1. Revision Notes
(GCSE)

2.  Causes of the revolution
 March Revolution 1917
 November Revolution 1917
 Civil Wars 1918-21
 Economy 1918-29
 Collectivisation of Agriculture
 Industrialisation
 Purges
 N.B.

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Russia was a police Widespread Russia was unfit for
state poverty war in 1914
Millions of peasant
Army was badly led soldier deaths on Tsarina Alexandra
the Eastern Front
Inflation and food
Failure of Tsar
shortages causing
Nicholas II
more strikes

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1. Russia was a police state
 Dumas (Parliament) was ignored
 Attempted reform by Witte and Stolypin failed
2. Widespread poverty
 Strikes increased after 1912
3. Russia was unfit for war in 1914
 Army was badly equipped
 Industry unable to produce enough arms
 Inadequate transportation
4. Army was badly led
 Tsar took over and blamed for military defeats and
domestic problems

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5. Millions of peasant soldier deaths on the Eastern
Front
 Peasants more angry at giving grain and horses to army
6. Tsarina Alexandra
 Hated for being German
 Taking advice of Rasputin and influencing the Tsar
7. Inflation and food shortages causing more strikes
8. Failure of Tsar Nicholas II
 Ignored or did not understand the situation
 Indecisive and seemingly easily led by the Tsarina and
advisors

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Troops refused to
Food riots and Petrograd in hands
fire on people and
strikes were crushed of armed
allowed food to be
by the army revolutionaries
given to people
Provisional
Provisional Government was
Government and
Government made unpopular with
the Petrograd
Tsar abdicate continued war
Soviet were formed
Lenin and Trotsky Bolsheviks
“Bread, Peace and
returned to attempted and
Land”
Petrograd failed to take power

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1. Food riots and strikes were crushed by the army
 Petrograd in February / March
2. Troops refused to fire on people and allowed food to
be given to people
 12 March
3. Petrograd in hands of armed revolutionaries
 Within 4 days
4. Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet
were formed
 Prince Lvov led the government, full of middle class
liberals not representing the people
 Lenin led the Soviet and representative of the people
5. Provisional Government made Tsar abdicate
 15 March

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6. Government was unpopular with continued war
 Revolutionary workers took over factories
 Peasants seized land
 Law and order broke out
 Troops deserted in their thousands
7. Lenin and Trotsky returned to Petrograd
 Lenin helped by Germans into Russia from Switzerland
▪ Hope to cause revolution to end war on the Eastern Front
8. Bolsheviks attempted and failed to take power
 Kerensky formed a new government which continued
the war
9. “Bread, Peace and Land”
 Trotsky planned the seizure of power

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Bolsheviks seized Petrograd’s key buildings
including the Winter Palace
Soon controlled major cities
2 decrees issued
Lenin dismissed the elected Duma
Treaty of Brest Litovsk

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1. Bolsheviks seize power
 6-7 November – Bolsheviks seized Petrograd’s key
buildings including the Winter Palace
▪ Signal for uprising from naval cruiser (Aurora)
 Soon controlled major cities
▪ Little fighting and few casualties
▪ Ministers of the Provisional Government arrested
 2 decrees issued
▪ Peace Decree – immediate armistice
▪ Land Decree – abolished private estates and created 25
million small holdings
 January 1918 – Lenin dismissed the elected Duma

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 Treaty of Brest Litovsk – March 1918
 Trotsky negotiated with German and Austria-
Hungary representatives
 Terms were very harsh
▪ Loss of Poland and Baltic states
▪ Independence of Finland and Ukraine
▪ Loss of ¼ of Russia’s coal and iron
▪ 75% of population was lost

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Bolsheviks organised a secret police and Red Army
US/ British/ French/ Japanese forces invaded
War fought by the Red Army and the Whites
White armies were armed by the Allies but disunited
Russia lost millions of people

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1. Bolsheviks (now Communists) organised a
secret police (Cheka) and Red Army
2. US/British/French/Japanese forces invaded
Russia 1918-19
3. War fought by the Red Army (led by Trotsky)
and the Whites
4. White armies in Ukraine, Baltic and Siberia
were armed by the Allies
 Disunited and defeated in 1920
5. Russia lost (approx) 2 million troops in WW1
and maybe even more millions in civil war

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War Communism New Economic Policy
Lenin’s Death 1924
1918-21 1921-7
• Nationalisation • Small private • No obvious
• Government control enterprise successor but
of grain and wages permitted warned Party about
• Fall in output • Rents and charges Stalin
• Famine reintroduced on all • Main contenders
services were Trotsky,
• Peasants could sell Kamenev, Zinoviev
surplus produce and Stalin
• Stalin’s policy of
‘socialism in one
country’
• Stalin
outmanoeuvred
rivals

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1. War Communism 1918-21
 Introduce Marxist theory and rebuild Russia but failed
Aims/ Introductions: Disadvantages:
A. Nationalised banks and a) Industrial output fell to
factories, and banned private 15% of 1913 level
trade
b) Urban workers returned
B. Rents, railway fares, electricity
and gas were free to farm work
C. Government seized grain to c) Peasants produced for
feed urban populous themselves reducing
D. Rationing introduced and wages output to 50.5% of 1913
paid in kind
d) Famine led to deaths of
E. Aimed to remove use of money
5 million

