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What issues did Bolsheviks face when trying to consolidate power?
Bolsheviks were in the minority
Needed mass support to consolidate authority
facing criticism for treaty of Brest Litovsk
By 1918 what was Russia facing?
An economic collapse
Why was there not enough grain being transported into cities and for workers ?
Transport disruption during WW1
Seizing of noble Land led to peasants subsistence farming
Why was there no incentive for peasants to sell grain?
received little in return
What were workers doing to search for food and what did this lead to?
Flee cities to find food- labour shortage
What began as shortages got worse?
Food riots
How did Lenin react to economic failures?
War communism
Why did Lenin need to adopt a more centralised system of government ?
The Russian Civil war
What were the four policies of war communism ?
Grain Requisitioning
Nationalisation of all industry
Imposing factory discipline
Food rationing (least going to upper class)
What could the centralised economy do?
Fund/feed civil war
Why did Lenin say terror was necessary ?
For the survival of regime
Who was the terror targeted at?
The peasantry
What was the aim of the terror?
Terrify all potentially hostile groups
How many were killed under the Cheka?
500,000
Which political parties did Lenin have arrested?
SR’s, Mensheviks and Kadets
What is the role of the Sovnarkom ?
The council of the people’s commissars formed in 191 after the October revolution
What did the 1918 Constitution claim ?
to place power in the hands of the all Russian congress of Soviets
Who was responsible for the electing of the Sovnarkom?
All Russian congress of soviets
Who was the Sovnarkom in reality chosen by?
The communist party central committee (Bolshevik leadership)
How much did the congress of soviets meet?
Infrequently
Where becomes the capital in 1918 ?
Moscow
Why did Lenin move the capital from St Petersburg?
Government was further away from advancing white armies
What were the communists worried the Tsar would become?
A figurehead for the whites during the civil war
Why was the 1919 Poltiburo created instead of Sovnarkom ?
Lenin wanted to concentrate decision making into the hands of an even smaller group of communist leaders
What was the Orgburo created to do?
Supervise local party committees and the party secretariat in order to ensure that the Poltiburo and the party secretariat were carrying out the Poltiburo decisions and policies
What two organisations was Lenin a member of?
Orgburo and Poltiburo
What did the Bolshevik’s rename themselves as?
The communist party
What did the change in name to “communist party” demonstrate/symbolise ?
Recognition that Russia had become a one party state
Sovnarkom represented the only path towards communism
Why did Lenin sideline the Petrograd Soviet?
It was dominated by other parties
What does Marxist principles say power should come from?
The people
What did Lenin want to “crush”?
Bourgeois attitudes
Who favoured a socialist coalition?
Zinoviev and Kamenev
What did Lenin say Russian people needed ?
Guidance towards communism as they weren’t ready
How many demonstrators were killed in Jan 1918 for protesting the dissolving of the constituent assembly ?
12- highlights that this was a dictatorship
What ideas did Lenin radically reform?
The ideas of Marx
In what ways did revolution not follow the path Marx said it would take?
Led by a party not a class
Limited to one nation not worldwide
Why did Lenin say democracy was not necessary?
The communist regime was ruling on behalf of all people and knows what is best
What did Lenin want to preserve which he used to justify his actions?
Preserving the revolution
How many Mensheviks were arrested?
5000
What shaped Lenin’s policies?
Pragmatism
What needed to happen before books, poems etc could be published?
submitted for approval
What was the Cheka renamed to in 1922?
The GPU
What led to divisions within the communist party?
increasing use of terror and economic problems caused by the civil war led to differences of opinion within the party
Some felt the workers were not being benefitted
What was the opposition group called that formed within the part?
The “workers opposition”
What did Lenin believe was vital if the new communist regime was to survive?
Party unity
What was the implications of the “ban on factions”?
Once a decision had even made by the central committee of the communist party then no member could open Ely disagree with he policy
Allowed Stalin to accuse his opponents of “factionalism” then demoted/punished
What policy was abandoned once Bolshevik’s gained support?
national self determination for national minorities
How did Lenin view independence movements?
As “counter revolutionary”
Why was Lenin horrified that Stalin had brutally suppressed the independence movement in Georgia?
Lenin found out that Stalin had lied about popular support and Bolsheviks had overthrown an independent socialist regime following heavy fighting
What was the “Nomenklatura” system?
List of 5,500 party and government posts were drawn up
Those positions could only be appointed by the approval of Central committee- what mattered was that you were loyal
If you wanted a promotion you couldn’t challenge or debate the decisions of leadership
Rewarded with special privledges such as better housing
Who controlled appoints to the Beaucracy ?
Stalin
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Flashcard (41)