POLB92 Final Exam Study Guide.docx

POLB92 Study Guide Definition of Revolution: -Rapid, fundamental, and often violent transformation of a country’s -State Structure -Social Structure -Accompanied and caused by mass based revolts from below -True revolutions with all of these are quite rare Various Theories: Grievance Theories: -Misery and Revolution—Ignores Poverty and Passivity in that poverty makes people NOT revolt -Relative Deprivation-Revolutions occur when people think things will get better, but they ultimately get worse—however lack of revolution in Latin America disproves this -Marxist Theories of Revolution: Two stages, bourgeois revolution that overthrows aristocratic order and Communist Revolution, where the Socialist system overthrows the capitalist system Problems with These Theories -Collective Action Problem: Revolution doesn’t just happen because people are unhappy -The State: It is usually heavily armed, very rare that rebellion is large enough to overcome the state. How do rebellions overcome the problems posed by the state? The States have to have these problems for revolution to succeed(Skocpol): -Have weak agrarian infrastructure -Weak Militarily, loses wars -Monarch seeks more taxes, causes split in upper class -Peasant solidarity and autonomy have to exist -Where an urban revolution elite could attach itself to these peasant insurrections, revolution occurs Problem with Skocpol’s views: -Leadership: Someone must effectively articulate or sell a revolutionary project to the masses -Ideology Needed: how can we understand 1979 Iranian revolution without Islam? Or French Revolution without understanding Liberalism? Voluntarist Theory: -Conditions for revolutions are everywhere, need leaders to light the spark(ie: Robespierre, Lenin) -Lenin: A disciplined revolutionary party needed to spread the revolution(in this case the Bolsheviks) -Castro: Focal theory where a small group of revolutionaries establishes a focal point where they mobilize dormant peasantry by raising their consciousness and escalate a revolution against the state—spread by Che Gureva—went to Bolivia to create same result, but fails and is killed -Diffusion: One revolution inspires others to rise up, through they may not be as sucessful(ie: 1848 revolutions, Arab Spring) Origins of French revolution -Louis XVI: -King of France during French revolutions, actions could have lead to French revolution from Voluntarist perspective, which argues that his decision to intervene in American Revolution has led to debt and gained no territory and placed France in debt. Furthermore his wedding to Marie Antoinette was very unpopular and only made population angrier. -Robespierre: -Co-authored the Declaration of the Rights of Man -Architect of the Great Terror because he believed in the "Republic of Virtue" was part of the dechristianization of the French Revolution. The leaders of the new cult renamed the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris to 'The Temple of Reason. Terror is used to create the “Republic of Virtue” -Created religion based on cult of the supreme Being—is it dedicated to him? -Example of voluntary influence on revolution Cahiers: -Notebooks that the third estate assemblies had to prepare to the king dealing their grievances and recommendations for reforming France and getting them out of this debt crisis. -However, the content of the cahiers had to consider the powers of the seigniorial system over the peasants working in the lands and their tax privileges that allowed them to levy special fees and dues on peasants and to require them to labor or give them special privileges -According to Markoff’s analysis of the cahiers, the French revolution became a total attack on all seigniorial privileges—the Estates-General’s criticism of seigniorial privileges allowed the peasantry to challenge it and take direct actions against the landlord—to the peasantry, this alliance between them and the legilastures is because of the increase of state ower. Before absolutism nobles gave them places to live and fixed roads and as decisions were centralized, all they do is collect taxes and the justification for their roles evaporated and they turn from someone protecting and benefiting their subjects to an ruthless expoiter—an example of peasant-bourgeois alliance -The Old Regime: -In political terms, pre-revolutionary France was an absolute monarchy where king shared power with nobody and answered to no one but god. However, no king was fully free agent and even LouisXIV was careful to take advice regarding important decisions and most men taught to be king were taught that counsel was the essence of soviegn implicity -Through king could sack advisors without explanation, their choices for administrators were limited to career administrators, magistrates and courtiers, who could only be bought to