Week Twelve

I never would have thought to look at the early 20^th century Communist movements as related to the French Revolution.  However, they share some similar features.  They both arose out of the idea that new and better worlds could be built by human actions and human ideas.  They both sought a society in the modern and new future instead of the nostalgic and traditional past.  In the French Revolution and the Communist Revolutions the peasants, who had little to no money, overthrew the wealthy aristocrats.  However the Communist Revolutions differed from the French in that they were led by highly organized parties and each person involved shared the belief in Marxist ideology (1038-1039). 

In Russia, the Communist Revolution grew out of World War I.  The Russian people especially those in the lower classes suffered greatly during the war.  As a result they became restless, actively opposing the tsar, and eventually forcing him to abdicate the throne in February of 1917.  This opened the doors to social upheaval: vast numbers of soldiers deserted the military, workers organized and seized control of factories, and peasants took landlords estates and redistributed the land among themselves.  Non-Russian nationalities demanded independence.  Social unrest in conjunction with a weak provisional government opened the door for a new, organized group to take control of Russia (1039).

The organization that succeeded was the Bolsheviks, a small socialist party.  Led by the charismatic Lenin, the group believed that Russia was not only ready for a socialist revolution, but would spark similar revolutions all over Europe.  The Bolsheviks promised to bring an end to the war, give land to the peasants, grant workers control of factories, and guaranteed independence to non-Russian nationalities.  Based on the reception of these promises, the Bolsheviks rose to power in October of 1917.  They still faced resistance from Russian tsarists, landlords, unaffiliated socialists, as well as external troops from capitalist nations who wanted to crush communism.  In the process of these civil wars, the Bolsheviks regimented the economy, took grain from peasants, and crushed rebellions with bloody force.  Claiming to defend Russia from imperialists, they recruited many lower-class men into their Red Army.  While they were met with opposition and became more authoritarian, the Bolsheviks gained full control of Russia in 1921 and established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1040-1041).