The Ten Days That Shook The World: October 1917

The Ten Days
that Shook the World
October 1917
The Russian Condition
Poverty by the Numbers
• Population of St. Petersburg doubled
between 1890 and 1910
• 1.5% of the Russian population
controlled over 30% of the land
• Average of 16 people per apartment
in St. Petersburg (six per room)
• Widespread food shortages …
Meanwhile ……
At The Winter Palace
Over 1000 Rooms
Thus …. No surprise ……..
Revolutionary Movements Evolve
• Intellectuals dominated dissident groups
• Populism (borrowed from England and
America) found a following in Russia
• Anarchists existed ……
But
• Socialists were dominant
Intellectual Origins
Philosophical Influences
• Son of German Lutheran
Friedrich
minister, well-educated
Nietzsche
• Theology-Philosophy
• Influenced by friendship
with Richard Wagner
(atheism and a ‘turbulent
view of the world’)
• Series of physical aliments
and a mental breakdown
lead to early death
1844-1900 • Very little of his writing is
published in his lifetime.
Nietzsche’s Arguments
Existentialism
• Nietzsche’s legacy
• Assumes we are at our best when we
struggle against our nature
• Man must know that perfection is not
possible, but must be attempted
• Rejects religion because it presents rules,
but man cannot live by the rules because a
‘sin-free’ life is beyond human nature
• Core of Marxist philosophy
Georg Hegel • German born theologist
• Argued for Teleological
Ethics, a theory based on
an assumption that what
makes an action right or
wrong is its outcome
• One ought to act in
whatever way will
maximize happiness.
1770-1831 • Drawn from historic
perspective
Dialectic Reasoning
• Hegalian model
• Critical thinking about problems and
evaluating conflicting viewpoints
• Theses-Antitheses-Synthesis
• Becomes most critical in determining the
morality of an action
• Leads to Marx and Dialectic Materialism
(defines historic development as a class struggle)
Conditions Ripe for Revolt
• Weak leadership – Nicolas II unqualified
• Suspicious of the Czarina
• Rumors of Rasputin’s influence
• An economy in decline
AND …………………..
Losses and Failure of Russian Efforts in WWI

1.8 million killed, 2.8 million wounded
2.4 million taken prisoner
Duma
Kerenksy
The Provisional Government
• Headed by Minister of Justice, Alexander
Kerensky
• Established full civil liberties, but did not
guarantee land reform
• Did not resolve economic crisis
• Did not remove Russia from the War
• Influence was undercut by the creation of
socialist soviets (Petrograd).
July Crisis
• Led by Gen. Kornilov
• Appointed head of armed
forces by Kerensky
• Conspired with aristocrats to
establish a military
dictatorship
• Kerensky called on the
Soviets for help
• Coup was thwarted
• But – more revolutionary
General Kornilov
activity was coming
Second Revolution
October 1917
Bolsheviks
Majority – Followers of Lenin
Believed revolution should be
the responsibility of ‘professional’
revolutionaries
Mensheviks
Minority – wanted a more
inclusive party.
Red Terror
• September to October 1918
• Response to White Terror
• Mass arrests and executions by the
Bolshevik government
• Interrogations and torture by the
Cheka
• Between 10,000-15,000 dead
Cheka • ‘Temporary’ organization
to control unrest
• Originally had no arrest
powers, but quickly
gained them (as well as
the right to try and
execute).
• Forerunner of Soviet
KGB.
War Communism
1917-1920
• Largely determined by military events.
• Effort to sway the population to the
Bolsheviks
• Capital was moved from Petrograd to
Moscow
• Attempt to create a worldwide
Communist Revolution
Russian Civil War
• Follows Red Terror and during period of
War Communism
• Whites vs. Reds
• Foreign intervention – Japanese, French,
U.S.
• Leads to death of Czar and family
• Red army led by Trotsky succeeds
Trotsky • Marxist exiled to Siberia in
1900 and ended in London
• Returned to Russia in 1905,
headed Petrograd Soviet
• Exiled again, escaped
again, and returned to
Russia in 5/17
• Arrested by Kerensky,
released, assisted in the
October Revolution
• Negotiated Treaty of Brest-
1879-1940 Litovsk
Trotsky Inspecting the Red Army
Russian Leadership
Nicolas II Alexandra
Rasputin
1869-1916; Russian Mystic; influence over
royal family; ultimately murdered by
military (brutalized, shot, drowned)
1918
Kronstadt Revolt
• 1921
• Period of economic crisis
• Worker unrest in Petrograd
• Kronstadt Naval Base led the revolt
• Crushed by Trotsky and the sailors were
deemed traitors to Communism and
executed or exiled
• The Party tightened ideological control, and
the New Economic Policy was introduced
The New Economic Policy
• Announced by Lenin in 1921
• Farmers were allowed to sell food on the
open market - the kulaks
• Allowed some internal trade, state banks,
and private commerce
• Improved food distribution – helped farmer.
• Resented by urban workers
• Abolished in 1929 by Stalin
Lenin • Russian born lawyer
• Deported for revolutionary
activity – settled in
Switzerland
• Returned to Russia 10/17
• Leads Bolsheviks to
overthrow of Provisional
Government
• Struggled with Stalin over
power
1874-1924
Leadership Structure
• Soviets
• Congress of the Soviets
• Politburo
• Comintern
Stalin’s Russia
1924 - 1953
Stalin’s Character & Early Career
• He was born in 1879 into miserable poverty in Georgia (territory of Russian
Empire).
• Ruthless - did whatever was necessary to further the cause of the Bolshevik
Party, e.g. crime - rob banks & trains; endure repeated imprisonment &
torture in Siberia.
• Devoted to Communism & Bolshevik Party, e.g. turned his back on early
religious education;
• Steadily rose up through Bolshevik Party – eventually became part of its
leadership: member of Central Executive Committee; editor of Pravda (party
newspaper); after revolution - Commissar for National Minorities) and
member of the Politburo (eventually Chairman); played minor role in the
Bolshevik Revolution (unlike Trotsky)
The Struggle for Power (1924 – 1929)
UNDERESTIMATED BY HIS RIVALS
Ruthless, determined, Stalin not seen as credible successor
cunning, treacherous, to Lenin
manipulative. As General Secretary,
controlled appointments,
supporters in key posts -
Presented himself as a How did Stalin removing those loyal to
reasonable politician who become the leader of rivals.
wanted best for USSR & the USSR?
Communist Party.
Built Political Alliances PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS

