Consolidation of Bolshevik power

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 ?

1. Transport disruption during WW1
2. 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 ?

1. Grain Requisitioning
2. Nationalisation of all industry
3. Imposing factory discipline
4. 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