Opposition and Repression (Nature of Government)

What would be the 4 factors to mention in a repression essay?

• Propaganda

• Censorship

• Secret Police

• The Army

How did Alexander II use the Secret police for repression? (What was the Secret Police’s name?)

Alexander II used the Third Section to target small groups or individuals of opposition and imprisoned or exiled them

Was not that effect as A2 had many assassination attempts

How did Alexander III use his secret police for repression? (What was the name of the Secret Police?)

Alexander III used the Okhrana for surveillance, censorship and for arresting political opponents

Helped and was effective to reinforce autocracy

How did Nicholas II use the Okhrana for repression?

To spy on political groups, infiltrating revolutionary group movements as undercover agents such as the SRs, SDs, Bolsheviks etc.

However, the growth of opposition groups and strikes, rebellions (especially during the war) suggested that their impact was limited

Who disbanded the Okhrana?

The Provisional Government

What was the name of Lenin’s secret police and how did he use them for repression?

Cheka

To deal with opposition to the Bolsheviks, used to enforce War Communism, and for the Red Terror- 200,000 people had been killed by 1921, and for the persecution, killings etc. during the Civil War

They had been less harsh after Bolshevism was fully established in Russia

How did Stalin use the secret police for repression and what was their name?

NKVD introduced in 1934

Used for show trials, purges/ great terror, execution/ labour camps (2 million sent to the Gulags) against opposition to his regime - 1.5 million people arrested, and 500k killed

Red Army officers and top communist officers had to do public confessions and were executed

How did Khrushchev use the Secret police for repression and what was the name of them?

KGB

Used for internal and external opposition

Phone taps, mail intercepts were widely used, but mass arrests and executions did not happen (contrast with Stalin)

How did the Alexander II use the army for repression?

Used the army to stop peasant unrest, especially in 1861 after the emancipation as peasants were unhappy with redemption payments

Army deployed 342 times to stop the unrest in the countryside due to redemption payments

How did Alexander III use the army for repression?

Used it to enforce russification

Dealt with Tula Workers strike in 1885 by arresting and sending people to labour camps

How did Nicholas II use the army for repression?

• Used to control worker protests

• Used in Bloody Sunday 1905, against Father Gapon and workers peacefully protesting for the end to the Russo-Japanese war at the Winter Palace, 200 were killed

How did Lenin use the army to enforce repression?

• Petrograd Soldiers were used by the Bolsheviks to defeat the Provisional Government in October 1917

• These soldiers merged with the Red Guard to form the Red Army (peasants, workers, Cossack etc devoted to communism) → successful in defeating White and Green Army during Civil war

How did Stalin use the army to enforce repression?

Used the Red Army to requisition grain (forced collectivisation)

They were used in the Great terror/ Purges, however many military leaders were removed in the Great purge of 1936-8 as they were seen as a political threat - General Zhukov was exiled

How did Khrushchev use the army to enforce repression?

Used for more international conflicts and against nationalities e.g. Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, Hungarian Uprising 1956

How was Propaganda used by Alexander III to enforce repression?

The Church on the Spilled blood was made in honour of the death of Alexander II

How was Propaganda used by Nicholas II to enforce repression?

• Tricentennial (300 years of Romanov rule)

• Nicholas II’s coronation

• Portraits and pamphlets used

How did Lenin use propaganda to enforce repression?

• April Thesis under the provisional government

• Slogans

• Bolshevik newspaper- Pravda (90,000 copies in 1917)

How did Stalin use propaganda to enforce repression?

• Cult of Personality (Portraits etc, social realism art)

• 7 sisters (Moscow ministries)

• Stakhonvite movement (encouraged productivity) → discipline among workers

How did Khrushchev use propaganda to enforce repression?

• Thaw - loosening restriction → film and literature exploring political ideas explored

• Space-race propaganda with US

• Secret Speech - announcing destalinisation

How did Alexander II use Censorship to repress his people?

• Newspapers no longer required prior approval - 1865 (led to publication of Karl Marx in Russia)

• Radical ideas restricted in schools

• The Ministry of the Interior could still ban texts seen as dangerous→ surveillance of publishing of literature

Censorship was quite eased however

How did Alexander III use Censorship to repress his people?

