Lesson video

Hello, everybody and welcome back to your history lesson eight National Academy with me Miss Porter.

Today's lesson is the final lesson of our inquiry looking at what the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

For today's lesson, please make sure you've got a pen or a pencil to write with and some paper to write on.

And just to make sure that you've moved yourself away from any distractions so you can focus on today's lesson.

Once you've done that, you'll be ready to get started.

And you can do so by writing down today's title, which is Alexandra Kollontai type and social change.

So this is the last lesson or inquiry on the Bolsheviks.

And over these four lessons we've been looking at who the Bolsheviks were and what they were trying to achieve.

In your previous lesson, we learned that the Bolsheviks faced opposition to that policy of war communism and introduce a new economic policy in 1921, after winning the Civil War, and today's lesson, we're going to fix on how the Bolsheviks tried to change society following their consolidation of power.

To start with, I'd like you to look at this image here on the right, is the front cover of a magazine called rabbit nets that was published in 1923.

I'd like you to write down what you can see in this image.

The words are written in Russian, so focus on the image that you can see behind this.

Pause the video here, get started and resume the video once you're finished.

Okay, Welcome back, everybody.

So you may recognise that the main person in this image is a woman and she looks like an industrial worker or factory worker.

She is also wearing red and the banner she is holding which reads the magazines name is also in red.

This is a colour that traditionally symbolises communism.

In the background, you might have pointed out that you can see a town or a city Which has lots of factories in it.

Some are even billowing out smoke.

You might even be able to see in the far right of the image that there are some electricity poles and wires.

Well done if you pointed out any of these things.

Now the word cabinet so roughly translates to the woman worker.

This magazine was the Communist Party's or the Bolsheviks official women's magazine.

It aims to educate women on the message of the revolution and supported women's empowerment.

I'd like you to think about what this image tells us about what the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

So pause the video here and resume when you're ready.

Okay, Welcome back, everybody.

I'm really well done.

That question was a little bit more difficult.

So great work for attempting it.

So this image can show us that the Bolsheviks were trying to empower women.

By this I mean to give them more skills or greater freedom to achieve something.

You can see that they wanted women to work And has an important role in industry.

And you can also see that the Bolsheviks wanted to celebrate and expand industry shown by the many factories in the background of this image.

And today's lesson we're going to look at, amongst other things, how the Bolsheviks wanted to transform the role of women in Russia.

Before we get started, we're going to recap what you've learned so far in the previous three lessons of this inquiry.

So in March 1917, the Tsar Nicholas the second abdicated or stepped down from being Tsar following mass demonstrations against him.

In his place, the Provisional Government govern Russia.

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian Revolution and removed the Provisional Government from power.

In March 1918, Lenin fulfilled his promise to the Russian people, and withdrew from the First World War by agreeing to the terms in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

In June 1918, a civil war broke out between the breads or the Bolsheviks and the whites who were supporters of the Tsar and a provisional government.

As we saw last lesson, the Bolsheviks introduced the policy of war communism to support the Red Army during the war.

By March 1921, the Bolsheviks had won the war and establish control over Russia.

However, the economy had been devastated.

Therefore, then an introduced a new economic policy to strengthen the economy and total power in 1921.

Now, based on the timeline we've just looked at and your own knowledge, I would like you to complete the following sentences using the words in the box below.

So take some time to read three two sentences first, and once you've decided which word goes with which sentence, please write these down.

You can pause the video here to get started.

Okay, well done everybody.

And that's what three two correct answers so feel free to pause the video to check through your Work or make any corrections where necessary.

So, the first statement is during the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks seized power.

Second, in June 1918, a civil war broke out between the breads and the whites.

By 1921, the Bolsheviks had won the Civil War.

And lastly, following the Civil War, the Bolsheviks introduced a new economic policy.

Excellent work if you got some all of those correct.

But as I said before, today's lesson is going to focus on what happened after the Civil War.

Specifically, we're going to look at some policies Bolsheviks introduced during the 1920s.

