Russian Revolution in Color

Film Guide

Part 1

  1. According to the film, what was to be eliminated by the Revolution?
  1. The changes produced by the Revolution were supposed to bring what?
  1. What happened instead?
  1. How much of the world’s population lived under communism?
  1. This story is told from whose viewpoint?
  1. In February 1917, St. Petersburg was known by what name?
  1. On the 23rd of February women that worked in factories came out to protest what?
  1. As the men joined this protest, the cries changed to calls for what?
  1. How many workers were on strike by the end of the afternoon?
  1. The next morning and throughout the next two days working people came back to the streets looking for a fight? Who encouraged these people?
  1. The response of the authorities was to do what?
  1. The Cossacks, who had always been loyal to the Czar, seemed to support the protesters. Why is this significant?
  1. Who was called on to intervene in the protests? Where was he? Why did he seem to be annoyed when he first heard reports of the rioting?
  1. What did he order done to end the protest? Did this work?
  1. How did the sailors at the Kronstadt Naval Base respond to the protests in the capital?
  1. On the First of March the sailors organized and did what?
  1. On his way back to the capital, what happens to Czar Nicholas II? What was he forced to do?
  1. Initially it seemed as if the Revolution would be bloodless. Socialists set up groups of local workers, military men, etc. into groups called what?
  1. In Petrograd the provisional government was made up of “liberal” representatives, most of whom were wealthy landowners that were committed to doing what?
  1. In a sealed train from Switzerland a revolutionary leader came back to Russia. Who was this man? Why was he allowed back?
  1. Lenin wrote down his plans on his way into Russia. Essentially he wanted 2 things to happen. What were these 2 things?
  1. What was Lenin’s slogan?
  1. The provisional government continues the war and launches an offensive. Soldiers that were supposed be sent into the offensive to do what?
  1. In July, the soldiers and sailors that want to overthrow the provisional government turned to which person for leadership?
  1. The provisional government stops this uprising by accusing Lenin of what?
  1. Which man becomes the new leader of the provisional government?
  1. When the provisional government losses support he arms which group? Why is this a deadly mistake?
  1. Lenin came back to Petrograd in October and encouraged the Bolsheviks in the Petrograd Soviet to do what?
  1. Do the sailors from Kronstadt aid the Bolsheviks? Y or N
  1. After the Bolsheviks overthrow the provisional government there is a meeting amongst the different socialist groups to decide what to do. Lenin proclaims power to the Soviet, which the other groups see as him giving power only to the Bolsheviks. They walk out of the meetings. Why was this a huge mistake? How did this effect the course of history?
  1. There was supposed to be an elected constituent assembly. When the election results went against the Bolsheviks, Lenin closed the meeting by armed force. This effectively ended any chance in Russia for what?
  1. What was the name of the secret police force established by Lenin to eliminate anti-revolutionary activity?
  1. This group becomes brutal in suppressing any opposition. This causes the sailors from Kronstadt to do what?

PART 2

  1. Determined to keep control, the Bolsheviks begin to establish the beginnings of what?
  1. The leadership of the Revolution is out of touch with the workers. Y or N
  1. The Bolsheviks also came to be known by what name?
  1. On the 30th of August 1918 what happened to Lenin?
  1. The Cheka targeted anyone suspected as opponents. By the end of the year how many are murdered?
  1. Fearing a renewed threat from the Germans, Lenin created what group?
  1. Who was at the head of the Red Army in the west?
  1. A rebel army made up of Czech defectors builds in the East. This army of 40,000 moves west to fight the Bolsheviks. To keep these rebels from freeing the exiled Czar and his family, the Cheka does what?
  1. The counter-revolutionaries are called what?
  1. The brutal fighting for the city of Kazan ended with which side taking the city?
  1. The Russian Civil War was fast moving and spread all over the countryside. Red territory was shrinking and the Whites gained more and more territory and were supported by whom?
  1. The Reds move their capital to which city?
  1. Even with many victories the Whites are unable to succeed because they are so spread out. The Whites are defeated in two years. How many people are killed?
  1. To support the war the peasants had been forced to give up grain and they were punished if they did not. Millions died of famine. Y or N
  1. As the Reds won the Russian Civil War, many of the Kronstadt sailors began to resent the Bolsheviks, or communists, because their leaders. Why?
  1. The sailors decide they will create a provisional revolutionary committee to overthrow the Bolsheviks, or communists. They call it the Third Revolution and ask for concessions from Lenin. He refused and on March 8th 1921 the Red Army attacked. What was the result?
  1. The sailors tried to get the people behind them. The Bolsheviks tried to get the people on their side by providing what?

50. The Red Army attacked the Kronstadt again on March 16th. Which side won?

  1. Some sailors fled to Finland. What happened to the others?
  1. Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power in Russia and created the world’s first communist nation. Their goal had been to create a classless society that gave the power to the workers. Based on this film, did the communist accomplish this? Why or why not?