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1. New Economic Policy 1921-7
 Economy deteriorating rapidly, unrest in the
countryside, riots in Petrograd, mutiny in
Kronstadt
 Lenin began NEP March 1921
a) Small private enterprise permitted
b) Rents and charges reintroduced on all services
c) Peasants could sell surplus produce
d) NEP only abandoned with the first 5 Year Plan

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 Lenin’s Death 1924
 No obvious successor but warned Party about
Stalin
▪ Main contenders were Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev and
Stalin
▪ Stalin held two important posts and many owed their
jobs to him
▪ Policy of ‘socialism in one country’
▪ Stalin outmanoeuvred rivals by expelling them, firing
them or having them in exile to ensure his own
succession
▪ By late 1927, Stalin was sole leader and Trotsky was
exiled

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• Larger farming units are more efficient
• Increased output
• Cheaper food
Why Collectivise? • Transferral of work from agriculture to industrial
• Assets amalgamated to form a Kolkhoz
• Collective in theory under control of the workers but in practice run by a member of the Party
• Produce bought very cheaply by the State
Organisation
• Kulaks opposed collectivisation
• Thousand of Kulaks killed or deported
• Massive drop in output
Consequences of • Up 50% of livestock was slaughtered
Collectivisation • Famine in the early 1930’s

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1. Why Collectivise?
 Larger farming units are more efficient
▪ Less workers required and more machinery used
 Increased output
▪ Allowing for exportation to raise money to buy
machinery
 Cheaper food
▪ Less need to raise wages of industrial workers
▪ More money to buy key items from abroad
 Transferral of work from agriculture to industrial

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2. Organisation
 Assets from a number of small farms
amalgamated to form a collective (Kolkhoz)
 Collective in theory under control of the workers
but in practice run by a member of the Party
 Produce bought very cheaply by the State
 Process began in 1928, by 1937 most arable land
in collectives

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3. Consequences of Collectivisation
 Wealthy peasants (Kulaks) opposed collectivisation
▪ Destroyed assets to prevent State getting them
 Thousand of Kulaks killed or deported to labour
camps
 Massive drop in output because reorganisation
disrupted sowing and harvesting
 Kulaks removed but they were the best, most
efficient and successful farmers
 Up 50% of livestock was slaughtered
 Famine in the early 1930’s leading to deaths of
(approx.) 10 million peasants

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Stalin believed in State Planning
5 Year Plans were introduced in 1928, 1932 and 1937
Aims:
• Industrialise
• Plans were under control of the State planning agency Gosplan
• Emphasis was on heavy industry, coal, oil and steel
• Consumer products were in the 3rd plan but war interrupted schemes
• Industrial production and production of electricity increased
• Most new industrial areas were away from possible threat if there was war
Results:
• By 1941 industrial production was 4 times that of 1914
• Many factories were inefficient with unrealistic targets
• By 1941, many millions were better housed, better educated, better health care and (just) better fed
• State propaganda made all successes attributed to Stalin

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1. Stalin believed in State Planning
2. 5 Year Plans were introduced in 1928, 1932 and 1937
3. Aims:
 Industrialise the USSR but not under capitalism
 Plans were under control of the State planning agency
Gosplan
 Emphasis was on heavy industry, coal, oil and steel
▪ Consumer products were in the 3rd plan but war interrupted schemes
 Industrial production and production of electricity increased
with some workers becoming national heros
▪ E.g. Stakhanov
 Prestige projects were built with slave labour and high cost of
life
 Most new industrial areas were away from possible threat if
there was war (Central Russia or Siberia)

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4. Results
 By 1941 industrial production was 4 times that of 1914
▪ High cost to life
 Many factories were inefficient with unrealistic
targets
▪ Targets that weren’t met led to deaths of
 By 1941, many millions were better housed, better
educated, better health care and (just) better fed
 State propaganda made all successes attributed to
Stalin

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It aimed to create terror
Stalin was determined so prevent criticising
He purged many
to prevent any Stalin or the State and
hundreds of thousands
opposition make people work
harder
1934 saw the
Many of Lenin’s
assassination of Kirov,
1936-38 show trials colleagues were
popular head of the
were held condemned as enemies
Communist Party in
of the people
Leningrad
Trotsky was
Stalin used the purges
1937 saw a severe purge assassinated in Mexico
to consolidate his
of leading Army officers City in 1941 after he was
leadership
exiled in 1928

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1. Stalin was determined to prevent any
opposition
2. He purged many hundreds of thousands, either
sent to Gulags (camps) or killed
3. It aimed to create terror so prevent criticising
Stalin or the State and make people work
harder
4. 1934 saw the assassination of Kirov, popular
head of the Communist Party in Leningrad
 Stalin probably ordered it though other rivals were
made scapegoats
5. 1936-38 show trials were held

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6. Many of Lenin’s colleagues were condemned as
enemies of the people
 Millions were convicted and sent to Gulags or executed
7. 1937 saw a severe purge of leading Army officers
 Severe consequences for WW2
8. Stalin used the purges to consolidate his
leadership
 Collectivisation and industrialisation gained him many
enemies
9. Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico City in 1941
after he was exiled in 1928
 Pursued for his important role in the Revolution and
Civil War

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1917-19
• Use the term Bolsheviks then
Communists
1918-90
• Use the terms Soviet Union or USSR
(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)