Alumno

Russia and the USSR
1905-1941
1.1 How did the Bolsheviks take control?
The new Tsar
The Tsar’s empire
Nicolas II also called the “Little Father of Russia” was crowned tsar of Russia in 1894. It was not an easy job due to the following facts:
* There were many different nationalities.
* The society was divided in three big classes:
1. Aristocracy: they had vast estates,town and country houses, and elegant lifestyles. Their greatest fear was that the peasants would rise up and take their lands
2. Capitalists: they were the middle classes and they appeared as a result of the industrialization. It was composed by landowners, industrialists, bankers, traders, and businessmen. Their main concerns were the management of the economy
3. Peasants: they composedthe 80% of the population, and lived and worked in dreadful conditions. As Russia had no basic education, most of them couldn’t neither read nor write. A problem was that most of Russia’s land was unsuitable for farming. Their main discontent was that it was unfair the amount of land owned by the aristocracy, the Church, and the Tsar.
* New industries, cities and the working class. There werenew policies introduced that led to rapid industrial growth. Some peasants left the land to work in these new industries, but these last weren’t better than the land. There were no government regulations on child labour, hours, safety or education.

The Tsar and his government
The empire was ruled by an autocracy. In this, the Tsar had absolute power, and he believed that God had placed him inthat position. The Tsar could make important decisions without consulting anyone else. Nicolas seemed to be obsessed with the grate past of his family, although he was not an able, forceful, imaginative monarch as his predecessors.
= were controlled by
= were controlled by
The control
Peasants Mir Land Captains: officials in local areas appointedby the Tsar.
Zemstva or Local assemblies landlords in countryside
Professional people in towns
Rebellions army
Police Local governors
There were special emergency laws that allowed the local governors to:
* Order the police to arrest suspected opponents of the regime.
* Banindividuals from serving in the zemstva, courts or any government organization.
* Make suspects pay heavy fines.
* Introduce censorship of books or leaflets or newspapers.

Opposition to the Tsar
There were three particular groups that opposed to the Tsar: the Liberals or Cadets, the Socialist Revolutionaries, and the Social Democratic Party. The Liberals or Cadets wanted greater democracy.The other two groups thought that revolution was the answer to people’s trouble. The Socialist Revolutionaries were radical, and their main aim was to carve up the huge estates of the nobility and hand them over to the peasants. The Social Democratic Party followed the ideas of Marx, and by 1903 divided in two groups: the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks were led by Lenin, and theythought that their job was to create a revolution, while the Mensheviks believed Russia wasn’t ready for revolution. By 1903, strikes, protests and demonstrations took place.

The 1905 Revolution
The government tried to deal with their problems, but it failed. In 1904, it embarked on a war against Japan, hoping to unite the country behind him by gaining victories, but it was defeated.
BloodySunday
On the 22 of January, 1905, a crowd of protesters that respected the Tsar, led by the priest Father Gapon, came to the Winter Palace to give a petition to the Tsar. They were met by a regiment of soldiers that opened fire. There were many killed and wounded, and that day the Tsar lost respect.
After this, disaster began and it seemed possible that the Tsar might lose control of Russia....