Communist Russia
World History Study Guide 
The People and the State
In March 1917, as the people of Russia demonstrated against the hunger and privations brought by World War I, the tsar of the Russian Empire gave up his throne. A provisional government took power in St. Petersburg, the imperial capital. Seven months later, the Bolshevik wing of the Russian Socialist Party led the overthrow of the provisional government. Under Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, known to history by his revolutionary name of Lenin, the Bolsheviks transformed Russia into a socialist state, modeled on the ideas of the nineteenth-century writers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Like Marx and Engels, Lenin saw history as a logical, scientific process. The aim of the Bolshevik government would be to bring this process to its natural conclusion: a socialist state of perfect equality and justice. At this final point in the process, communism would be attained; government itself would no longer be needed, and the state would gradually "wither away," as Engels predicted in his book The Origin of Family, Private Property, and the State :
When it [the state] ultimately becomes really representative of society as a whole, it makes itself superfluous. Govern.....
Life Turned Upside Down
As the largest republic within the Soviet Union, Russia held most of the country's population, fertile land, and resources. Lenin and most of the other leaders of.....
A Historic Experiment
The people of Russia participated in a historic experiment, a test of the theories of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. They made up a vanguard, and their success or failure.....
Socialism and Communism
The Bolshevik revolution of 1917 brought radical changes in the way Russians saw their own society and the societies of other countries. Those who supported the r.....
In July 1936 Gen. Francisco Franco, commander of the Spanish troops in North Africa, led an uprising against the democratically elected government of the Spanish Republic. This Popular Front coalition of antifascists, socialists, and communists was widely supported by liberals and leftists both in Spain and worldwide. Franco was backed by the conservative elements of Spanish society, including most of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. He was also aided by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, both of which quickly sent troops and weapons. A few months later the Soviet Union entered the conflict on the side of the Republic but provided less military aid than Italy and Germany were giving Franco.
In February of 1917 a group of female factory workers and led a revolt in which the Tsar was dethroned, only to be replaced by a provisionary government composed of the Russian elite. When this government did not live up to its promises of an end to Russian involvement in World War I, the Bolsheviks (“majority”), a revolutionary movement led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisionary government in what bacame known as the October revolution.
By March 1917, disasters on the battlefield, combined with food and fuel shortages on the front, brought the monarchy to collapse. In St. Petersburg workers were going on strike. Marchers, mostly women were shouting, "Bread! Bread! Bread!" Troops refused to fire on demonstrators, leaving the government helpless. Duma politicians setup a temporary government/ Middle class liberals prepared a constitution for a new Russian republic. At the same time they continued the war with Germany. That decision proved fatal. Most Russians were fed up with the war and returned home, leaving the front. Peasants wanted land and people wanted food. Cities set up soviets, council of workers and soldiers, which worked dramatically within the government. Before long a radical social group took charge called the Bolsheviks emerged. Their leader was V.I. Lenin.
The Russian revolution of February 1917 was a momentous event in the course of Russian history. The causes of the revolution were very critical and even today historians debate on what was the primary cause of the revolution. The revolution began in Petrograd as “a workers’ revolt” in response to bread shortages. It removed Russia from the war and brought about the transformation of the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, replacing Russia’s monarchy with the world’s first Communist state. The revolution opened the door for Russia to fully enter the industrial age. Before 1917, Russia was a mostly agrarian nation. The Russian working class had been for many years fed up with the ways they had to live and work and it was only a matter of time before they had to take a stand. Peasants worked many hours for low wages and no land, which caused many families to lose their lives. Some would argue that World War I led to the intense downfall of Russia, while others believe that the main cause was the peasant unrest because of harsh living conditions. Although World War I cost Russia many resources and much land, the primary cause of the Russian Revolution was the peasant unrest due to living conditions because even before the war began in Russia there were outbreaks from peasants due to the lack of food and land that were only going to get worse with time.
In 1905 , Russia had a prerevolution that was put down of the Czar. Instead of learning from this prerevolution, Czar Nicholas II, made a very big mistake by in not introducing some reforms to correct the problems. So because of his actions, the situation grew worse. In 1917, the Russians were fighting in World War I. A good majority of the Russian people were weary and uncontent with the way the war was going and with the Czar's rule. This uncontent along with economic hardships caused riots and demonstrations to break out. The Czar called for the army to put down the revolution as they did in 1905. But the army joined the revolt and the Czar was kicked out of power soon afterwards. A temporary government was set up to decide on what kind of government Russia was gonna set up. Two political parties were set up. The Bolsheviks were one of the two. The leader of the Bolshevik party was a man named Lenin. Lenin was a firm believer of the theories and ideas of Karl Marx. So with his slogan of "Bread, Peace and Land", Lenin gained the support of the peasants and gained control of Russia and setup a communist state.
