Russian Revolution

Lenin: History will not forgive us if we do not assume power

Russia at the turn of the century 1900

• Approx 128 million people• 23 million square kilometres• Frontiers with 12 countries• Washed by 12 seas from 3 oceans• Occupies 1/6th of earth’s land surface• ¼ of Russia in Europe ¾ in Asia• =1/2 Europe and 1/3 of Asia• Southern Russia tropical• Northern Russia in arctic circle- 1/3 permanently frozen• Around 85% of pop’n live in countryside• Population of St Petersberg = 1,260 000 • Moscow= 1,040,000• Between 1850 and 1900 Russia’s population had doubled• Population of St Petersberg = 1,260 000

• Peasants had been serfs until 1861 (Emancipation Act)• Majority of population is slavic (aprox 3/4) remaining pop’n

made up of over 200 nationalities• Main religion is Russian Orthodox however 40 religions

practised • Peasants had been serfs until 1861 (Emancipation Act)• Majority of population is slavic (aprox 3/4) remaining pop’n

made up of over 200 nationalities• Main religion is Russian Orthodox however 40 religions

practised

What does this mean?• Nobility owned best land, peasants lived in extreme poverty• Orthodox Church became a gov’t department called Holy Synod.

Run by Chief Procurator, an official appointed by the tsar, completely under the control of the tsar- church VIP in Russification program (forbidding the use of local languages and the suppression of local customs)

• Land is in reality a source of national weakness not strength• Conditions in factories were well below those enjoyed in the rest

of industrialised Europe. Average working day = 11 hours, 10 on Saturday

• Trade unions illegal• Strikes are illegal- army called in to disperse problems

Facets of life:

• Army• In 1826 over 1 million conscripts• Conscripts served for 25 years• Way of maintaining order- lower ranks were large and filled

with conscripts- a punishment for those who broke the law• Brutal experience• Notorious for severity of discipline and grimness of the

conditions in which soldiers lived• Based on the idea that a large country needed a large army

Politically:

• Compared with other European nations it had remained outside the mainstream of European political thought

• Desperately needed to rebuild SP and Moscow, improve transport and make army more efficient

• No Parliament, free press, government censorship was imposed on published books and journals

• Supporters of reform went underground, secret societies dedicated to political reform or revolution grew

• Lynch argues that in a society where state oppression was met with revolutionary terror there was no moderate ground on which tradition of ordered political debate could develop

Church

• Moscow considered 3rd Rome, God’s city• Close link between patriotism, church and government• Assumption was that all loyal subjects should belong to State

Church• Church perceived as arm of the State• “God commands us to love and obey from the inmost

recesses of the heart every authority, particularly the tsar” over half of primary schools are run by the church

• Church was a deeply conservative body which opposed political change and determined to preserve tsarist authority

• Reactionary

Economy

• Overwhelmingly agricultural• Some industry• Long winters encouraged peasant handicrafts as vital

supplement to farming• Poverty of masses discouraged enterprise• Factories founded for State needs• Low numbers of urban workers= Russia not achieved major

industrial growth• Absence of effective banking system• Russia could not raise capital on a large scale• Black sea is a crucial area for access to Mediterranean