Russian Revolution & USSR: Causes, Events, Stalinism

Posted on Mar 22, 2025 in History

Causes of the Russian Revolution

  • Autocratic Government: The Tsar did not look after the welfare of the people (absolutist).
  • The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): Fought over Manchuria. Russia was defeated.
  • Appearance of Political Parties.
  • The 1905 Revolution: Harsh repression, including Bloody Sunday.
  • Participation in the First World War: Russia was not prepared. Millions of deaths.

The 1917 Revolution

February (Provisional Government)

  • Successful revolution (women, workers, peasants, soldiers). They protested about the disaster of the war and the shortage of food.
  • “Bread, Peace, and Land.”
  • Provisional Government (Mensheviks): Leader: Kerensky. Accepted a republic with a democratic regime, BUT remained in the war and did not distribute land (failed).
  • Parallel Government (Bolsheviks): Led by the Petrograd Soviet.
  • Lenin arrived with a program: the April Theses, with demands of: “Bread, Peace, and Land.”

October

  • Bolsheviks attacked the Winter Palace and established a proletariat government (Council of People’s Commissars) led by Lenin.
  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Russia withdrew from the war.
  • Expropriated land.
  • Communist Party: The only legal political party.

Civil War: Bolsheviks (Red Army) won against the White Army (Mensheviks with Marxist ideas).

The Bolsheviks created the USSR.

The Creation of the USSR

(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

Politics: Marxist ideas (communism): proletariat dictatorship.

  • Soviets were in charge of political power.
  • Only one political party: CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union).

Economy: After the Civil War, there was a crisis. That’s why the NEP (New Economic Policy) was implemented, where some capitalism existed, BUT the state controlled the important sectors.

Territorial Organization: Federal state (Russia was the main republic) + others (self-determination was possible).

The USSR: Stalinism

Totalitarian government after Lenin’s death.

Politics:

  • Stalin held power as Secretary of the CPSU.
  • Approved the 1936 constitution, BUT only one political party was allowed.
  • Used the Third International to spread communism everywhere.

Economy: Objectives of some plans:

  • Collectivization: Expropriation and land in Sovkhoz (state-owned land where workers received a salary) and Kolkhoz (cooperative-owned land where workers received a part).
  • Five-Year Plans (Quinquenales): Rapid industrialization.
  • Nationalization of industries (controlled by the state).
  • Hydraulic works to produce electricity (dams).

Society:

  • The state controlled everything (no freedom), BUT healthcare, education, and housing were provided. Social equality, but government workers were more powerful.

The Interwar Years

Postwar Crisis (1918-1923)

  • Europe needed money to recover: loans (from the USA) to pay debts.
  • Shortage of products: prices increased.
  • Germany (the most affected country): war reparations. France occupied the Ruhr.

Recovery in the 1920s (Roaring Twenties)

  • Europe was devastated, BUT the USA and Japan were OK, so they helped Europe. How? Loans + Dawes Plan to Germany (to pay reparations).
  • The USA helped other countries. The economy started to recover.
  • The USA also sells… Roaring Twenties:

Economic prosperity: enjoyment (alcohol in parties, cinema, cabaret).

Consumerism.

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression

(Europe recovered and therefore stopped its imports)

  • Industrial Overproduction: More products than demand: bigger stock and less money. Bankruptcies and unemployment. Crisis.
  • Agricultural Overproduction: Surplus of production: losses. Crisis.
  • Speculation on the stock market and excessive bank credits.