to isolate rivals AGAINST RIVALS - discredit
rivals & present him as
Lenin’s successor.
Stalin’s Goals 1928 -1953:
• Modernise Soviet society &
economy - creating a truly
Communist and prosperous
society
• Ensure the national security
of the USSR (After the death
of Lenin Stalin had called for
‘Socialism in One Country’ )
• Maintain his position as
leader
Stalin’s Key Policies
• Opposition to NEP
• Collectivization
• The Five Year Plans
• The Cultural Revolution (inc. the cult of personality &
policies towards women, religion, education & young
people)
• The Purges
• Leading USSR during ‘The Great Patriotic War’ (1941-45)
The Five Year Plans
“The history of the old Russia has consisted in being beaten
again and again…because of her…backwardness, military
backwardness, industrial backwardness, agricultural
backwardness. She was beaten because to beat her has paid
off and because people have been able to get away with it. If
you are backward and weak then you are in the wrong and
may be beaten and enslaved. But if you are powerful…people
must beware of you. We are fifty to a hundred years behind
the advanced countries. We must make up this gap in ten
years. Either we do this or they crush us.”
From a speech by Stalin, 1931

The Five Year Plans (1928 – 1941)
• GOSPLAN, the State Planning Commission for economic
development since 1921, acting under Stalin’s orders.
Three ‘Five Year Plans’ between 1928 and 1942:
• 1928-32 - coal; iron & steel; oil; hydro-electricity; farming

• 1933-37 – above & manufacturing
• 1938-42 – above & consumer goods BUT shifted to
rearmament early on & interrupted by Nazi invasion
(1941)
Cultural Revolution
• Peasantry –peasants found themselves the
victims of increasing state control & famine.
• Industrial Working Class – Grew as a class due
to the success of the Five Year Plans – their
achievements in the service of the USSR were
celebrated over other groups. Living and working
conditions eventually improved. Healthcare
improved.
• Women (& Families) – Some ‘liberation’ in their
lives after 1917 – more freedom of choice in
marriage, divorce & childbirth (abortion) –
represented in Communist Party
• Religion – Persecution by Lenin and Stalin seen
as a rival for people’s loyalties & an obstacle to
spreading Marx’s teachings
Cult of Personality – 1930s
• Media focused on Russian strength based on the
programs and strength of Stalin
• Poems praised his deeds, speeches exalted his
skills, modesty, wisdom, and brilliance.
• People were careful to applaud long and loudly,
The person who stopped first would most likely
be arrested as it showed great disrespect and
disloyalty.
Purges
• From 1934 to 1938 Stalin conducted a series of purges of
the Communist Party, Red Army and other sections of
Soviet society – millions died in labour camps, executions
or mass killings.
• A product of Stalin’s paranoia and the result of the tensions
awakened by the drastic agricultural, industrial and cultural
policies pursued by Stalin, which made Stalin vulnerable to
criticism.
• A series of ‘show trials’ of prominent Communists and
military leaders justified the purges –Trotsky (in exile since
1929) was finally assassinated on Stalin’s orders in 1940 in
Mexico.
• Purges secured Stalin’s hold on power, generated more
labour for the GULAG system and brought the Red Army to
heal, but did immense damage to the operational capability
of USSR’s armed forces
Foreign Policy 1918 - 1936
• Pragmatic agreements with other states – Treaty of

Rapallo with Germany (1922).
• Less emphasis on ‘World Revolution’ as Stalin had called
for ‘Socialism in One Country’

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The Ten Days

that Shook the World

Losses and Failure of Russian Efforts in WWI

Built Political Alliances PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS

From a speech by Stalin, 1931

Three ‘Five Year Plans’ between 1928 and 1942:

• 1928-32 - coal; iron & steel; oil; hydro-electricity; farming

• Pragmatic agreements with other states – Treaty of

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