How far was war more responsible for changing the lives of t

How far was war more responsible for changing the lives of the working class than revolutions in the period 1855-1964?

Multiple Select

Did the Russian Revolution affect the working class?

• No, because it all took place on the edges of Russia- Poland, etc.- as nationalities were freed/ granted their independence. (but yes, if you were Polish, for example)

• Yes, if you were a peasant. You were granted land.

• Yes if you were a soldier as the war ended. Lenin decreed peace with Germany at the Treaty of Brest Litovsk.

Multiple Select

Did the Civil War affect the working class?

• Yes! Food was requisitioned from the peasants in 'War Communism'. Private property and money were abolished. Work or military service became compulsory. Food was rationed. Peasants stopped producing food, and this created famine.

• Yes, as the Red Army fought the Whites and the Greens across Russia and the Ukraine.

Multiple Select

Did the Second World War affect the working class?

• Yes- it led to harsher discipline in the factories, women had to work both in the factories and in the home bringing up the children.

• 10% of the population died; 85 million (45% of the population) lived under German rule for much of the war. 20 million Russians fled West during the war to escape Communism.

• Soviet workers were expected to work double or triple shifts to meet the demands of the war. Their first day off was 9th May 1945 in four years!

• Yes, if you were male you were conscripted into the army, providing you were of the right age of course.

• 70, 000 villages, 32, 000 factories, 65, 000 km of railway were destroyed as a result of scorched earth policies carried out by both sides.

Multiple Select

What affected the Russian working class more than the war, more than the 1917 Revolution?

• Collectivisation

• Industrialisation programme- the Five Year Plans

• The Terror, 1936- 1939

To what extent did the Crimean War affect the 'working class'?

Multiple Select

How did the Crimean War act as a catalyst for change for ordinary Russians?

• To the extent that Russia even had a 'working class' then/or if the question assumes we mean 'the ordinary folk', then over 1 million in army (conscription lasted for 25 years, discipline was fierce)

• serf-based army generally fought bravely, but always danger of revolt

• Soldiers poorly supplied as production, often by serf labour, of wool, linen, leather and armaments inadequate.

• Army could not be reorganised (with shorter length of service and trained reserve) while serfdom kept. Serfdom had to go. Emancipation followed. If serfdom remained, then trained ex-soldiers and reservists would be going back to villages, still serfs, so a potential source of unrest.

Multiple Select

Did the Russo-Japanese War affect the working class?

• Yes, because it highlighted to them that the Russian government was inadequate at prosecuting war

• No, (unless you were a soldier or sailor fighting in it) because it was far away (near Japan) and for most Russians this was beyond their understanding .

Multiple Select

Did the 1905 Revolution affect the working class?

• Yes, if you were one of the protestors outside the Winter Palace that day when the tsar's troops opened fire. (100, 000 workers went on strike in Jan 1905

• Not so much, although your faith in your tsar might be shaken.

Multiple Select

To what extent was the working class affected by the First World War?

• War production stifled the manufacture of consumer goods- food became scarce. This problem was made worse by the number of peasants who served in the army (no one to work on the land)

• The people of Moscow and Petrgrad revolted in the face of imminent economic and military defeat. The soldiers disobeyed the tsar who had asked them to quell the uprising. Without the support of the people or his army, the tsar was forced to abdicate. A provisional government took power.

Multiple Select

Did the 1917 revolution affect the 'working class'?

• Yes, it definitely did if you were among the national minorities, as Lenin decreed independence to them.

• Yes, because the army was no longer needed (if you were in the army) as Lenin decreed an end to the war- Treaty of Brest Litovsk.

• Yes because if you were a socialist writing in a newspaper you were persecuted by Lenin's new Cheka. The press were censored.

• No