• Police sweeping powers to shut down publications and exile editors in 1881

• Radical or even liberal newspapers were shut down → publishing licenses tightly controlled.

• Religious publications were censored to align with Orthodoxy and loyalty to the Tsar.

Censorship used to enforce autocracy

How did Nicholas II use Censorship to repress his people?

• Crackdown on revolutionary press →Bolshevik and Menshevik papers (e.g. Pravda) were frequently shut down.

• Press coverage of Duma debates were often restricted

Still quite relaxed

How did the Provisional government use Censorship to repress its people?

• Censorship laws abolished in 1917 (Led to April thesis and Pravda being in full force)

No censorship laws lead to their downfall due to the rise of Bolsheviks

What was Agitprop?

The Communists established Writers and official newspapers, which promoted the idealised Russian life

School, libraries and radios were under surveillance to monitor opposition

(Communists used censorship to create terror and control, whereas Tsars did so to maintain power)

How did Lenin use Censorship to repress his people?

• Decree on press (Oct 1917) banned opposition newspapers

Lenin saw a free press as bourgeoisie

How did Stalin use censorship to repress his people?

• Union of Soviet writers created- any who refused were exiled or arrested

• Censorship of History (Stalin promoted and rivals such as Trotsky were removed in History books)

Helped boost Stalin’s regime

How did Khrushchev use censorship to repress his people?

• Khrushchev’’s Thaw →Allowed criticisms of Stalin (but NOT communism) e.g. Life of Ivan Deniosvitch - criticised Stalin’s gulags

• Doctor Zhivago banned for being ideologically wrong (1957)

• Surveillance of intellectuals

Censorship was loosened (with ideological boundaries)

What would be the 3 sub themes in a Opposition essay?

• Peasant opposition

• Workers opposition

• Political opposition (internal for communists)

Give an example of internal opposition against the Tsars? (Nicholas II)

Witte was demoted from fiance minister in 1903 due to his push for liberal reforms which opposed Nicholas II’s more conservative reforms.

He also tried to make a peace-treaty with Japan in 1905, whereas N2 wanted to continue the war

Before 1905, political groups were illegal, but they did exist.

Name 4 political groups under the Tsars?

• Populists

• People’s will

• Social Revolutionaries

• Liberals

Who were the Populists and what are their policies?

• A group of intellectuals (intelligentsia) emerged during N2’s rule

• “What is to be done?”, published in 1863- Marxism influenced ideas

• “Going to the people” campaign where 4000 students tried to educate peasants with political ideas but failed

Who were the People’s Will and what are their policies?

• Emerged from Land and Liberty movements- pressure group within the peasants

• Wanted to use violence to start a revolution

• Assassinated Alexander II on March 13th 1881 (did 4 attempts before)

Who were the Social Revolutionaries and what are their policies?

• Created in 1901, but split into 2 groups

• Left wing SRs → more radical, did 2000 political killings (killed Grand Duke Sergei), focused on industrial workers

• Right wing SRs→ more moderate, worked with other parties and groups, focused on peasants

Who were the Liberals and what were their policies?

• “Westernisers” who wanted Russia to be ruled in a similar way to the democracies of the West

• Liberal ideas proposed in the Zemstva under Alexander II

• Wanted greater freedoms, land distribution and improved conditions

Why was opposition to the Tsars so limited?

• Control by the Tsars- increase in censorship, police state and courts for political crimes

• Political control- political parties were not allowed until 1905, Duma was re-franchised by Stolypin to reduce influence on Duma in 1907 (N2)

• Lack of unity of opposition groups

Give 3 examples of opposition to the Provisional government?

• Release of political prisoners and those in exile (Stalin, Lenin) led to opposition → Lenin published April Thesis to overthrow the provisional government and place power with Soviet → 1169 peasant uprisings after April thesis

• Kornilov Affair→General Kornilov attempted to overthrow the Provisional government with martial control, but was unsuccessful due to Kerensky and Bolshevik support

• July Days by Bolsheviks - 70,000 protesters

How was opposition shown to Lenin in the Constituent assembly in November 1917 and how was dealt with?

In November 1917, the SRs won most the seats, and won the election- opposition from the voters as SRs won and not the Bolsheviks

Lenin dissolved the assembly after 1 day with military force, arguing elections were for the bourgeoisie and that it was rigged → claimed the communists were the working class

During the Civil war of 1917-1921, The Bolsheviks faced much opposition in their attempt to maintain and increase power of Russia.

