Primary Sources from Russia, 1905-1929

             The first source that I read comes from the web site http://www.dur.ac.uk/a.k.harrington/Russhist.HTML, and was received from Polone sobranie znkonov Rossiiskoi Imperii, and is titled Manifesto of 17 October 1905. Clearly this source was written on the 17 of October in 1905, but the real question is why this document was written. This was written because "The disturbances and unrest in St. Petersburg, Moscow and in many other parts of our Empire have filled Our heart with great profound sorrow." This document was written to inform the people that the leaders at this time are going to start to deal with these out breaks. Also it tells the people that they will have fundamental civil freedoms, participation in the Duma, and that no law can come affective without the approval of the Duma and the representatives in it. This document is geared toward the people of Russia that are unhappy with what is going on at this time because they state that "We call on all true sons of Russia to remember the homeland...and, together with this, to devote all their strength to the restoration of peace to their native land." This document tells us about how life in Russia was in 1905, two of which would be that there are disturbances and unrest throughout all of Russia, and that there may be national instability that would show as a threat to the unity of Russia. There are three main passages that I would write down if I were to take notes. The first would be "Fundamental civil freedoms will be granted to the population, including real personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association." The second thing I would write down is, "Participation in the Duma will be granted to those classes of the population which are at present deprived of voting powers, insofar as is possible in the short period before the convocation of the Duma, and this will lead to the development of a universal franchise. There will be no delay to the Duma elect already been organized." The third and last thing that I would write down would be, "It is established as an unshakable rule that no law can come into force without its approval by the State Duma and representatives of the people will be give the opportunity to take real part in the supervision of the legality of government bodies." The reason I would write these passages down is because these passages give an understanding of what the government was doing to help the people and ease their aggression toward the government. Also, this is three things that the people are getting that will truly help them. Having civil rights and a Duma are big accomplishments for the people and give them a chance to voice their opinions. This document helps us understand the history of Russia around this time period by showing us that the people were unhappy with the government and end up receiving rights and a Duma which gives them more power and say with what goes on in Russia. 
             The second source that I read was from the site http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/russian_councilofworkmen1.htm, entitled Manifesto of 15 May 1917 by Council of Workmen and Soldiers, and was obtained by Source records of the Great War. This was written on the 15th of May, 1917. I believe this document was written to bring up the moral of the soldiers that were fighting against the Germans in the trenches. This document was to remind the soldiers what they were fighting for and why they were fighting. It states, "Reject, therefore, everything which weakens your military power, which distracts the army and lowers its morale. Soldiers, be worthy of the trust that revolutionary Russia puts in you." This document was pointed toward the soldiers and armed forces that fought for Russia. The first sentence says, " The people did not wish the war...". This gives us a little background information on Russia and how the country as a whole was doing. Russia was tired and worn down from the war and all the people wanted to pull the troops out and bring them back home. Some passages from this document I would consider writing down would be: "Do not forget, you in the trenches, that you are defending the liberty of the Russian revolution and your brother workmen and peasants.", another would be "Frequently only an offensive can repel or check a hostile offensive, frequently those who await an attack perish". These two passages were chosen to show that they were trying to boost the moral of the soldiers and have them think of the positive aspects, which were few, instead of the negatives. The last passage is at the end of the document when it reads "Reject, therefore, everything which weakens your military power, which distracts the army and lowers its morale. Soldiers, be worthy of the trust that revolutionary Russia puts in you". This is telling the soldiers that what you do now will help the people at home and save the country. This source helps us understand the history of Russia because it provides insight to what the life of a soldier was like and how they were treated. This also shows that the people were unhappy, but the government couldn't just take the troops out of the western front.
             The last, but certainty not least document that I read was the Public Announcement of the Formation of the First Provisional Government. This document was obtained from the source of Izvestiia on 3 March, 1917. This document was written to establish the Provisional Government as the new form of government in Russia. It tells the people that there will now be a "more stable executive power". This document lists all of the representatives and the principles that they are guided by. This document was written to everyone that lived in Russia during this time. This document informs people of what is happening in the government and how the government is going to work. This document informs us about some of the events that were going on in Russia at the time such as the State Duma, which was a committee represented by the people to voice their opinions and that civil freedoms were granted to the people of Russia. One passage I would consider writing down would be that "Freedom of speech, press, and assembly, and the right to form unions and to strike and the extension of political freedom to persons serving in the armed forces limited only by the demands of military and technical circumstances", because this shows that the people have the rights of all the above. Another excerpt might be "Elections to the organs of local self-government are to be held on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage and secret ballot". This gives everyone in Russia the right to vote which is a big deal for the women. This source helps us to understand the ever changing government during this unstable, energetic time period.

