Lenin’s USSR

Explain the October Revolution 1917

• Bolsheviks took power from Provisional Government through a coup d’etat

• Ideas of “Peace Bread Land” and “All Power to the Soviets” becoming more popular

• Lenin had a Marxist view - wanted to eventually establish communism

Explain the initial structure of Lenin’s government

• Local Soviets represented by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets

• Sovnarkom was elected since ARC was too big

• Made up of 13 ‘People’s Commissariats” to run Russia on day to day basis

What were Lenin’s initial Decrees?

• Decree on Land (Oct 1917) gave peasants the right to seize land from nobility and the Church

• Decree of Peace (Oct 1917) committed new government to withdrawing from WW1

• Worker’s Decrees (Nov 1917) established 8 hour working day and minimum wage

• Decree of Worker’s Control (April 1918) allowed workers to elect committees to run factories

Explain the events of the Constituent Assembly

• As Lenin turned against democracy, nationwide election in Nov 1917 created the CA with a Bolshevik minority (only ~40% of vote)

• Red Guard closed CA with force on the first day as it threatened the Soviets

What was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

• Official withdrawal of Russia from WW1 in March 1918

• Lenin did it in order to provide ‘breathing space’ to consolidate power, but it was very unpopular

• However the war had been causing problems under the Tsar, so it was necessary

Who fought the Russian Civil War?

• Reds: The Bolsheviks, fought by the Red Army

• Whites: opposing parties, anarchists, monarchists, those who wanted a military dictatorship, liberals, foreign intervention

What was Lenin’s response to the Civil War within the government?

• Increased centralisation within the government

• CPSU became increasingly powerful

• Worked through the loyal Party nomenklatura

• Trotsky made Red Army more authoritarian

What was the Politburo, and why did Lenin prefer it to the Sovnarkom?

• Smaller group of highest authority in the Communist Party

• Could reach decisions more quickly since there were between 5-7 members

• Contained his most loyal supporters; Stalin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev

What was the nomenklatura?

• Those who administered the policies of War Communism and were mostly educated members of the former middle class (symbolic of Lenin failing to uphold promises)

Explain the events preceding and during the 1921 Party Congress

• Unrest due to War Communism: Tambov Rising (peasant revolt) and Kronstadt Uprising (naval base sailors)

• Cheka destroyed all other political parties, creating one party state

• ‘On Party Unity’ resolution banned factions in the Party

Explain state capitalism

• Based on nationalisation of industry, ended capitalism by taking it away from middle-class owners

• Nationalised industries run by Vesenkha (economic experts)

• Unpopular since it was too similar to life before the revolution

Explain the measures of War Communism

• Food dictatorship: Cheka requisitioned grain and food was rationed (smallest rations given to bourgeoisie)

• Labour discipline: eg. work day extended to 11 hours, compulsory labour

• Abolition of the market: ended money, trade, complete nationalisation

Why did Lenin introduce NEP in 1921?

• To retain political power: economic retreat

• To revive the economy: stimulate grain production and end famine

• To build socialism: clear global revolution wasn’t working

Explain the measures of NEP

• Agricultural production left to the free market, requisitioning ended and replaced with tax in kind

• Small factories and workshops denationalised (larger ones didn’t)

• Money reintroduced

Give 4 consequences of NEP

• Political and economic stability: famine ended and extremely popular with peasants

• Industrial growth: “build socialism with capitalist hands”

• Scissor crisis: greater food supplies led to drop in agricultural prices, but industrial prices grew. Farmers couldn’t afford industrial goods

• Inequality and corruption: NEPmen bought goods at higher prices than government, and grew rich through trading

How did Lenin establish state control of mass media?

• Decree on Press: gov could close newspapers that supported counter-revolution

• State monopoly of advertising

• Petrograd Telegraph Agency: gov controlled electronic means of communication

• All-Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA): solely responsible for distributing news

• Pravda created (newspaper of CPSU)

Explain the features of the cult of Lenin

• Christ-like image following August 1918 assassination attempt

• Humane, man of the people, refused luxury, down to earth

• Lenin was uncomfortable about this, but understood its importance

How did the government use photomontage?

Collaborated with avant-garde artists to create posters promoting the revolution

What was Dzerzhinsky’s Glavlit?

• Organisation created in 1922 which oversaw a more systematic censorship regime

• Compiled a list of banned books (‘book gulags’)

• Policed all available publications

What was the Marxist view of religion?

• It was the “opium of the masses”

• Revolution would liberate people from the delusions of religion

Why was Lenin suspicious of the Russian Orthodox Church?

• It was an ally of the Tsar

• Church was extremely rich, Russian Orthodox priests lived in privilege while working people were poor

• Independent of Communist Government

Why was it hard to control religion in the Soviet Union?

• Large land mass and population with many diverse cultural traditions/beliefs

• Muslims, Orthodox, Baptists

Give Lenin’s early reforms around religion

• Decree on Land: allowed peasants to seize land from Church

• Decree Concerning Separation of Church and State: Church lost its position in society

• Church land nationalised, religious education banned in schools

Explain religion’s role in the Red Terror

• Cheka had secret order sanctioning mass executions of priests

• Within two years most popular Orthodox priests had been killed

• Deported Catholic priests

• Blamed the Church for the 1921 famine

What was the Living Church?

• Strategy used against the Orthodox Church - claimed to be a reformed version

• Split the Church and weakened its national structure

• This did not diminish faith or Church growth