Focus 4 Defending the Bolshevik revolution October 1917-24

Russia -History A Level

What was Lenin planning to do regarding the constitutional assembly election?

Ignore it as he had no intention of surrendering power

Why did Lenin do regarding the elections and why ?

After the October Revolution Lenin tried to persuade his colleagues to postpone the Constituent Assembly election

Winning a majority would be very unlikely won less than ¼ of popular vote

What did Lenin say about the elected body?

Was unrepresentative and illegitimate

it didn't represent the true voter’s preference as no choice between 'pro-bolshevik Left SRS' and 'anti-Bolshevik Right SRs'

asserted that the Soviets were a higher type of democratic institution than CA and called it an 'organ of bourgeois democracy'

What were the conditions placed on the Constitutional Assembly by Sovnarkom?

*voters have the right to recall and replace awkward representatives

*members must be approved by Bolshevik-controlled selection committees

*could only meet if atleast half the members were present

When was the Constituent Assembly disbanded?

5 January 1918

What happened to the Constituent Assmebly?

50,000 Anti Bolshevik demonstrators gathered in Petrograd and were open fired upon killing 10 despite this it still went ahead but the Bolsheviks allowed it to remain for 1 day then was disbanded

Why did Lenin want to achieve peace?

*Absence of peace they were open to invasion

*Had promised war-weary workers peace

*Wanted to be free to concentrate on overcoming the Bolshevik’s internal enemies

When did Lenin's peace talks begin?

Peace talks between Russia and Germany began in 1917 but Lenin was very desperate for a quick settlement

What was the significance of the USA entering the war

Germany was very willing to talk to a Russia and the USA entry meant they may have to fight against 3 major powers

What were Germanys demands

*Loss of Finland Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland Ukraine and parts of Armenia

Why didn't Russia want to give up Finland Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland Ukraine and parts of Armenia to Germany

* Contained 26% of their population
*27% of arable land
*74% of iron ore and coal

What were Left Wing Bolshevik's attitude to Germanys proposals

called for the rejection of Germanys terms and launch a 'Revolutionary war' with Guerilla warfare

Who led the left-wing Bolsheviks who called for rejection of the terms and launchign of the revolutionary war?

30 year old Nikolai Bukharin

What was Trotsky reaction to Germanys terms

'war nor peace'
declaring the war was over but not signing peace treaty

What did Lenin do about Germanys peace terms

Urged to accept it and threaten to reisign from Sovnarkom if he wasn't listened to

When was the treaty of Brest- Litovsk signed?

March 1918

What was the problems caused by the peace treaty (Brest-Litovsk)

*Left SRd we're very hostile as it lost much of their territory

*Army chiefs (nationalists) were appalled by what they saw as shameful surrender and their aim was to overthrow Bolshevism and re start the war against Germany

What began as a result of the signng of Brest Litvosk?

Civil War

What is the Cheka an abbreviation for?

All Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter Revolution and Sabotage

By 1921 how many people were members of the Cheka

150,000

What types of roles were in the cheka?

Not all were secret policemen some were heavily armed military-style units (units of mass repression)

How did the Cheka operate?

Outside of the framework of the law with the power to arrest counter-revolutionaries

How were suspected anti revolutionaries treated?

Punished without trial, no right of appeal against decisions often simply executed on the spot

Who were the Cheka accountable to?

Sovnarkom

What was the Chekas reputation ?

Savage (for on-the-spot executions and torture)

Who led the Cheka? how did he want to be seen as

Felix Dzerzhinksy, Polish Nobleman

wanted to be seen as the ‘sword and shield of the revolution)

How were the Cheka described by Bolsheviks sometimes? during revolution- why was this fales

a ‘regrettable necessity’

later permanent feature of communist rule in Russia

What was the decree of the press?

It shut down hostile newspapers as the Bolsheviks were intolerant of criticism and opposition

When did the Bolsheviks outlaw the Kadets?

November 1917

What happened to the Kadet leaders?

Arrested and imprisoned

What were the Kadets described as?

‘ a party of enemies of the people’

What was the Russian Soviety Federated Soviet Republic (RSFSR)

Republican within Russia dominated by the Bolsheviks

What happened in 1918 to the previous Kadet voters?

The Federated Soviet Republic (RSFRS) denied them the right to vote in elections for Soviets

Who did the Bolsheviks turn their sights on after the Kadets?

Socialist rivals: Mensheviks and SRs (left and right)

How were opponets of the Bolsheviks initally allowed to continue?1921-1922

Shadowy semi legal existance

How were the socialists repressed?

Expelled from the soviets at all levels

harassed into extinction and leaders deported or exiled

sent to labour camps in Siberia

What can Russia be seen as from 1918 onwards

One-party state

What did Zinoview wrtie in 1921 about the Bolshevik party?

. 'Our party has for some years been  the only legal party in the country'

When was the Red Terror?

Throughout 1918

What was the Red Terror?

Te scale and number of Cheka atrocities rose and

terrorising the people of Russia into submission

Why did the Red Terror arise?

Bolshevik prestige was dented by Brest-Litovsk led to them do poorly in the elections

-The civil war began in 1918 and thelash out on enemies due to weak hold power was overwhelming

-Extreme Left SRs assassinated people

What are 2high profile assasinations from the Left SR and 1 attempt?

• Germany’s ambassador to Russia

• Head of Petrograd Cheka

• Attempt on Lenin which led to Cheka being fully let of the leash

Who shot Lenin twice in August 1918 at close range?

