CAUSES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

1. Growing Discontent against Tsars

The Russian emperors were despotic. Czar Alexander III learnt from the death of
his father that the emperor’s authority could be secured only through a harsh
policy of ruthless suppression. His was a manifesto of Unshakable Autocracy and
clung to the principles of autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality. He imposed strict
censorship codes on published materials and written documents, including private
letters. Furthermore he established a uniform Russian culture and oppressed other
national groups in Russia. Due to his policies, a wave of Pogroms broke out in
many parts of Russia. Alexander III was succeeded by Tsar Nicholas II who
stubbornly refused to surrender any of his power.

•  Policy of Russo cation, imposition of Russian culture on the various

multinational ethnic community of Russian empire.

• Bloody Sunday 1905/ Revolution of 1905

the most extreme examples of Nicholas II’s perceived indifference,
brutality, and weakness. The Czar’s Army opened re on 150,000
protestors killing approximately 150 people and injuring even more. The
event provoked a wave of strikes and violence across Russia. To pacify the
situation after the bloody Sunday massacre, the Tsar accepted liberal and
constitutional demand in October manifesto. A Bi cameral legislature
council and three dumas was formed. To supress the public Nicholas
formed the 1st duma and within 75 days dissolved it, he later re-elected 2nd
Duma and again within 3 months dismantled it and later

recreated a third duma.

•  The Russo-Japanese War 1904

The Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was one event that showed the Tsar’s
weakness and paved the way for revolution. Russian were defeated by
Japan in May 1905, Defeat by a small country like Japan increased unrest
in Russia.

•  World war 1
In 1914, Nicholas II decided to drag Russia into World War I, despite the
fact that Russia was unprepared for a war. More than 4 million Russian
soldiers were killed or wounded or taken prisoners. In 1905, Nicholas
shifted his headquarters to the War Front to encourage his soldiers. The real




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 government back home came into the hands of his wife Tsarina
Alexandra, Who under the in uence of Rasputin (, self-proclaimed holy
man), ignored the Tsar’s chief advisers. Alexandra allowed Rasputin to
make key political decisions. Rasputin opposed reforms and obtained
powerful positions for his close ones and spread corruption. He was
assassinated in 1916. Russia's Tsarist regime collapsed a few months later
during the February Revolution of 1917.

2. Leadership of the political groups

In the Russian revolution also many political groups were active. They played a
signi cant role in raising the consciousness of the people-particularly of the
workers and peasants-through political education, political propaganda and
agitation.
Russian novelists such as Tolstoy, Turganev and Dorstoevsky drew people’s
attention towards the shortcomings of Russian life. Their ideas brought about
political awakening among the people and the educated classes began to demand
political rights. The important political tendencies were that of the Populists (in
the late nineteenth century) and the Socialist Revolutionaries, the Liberals and the
Social Democrats (Marxists), particularly the Bolsheviks. In the decade preceding
the revolution Lenin was the most important leader of the Bolshevik Party, and of
the Russian Revolution. Other important leaders were Trotsky, Bukharin and
Stalin.

3. Social and Economic Disparity

Russian society was divided into two classes the rst class which enjoyed all
rights comprised favorite aristocrats of the Czar. The other class were bereft of all
rights. It comprised peasants and workers whose economic condition was very
miserable. Despite the emancipation from serfdom the Russian peasantry
continued to be the most oppressed section of Russian society. The peasants had
to pay for their freedom, they remained continually in debt and forced to work for
the landed aristocracy very cheaply.

The Russian economy was agrarian in nature, Russia's agriculture was largely
based on independent peasants, who seldom owned modern machinery. The rapid
industrialization of Russia also resulted in urban overcrowding and poor
conditions for urban industrial workers, World War I then only added to the chaos
and a combination of these four, coupled with the development of revolutionary
ideas and movements (particularly since the 1905 Bloody Sunday Massacre) led
to the Russian Revolution.
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Consequences of the Russian revolution
After Lenin’s government secured power, one of its rst major goals was to get
Russia out of the World War. In November 1917, the new government ordered
Russian troops to cease all hostilities on the front. In March of 1918, Russian and
Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia lost its territories of d
Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bessarabia, and the
Caucasus region, along with some of the coal-mining lands.

The Civil war- The Bolsheviks new challenge was the White army consisting the
monarchists, conservatives, liberals and moderate socialists who opposed the
drastic restructuring championed by the Bolsheviks. The Whites had backing
from nations such as the UK, France, USA and Japan. From 1918 to 1920, civil
war raged in Russia between the white and red army. Around 15 million Russians
died in the three-year struggle and in the famine that followed. In the end the Red
Army triumphed and nally crushed all opposition to Bolshevik rule.

Economic reforms- War and revolution destroyed the Russian economy. Trade
was at a standstill. Industrial production dropped and many skilled workers ed to
other countries. In March 1921, Lenin launched the New Economic Policy
(NEP) by temporarily putting aside his plan for a state controlled economy and
resorting to small scale capitalism. The Reforms under NEP allowed the
individuals to sell their surplus goods for pro t. The government kept control of
major industries, banks, and means of communication, but it let some small
factories, businesses, and farms operate under private ownership. Lenin also tried
to encourage foreign investment.

Political Reform- The multinational essence of Russia posed an obstacle to

national unity. To keep nationalism in check, Lenin organized Russia into several
self-governing republics under the central government. In 1922, the country was
named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in honor of the councils
that helped launch the Bolshevik Revolution. Each republic was controlled from
the new capital, Moscow.

Inspired by Karl Marx’s theory of a classless society and communism the

Bolsheviks renamed themselves as the Communist Party. In 1924, the
Communists created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles.
In reality, the Communist Party held all the power. Lenin had established a
dictatorship of the Communist Party, not “a dictatorship of the proletariat,” as
Marx had promoted. Planned economy turned the USSR in a powerful industrial
nation by the Second World War.
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 Global impact

Within a few years of the revolution, the Soviet Union emerged as a major power
in the world. The social and economic systems that began to be built there
became popular among many countries. The ideas of socialism which the
socialist movement had been advocating and which the Russian Revolution
espoused were intended for universal application. The Russian Revolution was
the rst successful revolution in history which proclaimed the building of a
socialist society as its objective.

Soon after the revolution, the Communist International (also known as the Third
International or Comintern) was formed for promoting revolutions on an
international scale. There was a split in the socialist movement that led to the
reformation of left wing socialist into communist and they af liated to the
comintern.

Communist parties were also formed in other countries, often with the active
involvement and support of the Comintern. The Soviet Union was considered the
leader of the world communist movement by the communist parties in various
countries and the Communist Party of Soviet Union played a leading role in
determining the policies of the Comintern.

Formation of the comitern led to the division of the socialist movement into
socialist and communist. The biggest difference between the two is the method of
bringing socialism and about the concept of socialism itself.

Democracy was rede ned with the growing popularity of socialism and the
achievements made by the soviet union. For democracy to be real, political rights
without social and economic rights were not enough. The idea of the state playing
an active role in regulating the economy and planning the economy to improve
the conditions of the people was accepted. The popularity of socialism also
helped to mitigate discriminations based on race, colour and sex. It also promoted
internationalism, the idea of relations beyond self-interest became widespread,
problems considered national gained worldly concerns. The Russian revolution
hastened the end of imperialism


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