BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION

THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION

The Bolshevik Revolution started many changes in Russia. One of the most dramatic changes was the change of their form of government to communism. This was brought about by the murder of the Czar and his family by the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were sure to include the whole family in the murder because of the fear that someday one might comeback and reclaim power. So on July 17, 1918 Czar Nicholas II and his family were murdered. Although there were rumors about his daughter Anastasia escaping, she never resurfaced into society (Mestrovic 18).

Another significant change in Russia came about in 1922. It was declared as the U.S.S.R. when ethnic territories of the Russian empire were united with the Russian

Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (Pipes 44). The Bolsheviks Revolution led to the demise of Russia as a world power because of the resulting up rise of communism, the Cold War and severe economic depression.

There are three major reasons why the Bolshevik Revolution led to the demise of Russia as a world power with one of these reasons being the resulting up rise of communism. Vladimir Ilych Lenin planned an uprising of communism in Russia for more than twenty-five years. He finally planed an up rise on November 7,1917 because there was a meeting of the Congress of Soviets scheduled that day. Knowing that no one would dare to challenge him, he seized control of the capital and demanded peace, land reform and worker’s control of factories (Mestrovic 22).

But once in power, Lenin turned his back on all programs of reform. The only promise he kept was to take Russia out of World War one. A few weeks before the November revolution, Lenin wrote “ We fight for a more democratic worker’s and peasant’s republic in which the police and standing army will be completely abolished and all official persons will not only be elected but they will be subject to recall at anytime upon the demand of the majority electors.”(23) Police and standing army

abolished? Umm no. In fact Lenin started his own secret police, the Cheka, and built up his army to nearly five million men. (Encarta) Lenin was also sure to exile Kerensky out of Russia to end any threat of a loss of power.(Trotsky 78)

Shortly after Lenin’s death in 1941, Joseph Stalin became leader. He quickly transformed the Soviet Union into a complete Totalitarian state. Soon after, he began the Great Purge, which was the campaign of removing all opposition to the communist rule, millions of Russians were murdered. This left Stalin with a generation of officials loyal to him alone. However, the country was more vulnerable because of the reduction of the high ranking military officials that were capable of running the armies. (Pipes 78)

Which brings us to another factor that led to the demise of Russia, the Cold War. A major cause of the cold war was the fact that Stalin never trusted American intentions. (Bolshevik and workers) His aggression and attitude pertaining to Soviet influences on Europe made the post war perspective a face-off. He was seen as a cruel dictator and nobody wanted to deal with him , so there were many misunderstandings between the two sides. (Figes 22)

“The Cold War, seen as a battle between Communism and Capitalism, was in reality a more complex struggle over a broad range of ideological, economical, and strategic issues.” The Russians were jealous of the Americans for many reasons with the ideals of having personal freedom and opportunity as the driving forces throughout the Cold War. (32)

To add to the increasing tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets in 1947 President Harry Truman signed a bill that authorized U.S. aid to anti-communist forces. This bill became known as the Truman Doctrine. This angered the Soviets. Further angering the Soviets, the U.S. entered a peacetime military alliance called NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This did not help with the Cold War either, it just pushed the two forces farther apart. Then the Soviets responded with the Warsaw Pact, which was an alliance between the communist countries of Eastern Europe. (Mestrovic 44)

The next factor that led to the demise of Russia as a world power was its periods of economic depression. To start, the Soviet Union had twelve five year plans. They had

twelve of them so something was obviously wrong. (“Chronology“) These slumps in the Soviet economy made it very difficult to keep up with the high costs involved in keeping

up armed forces. But Stalin, being the great dictator that he was, always found ways of boosting up the army. Even if it meant cutting agricultural funds. (Encarta)

One way of doing this was by starting collectivization. Collectivization was the take over of private farms by the government. With this, the government could now control every aspect of the Russian peoples lives. There was no resistance to collectivization because the government would eliminate all of the opposition.

Because of this, agricultural production diminished, resulting in countrywide food shortages. This caused riots in the Russian streets. (Cohen 36 ) The government started to only produce certain crops and in low quantities to cut the government’s costs. This brought on rationing , which greatly depressed the Russian economy.

Russia is no longer the world power it was once thought to be. The uprise of communism, the Cold War, and severe economic depression brought about by the Bolshevik Revolution led to the demise of Russia as a world power. Still today there is a

feeling of political uncertainty with the Russian government not being sure whether they are communist or democratic. They hold elections but their president is a former member of KGB. They also still have economic problems in the U.S.S.R. today.

Bibliography

WORKS CITED

Chronology of Russian history. http//www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/chrono3.html

(1 March 2000)

Cohen, Stephen F. Rethinking The Russian Experience. London. Oxford university press, 1985

pgs 33,36,72

Encarta 2000 . [Encyclopedia] Redmond, WA: Microsoft corp., 1993-1999

Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy. New York. Viking Penguin press, 1997

pgs 22-37

Mestrovic, Matthew. What You Should Know About Communism and Why. New York. Scholastic, 1961 pgs 18,22,44

Pipes, Richard. Russia Under The Bolshevik Regime. New York. Alfred A.Knopf, 1993

pgs 12, 44

The Bolsheviks and Workers control.http://www.geocities.com/W estHollywood/2163/bolintro/html (11 February 2000)

Trotsky, Leon. The Russian Revolution.New York. Double Day Anchor books,1982

Word Count: 969