Keywords: Russian Civil War

Cheka

The secret police under Lenin and his Communist Party

terror

great fear

Makhno

Green insurgent army leader

guerrilla warfare

strong support from peasants and Ukraine

challenge Bolshevik centralisation

fought for Reds in the end and then crushed

Makhno escaped to Romania

Constituent assembly

an elected assembly that decides the future structure of the state

food rationing

a fixed allowance of provisions or food, especially for soldiers or sailors or for civilians during a shortage

war communism

The Bolshevik economic and political system in Russia (1918-1921) characterized by extreme centralization, nationalization of industry, forced labor, banning private trade, and forced grain requisitioning (prodrazverstka) from peasants to feed the Red Army and cities, causing severe famine and economic collapse.

tax in kind

tax paid with goods rather than money

commanding heights

Notion that the entire economy could be controlled by centralized control of only its most important industries (Lenin).

1924

Lenin dies at age of 54

Zinoviev and Kamenev

Leaders in the Communist Party. Were in an alliance with Stalin, persuaded Central Committee not to act on or publish Lenin's Testament, thinking Stalin would be seriously weakened under their control.

Bukharin

Nicolai Bukharin

One of the younger Bolshevik leaders at the time of Lenin's death, this man was described in Lenin's "testament" as "the biggest and most valuable theoretician in the Party" and "the favourite of the whole party". He was on the right wing of the party, favouring continuing the NEP. He would eventually be executed in a show trial in 1938. He was posthumously rehabilitated after Stalin's death.

USSR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, established in 1922, was a federal socialist state in Eastern Europe and northern Asia, governed by the Communist Party until its dissolution in 1991.

General Secretary

Tổng bí thư

Politburo

Bộ Chính trị

Leningrad

Petrograd → Leningrad → Saint Petersburg

Trotsky

Intervention

Military and economic support provided by foreign powers (like Britain, France, USA, Japan) to the anti-Bolshevik White Army during the Russian Civil War (1918-1922), aiming to overthrow the communist government.