Volume 9, Number 1, September 2013
Activity
Nicholas II and Lenin (p. 2)
Robin Bunce and Laura Williams
You can use these tasks alongside the article on p. 2 of this issue of the magazine to improve your understanding of this topic.
Task 1
The article compares the policies of Nicholas II and Lenin. Read through the article and then on small cards (alternatively, you could cut up a piece of A4 paper), note down the key aims and policies of these two Russian leaders. Write each aim and each policy on a separate card — use one colour for those relating to Nicholas II, and another colour for those relating to Lenin.
For example, after you have read the paragraph entitled ‘Nicholas II’s October Manifesto’, you could produce the following cards:
Nicholas
II wanted to repress revolutionary activity
The
October Manifesto promised liberal reforms
Lay the cards out on a table and then divide them into three categories:
Those relating only to Nicholas II
Those relating only to Lenin
Those relating to both Nicholas II and Lenin
Task 2
Following the February Revolution of 1917, Nicholas II abdicated and the government of Russia passed to a Provisional Government, which governed until the October Revolution the same year.
Do some research into the reforms of the Provisional Government. Consider how it addressed:
The war
Unrest in the countryside and the issue of land
The demands of national minorities
The economic problems in Russia
Task 3
Read the sources below:
Source 1
The Bolshevik regime was a mirror-image of the tsarist state. Lenin occupied the place of the Tsar-God; his commissars and Cheka henchmen played the same roles as the provincial governors; while his party's comrades had the same power and privileged position as the aristocracy under the old regime. But there was a crucial difference between the two systems: whereas the elite of the tsarist regime was socially alien to the common people, the Soviet elite was made up for the most part of ordinary Russians who spoke, dressed and acted much like everybody else.
Source: Figes, O. (1996) A People’s Tragedy
Source 2
Nicholas II and Lenin [both] maintained an autocratic imperial regime in Russia, justifying their actions with very different slogans. In this sense, the October Revolution was in fact a counterrevolution for it backtracked from the liberal gains achieved by the February Revolution.
Source: Kat︠s︡enelinboĭgen, A. (1990) The Soviet Union: Empire, Nation, and System
Now try to answer the following questions:
According to Source 1, how were the Bolshevik regime and the tsarist state similar?
According to Source 1, how were the Bolshevik regime and the tsarist state different?
According to Source 2, how were the Bolshevik regime and the tsarist state similar?
According to Source 2, how were the Bolshevik regime and the tsarist state different?
In Source 2, what is meant by the phrase ‘the October Revolution was in fact a counterrevolution’?
Task 4
Use the information that you have gained from Tasks 1, 2 and 3, to answer the following question:
How far do you agree with Source 2 that ‘The October Revolution was in fact a counterrevolution’?
Philip
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