the party. Gregory Gershuni, became its head and was responsible for planning the assassination of the Minister of the Interior, D. S. Sipyagin. The following year he arranged the assassination of N. M. Bogdanovich, the Governor of Ufa.
Gregory Gershuni was unaware that his deputy, Evno Azef, was in the pay of the Okhrana. In 1904 Azef secretly provided the secret police with the information needed to arrest and try Gershuni with terrorism.
After Gershuni's arrest Evno Azef became the new leader of the SR Combat Organization and organized the assassination of Vyacheslav Plehve in 1904 and Father Gregory Gapon in 1906. At the same time he was receiving 1,000 rubles a month from the Okhrana. Several members of the police leaked information to the leadership of the SR about the undercover activities of Azef. However, they refused to believe the stories and assumed the secret service was trying to undermine the success of the terrorist unit.
The SR played an important role during the 1905 Revolution. It led a rising in support of the Potemkin Mutiny and Nikolai Avksentiev was one of the main leaders of the St Petersburg Soviet.
Although the Socialist Revolutionaries decided to boycott the Duma elections in 1905, some members stood as Trudovik (Labour) candidates. In February, 1907, the SR stood won 34 seats while the Trudovik had over 100 successful candidates.
The Socialist Revolutionaries continued to infiltrated by agents employed by Okhrana. Between 1911 and 1914, Dmitri Bogrov supplied information about the party. However, in what appeared to be an act of remorse, Bogrov entered the Kiev Opera House on 1st September, 1911, and assassinated the Minister of the Interior, Peter Stolypin.
The First Congress of Soviets that was held in June, 1917, had 1,090 delegates representing more than 400 different soviets. Of these, 285 were Socialist Revolutionaries, 248 Mensheviks and 105 Bolsheviks.
In 1917 the SRs split between those who supported the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks who favoured a communist revolution. Those like Maria Spirdonova and Mikhail Kalinin who supported revolution became known as Left Socialist Revolutionists.
The First Congress of Soviets that was held in June, 1917, had 1,090 delegates representing more than 400 different soviets. Of these, 285 were Socialist Revolutionaries, 248 Mensheviks and 105 Bolsheviks.
After the February Revolution, a former member of the SR, Alexander Kerensky, was appointed as Minister of Justice. Later, Victor Chernov entered the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Kerensky became prime minister.
The party strongly opposed the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution. In the elections held for the Constituent Assembly in November, 1917, the SR won 20,900,000 votes (58 per cent), whereas the Bolsheviks won only 9,023,963 votes (25 per cent).
In 1918 the Soviet government closed down the Constituent Assembly and banned the SR and other anti-Bolshevik parties. Some SRs now resorted to acts of terrorism. On 30th August, 1918, Vladimir Lenin was shot by Dora Kaplan and soon afterwards Moisei Uritsky, Commissar for Internal Affairs in the Northern Region, was assassinated by another supporter of the SR.

Russian Revolution Questions

Why was Rasputin so despised by so many groups in Russia? Why did the Tsarina support him?

What actions were taken by the new provisional government to reform the old tsarist government? Identify the different political groups that disagreed on those actions?

What were the political and theoretical differences between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks?

What was the appeal of the Bolshevik ideology to the Russian peasants and urban workers?

Why did Kerensky's government fail?

What was Lenin's view of the state? Who would be the ruling class? What did he mean by "the dictatorship of the proletariat?"

According to Lenin, when would real communism be established? What was the difference between socialism and communism?

What was Lenin's program? Why did it have more appeal? How were they similar to those established by the Jacobins in France in 1793? Where were the differences?

Why did Lenin accept the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? What were its provisions? Why was Lenin not that concerned with Russia's major territorial losses?

Which groups resisted the new Communist regime in the civil war that broke out at the end of 1918? What role did the Allied governments play in this conflict? What factors helped the Bolsheviks triumph?

What were the net results of the "Terror" and civil war for Russia?

How did the Communist Party govern the Soviet Union in the early 1920s?

What were the major components of Lenin's N. E. P.? How was it a major turning point in the development of Communist Russia?

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