Just a couple questions

As I read the last post, I had a few questions pop into my mind and I wanted to share them with you. These questions are thought of to provoke discussion so feel free to reply.
1. Do you feel the Provisional Government had the right to decide that Nicolas II and his family were to be executed? If so why or why not?
2. How do you think the rest of the world responded and why did they view this difficult time for Russia the way they did?

A question I have for the author, Sheila Fitzpatrick. Why do you feel Zinoviev and Kamenev thought it irresponsible for the Bolsheviks to seize power by a coup and in what other way could the Bolsheviks have gained power?

1917: The Revolutions of Feb. and Oct.

Hi again. This past week I read a chapter about the revolutions that occurred in Russia during 1917 by Sheila Fitzpatrick. She talks about how both of the revolutions came about and what the results of them were. The February revolution started because the people were very unhappy with the existing government and rule of Nicolas II. The Fourth Duma was at the end of its term and asked the Emperor to continue while this so called crisis was happening. When they sent in this request, the Emperor himself was absent and visiting the Army headquarters. This outraged the people because when they needed something from Nicolas II, he wasn't even there. When he returned, he was sent to meet his family outside of Petrograd where he would remain under house arrest by the Provisional Government. Later the Provisional Government decided to execute him and his family. Now that Russia was no longer a monarchy the Provisional Government would take over. This then created another competitor for power, the Petrograd Soviet. These two powers form what is known as the 'duel power' which acted together and formed a good relationship for the most part. The Provisional Government was committed to the war effort which would later lead to there downfall. In the late spring when the people were tired of the war, increasing tension grew with the Provisional Government and they wanted the Petrograd Soviet to take over. Over the summer, the Provisional Government's Minister of War wanted the Army to launch one more major offensive against the Germans. Unfortunately, this was a total disaster and casualties were estimated around 200,000. This lead to more uprisings and mass demonstrations known as the July Days. These instances would later lead to another revolution. The revolution that occurred in October actually started in September with Lenin writing to the Bolshevik party about planning an insurrection. Lenin believed that the time had come for another revolution. I guess he was right. On Oct. 10, the Bolshevik leaders agreed that another revolution was necessary, although many thought that they could use thier positions in the Soviet and solve matters non-violently. On October 24 and 25, Lenin met his fellow Soviets in the headquarters of the Soviet. The Soviet started taking over by occupying the trains, setting up roadblocks in the city, and taking over the telegraph office. The only thing left was the Winter Palace where the Provisional Government members were. The Soviets had taken power.

This article proved to be very useful when trying to understand the year of 1917 in Russia and the revolutions that took place. This chapter by Sheila Fitzpatrick gave in depth details about how these unprisings and revolutions happened as well as the result of them. I strongly believe that anyone interested in learning more on this topic should read this. Although it may seem lengthy at times, there are very important details that she covers.

Evaluation of The Great Depression

While I was viewing some events between 1914 and 1945, The Great Depression in the US stood out. I found a site that seemed like a legitimate source for this topic so I evaluated it further. The information was given by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. The web site gives lots of facts and statistics about the depression. At the bottom of the page, there is a bibliography where the author got all of these statistics. Also this site recommends several other sites with information on the same topic. Below is a web address of the site I viewed. This page provided helpful information when learning about The Great Depression in the US.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/great-depression.htm

Welcome

Welcome to Paul's Ponderings. I am Paul, a high school student attending Verona Area High School. The students have been given the assignment to create and maintain a blog. My blog serves as a way for others to voice their opinions and views through the discussions. This blog is about issues that have happened throughout the world in the past as well as what is happening in the present. As with the responses, I ask that they be respectful. Thank you and happy blogging.