2.1 Communism and the Russian Revolution

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

9. The Time of World Wars

INTERBELLUM

2.1 Communism and the Russian Revolution

people in this lesson

Nicholas II

tsar (emperor)

Russia

Rasputin

self-proclaimed 

holy man

Russia

Lenin

Communist leader

Soviet Union

Karl Marx

"father" of communism

Germany

Learning objectives

At the end of this lesson you'll be able to:

1) explain the most important ideas of Karl Marx

2) name some indirect causes of the Russian Revolution

3) describe the progress of the Russian Revolution

name important terms and dates.

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SOCIALISM & COMMUNISM

Karl Marx, a 19th century German, came with the idea of SOCIALISM:

WHAT?

• Socialists want a better life for the poor working class people in society.
• These people do all the hard work, but the capitalists (business owners) get the profit. That is not fair.
• The government must take more control of the economy and limit the economic freedom of the capitalists.

 

SOCIALISM & COMMUNISM

HOW?

Try to get more SOCIAL LAWS (= laws that benefit the workers):

• Minimum wages
• 8 hour working day
• Better working conditions
• Sick pay, unemployment benefits, retirement.

Because of the socialists we still have these laws today.....

But what is communism???

SOCIALISM & COMMUNISM

The difference between socialists and communists is not the goal, but the means to reach them.

COMMUNISM

• Communism is an ideology.
• An ideology is a system of ideas and ideals, which forms the basis of economic or political or even religious policy.

• Other ideologies we will learn about are fascism and national-socialism.

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2 is about the time between WW1 and WW2. We call this period (1919 - 1939) "the Interbellum". 

• We will learn how democracy was challenged when economic crises hit Europe. Several countries turned away from democracy and started their own political experiments, with devastating effects:

1. Communism in Russia
2. Fascism in Italy and Spain
   
3. National-Socialism in Germany.
   

• These new (dictatorial) ideologies would lead Europe to a new World War 

Communism

The founder of socialism is ....A.... . He was critical of ....B.... . He predicted that the inquality between the proletariat (working class) and bourgeoisie (entrepeneurs) would lead to a ....C.... .

As soon as the ...D.... (money, land, machines, buildings, etc.) belonged to everyone, the class society would disappear.

The two movements that evolved from ....E.... are ....F.... and ....G.... . ....H.... is a radical movement that remained faithfull to the idea of a violent revolution (class war). They wanted to abolish ....I.... property and wanted state ownership instead. ....J... is a more moderate movement that wants a peaceful solution through the introduction of ....K.... .

Examples of social laws are: ...L... wages, 8 hour working day, better working ...M..., sick pay, unemployment benefits and retirement.

Communism - answers

The founder of socialism is A) Karl Marx . He was critical of B) capitalism . He predicted that the inquality between the proletariat (working class) and bourgeoisie (entrepeneurs) would lead to a C) revolution. As soon as the D) capital (money, land, machines, buildings, etc.) belonged to everyone, the class society would disappear.

The two movements that evolved from E) socialism are F) communism and G) social democracy . H) Communism is a radical movement that remained faithfull to the idea of a violent revolution (class war). They wanted to abolish I) private  property and wanted state ownership instead. J) Social democracy is a more moderate movement that wants a peaceful solution through the introduction of K) social laws .

Examples of social laws are: L) minimum wages, 8 hour working day, better working 

M) conditions, sick pay, unemployment benefits and retirement.

The Russian Revolution (1917)

Actually 2 revolutions:

I. February Revolution: 

• spontaneous peoples' revolution
  
• started with demonstrations for more bread, to end the war, end the absolute power of the tsar.
• soldiers turned against the tsar and joined the protesters

     

     effects: 

• the tsar abdicated 
  
• a temporary (liberal/ socialist) government took over
  
• but the war continued
  

The Russian Revolution

II. October Revolution: 

• a planned 'putsch', or 'coup' (= staatsgreep)
• Lenin and his Bolsheviks (= Russian communists) seized power.

effects: 

• Lenin made peace with Germany (Treaty of Brest Litovsk March 1918)
• Lenin became a dictator and started to turn Russia into a              communist state: the Soviet Union

The Russian Revolution

effects

• He started to turn the country into a communist state by                         taking away land, factories and businesses from their owners 

This led to a CIVIL WAR (1918 - 1922)

The Russian Revolution

CIVIL WAR (1918-1922)

Who fought against who?

     REDS: (communists)

• Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, Trotski, Stalin

     WHITES:(anti- communists)

• wealthy capitalists (business owners), landowners
  
• czarists (people who wanted the tsar back on the throne)
  
• armies from foreign anti-communist countries (France, UK, USA)
  

The outcome: The Whites were defeated. The czarist family was murdered.

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Learning objectives

At the end of this lesson you'll be able to:

1) explain the most important ideas of Karl Marx

2) name some indirect causes of the Russian Revolution

3) describe the progress of the Russian Revolution

name important terms and dates.

Dates from this lesson

1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War

1905 Bloody Sunday 

1914-1918 First World War

Dec-1917 Russia and Germany sign truce

Mar-1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

1918-1922 Russian Civil War 

1922 Soviet Union proclaimed

Keywords from this lesson

• communism
• secret police
• Russian Revolution
• February Revolution
• October Revolution
• Bolsheviks
• Soviet Union
• one-party state

Get to work

• What? Week task
• How? Alone
  
• Help? Ask neighbour. Can't work it out together? Ask teacher for help.
  
• Time? Until the end of the lesson.
  
• Done? Make a summary, mindmap, work out the learning objectives.
  

     CAPITALIST ECONOMY                        COMMUNIST ECONOMY

1                                                           -

2                                                          -

3                                                          -

4                                                          -

5                                                          -

6                                                          -

7                                                          -

8                                                          -

Before you copy this overview, do the drag & drop task...

capitalist economy

communist economy

1 government controls the economy

1. minimal government interfere in economy

2. private ownership of businesses

2. state owned businesses

3. planned economy

3. free market economy

4. production targets set by the state

4. production determined by need or demand

5. you work for profit

5. you work for the good of the nation

6. companies compete with each other

6. no competition between companies

7. prices of products determined by the state

7. prices determined by supply and demand

8. commercials and adverts

8. no commercials and adverts needed

congratulations

congratulations