The Sickle and the Hammer: A Socialist History of the Soviet Union Episode 3 - Cast of Characters
Feb 10, 2025
Explore the pivotal figures driving the 1917 Russian revolutions. Dive into Tsar Nikolai II's indecisiveness and the rise of liberal Cadets. Discover the Socialist Revolutionaries and their populist tactics. Unpack Alexander Kerensky's crucial yet flawed role in the provisional government. Learn about the division within the Social Democratic Labor Party that birthed the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Meet early Bolshevik leaders and their contrasting visions for Russia’s future. Get ready for the unfolding drama leading to revolution!
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Nicholas II's Fatal Indecision
- Tsar Nicholas II combined inherited absolutism with personal indecision that made him ill-suited to rule a vast empire.
- His indecisiveness and errors convinced nobles, soldiers, workers, and peasants that the Tsar had to go.
Liberalism’s Limited Moment
- The Cadets (Constitutional Democrats) embodied Russian liberalism but remained marginal under autocracy and ineffective after the February Revolution.
- Key figures were Prince Georgi Lvov and Pavel Milyukov, who briefly served in the provisional government.
SRs: Populist Roots, Contradictory Politics
- The Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) descended from Narodnik populists and kept a peasant-focused, inconsistent ideology mixing Marxism and terrorism.
- Their failure to organize peasants and persistence of terrorist tactics undermined their credibility by 1917.