Fanya Kaplan

What did the Bolshevik claim about the red terror?

Targeted Bourgeois ‘wreckers’ trying to prevennt socialism

What was the reality of the red terror victims?

They came from a variety of backgrounds

During the civil war who in reality were the Beourgouise?

Anyone who opposed them

Who were the highest profile Red Terror victims?

Nicholas II and Family

What happened to the Romanovs?

Were in protectice car but were killed

When did Chekists kill the Romanovs?

July 1918

According to Trosky what threat did the Lenin fear Romanovs pose?

Nicholas II was a potential rallying point for opponents

What methods of violence did the Cheka use? X3

• Scalping

• Crucified

• Push into vats of boiling water

What was the estimation of how many people died at the hands of the Cheka in 1918?

Atleast 10,000

What was the estimation of how many people died at the hands of the Cheka and sucessor organisation GPU in 1917-1923?

up to 200,000

Was the red terror only forms of violence within areas under parties control?

No there was also White terror

What were some of the Inherited Economic issues that the Bolsheviks face?

- Inflation running out of control, rising unemployment,falling productivity

-Expectations that peasant issues would be adressed by the Bolsheviks in urgency as their support was crucial

-Instant transition to a fully socialist economy which would be destablising

What wasLlenins strategy to the economy? what did this lead to

Didnt dismiss peasant demands workers and left wing resulting in a lack of coherence

In early Bolshevik rule what did much of Russian industry remain under?

Private ownershup

What was state capitalism?

Private companies activites were monitored and directed by the statew

What was the VSNKh?

Supreme Council of Nation Economy

When were the VSNKh (Vesenkha) established?

1917

What was the VSNK for?

Supervise industry and manage the economy

Who did Vesenkha report to?

Sovnarkom

When was Decree on Land and Decree of Workers Control?

November 1917

What was decree on land?

Legitmised peasant land seizures of 1917

Drew on SR land policy

Politically how did decree on land benefit Lenin?

Convinced Left SRs to join Lenins government

What was decree on Workers Control ?

Gave industrial workers a say in how factories were ran

Ensured managers treated industrial workers properly

Did not Authorise workers to sieze control of facotires and run them themselves

Who did decree on workers control pander to?

Industrial workers

What was nationalised under nationalisation?

Banking was taken over by the state

Individual Factories were nationalised

What is an example of a factory that was nationalised?

Giant Putilov works in petrograd

What was ‘nationalisation from below’?

Workers took control of enterpirses and declared them to be state property

When did the Bolsheviks lose Ukraine

Spring 1918 (treaty of brest litvosk)

Why did the Bolsheviks lose Ukraine?

Treaty of Brest Litvosk

Full Scale Civil War

What did the loss of Ukraine result in? X6

• Industrial output slammed

• Shortages of food and fuel

• Prices soared (collapse in currency)

• Peasantry refusing to sell goods for worthless money

• Food shortage in cities

• Many people left the cities and reutrned to native villages

• factories being short of labour

What population of Petrograd left between 1918-1920

three-quarters

What happened to the population of Moscow 1918-1920?

1/2

What was the core aims of War Communism? x6

1. Feed the cities

2. Maximise industrial output

3. Ban private trade

4. Rationing

5. Nationalisation

6. ‘One-man management’

What were the terms of War Communism?

Compulsory requisitioning

How was compulosry grain requisiting achieved?

Food brigades from the cities to remove grain from the peasants by force

Cheka often involved alongside the army

Were peasants payed in reality of compulosry grain requisitioning?

In theory yes but in reality was straightforward theft

Why did the government ban private trade?

To prevent peasants from supplying grain to middlemen and speculators who sold it on with higher prices

Did government banning private trade suceeed?

No a thriving black market soon developed

How was food rationed?

Most went to the army and workers in heavy industry

Then to the civil servants and workers in light undustry

Bottom was ‘capitalists, landlords and parasites’

How did Zinoviev describe the rations given to the middle classes?

‘Just enough so as not to forget the smell of it’

How were small and largeindustrial enterprises controlled?

Small- controled by nationalisation

Large- Direct state control in mid 1918

all Operated under Vesenkha

What were individual industries controlled by?

Glavki (departments) of Vesenkha

What was workers control industry replaced with?

‘one man management’

Why was workers control in industry ended?

Wanted to make the industrial workforce more disciplined and productive

How did Trosky want to control the factories? and what happened

military discipline Lenin overruled him

How did the Bolsheviks attempt to halt the flight of industrial workers to the countryside?

Issuing internal passports

What is compulsory grain requistioning called?

prodrazverstka

What was the response to Bolshevik policy of grain requisitioning?

caused large resentment and peasant hostility

How were the peasants initally kept in check towards the Bolsheviks?

Fears of White Victory

What happened in 1920 to peasants?

Poor harvest reduced to near starvation

What happened in 1921 regarding peasants?

Open revolt against Bolshevik rule

What happened in Tambov?

Fiercest fighting guerrilla campaign against red army

How many peasants were members of the force in Tambov?

40,000

Who led the 40,000 strong peasant force in Tambov?

Alexander Antonov

Who were the peasant force fighting in Tambov?

Red Army

2 words to describe response of government in Tambov?

Brutal

Extreme

How did the Government respond to Tambovs uprising? X2

Poison gas

Wives and Children taken hostage