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The Russian Revolution

Last updated over 3 years ago
6 questions
Note from the author:
activity that examines the Russian Revolution using primary sources
Communism has been one of the most powerful political forces this century. The USSR and neighbouring states, including China, Poland and Czechslovakia have had communist governments. Many other countries, especially in the developing world, have shared their ideas.
On the other hand, many countries in the western world, especially the USA, hate and fear communism. These are capitalist states.
Communism and capitalism are opposing forces.

Communist ideas

Communism is both a way of living and a form of government. The idea of communism is that wealth is shared between all the people. A communist government organises this.
These diagrams show what communists believed had gone wrong in the past, making most people poor and unhappy.
1. Landowners had become wealthy while the peasants who worked for them remained poor.
2. Factory-owners had become wealthly while their workers remained poor.
3. Communists said that it was wrong that people who owned land or factories (the capitalists) should take all the profit that their workers had sweated to make. They thought that peasants and workers should overthrow the capitalist government and share the wealth of the country among all of the people.
Of course, some people would not agree!
Such people would have to be persuaded or forced to go along with the rest. Communist governments have to put the interests of the people as a whole before the interests of individuals, to keep the system going.

Russia under the Tsars

For centuries Russia was ruled by tsars or tsarinas. They were more powerful then kings and queens. The Russian people thought of them as gods.
By 1900, however, the Tsar, Nicholas II, had become very unpopular with many people.
Study the following sources, which help explain this unpopularity.

Source A.

The Kremlin, the tsar's palace in Moscow.

Source B.

A report of 1905 said:
Very often peasants do not have enough land, and cannot during the year feed themselves, clothe themselves, heat their homes, maintain their tools and livestock, secure seed for sowing, and pay their taxes.

Source C.

Tsar Nicholas II.
This photograph shows him in 1918, now in captivity and watched over by Bolshevik guards.

Source D.

A book about the city of St. Petersburg (later renamed first Petrograd, then Leningrad) describes the living conditions of the workers.
All the large factories were next to grey and depressing buildings several stories high. Along a dark and narrow corridor were thin plank doors. They opened into dormitories for 20 or 30 workers, or minute rooms each sheltering several families. Each family tried to mark off its space with hangings made of old pieces of cloth. There was no privacy. The beds (simple plank bunks) touched each other. Men, women and children mingled their voices, smells, illnesses, quarrels, and reconciliations. The workers did their washing in the room and dried it from lines strung from wall to wall. A sour smell came from these rags as they dripped on the muddy floor.
Troyat, 1961

Source E.

In 1905 Russia went to war with Japan, and lost. At the same time there were food shortages in the Russian cities. People demanded better government. On Sunday 22 January, later known as Bloody Sunday, there was a peaceful protest march to the Tsar's Winter Palace.
The chief of the security police—Nicholas’s uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir—tried to stop the march and then ordered his police to fire upon the demonstrators. More than 100 marchers were killed, and several hundred were wounded.

Source F.

In response to the demonstrations and strikes of 1905, the Tsar calmed the people by promising them a 'duma', or parliament. The duma, however, had no real power and the Tsar issued this order:
The Tsar has supreme and total power. It is commanded by God that everyone should obey him, not out of fear but of a genuine sense of duty.
Required
1

Each of these sources gives a reason why Russian people were very discontented under the rule of the Tsar.
For each source, write a word or phrase that sums up that reason, and a complete sentence to explain it.
You will have six answers for six sources.
Example -
Source C - autocrat - The Tsar was an autocrat and had absolute power over all his subjects.

Source G.

Some people had already set up secret organizations which worked towards the overthrow of the Tsar. They did this either by persuation, or by force - Tsar Alexander II had been killed by assassins in 1881.

Lenin, pictured here later in his life, was one of the leaders of the group of revolutionaries known as the Bolsheviks.

The revolution of February-March 1917

Sources A-F show some of the causes of discontent that were to lead to the overthrow of the Tsar in the Russian Revolution of 1917. These were 'long-term' causes of the revolution. People who were deeply discontented were all the more likely to support an attempt to get a new form of government. This discontent was turned into revolution by 'short-term' causes, or 'triggers'.
Study these sources, which show some of the short-term causes.

Source H.

Gregory Rasputin was a priest who gained great influence over the Tsar and Tsarina after treating their son, who suffered from hemophilia. The Tsar and Tsarina took his advice, which was often bad. One such piece of bad advice was that the Tsar should take command of the Russian forces fighting against Germany.

Source I.

Millions of Russian soldiers died on the eastern front in the First World War.
Here, a German general reports on these deaths:

No one knows the figures of Russian losses. Five or eight millions? All we know is that sometimes in the battles with the Russians we had to remove mounds of enemy corpses in front of our trenches in order to get a clear field of fire against fresh attacks.