The Bolsheviks were able to implement their policies now, as they had established control following the Civil War.

They had removed the threat posed by their opposition and the supporters of the Tsar and they could now begin the transformation of society.

We're not going to think about the social changes.

We to which took place during the 1920s.

In history lessons, you may often hear teacher refer to different types of change such as political and social change.

Now, political change refers to a change in who has power.

For example, a political change took place when the Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government and seize power in 1917.

A social change refers to a change in the way people live their lives.

This could be caused by new laws, access to education or jobs.

Now the Bolsheviks had experienced political change, they could focus on creating social change based on their communist ideology.

To check your understanding, I'd like you to answer the following question, what is social change? Pause the video here to answer this question and use the sentence starter if needed.

Okay, welcome back and well done.

So social change is a change in the way People live their lives well done if you got this or something very similar.

Now when looking at the types of social change introduced by the Bolsheviks, we want to think about their aims and what they were trying to achieve.

We know from our previous lessons in this inquiry that the Bolsheviks wanted to spread communism in Russia.

We saw them attempt to do this of war communism and the state ownership of factories.

They also wanted to create a more equal society.

And again, we've seen this with the removal of the Tsar and attacks on wealthier peasants.

Lastly, the Bolsheviks wanted to hold on to power and we saw them do this by winning the Civil War.

Now the Bolsheviks wanted to achieve social change too.

And the three key areas of change we are going to look at today are the role of women, the family as an institution and education.

You should now be familiar with some of the key Bolsheviks including them in their data, and Trotsky who had been the leader of the Red Army.

One individual we're going to look at today is Alexandra Kollontai.

And she's pictured here on the right.

Now when Lenin had set up his government known as the Council of people's commissars in October 1917, Alexandra Kollontai died was the one female member and she was made responsible for social policies.

Now this group of Bolsheviks all wanted to implement their communist ideas, but Kollontai was perhaps more radical.

And by that we mean more extreme.

She was a feminist and she wanted to overthrow some of the traditional views of women and the family and to create a new role for them in society.

I call it like different from more traditional bolts of it, such as Lenin, he's pictured here on the right, because she was willing to completely transform the lives of women.

Lenin and some of the Bolsheviks were more cautious and wanted to implement changes more slowly.

They feared that some of colonise ideas such as for children bought by the states as a collective instead of solely by parents were too radical and increasingly viewed her as a corrupting influence on women.

Now, that being said, the Bolsheviks did transform the lives of women after seizing power in 1917.

Prior to the revolution, it was difficult for women to access education, and many were illiterate, meaning they could not read or write.

Women were not involved in how the country was ruled and only gained the right to vote in July 1917.

In November 1917, following the Bolshevik seizure of power in October Revolution, the Bolsheviks declared that women were equal to men.

To gain equality between men and women.

The Bolsheviks also wanted women to be able to attain divorces and have the freedom to choose their partners.

Therefore, in 1917, Lenin also made divorce legal.

As we saw at the start the lesson, the Bolsheviks also wanted women to have access to jobs outside of looking after a home and their family, and they wanted women to be active participants in the Revolution and the spread of communism.

To achieve this facility such as nurseries, canteens, and laundries were built.

This was an area that Kollontai strongly believed in.

She wanted a network of people living and working together to raise children and to work for the state.

The image on the right here was produced in 1920, and it's titled what the Toba revolution gave to the female worker and peasant.

Once again, a woman is at the forefront of this image showing her importance to the Bolsheviks.

In the background, she is pointing towards some examples of the facilities women have been given by the Bolsheviks, including a library and nursery and a school for adults.

As we've seen, the Bolsheviks clearly wanted to achieve social change and to change the role of women and the family in Russia.

However, the Bolsheviks did disagree on how to implement these changes Kollontai the female Bolshevik we met earlier in the lesson was slightly more radical than others.

She believed in sexual freedom for women, and though she fought motherhood was a duty, she believed it shouldn't be a burden.

