Communism Storyboard Social 30-1
Storyboard Text
- Life in Russia at the start of the 20th century was not the best around. The population was living heavily under harsh living and working conditions. Famines and disease were very common, the rest of the world was prospering and growing. This was all happening while the bourgeois nobility was living it up with the Tsar at the expense of the working class.
- We do not deserve to live like this!
- Workers and peasants of Russia began to protest the unfairness of the Tsar's authoritarian rule. In particular on January 22nd, 1905, a large group of peaceful and rational protesters lead by Father Gapon approached the winter palace with a petition allowing for improved conditions and better rights for the people. In a panicked response, the palace guards opened fire killing hundreds of Russian civilians who were only asking the Tsar to improve their lives. This became known as Bloody Sunday.
- Please hear us out
- We want rights!
- Open fire!
- The massacre on January 22nd sparked the 1905 revolution and Tsar Nicholas II was facing the possibility of complete civil revolt. Nicholas in an effort to save his own hide implemented reforms such as the Duma (a democratic assembly), and introduction of rights and freedoms. Russia's economy started to build back up a bit, and the 1905 revolution came to an end, although civil unrest was still plentiful.
- When World War 1 began, Nicholas II hopped on the war train and saw it as an opportunity for Russian glory to promote nationalism and regain support of the people. While this could have saved the Tsar's skin, he was full of incompetence, and Russia's economy began dropping again to support the war effort. This made way for the 1917 revolution and eventually Tsar Nicholas II was encouraged by all around him to abdicate the Russian throne.
- During the unfolding of all these events there was a man in the background, one who fueled the flames of revolution in the Russian people and promoted revolutionary ideas. This man was Vladmir Lenin, and operated via newsletters and manifestos as he was exiled numerous times out of Russia for his revolutionary ideas. After the 1917 revolution and the dissolution of the Russian Tsardom, Lenin returned to Russia and led his communist regime, the Bolshevik Reds.
- In order to achieve the goal of a classless communist society, Lenin believed violence was needed to reform society's system and replace it with a new one. A roughly 5 year civil war ensued in which Lenin's Bolshevik Reds fought against the Menshevik White Movement in order to unite Russia under a communist state. The movement was eventually overcame by the Bolshevik Red Army and a new, communist era was now beginning in Russia.
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