Russian Empire: Tsars, Revolution, and Soviet Five-Year Plans
The Russian Empire Under the Tsars
The Russian Empire was ruled by autocratic tsars, and during the first half of the 19th century, it remained largely untouched by the economic and social changes of the industrial revolution. It was a rural-based country, with a large population of serfs. The tsars held all powers, enacting laws, appointing ministers, and controlling religious matters. Unlike Western monarchs, the tsar had no parliamentary or constitutional restrictions, ruling with the help of a police force (Ochrana) and a complex bureaucracy.
Social Structure
The social structure was as follows:
- Upper Class: Primarily composed of the nobility and clergy. The nobility held officer positions in the army, senior government roles, and owned most of the land.
- Middle Class: Very small, consisting of wealthy peasants (kulaks) and small commercial and industrial figures (not a true bourgeoisie). Some professions were reserved for lower nobles.
- Lower Classes: Composed of peasants and industrial workers, who lacked rights and earned minimal wages. They were highly concentrated geographically and in large companies.
The economy was primarily based on agriculture, with an archaic structure and limited technical modernization. Most of the land, and the best land, was owned by the upper classes, while freed serfs suffered the highest tax burdens. Industrialization saw significant development from 1880 until the war.
The October Revolution of 1917
The October Revolution was the culmination of the transformation of the Tsarist empire into the first socialist state in the world. With Leon Davidovich Trotsky, a Bolshevik, gaining access to the presidency of the Petrograd Soviet, it became the center of opposition to the republican regime. Kerensky convened a meeting of the so-called Council of the Republic to convert the Tsarist state into a parliamentary republic. The Petrograd Soviet boycotted that meeting, believing the time was right for the seizure of power by the people’s organizations.
The uprising occurred on October 25th. Sailors revolted following Lenin’s call. They were soon joined by armed groups of workers who managed to take control of key locations. The final and decisive event in the seizure of power was the assault on the Winter Palace. There, all members of the government except Kerensky were arrested by the Red Guard, created and led by Trotsky. The revolution was accomplished by the quick action of the revolutionaries. Lenin then became the undisputed leader.
The Constituent Assembly held a single session and was dissolved in 1918. The first constitutional document, the Declaration on the Rights of Working People and Exploited Children, was adopted by the Third Congress of the new Soviet government. Soviet Russia was formed by a Council of People’s Commissars chaired by Lenin. Initially, it included Bolsheviks and those Mensheviks and Social-Revolutionaries most favorable to the revolution. State institutions were established at a congress of soviets, called the Supreme Council, consisting of two chambers and exercising legislative power. Executive power was exercised by the Board of Commissioners.
First Revolutionary Measures
The new government’s first major revolutionary measures included:
- Expropriation of land from the Crown, the Church, and the nobility, which was given to the exploited peasants.
- Recognition of the right to self-determination of the peoples that made up the Empire.
- Establishment of workers’ control over enterprises with more than 5 workers.
- Nationalization of the banks.
Another Bolshevik decree was withdrawing the country from World War I. In November, Trotsky and a Soviet delegation went to Brest-Litovsk, where they signed an armistice. In February 1918, a major German offensive took the Baltic countries, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland. The Bolsheviks moved the capital of the State to Moscow. Finally, the treaty was signed in Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. In it, Russia agreed to the demands of Germany and lost the Baltic States and Finland.
The Soviet Five-Year Plans
The five-year plans for the national economy of the USSR (in Latin: aleignis, Piatiletka) were a series of centralized economic development projects for the growing Russian Empire. This project, developed by the State Planning Commission based on the “theory of productive forces,” was part of the Communist Party’s general guidelines for economic development. The completion of the plan became the flagship of the Soviet bureaucracy. (See Economy of the USSR). These plans involved planning the economy every five years. Several five-year plans were not fully carried out within the allocated period (some were successfully completed earlier than expected, while others failed and were abandoned). The initial five-year plans were created to assist in the rapid industrialization of the Soviet Union, so efforts were concentrated on heavy industry. In total, there were 13 projects over five years. The first was accepted in 1928, for the five years from 1929 to 1933, and completed a year ahead of schedule. The latest five-year plan, the thirteenth, was during the period from 1991 to 1995 and was not completed due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.