his notice by intrigues of other ministers -King’s authority exerted through intendants, -Third Estate: -Third estate is composed of those not part of noblemen or clergy in French society, which are the merchants, middle class and the peasants. Their grivences as a result of France’s debt crisis led to their role in the French revolution -Venal Offices: In the context of the French Revolution, a venal office refers to an office sold by the state to raise money. These offices, which were mostly in areas of the judicial system, were retained in exchange for an annual tax of one-sixtieth of the value known as the paulette. They were abolished after 1789 -Privileges: -The seigniorial system gave powers to nobles over the peasants working in the lands and their tax privileges that allowed them to levy special fees and dues on peasants and to require them to labor or give them special privileges -This was a major force for the alliance between the middle class and the direct action of the peasants in the revolution -Estates General: -French revolution was precipitated by a state financial crisis, which led the king to call together assemblies throughout France to suggest reforms to taxation. These assemblies were organized locally and by estates so that each electoral district in France had to prepare cahiers detailing their grievances -However when they arrived at the meeting of the estates-general, the third estate was disappointed—nobility and clergy did not want to unite with them on common grivences, stalemate between third estate and other two estates continued for 6 more weeks, where bread prices continued to increase. The third estate than decided to proceed unilaterallity and proclaimed the national assembly. -National assembly gets locked out by Louis XVI, nobles abandon Louis XVI as a result and they form the tennis court oath in response to the King, which vowed never to disperce until France has a constitution -The "Great Terror”: -Period of radicalism in French Revolutions, caused by invasions from Prussia and Austria. Terror was exerted through execution by the guillotine and spurred on by the death of Jean-Paul Marat at the hands of pro-monarchists. Initially done to turn France’s fighting force into a disciplined one to take on these enemies, along with crushing internal dissident and counter revolutionaries, but later directed by Robespierre against anyone critical of the terror, including revolutionaries like Danton and to increase his own power. Overall 40,000 died in the terror -Sans-coulottes also pushed for terror to be part of the revolution to punish it’s enemies. -Terror ended when Robespierre was overthrown by moderate factions and executed himself -Impact of French Revolution: -Abolished feudalism, which was a system where the king was at the top, closely allied to two privileged groups, or “estates”, those being the nobility and the clergy. Everyone else is below them in the “Third Estate”. They were merchants, wealthy commoners, etc. -Ended influence of Church—Declaration of Rights of Man weakened role of Church in State and society by promoting religious freedom, and elected civil constitution of the Clergy destroyed hierarchical autonomy of the church -Ended colonial slavery as it allowed for the first successful slave rebellion in Haiti based upon the principles of the French revolution -Changed map of Europe—Napoleonic wars allowed for the slow dismantlement of the Holy Roman Empire -Crthted concept of nation-state and nationalism, which would continue to influence the 19 century -Declaration of the Rights of Man guaranteed basic human rights and liberalism— influenced revolutions in 1848 and 1917 -Created left and right politics due to fall of the ancient regime and the foundations of modern political culture 1848 Revolution: Causes of February 1848 French Revolution -Poor Harvests that produced massive inflation in mid 1840s , however this was not enough to trigger revolution as bumper crops quickly lowered food prices after bad harvests, which diminished social discontent, but quickly replaced by political discontent. -Early industrial revolution ruined the lives of workers by brutally exploiting them and destroyed Artisans livelihoods, actually creating downwards mobility and extreme poverty. Led to local unrest -Improvements in education and examples of liberal democratic England, Belgium and Switzerland(which became democratic after a civil war in 1847) and US led to a gradual spread of reformist ideas -European Alliance formed from Congress of Vienna by Metternich showing gaps and weakness King Louis Philippe: -Defeat of Napoleon led to Bourbon restoration. Under Louis XVII, France becomes a constitutional monarchy, Charles X tries to revoke this but was overthrown and led to rise of Louis-Philippe as king -Tri color used in his reign, gave limited suffrage