1. Russian Revolution
1917

2. Czar Nicholas II
Last Czar of Russia
Exhausted nation’s economy by
involving Russia in WWI
This left the Russian people
poor and starving, but the
Czar and his family lived
comfortably.
The people were angry with
this, so they decided to
REVOLT!

3. Karl Marx
(1818 – 1883)
•He died long before
Revolution began, but his
political ideas of communism
lived on.
•Considered father of
communism
•People of Russia who
revolted adopted his ideas

4. Karl Marx
 Karl Marx - 1848 published the
Communist Manifesto with
Fredrich Engels
 This document advertised
Marx’s belief that pure
communism would be the
inevitable outcome of human
history
 “From each according to his
abilities, to each according to
his need.”

5. Communism
•Form of government
that has a classless
society
•Everyone is equal; no
rich and no poor
•The Bolsheviks, or
revolutionaries, adopted
this idea.

6. Bolsheviks
•The Bolsheviks - an organization formed by the
revolting people, or revolutionaries, of Russia.
•Bolsheviks were led by Vladimir Lenin.

7. Vladimir Lenin
•A revolutionary who led the
Bolsheviks (working class) to
freedom.
•They eventually were able
to overthrow the Czar.

8. Czar is Overthrown…
•With the rise of the Bolsheviks, the Czar was forced to give
up thrown
•In 1918, the Czar and his entire family, wife and 5 children,
were assassinated by an execution squad set up by the
revolutionaries
•The entire family was killed because they feared one of them
could rise to power again.

9. Lenin’s Death
•Lenin died in 1924,
leaving the Bolsheviks
leaderless.
•This caused a power
struggle between two other
revolutionaries, Leon
Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.

10. Leon Trotsky
•A revolutionary who was
popular with the people
•Wanted to make life better
for all by industrializing
Russia
•Incredibly intelligent and
manipulative

11. Josef Stalin
•Lied to people to gain
support
•People believed his lies
and promises, so he beat
Trotsky in the power
struggle
•Stalin had Trotsky exiled
from Russia. He feared
Trotsky would try to
regain power, so he
eventually had him killed.

12. Stalin, cont’d…
•Stalin grew more and more
powerful over the years.
•He began eliminating
anyone who opposed him.
•He set up a secret police to
carry out his deadly orders.

13. NKVD (KGB)
•Stalin’s secret police
•Killed, tortured, starved,
intimidated anyone Stalin
ordered
•Completely loyal to Stalin

14. Religion
used to make people not
complain about work by
saying those who work
will earn their way to
heaven
told people of a better life
if they worked hard

15. Vain, selfish people of Russia
some people didn’t care
about revolution
only thought of
themselves
went to other countries
that offered more to them

16. Dedicated, Tricked Russian Workers
people believed Stalin
because he said he was
Communist
many stayed loyal to Stalin
even after it was evident
that he was a monster
many were betrayed by
Stalin

17. Skeptical people of Russia
weren’t sure revolution
would change anything
realized that many of the
leaders were only power
hungry and didn’t care
about the people

18. Propaganda
-Propaganda: is a form of communication
that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a
community toward some cause or position.
-Stalin used this to keep his image in the
public eye positive
-He had a whole bureau dedicated to
coming up with new propaganda on a
regular basis creating pictures, statues,
continuous praise and applause for him.

19. Totalitarianism
Form of government with a strong central
rule that attempts to control individuals
by means of coercion and repression.

20. Examples of Totalitarian
governments and their
leaders
 Nazi Germany - Adolf Hitler
 Soviet Union - Joseph Stalin
 Italy - (Fascist) Benito Mussolini
 Spain - Gen. Francisco Franco

21. Stalin’s Rule
•Stalin became so greedy, he
lost the original vision of the
revolutionaries
•Millions of innocent people
were killed under his rule
•Ironically, he made Russia
worse off than it had been
before the Czar
•Stalin became known as
one of the most ruthless
dictators in history,
comparable to Hitler

22. Animal Farm was an attack on
Stalin