A Revolutionary Traditon Essay, Research Paper

Since the first emergence of Russia as a country, the land was deep rooted in war and decent. In 1917, a momumentus revolution occurred which tumbled the old aristocracy to the ground. Emerging from the rubble was the United Socialist Soviet Republic. This stood strong until the start of the nineties. The emergence of the U.S.S.R is not a process that occurred overnight, but rather, developed over a period rooted deeply in revolutionary motives.

The first case of revolutionaries to appear in Russia was a group known as the “Decembrists.” These people were upset because at the current time, the Napoleonic Wars were occurring and Russian leadership was heavily involved in foreign policy. The citizens of Russia were under the impression that the Tzar, Alexander, was going to start a series of domestic reforms which would change the peasant life in Russia. To the surprise and disgust of the citizens, Alexander, due to the war, had his own plans on how to restructure Europe.

With this information, the Russian intellectuals grew upset and restless. They resented Alexander and his new foreign policy. Returning to Russia were some of the young military officers. These men had gained new found revolutionary ideas from their travels in the west. Secret societies and revolutionary groups began to form. They intended to bring about the change that these officers had talked about.

Alexander died in 1825. That December, there was a coup d’etat. It consisted of a group of officer conspirators who’s goals were to destroy the autocracy and emancipate the serfs. They wanted to set up a government based on some of the Western policies like constitutionalism or a “centralized republican government.” Nicholas I, the younger brother to Alexander, brutally put down the revolution.

Upset with the uprising, Nicholas made some adjustments within the regime. First he established a new branch of the secret police. This branch was called the “Third Section.” It was designed to seek out political uprising and revolutionaries. Nicholas also instituted the “Criminal Code of 1845.” This stated that any people found guilty of revolutionary conspiracies will be killed and their property will be confiscated.

When Alexander II came into power, he initiated many domestic reforms. First he restructured education by giving more of an opportunity for peasants to become educated. The most important reform was his emancipation of the serfs. The terms of the emancipation were harsh, but the serfs could retain land they were on. Anther reform was the establishment of local governing bodies at the communal level. Although the 1860’s and the reforms seemed to have solved some of the problems, but in actuality only created more.

During this period, a prominent writer began to influence russian agrarians. Alexander Herzen wrote the book “Kolokol.” He believed that russia was in a better situation to adapt to socialism than was the rest of Western Europe. The Russian socialists were heavily influenced by Herzen and now believed that if the peasants were to become educated, then Russia could proceed from a state of feudalism to that of socialism with little problem.

Out of this branch of thought inspired by Herzen, came populism. The general belief in populism was that there is a lot of faith in the “commune.” This group wanted to integrate Russia into the Western world. a group that was strongly opposed to the populists were the “Slovophites.” They believed that there was nothing wrong with Russia and their present state.

A group of radicals emerged from the populist party. This group wanted a body to represent the “true desires of the people.” They called themselves the “People’s Will.” They frequently resorted to violence and terrorist activities to get their point across. This eventually resulted in the bombing and murder of Alexander II.

Alexander III was the next to inherit the throne. Due to harsh counter-revolutionary tactics taken by his staff, the violence stopped. the revolutionary theme seemed for the moment to have died down. However, a resurgence in the movement started due to the fleeting situation of the Russian economy. Another reason was the deterioration of working conditions surrounding the average Russian urban worker.

Although there was a resurgence in the revolutionary theme, this time the emphasis shifted. The attitude was not inspired by the events of the day, but on the writings of Marx and Engels. The revolutionaries “took the task of defending the interest of the laboring masses”(pg 35). Marxism began to grow increasing fast in popularity amongst Russian intellectuals.

Along with Marxism, a Socialist movement began to grow in Russia. One of the more prominent socialist thinkers was George Plekhanov. People began to follow his writings. He was originally involved with the populist party and still believed that the reason they failed was because of their lack of peasant support. His theories in for revolution consisted of education and the working class. Once the urban workers became educated, they would be able to participate and play a large role in the revolution. Once they seized power, they could set up a socialistic system which, he felt, would eventually lead to communism.

Socialism spread throughout Russia. In 1898, nine delegates formed the “Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party.” this is otherwise referred to as “R.S.D.W.P” The intentions of the group was to form a “constitutional regime.” During the early stages of this group, it was put down when the secret police arrested several members. It will resurface as the dominant socialistic group later.