Source J.

Russian prisoners of war, captured by the Germans.

Source K.

This report was written by a revolutionary about the state of the Russian economy:
The high cost of living, exploitation, and the barbaric policy of the government have proved to the people the true nature of the war. They no longer cry 'war till victory'. There have been many strikes throughout the country. Prices have gone up five to ten times compared to last year. Clothing and footwear can no longer be bought. And you no longer talk about meat. At Kremenchug a large queue [line] had collected around a shop for sugar. The majority were women. A row [fight] broke out. That led to policemen being beaten up and shops looted. Soldiers were called out, but they refused to fire ...

Source L.

In February 1917, 240,000 workers went on strike because of poor wages and food shortages. The Tsar issued the following order:

Disorders in the capital, intolerable during these difficult times of war with Germany and Austria, must end tomorrow.

Source M.

This order was then sent by the governor of Petrograd to his soldiers:

The Tsar had ordered that the disorders be stopped . . . if the crowd is small, then use cavalry to disperse it. If the crowd is aggressive and displays banners, then . . . signal three times and then fire.

Source N.

A telegram from a Russian general, 27 February 1917:

. . . troops were going over to the side of the people and killing their officers . . . The majority of the army units have betrayed their duty and many have joined with the rebels.

Source O.

Another telegram from the general, 28 February:

The rebels have seized the most important buildings in all parts of the city. Due to fatigue or propaganda the troops have laid down their arms, passed to the side of the rebels, or become neutral.

Source P.

Hearing this news from the capital, the Tsar issued this letter on 2 March:

The disturbances which have begun among the people threaten to have a disastrous effect on the conduct of the war. We must continue the war to victory no matter what the cost . . . We have judged it right to abdicate the throne of Russia.

Source Q.

Cossack soldiers demonstrating in Petrograd.
Their banner says: 'Away with the Monarchy, Long live the Republic.'
The photograph quotes the Tsar's abdication message.
The Tsar wanted his brother, Grand Duke Michael, to take over. Michael refused.
Instead a parliament, or duma, took control.
The duma was to represent the people. It seemed that the revolution had succeeded.
Required
1

Use the sources to identify a list of events which were the short-term causes, or triggers, of the revolution.

Required
1

Would you say that this revolution was planned or that it was spontaneous?
Justify your answer with references to the sources.

Required
1

Sources K and O are biased, one towards the revolutionaries, the other to the Tsar.
What is there in the sources to tell you this?
Does it mean that the two sources are of no value?

The revolution of November 1917

In fact the revolution in March had not succeeded. The new government, known as the Provisional Government and led by Alexander Kerensky, did not solve the problems that had caused the revolution. The people had wanted to end the war, but the fighting on the eastern front continued. The people wanted food, but there were still shortages. Most of all, the people wanted a government to represent them, but this government seemed as bad as the Tsar.

This gave Lenin and the Bolsheviks their chance. They had been taken by surprise by the revolution in March, and had had little part to play in it. Lenin, who had been out of the country, returned in April.

By October they were ready to organize a second revolution which would change things much more. Again, there were several short-term causes. The Russian army had suffered terrible losses, and there was a shortage of food.

In this atmosphere the revolutionaries got to work. Leon Trotsky organized a Bolshevik fighting force named the 'Red Guard', and made plans to take over all the important centres in the capital.

On 24 October they struck.

Source R.

A member of the Provisional Government wrote:

It became clear that events had taken a turn for the worse; almost the whole city was in the hands of the revolutionaries. The government and a small number of officers remained in the Winter Palace. The railway stations had been occupied. The telegraph and telephone exchanges had been taken over . . .

Source S.

Another eyewitness described what happened next:

There is disorganized firing around the Palace. Several soldiers have just surrendered. Darkness. Several shots rang out. The chatter of machine guns. A crowd of sailors, soldiers and Red Guards open fire.
At this stage there was cannon fire from the Bolsheviks who had captured the Peter and Paul fortress. 'Shouldn't we ask them to surrender?' asked one of the revolutionaries. The cannon fire had its effect. They surrendered, and left the Palace under escort.
In this way the Provisional Government was overthrown.
The communists, led by Lenin, were now in charge. Their next task was to change Russia to make it a communist state.
A crowd of Bolsheviks outside the Winter Palace.
Required
1

Was this revolution planned, or was it spontaneous?
Justify your answer with reference to the sources.
How does it compare with the revolution in March?

Required
1

Enemies of the Bolsheviks made them out to be evil.
Is such a view supported by the photographs and written sources? Explain.