*Kt1

• Before the revolutions of 1917, Russia was ruled by emperors
• Tsar's subjects had no political rights
• Government was strong, but the economy was weak compared to that of Britain, Germany, the USA and other powers
• Russia had very little modern industry
• Population as a whole remained very poor
• Political repression and massive inequality led to the growth of opposition
• SR's were committed to overthrowing the Tsar
• They weren't able to get passed his political police
• Russia entered WW1 in 1914
• Russia's economy was too weak to provide food and equipment needed for war
• The Tsar was an incompetent wartime leader
• By early 1917, economic chaos, military defeat and political mismanagement led to the February Revolution
• A popular uprising in Petrograd, Russia's capital city that overthrew the Tsar and set up a Provisional Government
• Following the February Revolution, the Provisional Government introduced a series of reforms
• The Tsar's despotism was replaced by a liberal system
• Included freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion
• The Provisional Government promised democratic elections
• But they continued to fight WW1
• Lenin (a radical member of the RSDLP) argued for a second revolution
• Following his return from exile in April 1917, he demanded an immediate end to WW1 and redistribution of land to peasants
• These demands were summarised in the slogan: "Peace, Land and Bread"
• As the Provisional Government continued to fight in the war and Russia's economic problems grew worse, Lenin's message became increasingly popular
• By October 1917 Lenin and his followers the Bolsheviks had support to overthrow them
• Lenin and Trotsky seized the moment and organised a coup d'etat, which allowed the Bolsheviks to take power
• Lenin seized power because

  He believed that a global revolution was needed to replace capitalism and imperialism with socialism
• Lenin's new social system


  Would allow all people to genuinely be free and equal
• Marx was a German philosopher and revolutionary
• Became famous for arguing that the workers should rise up and destroy capitalism in a revolution
• Marx's view of history

  • Primitive Communism
  • Classical Slavery
  • Feudalism
  • Capitalism
• Marx argued that progress from one stage to another occurred due to class conflict
• Marx argued that the English, American and French Revolutions were examples of the victory of capitalism over feudalism
• Marx believed that capitalism would also come to an end as capitalism would be replaced by socialism in Europe's most advanced economies
• Lenin thought that the chaos of WW1 provided an opportunity to overthrow capitalism across Europe
• Marx's writings did not contain a clear indication of how a revolution would happen
• Neither did he show what socialism would look like
• Marx's writings were contradictory
• In some places, Marx argued that a revolutionary government would be more democratic than a capitalist government
• However, he also famously wrote about the "dictatorship of the proletariat; which would use its power ruthlessly to destroy the power of capitalists
• Lenin took both of these ideas seriously
• Initially he embraced a radically democratic state