Name 3 opposition groups the Bolsheviks/ Red army faced during the Civil War?

• White Army- political opponents of the constituent assembly (500k troops)

• Green Army- Peasant army who opposed Bolshevik rule (100k troops)

• Foreign powers- British, US, Polish troops who wanted freedom for Russia

When did Lenin ban all other political parties and created a one-party state (Bolsheviks)?

1921

Name 3 examples of internal opposition under Lenin?

• Zinoviev and Kamenev wanted to do a coalition with other socialists in 1917- Lenin disagreed

• Trotsky and others opposed the treaty of Brest-Litovesk (Russia’s withdrawal from WW1) because Russia lost important land

Outline what happend during the power struggle in 1924 after Lenin’s death?

• It was thought that Trotsky would be the next leader in Russia

• Stalin removed secretaries (e.g. Zinonev) from the party

• United opposition group- formed by Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev to oppose Stalin

• Stalin increased Politburo members to those who supported him and excluded the united opposition group from the Politburo and Trotsky was exiled

Give examples of internal opposition under Stalin?

• Kirov - High ranking communist was assassinated in 1934, he was voted as more popular than Stalin so Stalin saw him as a threat

• 1929- Some members opposed Stalin’s plans for collectivisation, so some were demoted and some removed from the Politburo

• Most internal opposition was dealt more harshly - exiled or executed

Give 3 examples of Khrushchev's internal opposition?

• The power struggle in collective leadership before his rule -including Malenkov’s attempted coup

• Anti-Party group formed in 1957, who opposed the Secret Speech and decentralisation

• Brezhnev confronted and criticised Khrushchev, leading to his resignation in 1964

After the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, how many peasant uprisings did this lead to due to the redemption payments?

342

What were the years of Red Cockrel and how were they dealt with? (N2)

• Hundreds of peasant unrest and arson in 1902-4→ set fire to landlords’ homes etc.

• Suppressed by land captains and a strong military response

Who introduced agrarian reforms to try appease the peasants in 1906-11?

Stolypin

Who was the main group that led to the abandonment of war communism and introduction of the NEP in 1921 under Lenin during the Civil war?

Green Army- Peasant army (100k members)

Why did peasants oppose collectivisation?

The removal of the Mir, requisitioning of resources and starvation of peasants led to some peasants refusing to co-operate and slaughtered their cattle in protest

Why did the Virgin Lands Scheme under Khrushchev face peasant opposition?

The falling food prices and food shortages from the failure of the Virgin Lands scheme (1963- bad harvest) led to opposition, but this was not on a big scale

Why were industrial workers opposing the Russian government during 1855-1964?

Frequent protests from towns and cities due to over work, low wages, long hours, poor conditions

Give an example of Workers’ opposition under Alexander III?

In 1885, at Morozov dye works, 8000 workers protested against working conditions

Give an example of the workers’ opposition under Nicholas II which officially banned strikes?

Bloody Sunday 1905

Father Gapon and 50,000 people peacefully protested to the Tsar for an end to Russo-Japan war and improvement in conditions- several hundreds of people were shot at

Strikes still continued despite the 1905 ban, where could this be seen in 1912?

Lena Goldfields- 3,000 workers protested against dangerous conditions- they were shot at by Cossack soldiers

Give an example of workers’ opposition during the world war 1?

Putilov works in February 1917

Give an example of workers’ opposition under Lenin?

Krondsdat mutiny 1921- sailors protested against poor living and working conditions and food shortages due to war communism

Red Army deployed to deal with the threat

Was there any opposition to Stalin and his 5 year plans by the workers?

No, most accepted the 5 year plans and had little opportunity to protest due to control measures

Some did commit suicide however, if they did not meet the quotas

Was there any worker opposition under Khrushchev, if so, give an example?

Some riots over falling living standards

1962 Novocherhassk - protest against food shortages and prices (some were killed by authorities)

How effective was workers’ opposition throughout the whole period?

N2→ working day reduced from 11.5 hours to 7

PG→ 8 hour working day introduced

Communists→ promised control and protection after 1917, but this was never granted