and free press—this was predicted by Marx to be part to bourgeois society. However, Phillipe had little power because royalists opposed his constitutional monarchy, hated by republicans and radicals who wanted more democracy and economic justice respectively -8 assassination attempts on Louis-Philippe, causes France to become less free while at the same time, Britain was reforming and voting rights were expanded -Bad Harvest in 1846 led to widespread rights and workers demand rights to vote -Protests in 1847-1848: Banquets AKA protests formed, demanded increased enfranchisement, with 70 Banquets of 17,000 each from July 1847-1848, they were banned by the king in 1848, leading to riots -Second Republic: Accidental firing on crowds, which led to riots, Louis abdicates and the opposition creates a second republic and a provisional government. The new constitution led to Universal male suffrage, explosion of Free speech/Clubs and social Justice, unemployment relief—national workshops employing 100,000 workers Impact of 1848 French revolution -Fall of Louis-Phillipe was inspirational to many people, they themselves took it to start revolutions in their own countries. However most democratic revolutionsonly sought to create constitutional monarchies -Nationalist movements emerged in Prussian and German states and Italian states, along with Austrian Empire(later became Austro-Hungarian Empire). Austrian Empire was made of many minorities that tried to separate and declare independence, while Germans and Italians, being of one ethnicity tried to unify Germany and Italy as one nation with constitutional monarchy or Republic Diffusion in 1848 and Arab Spring: -Theme of the Power of pure example, the downfall of one king caused ripple effects spreading across Europe -In 1848 diffusion was seen as an important voluntarist cause, Inspired opposition to reactionary forces—Metternich and Prussian officers gave in, monarchs forced to give concessions as fall of French king made others seem weak -In 1848, revolutions did not go to one specific area, there were backwords areas that did not get a revolution and progressive areas like Baden did. Areas that had little industry like Bavaria also had an uprising -Pure power of example also happened in Arab Spring: Tunisia wasn’t even a major power but led to protests everywhere -Revolts in very different regimes—but very rapid retrenchment due to inadequate structure of democracy -All in all, diffusion can be very powerful but quite temporary, and cannot by itself create democracy Russian Revolution Narodniki: Russian “populists”, the earliest Russian revolutionaries, who were pre-Marxist socialists and intellectuals. They believed that a revolution can result from the actions of the peasantry in the countryside. Constantly visited the countryside in 1870s to “educate” the peasantry or conducting revolutionary organization. They were involved in nihilistic terrorism, as they assassinated Tsar Alexander II(who wanted reform) and many important Romanov officials to “stir” the peasantary -However, this didn’t really work. Authorities were greatly alarmed and made mass arrests. The Peasants only got suspicious and regarded these “populists” as offspring of the nobility and probable class enemies. Mass arrests probably gave rise to terrorism and assassinations done by Populists Russian Social Democratic Labor Party: -First Marxist party in Russia founded illegally in 1898. They had an advantage compared to the population in that Russian workers were much more literate and had acquired a sense of bettering themselves with upwards social mobility, and thus were willing to listen to the SDLP. -Major disadvantage with them is that they were preparing for the revolution after capitalism overthrows the Russian aristocracy as per Marxist doctrine(possibly not in their lifetime). And they expect to have minimal role in bourgeois revolution Bolsheviks vs. Mensheviks: -Party eventually split into two wings due to interpretations of when the revolution should occur. “Mensheviks” or legal Marxists wanted the three stages of revolution to play out before the Socialist revolution, while the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin wanted Lenin wanted revolution right away, but Mensheviks wanted a growing base of support. -Lenin believed that large party is too hard to control. In his views in What is to be Done(1902), Lenin argued that a party of professional revolutionaries, with centralization, strict discipline and ideological unity within the party is needed to spread the revolution. In Two Tatics of Social Democracy, Lenin argues that proletariat should play a dominant role in revolution 1905 “revolution” -Began because of Russia’s loss in a war to Japan caused by Russian expansion in the Far East. Russia has had a bad record of losing many wars due to an