Five days which transformed russia

It was nominally a supranational union of national republics, but its government and economy were highly centralized in a state that was unitary in most respects. In , the communists Reds were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics.

The original ideology of the state was primarily based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Stalin suppressed all political opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism—Leninism which he created , and initiated a centrally planned command economy. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Stalin also fomented political paranoia and conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents of his from the Communist Party through the mass arbitrary arrest of many people military leaders, Communist Party members, and ordinary citizens alike who were then sent to correctional labor camps gulags or sentenced to death.

The same year, a Soviet Constitution was approved, legitimizing the December union. An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in A large part of this was done according to the Bolshevik Initial Decrees, government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin.

One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. The plan was developed in and covered a to year period.

It included construction of a network of 30 regional power stations, including ten large hydroelectric power plants and numerous electric-powered large industrial enterprises. The plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was fulfilled by During the Civil War —21 , the Bolsheviks adopted war communism, which entailed the breakup of the landed estates and the forcible seizure of agricultural surpluses.

Many city dwellers fled to the countryside, often to tend the land that the Bolshevik breakup of the landed estates had transferred to the peasants. Strong opposition soon developed. The peasants wanted cash payments for their products and resented having to surrender their surplus grain to the government as a part of its civil war policies.

The peasants were freed from wholesale levies of grain and allowed to sell their surplus produce in the open market. Commerce was stimulated by permitting private retail trading. The state continued to be responsible for banking, transportation, heavy industry, and public utilities. Although the left opposition among the Communists criticized the rich peasants, or kulaks, who benefited from the NEP, the program proved highly beneficial and the economy revived.

Lenin and Stalin : Toward the end of his life, Lenin became increasingly anxious about Stalin and began criticizing him and urging his removal as general secretary. Stalin reacted furiously and the Orgburo was retained, but Bukharin, Trotsky, and Zinoviev were added to the body.

By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and outmaneuvering his rivals within the party, Stalin became the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union and, by the end of the s, established totalitarian rule.

The Central Committee decided not to publish the testament. In place of the internationalism expressed by Lenin throughout the Revolution, it aimed to build Socialism in One Country. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization. Famines ensued, causing millions of deaths; surviving kulaks were persecuted and many sent to Gulags to do forced labor. Social upheaval continued in the mids.

Over two years, that averages to over one thousand executions a day. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. The Interwar Period. Search for:. The Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution of The Russian Revolution of was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire, which included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies.

Learning Objectives Outline the events of the Revolution, along with its successes and failures. When the procession reached the palace, Cossacks opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. The Russian masses were so aroused over the massacre that a general strike was declared demanding a democratic republic, which marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution of Soviets councils of workers appeared in most cities to direct revolutionary activity.

In October , Tsar Nicholas reluctantly issued the famous October Manifesto, which conceded the creation of a national Duma legislature , as well as the right to vote, and affirmed that no law was to go into force without confirmation by the Duma.

The moderate groups were satisfied, but the socialists rejected the concessions as insufficient and tried to organize new strikes. Key Terms Russian Constitution of : A major revision of the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, which transformed the formerly absolutist state into one in which the emperor agreed for the first time to share his autocratic power with a parliament. It was enacted on May 6, , on the eve of the opening of the first State Duma. It convened four times between April and the collapse of the Empire in February Russification : A form of cultural assimilation during which non-Russian communities, voluntarily or not, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian one.

In a historical sense, the term refers to both official and unofficial policies of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union with respect to their national constituents and to national minorities in Russia, aimed at Russian domination.

Rising Discontent in Russia Under Tsar Nicholas II reigned — , the Russian Empire slowly industrialized amidst increased discontent and dissent among the lower classes. Learning Objectives Name a few reasons the Russian populace was discontented with its leadership. The Russian Revolution of was a major factor of the February Revolutions of , unleashing a steady current of worker unrest and increased political agitation. They ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

However, its activities were quickly repressed by the government. The model would later become central to the communists during the Revolution of His reign saw the fall of the Russian Empire from one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse.

Due to the Khodynka Tragedy, anti-Semitic pogroms, Bloody Sunday, the violent suppression of the Revolution, the execution of political opponents, and his perceived responsibility for the Russo-Japanese War, he was given the nickname Nicholas the Bloody by his political adversaries. To fill the vacuum of authority, the Duma legislature declared a provisional government headed by Prince Lvov, collectively known as the Russian Republic.

The Soviets initially permitted the provisional government to rule, but insisted on a prerogative to influence decisions and control various militias. During this chaotic period there were frequent mutinies, protests, and strikes, such as the July Days.

The period of competition for authority ended in late October when Bolsheviks routed the ministers of the Provisional Government in the events known as the October Revolution and placed power in the hands of the soviets, which had given their support to the Bolsheviks.

February Revolution : The first of two Russian revolutions in It involved mass demonstrations and armed clashes with police and gendarmes, the last loyal forces of the Russian monarchy. On March 12, mutinous Russian Army forces sided with the revolutionaries. Three days later, the result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire. July Days : Events in that took place in Petrograd, Russia, between July 3 and 7 when soldiers and industrial workers engaged in spontaneous armed demonstrations against the Russian Provisional Government.

The Bolsheviks initially attempted to prevent the demonstrations and then decided to support them. The October Revolution On October 25, , Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin led his leftist revolutionaries in a successful revolt against the ineffective provisional government, an event known as the October Revolution. Learning Objectives Explain the events of the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks appointed themselves as leaders of various government ministries and seized control of the countryside, establishing the Cheka to quash dissent.