Therefore, she encouraged women to be more independent and to make work their focus instead of the family.

This was most of you that was shared by all Bolsheviks and some including Lenin believe her policies had gone too far.

Now let us test your understanding of the lesson I taught by answering some multiple choice questions.

Firstly, how did the Bolsheviks change women's lives when they came to power? Pause the video here and choose the correct answer from options A to D You can then resume the video when you're ready.

Welcome back.

Hopefully you got the answer as A they declared equality for women.

Well done if he got this correct.

The second question is why would Lenin concerned about some of Kollontai ideas.

Pause the video here choose the answer from options A to D and once again presume when you're ready.

So the answer was option B, he feared her ideas were too radical.

Once again, well done if you got that answer correct.

Now another area of social change during the 1920s was education.

Prior to the October Revolution, people's experiences of education in Russia were very varied.

It's estimated that in 1914, only 40% of the population could read.

Therefore, the Bolsheviks implemented a large literacy programme sending thousands of activists to teach workers and peasants to read.

They also provided a free education for children up to the age of 17 and gave workers access to university.

This was important as the Bolsheviks were a small group who had taken power in a large country.

Therefore, they use education to spread the messages of the revelation to people across the Country.

One method Lenin adopted was to use trams, trains and boats that were decorated with the messages of the revolution.

Theatre groups even acted out scenes of the new communist state to educate peasants and workers.

One aim the Bolsheviks had was to make the Russian popular, population literate.

And right here you can see a poster created in 1923, aimed at encouraging women to read.

The poster says woman learn to read and write.

And then image you can see a mother and her child, the child and the image says, Oh mum, if you were literate, you could help me.

These types of images were aimed at women living in the countryside to encourage them to join literacy programmes.

To find out more about the social reform of the 1920s in a few minutes, you'll complete the reading and the following comprehension questions.

So firstly, what conflict and in the early 1920s second question, which Bolshevik wanted to transform the role of women in Russian society, third ask you to describe two ways the lives of women changed during the 1920s.

So to give two examples, or asks, Why did the Bolsheviks consider education to be a priority in the 1920s? So why was education an important goal for the Bolsheviks? And your challenge question today is in what ways did the Bolsheviks change Russian society during the 1920s.

So maybe give two or three examples of how they changed society.

Now pause the video, open a worksheet and complete today's questions.

There's a glossary to provide you have some definitions of the key words if you need them.

And once you're finished, you can return to the video to check through your answers.

Okay, Welcome back, everybody.

Very well done for completing those questions.

So we will now go through these answers together.

Just remember that my answers may look different to yours which is okay, you might want to pause the video after each question to take for your work or to make any changes.

So the first question asked what conflict ended in the early 1920s? And the answer is the Civil War.

For Good answer.

You might have put this into a full sentence such as the Russian Civil War ended in the early 1920s.

Which Bolshevik wanted to transform the role of women in Russian society? An acceptable answer here is Alexandra Kollontai.

And again, a good answer as a full sentence would be Alexandra Kollontai, wanted to transform the role of women in Russian society.

The first question asked you to describe key ways the lives of women changed during the 1920s.

So you might have talked about divorce being made legal, and that women could get jobs more easily.

Good answer will give a little bit more description such as the lives of women changed during the 1920s as divorce was legalised, which allowed women to leave their marriages.

Some women will also be able to get a job more easily as childcare was provided for mothers.

Why did the phosphates consider education to be a priority in the 1920s? So you might have had as lots of people were illiterate or couldn't read and write good answer probably give a couple of reasons.

So the Bolsheviks considered education to be a priority as prior to 1917.

Many people in Russia were illiterate.

There were also a small group controlling a large country with a majority peasant population.

Therefore, it was important for the Bolsheviks to teach people both to read and understand the key messages of the revolution.