As the tsarist regime fell, Lenin and the Bolshevik Party entered Russia. They operated on a Marxist platform and operated quickly to “develop Russia in such a way as to spread social revolution throughout Europe and eventually the world.” Though their opponents were also Marxist the Bolsheviks were the most militant, least tolerant and most revolutionary. After toppling the remaining dictatorial powers during the October Revolution the Bolsheviks created multiple Soviets and disclosed all the secrets of the tsars, including the treatises that had been made with other countries. All of this was done in an effort to expose the corruption of the capitalist countries and the old regime. What the party did not count on, however, was how their actions would impact the rest of Europe and how other nations would respond.
In 1917, two revolutions were involved in Russia, which terminated centuries of imperial ruling. The Russian revolution was made up of two revolutions, which the first one was in February, and the second one was in October.These revolutions started political, and social changes that lead to the creation of the Soviet Union. By March of 1917, Russia who became civil turned into turmoil, which caused constant food shortages.This turned into a revolt against Czar.By the year of 1917 lots of Russian citizens lost faith in their leader Czar Nicholas II. The citizens lost faith in Czar’s leadership due to the governments corruption, Russia’s economy, and Czar constantly affecting the success of the Duma ( the Russian legislative assembly established by Czar Nicholas II in 1905) .This impacted Russia in a disastrous way, which caused Czar Nicholas II to be overthrown.A few months later after Czar was overthrown, the new provisional government was overthrown by Bolsheviks. The first appearance of the Russian Revolution was in February 1917, due to the destructive involvement in World War I. The military and imperial side of Russia, could not compare to the industrialized Germany at the time. The costly war also made Russia’s economy decline in a major way. Word count: 207
...ove Russian people's lives by giving them the vision through his “April Thesis” stating his ideas on taking over the intermediate government. He provided the leadership that was necessary during the revolution he knew that democratic centralism was necessary, which would be leading the revolution for the people. In 1917 the followers of Lenin called the Bolsheviks took control of the government ending the war with Germany. Later in 1920 after the civil war broke out between the White army and the Red Army, The Red army wins and Lenin seizes the opportunity and implemented his New Economic Policy. Lenin believing that a socialist revolution would be successful if there were multiple revolutions happening together all at once in Europe. Later after Karl Marx died his work was brought back by a man named Joseph Stalin. Stalin incorporated both Lenin and Marx's ideals by
Wood, A. (1986). The Russian Revolution. Seminar Studies in History. (2) Longman, p 1-98. ISBSN 0582355591, 9780582355590
Vladimir Lenin (22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924) was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist. His political ideology is that of Marxist, h...
The October “Red” revolution in 1917 soon broke out. The revolution was led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who captured the Provisional Government and appointed themselves leaders. The Bolsheviks leaders then signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 with Germany end ties w...
Lenin lead the first communist government in russia . When communist took over the city of petrograd , they decided to take out the provisional government . “Peace, bread and land” and “All power to the soviets” was said by Lenin to the cities workers with sayings such as these 2. In lenin's eyes he claimed that workers will and can not , be governed by themselves. Lenin promised to the Soviets that he would get his soldiers out of war plus he granted land ownership to the peasants and also gave them a opportunity to own shops in Soviet . The actual revolution only lasted two days. Trotsky had planned this and it was perfect execution . Trotsky held a speech in the city of petrograd to distract them while the red guards took over important parts of petrograd. Almost everything possible was captured. Lenin was like a spy during this revolution, he had to find the leaders of the provisional government and arrest them . At this time Alexander Kerensky was the president of the provisional
After the death of Lenin, his chief lieutenant Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin fought for control of the country. Stalin was able to win out over Trotsky and gain control of the Russian government. He felt that Lenin and Trotsky’s socialistic ideas were flawed in that they were to wait for other countries to revolt and become socialistic as well. Staling believed that a single country could make socialism .
Lenin’s pragmatic leadership was the most considerable factor in helping to fortify Bolshevik power. His willingness to take power in October/November 1917 and the successes of the move, through his right-hand man, Trotsky, was critical as it helped give him unquestioned authority within the party despite members of the Central Committee i.e. Zinoviev and Kamenev who suggested industrialisation needed to occur first. This highlighted Lenin’s communist ideology in practice which was essential to the Bolsheviks maintaining power. Following the failure of the Provisional Government, Lenin recognised that it was the Bolshevik’s priority to legitimise their government. As a result, issues of ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ were addressed through the issuing of a number of decrees in late 1917 including decrees on land, peace, Workers’ Rights as well as reforms to marriage and religion. ...
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
In the years leading up to the revolution, Russia had been involved in a series of wars. The Crimean war, The Russo-Turkish war, The Russo-Japanese war and the First World War. Russia had been defeated in all except the war with Turkey and its government and economy had the scars to prove it. A severe lack of food and poor living conditions amongst the peasant population led firstly to strikes and quickly escalated to violent riots. Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia with an iron hand while much of Europe was moving away from the monarchical system of rule. All lands were owned by the Tsar’s family and Nobel land lords while the factories and industrial complexes were owned by the capitalists’. There were no unions or labour laws and the justice system had made almost all other laws in favour of the ruling elite. Rents and taxes were often unaffordable, while the gulf between workers and the ruling elite grew ever wider.