underdeveloped army— using sailing ships in the Crimean war comes to mind -This led to banquet campaigns hosted by liberal-minded in lieu of 1848 against Tsar and supported constitutional reform. This revolution was not led by militants and radicals but by the priest Father Gapon -The revolution consistently forced the Autocracy on the defensive due to the confusion and panic it caused. It was only peace with Japan that allowed order to be restored, and even then they have to move troops home on the Trans-Siberian Railway, which couldn’t be done with striking railwaymen. -Led to Nicholas II’s October Manifesto, which gave a parliament(Duma), this was accepted by the Octoberists but the Cadet factions wanted more reforms. However, once army got back from Asia, duma was dissolved in a coup in 1907 by Stolypin and a new electoral system virtually disfranchised some social groups and heavily over-represented the landed nobility -Before that duma had limited powers on itself, as Ministers remained responsible solely to the Tsar -1905 revolution did not change nature of police state in Russia -Tsar still maintain that Russia is still an Autocracy, even though he consulted the Duma Worker Soviets -Started to appear in 1905 revolution in October, where Petersburg workers organized a “Soviet” or a council or workers’ representatives elected in the factories to provide city with an emergency municipal government when other institutions were paralysed and a general strike was in progress -But also became political forum for the workers, and to a lesser extent for socialists from revolutionary parties. Cracking down of Petersburg Soviet caused Moscow Soviet, influenced by the Bolsheviks, to start an uprising, which was put down by troops February Revolution -Russia joined WWI on the side of the Entente in order to pay back its debts, population was very enthusiastic at first. However this enthusithian was quickly shattered after crushing defeats in the Eastern Front—German Army penetrated deep into western territories of the Empire -Constant defeats bred suspicion about the Tsar’s wife and her relationship with Rasputin, who apparently could control her son’s haemophilia -Combined pressures from food shortages, WWI defeats and suspicion about Rotal family destroyed image of the Tsar as an upholder of autocratic tradition and more of an incompetent satirist of it -Led to collapse of autocracy in the face of ppular uprising and withdrawl of elite support for the Tsar, initially many Marxists and Socialist groups supported this revolution. However Lenin, who was in exile in Switzerland believed this only led to dual power, where the power is split between the Provisional government and the Worker created Soviets in factories—which had real power by controlling many of soldiers, railway stations, telegraph station. This proved useful in stopping Kornilov’s coup -Result was abdication of Tsar—says he will give power to son, which could have saved the autocracy, than brother—his brother refused to take power and monarchy dissolved Provisional Government -Government initially formed by Alexander Kerensky. They were supported by Socialists initially but quickly lost support because his government chose to continue fighting WWI—dominated by many elites from Tsarist rule. Only Socialist factions and Bolsheviks tried to oppose the war. Faced coup by Kornilov that was only stopped by power of the Soviets—the troops Kornilov ordered were diverted and obstructed by Railwaymen, and printers stopped printing pro-Kornilov newspapers and metalworkers explained to troops that Petrograd was calm. Kornilov’s defeated boasted leftist forces April Theses -Orders issued to the Bolsheviks and the other Socialist groups by Lenin denouncing working with the Provisional government, called for “all power to the Soviets” which influenced the beginning of the October Revolution October Revolution -Initially, Bolsheviks did not want to seize control in coup, only Lenin wanted that. Many prominent Bolsheviks, including Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev opposed it because they believed it to be an irresponsible seizure of power, but Lenin warned Bolsheviks from Finland that they must overthrow Kerensky now or it will be fatal to delay the seizure of power -Bolsheviks gained majorities in the Petrograd Soviet on August 31 and a majority in the th Moscow Soviet on September 5 under the slogan “All Powers to the Soviets” -October 24: Bolshevik seized winter palace, with no resistance to their coup on the streets, they couldn’t find where government was in the Winter Palace because it was so large and some became drunk and were found in the cellar! -Battleship Auora never bombed Winter Palace despite what is depicted in Soviet propaganda -Constituent assembly election was held on November to decide new system: Bolsheviks