Soviet membership was initially freely elected, but many members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, anarchists, and other leftists created opposition to the Bolsheviks through the soviets themselves.

When it became clear that the Bolsheviks had little support outside of the industrialized areas of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, they simply barred non-Bolsheviks from membership in the soviets. The new government soon passed the Decree on Peace and the Decree on Land, the latter of which redistributed land and wealth to peasants throughout Russia. He served as head of government of the Russian Republic from to , of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from to , and of the Soviet Union from to Under his administration, Russia and then the wider Soviet Union became a one-party socialist state governed by the Russian Communist Party.

Ideologically a Marxist, he developed political theories known as Leninism. Marxism—Leninism : A political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of Classical Marxism and Leninism that seeks to establish socialist states and develop them further. They espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of Marxism and Leninism, but generally support the idea of a vanguard party, one-party state, proletarian state-dominance over the economy, internationalism, opposition to bourgeois democracy, and opposition to capitalism.

It remains the official ideology of the ruling parties of China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, a number of Indian states, and certain governed Russian oblasts such as Irkutsk. October Revolution : A seizure of state power by the Bolshevik Party instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of It followed and capitalized on the February Revolution of the same year.

It decreed an abolition of private property and the redistribution of the landed estates among the peasantry. Key Takeaways Key Points The Russian Civil War, which broke out in shortly after the revolution, brought death and suffering to millions of people regardless of their political orientation. Though the Allied nations, using external interference, provided substantial military aid to the loosely knit anti-Bolshevik forces, they were ultimately defeated.

By , the Reds defeated their internal enemies and brought most of the newly independent states under their control, with the exception of Finland, the Baltic States, the Moldavian Democratic Republic which joined Romania , and Poland with whom they had fought the Polish—Soviet War.

The army was established immediately after the October Revolution. White Army : A loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces that fought the Bolsheviks, also known as the Reds, in the Russian Civil War — and, to a lesser extent, continued operating as militarized associations both outside and within Russian borders until roughly World War II. Cheka : The first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations.

It was created on December 20, , after a decree issued by Vladimir Lenin, and was subsequently led by Felix Dzerzhinsky, a Polish aristocrat turned communist. These troops policed labor camps; ran the Gulag system; conducted requisitions of food; subjected political opponents to secret arrest, detention, torture, and summary execution; and put down rebellions and riots by workers or peasants, and mutinies in the desertion-plagued Red Army. Formation of the Soviet Union The government of the Soviet Union, formed in with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics, was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party Bolsheviks , who increasingly developed a totalitarian regime, especially during the reign of Joseph Stalin.

Learning Objectives Assess the reasons for creating the Soviet Union. However, it only officially consolidated as the new government of Russia after the defeat of the White Army during the Russian Civil War in The period from the consolidation of the Bolshevik Revolution in until is known as the period of war communism, in which land, all industry, and small businesses were nationalized and the economy was restricted.

The constitution, adopted in , established a federal system of government based on a succession of soviets set up in villages, factories, and cities in larger regions, which culminated in the All-Union Congress of Soviets. However, while it appeared that the congress exercised sovereign power, this body was actually governed by the Communist Party, which in turn was controlled by the Politburo from Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union.

Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was effectively the dictator of the state. In , Stalin edited the plan to include the creation of collective farming systems that stretched over thousands of acres of land and had hundreds of peasants working on them.

Great Purge : A campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union from to Karl Marx : A German-born scientist, philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His theories about society, economics, and politics—collectively understood as Marxism—hold that human societies develop through class struggle; in capitalism, this manifests itself in the conflict between the ruling classes known as the bourgeoisie that control the means of production and working classes known as the proletariat that enable these means by selling their labor for wages.

Through his theories of alienation, value, commodity fetishism, and surplus value, he argued that capitalism facilitated social relations and ideology through commodification, inequality, and the exploitation of labor.

Licenses and Attributions. Publishing contacts. Social Media Overview. Terms and Conditions. Privacy Statement. Login to my Brill account Create Brill Account. Email this content Share link with colleague or librarian You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Sergei Mstislavskii. Five Days Which Transformed Russia. Translated by Elizabeth Kristofovich Zelensky. Introduced by William G. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, In: Canadian-American Slavic Studies.

Author: G. Hamburg 1. Online Publication Date: 01 Jan Abstract Metadata Metrics Access options Get access to the full article by using one of the access options below. Buy instant access PDF download and unlimited online access :. Add to Cart. Other access options. Personal login Log in with your brill. Title: Sergei Mstislavskii. Access options Get access to the full article by using one of the access options below.

Content Metrics. Sign in to annotate. Published first published January 1st More Details Original Title.

Other Editions 2. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Strong arguments can be made for the position that the single greatest short-term event of the twentieth century was the revolution in the Russian Empire that led to the downfall of Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of the first communist state.

The massive country that was once an empire splintered off four new countries and eventually led to a superpower standoff that lasted for almost fifty years. The fear of what was then called Bolshevism terrified conservative elements in Europe, hel Strong arguments can be made for the position that the single greatest short-term event of the twentieth century was the revolution in the Russian Empire that led to the downfall of Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of the first communist state.

The fear of what was then called Bolshevism terrified conservative elements in Europe, helping fuel the rise of fascism and the Second World War. Which was fundamentally a battle between fascism and communism. Mstislavskii was an anthropologist and writer and a member of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries party and played a significant role in the steps of the Russian revolution that took place in February.