Chapter 15, Section 1: Two Revolutions in Russia

Soviets

Councils of workers and soldiers.

Vladimir Lenin

He was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as head of government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. Under his administration, the Russian Empire was replaced by the Soviet Union; all wealth including land, industry and business was nationalized. Based in Marxism, his political theories are known as Leninism.

Czar Nicholas II

He was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias. Like other Russian Emperors he is commonly known by the monarchical title Tsar (though Russia formally ended the Tsardom in 1721). He is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church and has been referred to as Saint Nicholas the Martyr.

Commissars

Communist party officials assigned to the army to teach party principles and ensure party loyalty.

Proletariat

The growing class of factory and railroad workers, miners, and urban wage earners.

Why did Lenin and the Bolsheviks launch the November revolution?

1. The provisional gov't continued to fight an unpopular war in World War 1. 2. As the war went bad, sailors, soldiers, and workers began to mutiny and fight the provisional gov't. 3. The present gov't had little or no military and political support left.

Rasputin

An illiterate peasant and self-proclaimed "holy man," Rasputin had a big influence on the czarina Alexandra. Because of this, a group of Russian nobles killed him on December 29, 1916.

"Peace, Land & Bread"

Protestors, both women and troops, shouted and wanted these things from the government.

Cheka

The first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created on December 20, 1917, after a decree issued by Vladimir Lenin, and was subsequently led by Felix Dzerzhinsky, a Polish aristocrat turned communist. By late 1918, hundreds of Cheka committees had been created in various cities, at multiple levels.

Bolsheviks

They were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Bolsheviks were the majority faction in a crucial vote, hence their name. They ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and founded the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic which would later become the chief constituent of the Soviet Union in 1922.

Red Guards

They were paramilitary volunteer formations consisting mainly of factory workers, peasants, cossacks and partially of soldiers and sailors for "protection of the Soviet power". Red Guards were a transitional military force of the collapsing Imperial Russian Army and the base formations of Bolsheviks during the October Revolution and the first months of the Civil War. Most of them were formed in the time frame of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and some of the units were reorganized into the Red Army during 1918.

War communism

This was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921. According to Soviet historiography, this policy was adopted by the Bolsheviks with the goal of keeping towns and the Red Army stocked with weapons and with food. The system had to be used because the ongoing war disrupted normal economic mechanisms and relations.

How did the Communists defeat their opponents in Russia's civil war?

a. Lenin first took Russia out of WW1 to focus on defeating the White Army. b. He then formed the Cheka, or secret police, and executed anybody suspected of helping the White Army. c. To eliminate any rallying point for the White Army, the Cheka murdered the Czar and his family, thus destroying the royal bloodline. d. The Communists then took over the banks, mines, factories, and railroads to ensure supplies for their war effort. e. They drafted peasants to fight for the Red Army. f. Commissars were then assigned to the army to teach party loyalty and ensure loyalty. g. By 1921, the Red Army was victorious.

Why did a revolution occur in March 1917?

a. Russia was suffering massive defeats in World War 1. b. Due to this war, there were food and fuel shortages. c. All of this helped to create a low level of confidence in the government.