gained 25%, and left Social Revolutionaries (40%) gained the majority as the peasantry, being single issue voters had known the SRs better as their traditional contitutency—so the Bolsheviks disbanded it. -Bolsheviks themselves considered their form fo governance as “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, other parties were eventually liquidated in 1920s or banned for supporting Social Revolutionaries and White Army Civil War -Because of Bolsheviks taking power, Russia was engulfed in Civil War against the White Armies backed by 14 nations(including the Entente) opposed to Bolshevism -Civil War Experiences gave Bolsheviks important Experiences in regards to Governing. Before Civil War Bolsheviks had little administrative experience and most were professional revolutionaries or workers. With civil war they took over a war economy in a state or near collapse and adopted pragmatic reforms to fight the Civil War. -This was considered “War Communism”, which nationalized all industry and placed the under centralized management control, in contrast to workers controlling the factories on their own. Also all strikes were punishable. Some factories were ran by Workers’ Committees, while others by an appointed directors as the Bolsheviks had to compromise despite favouring more centralized control. -A major problem was getting food in War Communism, as they had to get food through the peasantry—and had to do with through persuasion, cunning, threats or force. They created the villiage committees to extract grain from richer peasants, which failed. Bolsheviks wanted large collective farms and they had problems with getting the farmers to comply, as the peasants viewed collective farms with suspicion as it impedes their old way of life. -Due to these tensions, food had to be rationed as a result -In civil war, Bolsheviks did not employ outsiders who were not party members and distrusted “bourgeois experts”, as demonstrated in the opposition to the army’s use of former Tsarist officers to fight the whites. Mir -Peasant assemblies in Russia, they were strengthened by abolition of serfdom, which forces them to pay redemption payments that are collected by state and by the Mir. -The Bolsheviks viewed this form of assemblies as a decaying institution because there was no potential for socialist development there, in contrast to the populists. Also viewed mir as “rich peasants” suppressing poorer peasants, who actually viewed Mir as finally undergone a peasant revolution without the state abusing it. -Because of their role in society, Role of Mir in Russian Peasantry is considered structural Leon Trotsky -Initially a Menshevik but joined Bolsheviks some time prior to 1917 October revolution and became People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs of the Soviet Union Nicholas II -Last Tsar of Russia, his actions can be seen as voluntarist because of his involvement of the nation in Russo-Japanese War and WWI, as well as only granting the Duma limited power, all of which fueled the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 Vladimir Lenin -Lenin’s actions are seen as a form of voluntarist revolution theory. It was his actions that led to October Revolutions as he was the one that influenced the Bolsheviks to oppose the Provisional Government. Furthermore it did not happen in Russia, but Lenin allowed the revolution to occur in Russia through the creation of a professional army -Lenin himself wanted real government, not improvised directorate. Along with real army and legal systems Alexander Kerensky -Leader of the Provisional Government, is a voluntarist factor in progression of events leading up to the October Revolution—choice to stay in WWI gave Lenin opening to stage October Revolution and dealing with Kornilov’s coup allowed the Soviets, who controlled railroads and even telegraph lines to bolster their ranks and their influence Origins of Totalitarianism What is Authoritarianism? -Countries that are not democratic Democratic vs Authoritarianism: Democratic Authoritarian -Free and fair elections -Hybrid or Competitive Authoritarian -Civil Liberties -Normal Authoritarian(ie: Saudi Arabia) -Universal adult suffrage -Totalitarianism(ie: USSR and Nazi Germany) Example: USA, Canada Why do Democracies Fail? Economic Development: Western Europe and North America are very wealthy and democratic, while Africa and former USSR are less democratic -Increase in global wealth over time—more democracies in the world Modernization Theory Modernization: Wealth comes from building facturies(industrialization) as well as urbanization and education and other social changes -If there is a rural population it will be harder for them to organize and more isolated to defend their own intrests -Increased urban population will be easier to organize than if dispersed in rural areas -Access