Lessons from Revolution and Dictatorships: Why Not to Play Truant

Why not play truant? After all, Latin is a dead language and apples can fall off trees without our help. Oh, and how on earth can a number go on forever?

Extreme world events not only shape our world and perspectives, but the trends which arise reveal the key components of human motivation - motivation to obey, or to act. Funnily enough, the components of these opposite desires are more similar than we may think.

Firstly, we will go back to Russia in 1905, where workers were beginning to demand change - a change which would finally be realised in the 1917 Revolution. The change in attitude in the working population, from that of contentment with their bread and butter to indignation at their treatment, began with the development of railways and the spread of newspapers in the late 19th century. Military conscription was brought in, and primary education became more common, resulting in young male peasants being able to read and write, and having experienced life in the army. Newspapers brought different political ideas to the scene, and members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) and the Social Democrats (SDs) shared their ideology through study circles, in which they informed workers about socialism; and in organising strikes, where workers could experience their collective power. This combination of knowledge and experience resulted in a group of people united in a goal, one they believed so deeply in that they were willing to go to great lengths to achieve it. In January 1905, a strike was organised in St Petersburg, which the government attempted to put down with troops, resulting in a massacre which became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. The news of this event led to more Russians, who had previously viewed the Tsar as a ‘benign little father’ (Hosking, G.A.), having their trust uprooted. And so the ultimate catalyst is brought into the story: violence. Those who were not swayed by reason built seemingly on discontent and theoretical ideologies could not fail to join the movement when the leader whom they respected, and who yielded such power over their lives, was involved in the deaths of over a hundred people. No amount of theorising and reasoning can convince the normal person that a leader who kills innocent people is a good leader. 

The petitions which the peasants drew up consisted primarily of demands that included: communal ownership of land, fairer taxation, primary education to be universally free, and an elected legislative assembly. The workers had similar demands, with more specific ones such as limited working hours, the right to strike, and to play a role in the running of the factory. These demands for basic human rights, and for an increased sense of control over their lives led to the establishment of a ‘Council of Workers’ Deputies’ in cities, where industrial workers met and decided on the logistics of general strikes. In other words, the creation of trade unions (and despair for the Classical Economists). In October of the same year, a general strike took place in St Petersburg led by SD Lev Trotsky, which spread to other cities, resulting in Tsar Nicholas II issuing the October Manifesto. Some workers viewed this as a victory, whereas others felt that it was too little. Nonetheless, the October Manifesto was key to the establishment of the constitution, in the Fundamental Laws of 1906, and the Duma (State Assembly). And so the ground was laid for the transition of Russia from an imperial state to the Soviet Union, a change brought about by changing mindsets amongst the working class - the development of the mindset that they deserved more rights and autonomy. Convincing the peasants and workers to protest and fight for their rights was not achieved merely through a few headlines in the newspapers - it was the result of the spread of education, which enabled the masses to read the newspapers, to articulate their ideas, and to feel that they could understand the governance of the country enough to challenge it. And of course, the cruelty shown in ‘Bloody Sunday’ was the final push that many needed to abandon their imperial leader. 

However, education is not an angel - it can work for evil equally as well as good; a point which Hitler understood very well. When the Nazis came to power, all schools were put under the control of the Ministry of Education, which, according to the Nazi Education Minister, was aimed at training children ‘to realise that the State is more important than the individual, that individuals must be willing and ready to sacrifice themselves for Nation and Fuhrer’. By 1937, 97% teachers had joined the Nazi Teachers’ League, where they had to attend one month long training courses in which Nazi ideology was stressed. Biology and History were rewritten to reflect Nazi racial theories and Germany’s progress towards its destiny, and from 1935, all textbooks had to be approved. And so the Nazis attempted to mould the brains of the future generation in the exact opposite direction from the revolutionaries of Russia - and indeed, had the regime succeeded, and children been able to complete full schooling in the system, it is scary to consider the potential worldviews that would have been taken by such a misinformed generation. 

Almost like a mirror to the 1905 Russian Revolution, Hitler was equally aware of the importance of violence, in combination with the spreading of information. Whilst the Reich Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda entrenched Nazi ideology into the fabric of society, through which information was and was not relayed in films, news reels, posters and the press; violence and coercion were left to a network of terror, consisting of the SS, Gestapo and concentration camps. The sense of omnipresence and omniscience regarding the Gestapo restricted the ability of the population to sufficiently organist an opposition, and the blatant ruthlessness of the SS and concentration camps established terror at the heart of the regime. Horrible as it seems, we must pause to consider the gradation of violence. As stated earlier, the killings enacted by Russian troops on the orders of the imperial government were a key cause of disillusionment for Russian peasants with the government, and thus part of the downfall of Tsar Nicholas II. However, the extent of the atrocities committed by Hitler, and their intentional nature, with his lack of apology, established his control over Germany, through a decision that violence was a tool he was willing to use to his advantage. Hence, in the establishment of a powerful police force, the blatant disregard for human rights is in the interest of complete power for the dictator; violence used intentionally, alongside education which stresses the importance of the nation (and which misinforms students) is extremely powerful. On the other hand, in a dictatorship such as imperialist Russia, the attempt to combine benevolence with control in terms of the approach to violence, and by neglecting to implement a thorough education programme leading to the educating being carried out by revolutionaries, Tsar Nicholas II lost control, and the workers claimed their human rights. 

We are constantly aware of the importance of education, in personal lives, and in the interests of societal progress - so much so that the OECD Better Life Index, one of the key alternative measures of economic success (alongside real GDP) considers education as a key component of the index. In the OECD Better Life Index, not only is the number of years of schooling of students in a country measured, but also the quality of schooling, quantified in terms of the ability of 15 year olds to use their science, mathematics and reading skills in real world situations. The index points out gaps in education between countries, and within them. We must respond, not only with programmes to help other countries, but with bringing the levels of education in our own countries to the best degree possible for everyone, in the hope that a well educated future generation can help solve problems on an international level. A dictator such as Hitler was able to see the power of education, and considered the economic sacrifice completely worth it. In trying to realise a different vision to Hitler, one of both development and equity, we must turn to that same tool of education, and employ it in such a manner as to inform and inspire - if information and inspiration can ignite a Revolution, the education inequality which exists today is clearly keeping the international community very far from realising its potential. Yes, the Holocaust is a lesson against violence, but it is also one in favour of education, and against ignorance.

Bibliography:

Hosking, G.A. (2012). Russian history : a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

OECD (2021). OECD Better Life Index. [online] Oecdbetterlifeindex.org. Available at: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/education/.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2019). Russian Revolution of 1905. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Revolution-of-1905.

‌Notes made by Dr W Van Reyk

www.massolit.io. (n.d.). MASSOLIT – Germany – Nazi Germany, 1933-45 | Video lecture by Dr Lisa Pine,. [online] Available at: https://www.massolit.io/courses/germany-nazi-germany-1933-45-pine [Accessed 14 Mar. 2023].