The Russian Revolution

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The Russian Revolution

• How the USSR was created.

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Russia

• Very large country.
• Location Eastern Europe and Northern Asia

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1900

• Tsar Nicolas II
• Of the Romanov family.
• The last emperor of Russia.
• He had very little experience of government and
  was portrayed as a failure
• He was thought of as weak and contradicting

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World War I

• 1914 -1917
• Russia suffers horribly.
• The poor resent the rule of the rich Romanov
  family.
• Outdated economy
• Farms
• Railways not developed

5
February 1917 Revolution

• Protests strikes against the war and food
  shortages in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).
• Turns violent, eventually police soldiers join
  with strikers.
• Tsar Nicolas II steps down.
• Provisional government is set up.

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Communism

• Karl Marx
• German philosopher, political scientist
• Writes The Communist Manifesto
• The workers own the factory or farm communally.
• The opposite of capitalism.

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Revolutionaries Split into 2 Groups

• Mensheviks (minority)

• Bolsheviks (majority)
• Led by a talented debater, brilliant organizer,
  named Vladimir Ulyanov a.k.a. Vladimir Lenin

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Communism in Russia

• Lenin
• Leader of the Bolshevik party
• Trotsky

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Leon Trotsky

• Educated
• Powerful speaker
• Lost the power struggle.
• Stalin exiled Trotsky and his family from Russia.
• Finally had him killed in Mexico.

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October 1917 Revolution

• Lenin leads the Bolsheviks to oust the
  provisional government take over.
• Trotsky leads Bolsheviks in St. Petersburg.
• Create the USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist
  Republics
• Capital is moved to Moscow.

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The USSR

• Tsar Nicolas II and his family are murdered July
  1918.
• Lenin dies 1924.
• Power struggle between Trotsky Stalin.
• Stalin wins.

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Josef Stalin (1879-1953)

• Described as ruthless
• Wanted to make Russia a modern industrial power.
• Believed in collectivization the belief that all
  land, means of production, and distribution of
  such should be left up to the government.

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Stalins Great Purge

• Stalin gets rid of all competition.
• Stalin executes all of the other leaders of the
  October 1917 revolution.
• Trotsky is exiled and eventually assassinated in
  1940.

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Stalins rule, continued

• Propaganda and censors.
• They literally re-write history.

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Stalins 5-year plan

• Farms are collectivized to finance new
  industry.
• Must meet a govt quota.
• Starvation in the Ukraine section of the USSR.
• Between executions starvation Stalin is
  responsible for several million deaths.

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USSR

• The USSR was lead by the Communist Party until
  1989.

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-ISMS

• Socialism You have 2 cows. Give 1 cow to your
  neighbor.
• Communism You have 2 cows. Give both cows to
  the government, and they may give you some of the
  milk.
• Fascism You have 2 cows. You give all of the
  milk to the government, and the government sells
  it.
• Nazism You have 2 cows. The government shoots
  you and takes both cows.

• Anarchism You have 2 cows. Keep both of the
  cows, shoot the government agent, and steal
  another cow.
• Capitalism You have 2 cows. Sell one cow and
  buy a bull.
• Surrealism You have 2 giraffes. The government
  makes you take harmonic lessons.

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Other Russian terms you should know

• Pravda the official propaganda tool of the
  Communist Party.
• Propaganda language or advertising that tries to
  persuade you to do something/change
• The Internationale the Communist national
  anthem.
• Kremlin the official headquarters of the party.
• KGB the secret police

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Why are we discussing this?

• Animal Farm USSR
• Mr. Jones - Tzar Nicholas II
• Old Major Marx/Lenin
• Snowball Trotsky
• Napoleon Stalin
• The pigs The Communist Party
• Boxer the animals the workers of Russia
• Dogs KGB/Secret Police

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Animal Farm by George Orwell

• An allegory illustrating the way Stalin betrayed
  the principals of the Russian Revolution.
• George Orwell is campaigning against Stalins
  Totalitarian government.
• Written in 1944, during WWII, when the UK and USA
  allied with Stalin to defeat Hitler.

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TERMS

• Allegory - a story in which the characters,
  setting and events stand for abstract or moral
  concepts
• Fable a short mean to teach a moral usually
  uses animals
• Utopia an ideal society or perfect existence
  for man or earth

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Terms (cont)

• Totalitarianism government in which one
  political party aims at total control over people
• Organized violence or police terror force used
  to crush opposition
• Censorship only official versions of
  information are allowed
• State control over individual - demanding
  everyone unquestionably loyal to state
• Single strong leader glorified or deified.
  Elevated to god-like status
• State control over society - business,
  education, family, housing, religion
• Ideology of state glorified aims of state used
  to justify everything
• Dictatorship one party rules with absolute
  control

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Is it still relevant today?

• You decide.