Web Wiz/History/Modern History/Preliminary Units of work/Decline of the Romanovs

Lesson plan

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5
The Revolution spreads
The October Manifesto
The Dumas
Nicholas' advisers
World War I
Conclusion

Web Wiz

The Revolution spreads

The news of the Bloody Sunday massacre spread rapidly across Russia. Russians of all classes were horrified by the killings. Industrial workers, peasants, sections of the military and middle-class liberals joined in demonstrations against the Tsar. Throughout 1905 the government came under attack from:

industrial workers in all of the major centres who, by a wave of strikes, brought industry to a standstill

peasants who rioted in across the countryside destroying crops and the attacking the landowners

sailors who mutinied in June on the battle ship Potemkin and this threatened to spread to other units of the military who blamed the Tsar for their defeat in the war against Japan

minority groups seeking independence from Russian rule joined the demonstrations

Liberals, many from the zemstva, who pressured the government to introduce democratic reforms.

So the revolution of 1905 was not just one protest but a number of quite different protests against the government. Each group had its own methods, ideas and aims but they all agreed that they wanted change to the political system and they wanted it soon.

Revolutionary Groups in 1900
By the end of the 19th century the revolutionary movement had split into three main groups. It was the alliance of these three, quite different, groups which almost brought down the monarchy in 1905. The three groups were:

The Constitutional Democrats [also called the Kadets or Octobrists] Formed in 1903, this Liberal group was the largest revolutionary group at the end of the nineteenth century. The members were mostly middle-class or nobles, many of whom were active in the zemstva. The Liberals did not want to overthrow the Tsar but wanted him to share power with an elected parliament, like the monarchy in England. This is called a Constitutional Monarchy. To put pressure on the Tsar the Liberals joined the workers and peasants demanding reforms.
The Social Revolutionaries (SRs)
This party was formed in 1900 from supporters of the Populist movement. There aims were to get rid of the Tsar, redistribute the land to the peasants and rule Russia through a system of communes. A small section of the SRs continued to use violence to achieve their aims.
The Social Democrats
Formed in 1898 by the followers of Karl Marx, the Social Democrats believed that a revolution by the working class would overthrow the government. The Social Democrats had the same aims but could not agree on the best ways of achieving them.

These differences split the party at its Second Conference in 1903 and this led to the creation of two opposing factions. These were:

The Mensheviks - this faction was led by George Plekhanov. He believed that the party should be open to all supporters, with all members having a say in the formulation of party policy. Once the monarchy was overthrown, the party should be prepared to co-operate with other political parties to form a government. Leon Trotsky joined this faction of the Socialist parties.
The Bolsheviks - Vladimir Lenin led this faction. He believed that the party must be made up from a small, elite group of dedicated revolutionaries. Membership of the party should be limited to only a select few. This elite group would formulate the policies and make all of the decisions on behalf of the people. Once the Tsar was overthrown this group would establish a dictatorship of the proletariat [working class] with no cooperation at all with the bourgeois [middle class] parties.

Exercise 5.1: Document study
Read the above information carefully. Name the revolutionary group that would be supported by:

The peasants
The middle class
The workers

Exercise 5.2: Document study
Give reasons for your answers.

The First Soviets
The disturbances grew worse when the war ended and Russia faced a humiliating defeat. A new wave of strikes swept the country. A printer's strike in late September quickly turned into a general strike [this is where all workers in all industries stop work]. By October the country was paralysed by the strikes and a total breakdown of communications. At the same time, in St Petersburg, an alternative type of government emerged. Workers in factories and trades began to elect their own councils [soviets] to organise the strike. The soviets took control of essential services, power, hospitals, food distribution, in the cities. This idea began to spread to other major centres and control began to shift from the government to the people. The first and most important soviet was in St Petersburg and was led by Leon Trotsky a Menshevik revolutionary keen to take advantage of the chaotic situation to attack the government.

The general strike was controlled from St Petersburg but was supported by all opposition groups. This display of unity among the Tsar's opponents at last forced the Tsar to take action to restore government control.

Exercise on the 1905 Revolution
Source Study:

Source A: The Strike in Kharkov in October 1905
". . . work stopped everywhere, on the railways, in all factories, workshops, in shops of all types, in the University, in all the schools, in all administrative offices . . . the whole population was on the streets, either as sightseers or as demonstrators. From the evening people began to ransack [break in to and steal from] arms stores and to smash the windows of larger stores . . . On the 24th, students directed by lawyers, doctors and teachers and helped by workers and Jews, seized the district near the University and set up barricades made of heavy oak planks, telegraph poles . . . and large paving stones."

From 'Russia in Revolution 1890 - 1918', L. Kochan
Source B

From 'Russia in Revolution 1890 - 1918', L. Kochan

Exercise 5.3: Source study

Make a list of the different groups of people named in Source A
What evidence can you find in the source which suggests that the middle-class was actively involved in this demonstration?
Source A is a secondary source giving an account of events in the city of Kharhov.
Source B is a photograph taken in Moscow a little later.
- How does the information in Source B support what is written in Source A about the nature of the demonstration?
- How could historians use these two sources as evidence that revolutionary activity was widespread in Russia in 1905 and involved all sections of the community?

Email your answers to your teacher.

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