Another party to form during this period was the “Social Revolutionary Party.” This group formed from the ashes of the “People’s Will.” their main interest or concern was protecting the “peasants and their rights.” As with the People’s Will, terrorism and propaganda were the main tactics of this group.

It is around this time that one of the most important men throughout history will take a prominent role in Russian politics. Lenin, who earlier in his career was exiled for an assassination attempt on Alexander III. In siberia, Lenin planned and reflected on his revolutionary activities. He realizes that in order to have a successful revolution, the group must have a small, close-knit hierarchy as well as a violent overthrow of the government. Lenin was originally a member of the R.S.D.W.P.

Although the R.S.D.W.P was large in size, they will divide up into two factions. The reason for the split came over two issues. The first was “who should be a member?” Lenin felt that only loyal people who pay their dues and devote time to the cause could be a member. The majority believed that anyone who agreed could be a member. The second issue was who should “ally” with the revolutionary cause. The minority wanted to ally with the “liberal bourgeoisie.” Lenin in the majority wanted to unite farmers and industrial workers.

After this conference, the group split into two factions. The first was the “Bolsheviks.” This means majority (although he was actually in the minority). The second group was called the “Mensheviks.” The word stands for “minority” although they were larger in number.

The Bolsheviks were “efficiently organized and firmly lead. They were more inclined toward clanderstine, revolutionary activities.” The Mensheviks wanted to “model their party after the Social-Democratic movements of Central and Western Europe, Especially the German Social Democratic Party.” The Bolsheviks wanted to act swift and harsh while the Mensheviks wanted to work slowly within the system.

With the turn of the century, a new Tzar was brought about. Nicholas II came to power and was considered very soft on an issue that had any importance. With the expansion of industry and the Russo-Jappanese War, Russian moral was low and poor work conditions and frustration was on the rise. In December during 1904, four members of a labor group were dismissed from a steel works in St. Petersburg. Thousands of workers went on strike. To help resolve this, Father Gabon wanted to stage a mass demonstration. Their goal to give the Tzar a list of their grievances.

On Sunday, January 9, 1905, a large mass of people appeared out in front of the Tzar’s Winter Palace. there were twenty-thousand soldiers guarded the palace. when several warnings by the guards were disregarded, the soldiers fired shots. Ninety-six civilians were killed on the spot and many were wounded some resulting in later deaths.

Due to the fact that the Russian government had little breathing room. they had the deaths of these people on their hands as well as a humiliating loss after loss to the Japanese, Nicholas II granted the request for he Duma. This gave all the secret groups such as the “Constitutional Democrats”, “Social Revolutionaries”, and the two factions of the Social-Democratic, the right to operate freely in public.

At this point in history, the groups discussed different possibilities on how to overthrow the autocracy. Restated are the views of the Bolsheviks and Menshiviks as well as other views. Totsky appeared during this time as the vice chairman of the St. Petersburg Soviet Workers Deputies. Their goal was to unite the working class and to set up a “Constituent Assembly.”

Nicholas II, who seemed rattled by the strike and other recent events, signed a concession that included a bill for a Legislative Assembly. It would consist of two houses. The lower house would be the Duma and the upper house would be the Council of State. Although the power of this body was limited it still gave the people more rights and power than they had before.

In one final event that took place at the end of 1905, there was another general strike. This one was by the Moscow Soviet to rise up against reprisals. The protest took a turn for the worst when it resorted to violence. the movement was put down with great force. With the suppression and execution of the ring leaders, some believed that the back of the revolutionaries was “now broken.”

With the turn of the Century, the Duma was now in session. As in most countries there were different political factions that were fighting for power. This was a momentous occasion because for the first time Russian people had a say in the political process. The Duma would meet four times and each time a struggle for power and a voice would be the issues. Conservatives as well as radicals were now trying to leave their impressions on Russia. Men like Stolypin tried to manipulate the system by getting conservatives a larger say.

This was a momentous time for the Russia. The world was on the verge of the most devastating war they would bare witness too and Russia was breaking new political ground with every session of the Duma. In this paper we traveled from the early pioneers “Decembrists,” to the fourth meeting of the “Duma.” Men like Lenin and Trotsky would have a large influence on the upcoming events which in 1917 leads to a major social, political and economic change in Russia.