Russian Revolution by Lucas Lieberman '26

llieberman26 — 2024-02-28 18:29:49 UTC

To what extent did Tsars rule lead to the Russian revolution?

llieberman26 — 2024-02-29 17:53:40 UTC

Primary 1

https://www.firstworldwar.com/source/russia_tsarincommand.htm

“At the beginning of the war I was unavoidably prevented from following the inclination of my soul to put myself at the head of the army”

“My duty to my country, which has been entrusted to me by God, impels me to-day, when the enemy has penetrated into the interior of the Empire, to take the supreme command of the active forces and to share with my army the fatigues of war, and to safeguard with it Russian soil from the attempts of the enemy.”

September of 1915, Nicholas Tzar wrote a letter to grand duke Nikolai to inform him that due to lack of success in the war he will be talking control of the Russian army. These 2 quotes in particular, Tzar not only recognizes himself as a Devine ruler chosen by god but acknowledges Russias lack of success and decides it would be best for him to lead the Russian army, anointing himself to commander-in-chief of the army, despite his lack of experience and understanding of war. This however was quite counter intuitive and had disastrous results, loosing over 1.4 million soldiers in battle soon after talking control.

Primary 2

https://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/faberge/flevel_1/f3a_tolstoy.html

“ the prisons, places of exile, and labor camps are overflowing... The censorship has descended to nonsensical prohibitions... Religious persecutions were never so frequent and cruel as now... Armed forces are... sent out against the people with live cartridges. In many places there has already been bloodshed between brothers, and further and more cruel bloodshed is imminent everywhere...

...the people who work on the land - those 100 million people on whom the power of Russia is based - despite the excessive growth of the state budget or, more likely, because of this growth, become more impoverished every year, so that famine has become a normal occurrence. And general discontent with the government among all classes and a hostile attitude towards it has become just as normal an occurrence.”

This quote comes from the letter sent to Nicholas Tsar after Bloody Sunday sent by Leo Tolstoy, a well known Russian writer whom advocated for peace and social justice. In the letter, Tolstoy addresses many of the social and economic issues present in the current state of Russia as well as the mass suffrage and violence against the people. Tolstoy States the conditions and way have life have only deteriorated since Tsar has gained rule and famine and discontent of the people is more prevalent then ever. Despite this letter, Tsar made no change and continued to disregard and ignore all suffering and death amongst his people, unsurprisingly, this only worsened the outrage of the people.

Primary 3

https://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/events/1905/october-manifesto.htm

“By the great vow of service as tsar We are obliged to use every resource of wisdom and of Our authority to bring a speedy end to unrest that is dangerous to Our state. We have ordered the responsible authorities to take measures to terminate direct manifestations of disorder, lawlessness, and violence and to protect peaceful people who quietly seek to fulfill their duties. To carry out successfully the general measures that we have conceived to restore peace to the life of the state, We believe that it is essential to coordinate activities at the highest level of government.”

October 17th, 1905 Nicholas Tsar wrote and published the October manifesto in response to the 1905 revolution. In this document Tsar vowed to be the loving and fair leader god had intended him to be, he states he will grant civil liberties to the people as well as establish and create a legislative body known as the Duma. The purpose was to give the people a voice that will be heard, Tsar however failed to fulfill his promise to provide basic civil liberties and resolved the legislative boy within months of its creation as it limited his power. Within 6 months no changes where made to the way of life and the people remained discontent.

llieberman26 — 2024-03-06 17:10:22 UTC

Autocracy

Secret police

World War One

Bloody Sunday

Russo-Japanese war

Censorship

Propaganda

Duma

Bolshevik’s

Propaganda

Secret police

Jewish pogram

Lenin

October manifesto

Famine

llieberman26 — 2024-03-12 02:01:43 UTC

Secondary 1

https://www.britannica.com/place/Russian-Empire/World-War-I

“The Russian people did not respond to the war with real enthusiasm. The government could not overcome its traditional distrust of any public initiative, even in the organization of medical supplies or munitions for the forces…

the growing economic hardships was added the knowledge, widespread in the capital and among the upper classes, that the government of the country was in the hands of incompetents.”

July of 1914, Russia joined ww1 in support of Serbia despite lack of reason and Russia's not even enough resources for its own people. This quote describes how way of life grew only harsher during ww1 as all of Russia's resources where used on war, as a result the economy collapsed and the people of Russia where suffering because of Tsar and his autocratic rule.

Secondary 2

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3084&context=etd

disastrous Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905

“revolutionary agents, ignoring the orders forbidding all demonstrations, lead St. Petersburg workers towards the palace, to present a petition to the Tsar. The group is led by a police agent, Father Gapon. Police open fire and kill hundreds and wound thousands. ‘Bloody Sunday.’” January 9th, 1905.
“Jewish program” October 20-25, 1905

Source provides all major catastrophes occurring under Tsars rule leading up to the Russian revolution, all of which are major components leading to the dissatisfaction of the people and ultimately the Russian revolution.

llieberman26 — 2024-03-12 02:37:58 UTC

Primary

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/apr/10.htm

“Comrade soldiers! The question of the state system is now on the order of the day. The capitalists, in whose hands the state power now rests, desire a parliamentary bourgeois republic, that is, a state system where there is no tsar, but where power remains in the hands of the capitalists who govern the country by means of the old institutions, namely: the police, the bureaucracy, and the standing army.

We desire a different republic, one more in keeping with the interests of the people, more democratic. The revolutionary workers and soldiers of Petrograd have overthrown tsarism, and have cleaned out all the police from the capital. The workers of all the world look with pride and hope to the revolutionary ’workers and soldiers of Russia as the vanguard of the world’s liberating army of the working class. The revolution, once begun, must be strengthened and carried on.“

In this speech, Lenin is addresses the current state of Russia and the need for change, while yes things where not perfect, Lenin was heavily responsible for much of the violence and suffering that urged people for change in the first place. Lenin had helped create a failed state in which people were willing to do anything for change, even if it meant violence. Lenin saw his chance for power and took it, promising the peasants of Russia that peace and a utopia in which land and wealth would be shared and everyone would be in unity was possibly if only a revolt was to be made. This however was far from reality as communist Russia was no better the Tsarist Russia. In fact, after the Bolsheviks and Lenin had consolidated their power, the secret police had been formed, a group of police who killed anyone who spoke put against the Bolshevik’s or Lenin.

Secpndary

https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/design-and-society/hungry-for-revolution-russia-in-1916

“The people had lost trust and confidence in the government, despite their attempts to manage the food crisis.

The Bolshevik party promised to improve the food situation and distribute provisions more fairly if they came to power, which they did in the revolutions of 1917. Hunger had led to revolution.”

“The poster shows poor people eating at a large table, presumably in a facility set up by the charity to provide food to the hungry.”

Lennin used propaganda, lies, and manipulation in order to gain trust of the people whom at the time were vulnerable and desperate. Lennin took advantage of the hungry by claiming he would solve all famine and food production problems if the people helped him revolt. While yes, Tsar was a not a great leader, Ww1 was a time of desperation and famine for many countries, not just Russia and it was simply a matter of time before food production and famine would return to its state prior to Ww1. This source includes many posters in which Lennin used to propagate and mass manipulate the peasants of russia that allowed the Bolshevik’s to become as powerful as they did

llieberman26 — 2024-03-12 22:21:46 UTC