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Source set · 7 sources ✓ Lesson ready

Did the Russian Revolution deliver what it promised?

From the Tsar's abdication to Lenin's call to power, his warnings about Stalin, and the industrial drive and purges of the 1930s.

Timeline of key events →

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✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Historian’s Lab: Station Rotation. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

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1. Hook: what would you do? 3-5 min

Petrograd, 1917. Russia has been at war for three years. Bread is short, millions of soldiers have died, and the Tsar has just given up the throne. Several groups now promise to fix the country.

Options: (1) Support whoever promises peace and an end to the war · (2) Support whoever promises land and bread · (3) Support whoever promises elections and a parliament

Then read: the salvation of the revolution, the offer of peace, the salvation of Petrograd, salvation from famine, the transfer of the land to the peasants depend upon them. Vladimir Lenin, letter calling for an immediate uprising (October 24, 1917)

2. Main activity: Historian’s Lab: Station Rotation

Grouping: Four stations, groups of 4 to 6, rotating every 7 minutes

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Four station cards (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc), one per table
  • Station recording sheet (in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • A promises chart on the board: peace, land, bread, power to the people
  1. Launch 3 min
    Explain the lab: at each station students record the promise or claim, what happened, and a rating from 1 (promise broken) to 5 (promise kept).
  2. Rotate 28 min
    Four stations, 7 minutes each. Give a one-minute warning before each move.
  3. Fill the promises chart 7 min
    Groups add evidence under peace, land, bread, and power to the people. Point out that Stations 3 and 4 include an official Soviet account; ask whose view it gives and what it leaves out.
  4. Take a stand 7 min
    Use the vote slide.
  5. Exit ticket 5 min
    Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: Did the Russian Revolution deliver what it promised?

  • Mostly yes: The Tsar’s rule ended, the Bolsheviks took power in the name of workers and peasants, and Stalin’s plans turned the country into a major industrial power.
  • Mostly no: Lenin promised democracy for the majority, but he warned that Stalin held “unlimited authority,” and the 1930s brought purges explained away in official histories.

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: Petrograd scenario and Lenin’s promises
  • 8 min Run Station 3 only as a whole class: read Lenin’s promise of democracy for the majority and his warning about Stalin
  • 4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: scenario and Lenin
  • 3 min Launch the lab
  • 28 min Four stations, 7 minutes each
  • 7 min Promises chart
  • 5 min Vote and exit ticket
  • 3 min Buffer

4. Exit ticket

  1. Pick one promise from 1917 (peace, land, bread, or power to the people). Was it kept? Use one source.
  2. The purge source is an official Soviet history. How does knowing who wrote it change how you read it?

5. Differentiation

Support

  • This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
  • Give students the recording sheet with the promise for each station already filled in.
  • Provide a word bank: abdicate, Bolshevik, soviet, proletariat, Secretary-General, purge, five-year plan.
  • Start struggling readers at Station 1, the shortest text.

Extension

  • Lenin dictated his warning about Stalin in late 1922 and early 1923. Research what happened to the document after his death in 1924.
  • Compare Lenin’s 1902 idea of a small party of professional revolutionaries with his 1917 promise of democracy for the majority. Are they consistent?

Suggested sequence

  1. Nicholas II: Abdication Manifesto (1917)
    Document · Seventeen Moments in Soviet History (Michigan State University) · World: 20th Century (1900-present) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 3 min
    Tsar Nicholas II's manifesto of March 2, 1917 (Julian calendar), signed at Pskov, giving up the Russian throne in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Michael. Translation from Frank Golder, ed., Documents of Russian History, 1914-1917 (1927).
    Ask: What reasons does Nicholas II give for giving up the throne, and what does he hope will happen next?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  2. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin: What is to be Done, 1902
    Document · Fordham University · World: 20th Century (1900-present) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 6 min
    In this text, Lenin makes his argument for a coherent, strictly controlled party of dedicated revolutionaries as a basic necessity for a revolution.
    Ask: Why does Lenin argue that a small party of professional revolutionaries must lead the workers?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. Lenin: Call to Power, Oct 24, 1917
    Document · Fordham University · World: 20th Century (1900-present) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 3 min
    Lenin: Call to Power, Oct 24, 1917. A primary source from 1917. It begins: "The situation is critical in the extreme. In fact it is now absolutely clear that to delay the uprising would be fatal...."
    Ask: What does Lenin urge his followers to do, and why does he insist it happen immediately?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. Vladimir Illyich Lenin: State and Revolution, 1918
    Document · Fordham University · World: 20th Century (1900-present) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 24 min
    Vladimir Illyich Lenin: State and Revolution, 1918. A primary source from 1918, reproduced from V. I. Lenin. It begins: "In State and Revolution , Lenin addresses the Marxist notion that the state will whither away. He somewhat reinterprets the idea, and..."
    Ask: What does Lenin say will happen to the state after a workers' revolution?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  5. Vladimir Illyich Lenin: Testament, 1922
    Document · Fordham University · World: 20th Century (1900-present) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 4 min
    Vladimir Illyich Lenin: Testament, 1922. A primary source from 1922. It begins: "By the stability of the Central Committee, of which I spoke above, I mean measures against a split, as far as such..."
    Ask: What concerns does Lenin raise about the party's leaders, especially Stalin?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  6. Joseph Stalin (1879-1953): Industrialization of the Country, 1928
    Document · Fordham University · World: 20th Century (1900-present) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 5 min
    Joseph Stalin (1879-1953): Industrialization of the Country, 1928. A primary source from 1928, reproduced from Joseph Stalin. It begins: "Between 1928 and 1933, Stalin inaugurated the First and Second Five-Year Plans to achieve his goal of rapid industrialization. In many respects..."
    Ask: Why does Stalin argue the Soviet Union must industrialize so quickly?
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  7. Stalin's Purges, 1935
    Document · Fordham University · World: 20th Century (1900-present) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 6 min
    In 1936, Stalin began to attack his political opponents in a series of" purges" aimed at destroying the vestiges of political opposition to him.
    Ask: What do these documents show about how the purges worked and who was targeted?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗SOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “Did the Russian Revolution deliver what it promised?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.