The Russian Revolution (1917-1924), despite the ambitious aims of the Lenin and the Bolshevik party, failed to completely improve the lives of the Russian people, nor liberate them from the oppression they faced in the old regime, following the Bolshevik takeover after the October Revolution (24 October 1917). Despite this, however, certain policies (such as the initial reforms in 1917) did help improve the lives of the people somewhat. The Bolsheviks were not very successful in liberating the Russian people throughout their time in power. A prominent example of their failure to do so was their closing of the Constituent Assembly. The elections for the Constituent Assembly resulted in the majority of votes going to the Socialist Revolutionaries (42%), …show more content…
Peter Oxley has estimated that of the 10 million deaths during the Civil War, 9,500,000 were due to famine and disease. Volkogonov has acknowledged the damaging effects of War Communism, stating that, “the Bolsheviks were incapable of giving the people anything but…hunger and terror”.Furthermore, in the Cheka (formed in December 1917) spread terror throughout Russia, which was particular poignant following Lenin’s order in February 1918, that all counter revolutionaries and individuals assisting counterrevolutionaries be arrested immediately. Thus, the Russian Revolution forced numerous individuals to live in impoverished conditions, and subjected them to terror in the form of the Cheka (who were given power of trial and execution in February 1918). Despite this, certain aspects of life in the new regime were positive following the Bolshevik takeover, and an examples of this are Lenin’s initial reforms. His Decree on Land (November 1917) abolished private ownership of land, and legalised the seizing of land by those who cultivate
Anyone who refused to cooperate were either shot or exiled as punishment. Millions of farmers were killed (“Joseph Stalin.”) and this farming method wasn’t able to produce enough food leading to famine which results in millions of other deaths across the Soviet Union (“Joseph Stalin –
The Red Terror: The Red Terror was a time period in Russia during the Russian civil war where secret police called Cheka would carry out mass executions on a daily basis. The Cheka were not a part of any form of lawful government or organization. They would execute and punish all citizens who were even suspected of opposing the Russian Revolution. As more member joined Cheka it began to gain an immense amount of power, until it was abolished in 1922 by the Bolsheviks (“Red Terror”). 11.
His agricultural reform successfully alternated the revolutionary beliefs of some of the peasants by passing a law to finally end redemption
The Russian Revolution of 1917 marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. Civil War broke out in Russia between the Red and White Armies. The Red Army fought for the Lenin’s Bolshevik government. The White Army represented a large group of monarchists, capitalists and supporters of democratic socialism.
One man, Vladimir Lenin saw that Russia was spiraling downwards, having lost two battles in a row and having the highest death count out of all the European countries he saw that a change was needed. Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks who were a communist group that wanted to draw out of the war and over thrown Czar Nicholas II. Preaching peace, and food he wanted, ¨the offer of peace, the salvation of Petrograd, salvation from famine, and the transfer of land to the peasants who depended on them,¨ (Document 8). People were drawn into this and, ¨increasingly taken in by the propagandists of the united Socialist Party and their internationalis ideas,¨ (Document 9). This combined with high death rates, starvation, communist ideals started the overthrow of Russia and the end of the war.
Russian Revolution In 1922, as a result of the Russian Revolution, a new political party emerged: the USSR or the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was the world’s first communist state. Communism was a new political and economic model that was supposed to get rid of class distinction. From the beginning, communism opposed capitalism and capitalist countries like the United States. The Russian Revolution united the socialists against the capitalists, with the USSR, a communist country, siding with the socialists.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 marked one of the most radical turning points in the country’s 1,300-year history and established the Soviet Union as a Communist state. Russia in the 19th century was a massive empire stretching from Poland to the Pacific. Ruling such a massive country was quite the undertaking, especially because the long-term problems within Russia were approaching the surface. In 1917, these problems finally produced a revolution, which completely wiped the old system away. The Russian Revolution was a rebellion executed by the Russian people against the Russian elite.
The Russian Revolution Many may argue that the Russian Revolution was a success or some may say that it was was an extreme failure. The Russian Revolution was a failure for various reasons. The Russian Revolution was a failure because Stalin was a monster, a leader who took advantage of many innocent people and killed them. He was a mass murderer. He used his loyal ones to his own advantage.
Death reaped the fields of the ill-equipped Russians in the war, while poverty and famine danced among families at home. Instances such as the Battle of the Masurian Lakes where Russians lost three times as many troops as the Germans crushed morale for the soldiers (Trueman). At home, ravenous wolves, in the form of kulaks (landlords) who bribed their way around conscription, pounced on lands once owned by drafted, and now, dead peasants (“Kulaks”). By 1916, food prices tripled the wages when the kulaks, who owned most of the Russian farmland, began to hoard food away from the market to increase the demand (“February Revolution”). Workers, laboring vigorously for little pay, found themselves growing resentful of the Russian Empire as well as the “bourgeois.”
Lenin went into exile again during World War 1 and returned home in 1917 when Russia deposed the tsars. He launched the October Revolution which was followed by three years of civil war. He pushed to secured power through the Red Terror, a campaign Lenin operated to eliminate the civilian’s opposition. Even though he came out victorious, his vision of the country never came to fruition.
After the passing of Lenin, Joseph Stalin took over and took control of the Soviets with an iron fist. He stopped any opposition to his rule and took part in mass arrests, imprisonment, forced labor, showing trials, and executions. (Doc. C) During 1937 and 1938, the secret police of Stalin (the NKVD) detained 1,548,366 victims of whom 681,692 were shot. (Doc. C)
Since there was such a large peasant population it was easy for them to rebel and win. Many troops were just simply peasants in uniform and when the tsar order the soldiers to shoot the people rebelling they didn’t and the tsar had no power.(doc.2).These peasant were known as proletariats, the growing class of factory and railroad workers, miners, and urban wage earners.(doc.4).Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik party spread the works of Karl Marx to many factory workers with other socialist.(doc.4).Lenin was profoundly affected by his older brother Alexander’s 1887 execution for being involved in a plot to assassinate the tsar.(doc.5).The peasants tried to make a petition to overthrow the tsar’s reign but he refused to meet with them.(doc.1)This gave the peasants almost no choice but to revolt. Finally, in March the tsar is overthrown and within about a day there were no signs of the tsar because the peasants had burned or taken down everything that even made you think of him. Little did the Russians know that it was more difficult to construct a government than to destroy
The Russian revolution resulted in the overthrow of the country’s monarchy and the establishment of the Soviet Union. It started off with many protests and strikes that forced Tsar Nicholas II out of power. As a result, a provisional government was put in place but it was weak and ineffective so the Bolsheviks took control and established a socialist government. The Bolshevik Revolution was caused by a combination of unstable and corrupt monarchies, unfair treatment of the populace, and a lagging industry, which eventually led to the creation of the USSR.
There was lots of cruel treatment towards the peasants of the society. The working conditions in Russian were very poor. The city laborers experiences terrible service in the industrial economic system. The discontent of the proletarian lot was further expounded by lack of food, and many military failures. The army structure saw no reason to be loyal to Czar Nicholas II anymore.
Furthermore, they wanted to start revolution against decisions made by their tragic excuse of a czar, Nicholas II. These transactions proposed as the idea of a revolution gained followers and grew greatly in hopes to create change. These transactions were right because they opposed what the people needed, which was equal treatment and protection for not only people of higher authority, but yet for everyone. Once Lenin gained control of Russia as new czar, great changes were created. As proposed, Lenin followed through with his wanted changes and made them present in Russian society.