Your challenge question was, in what ways did the Bolsheviks changed Russian society during the 1920s? There's a few acceptable answers you could have hit so you could have said more access to education, or schools, more freedom for women legalised abortion or that the forces were easier or made easier to obtain? Good answer again is going to put a few of these and full sentences so one way the Bolsheviks changed Russian society during the 1920s was by offering more access to education.

For example, they provided free education for children up to the age of 17.

And workers were able to attend university.

Another way that the Bolsheviks changed society was by transforming the role of the woman under the Bolshevik family code 1918, divorce was legalised, which gave women more independence.

So for each change, I've given a couple of examples that too.

So you may want to spend a few minutes now adding some extra details your answers? If so, pause the video here, but again, very well done for completing those questions.

Now guys, return to inquiry, and think about the following question, what were the Bolsheviks trying to achieve? You've now learned a lot of content about the Bolsheviks and the aims of the last four lessons.

So I'd like you to see if you can use all of the knowledge you have to now answer our inquiry question.

So I'd like you to write a paragraph explaining what the Bolshevik were trying to achieve and to argue which motive you think was most important.

In the box on the right hand side, I've given you the main goals the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve following the Russian Revolution.

You'll have lots of examples of these from the last four lessons.

On the left hand side, I've given you some sentence starters to help you structure your paragraph.

So I'd like you to start by summarising what the Bolsheviks were trying to retrieve.

Using the first sentence starter.

I'd then like you to explain which motive you think was the most important and use examples to support your line of argument.

You can use the other sentence starters to support you when writing this.

Although if you feel confident getting started about these, that's absolutely fine.

So pause the video and write your paragraphs.

Once you're finished, you can continue the video to check your answer.

Welcome back, everybody.

Excellent work for completing your paragraphs.

I've given you an example of a paragraph I've written here so you can see how I was structuring my answer.

Now, I'm going to read through this with you, but just remember that I might have chosen a different method to discuss than you have, and that's absolutely fine.

What I'd like you to do is to check when reading through your own answers, for whether you've summarised the main things that Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

And if you've chosen one motive, you think it's more important than the others.

So, following the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks tried to achieve multiple aims such as spreading communism, making more equal society and radically changing Western society.

However, the most important metre for the Bolsheviks was holding on to power.

This is evidenced by their willingness to change their policies to maintain power.

For example, during the civil war, war, communism was introduced to ensure the Red Army won the war.

However, Lenin was willing to reverse these policies in 1921 when a bush fix faced opposition he introduced a new economic policy to prove the economy and hold on to power.

This was more important than creating a more equal society or spreading communism, because the Bolsheviks were willing to reverse their communist policies to ensure their survival.

So you can see here that I've used the sentence starters in bold to help me structure my answer.

I've chosen to focus on holding on to power as the main aim the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

I've used examples of war, communism and a new economic policy support my outline of bargaining.

So now I'd like you to take a couple of minutes reading for your own work and checking whether you've used examples to support your argument wherever you've chosen one method as the most important, as long as you can support your decision.

It doesn't matter if you've chosen a different motive to the one I've written about.

You can pause the video here to do so and then resume once you're ready.

Okay, well done safe today's lesson, we're going to quickly look at what you've covered.

Now you've completed this inquiry.

So in the first lesson, you introduce the Bolsheviks and began to think about their initial aims of taking power and the Russian Revolution.

In the second lesson you still had the Bolsheviks pause the process of spreading communism to ensure they establish control and remove that opposition during the Civil War.

In your previous lesson, you get to some of the economic policies introduced by the Bolsheviks and what they were trying to achieve with each of these.

And today, you've looked at the Bolshevik social policies, and you've used all of this knowledge you've gained to write a paragraph about what the Bolsheviks were trying to achieve.

So you've now completed today's lesson and this unit.

Thank you so much for hard work, and really well done for completing your questions and writing your paragraphs.

Over the last few lessons.

I've been so impressed of all of the hard work that's been put into completing the tasks so huge well done to you.

Please now complete the end of the lesson quiz to check your understanding.

And I look forward to hopefully teaching you in another inquiry soon.