A Level History - Russia chapter 5

What did the Bolsheviks claim when they were coming to power?

that they were acting in the interests of the proletariat

What did the Bolsheviks think of "democracy" in the way it is usually defined in the West?

they thought trying to compete for votes in elections and allowing different views to exist belonged to the old, class-ridden world

What did Lenin believe a "dictatorship of the proletariat" would need?

active repression of "counter-revolutionary" elements

What was the first step to true socialism?

the establishment of a "dictatorship of the proletariat"

When was Lenin's "State and Revolution" produced?

August - September 1917

Why did Lenin have to have elections for a Constituent Assembly?

he had previously attacked Kerensky for postponing elections

When did the elections for the Constituent Assembly take place?

November 1917

How many votes were cast in the elections for the Constituent Assembly?

over 41 million

What percentage of the vote did the Bolsheviks gain?

24%

What percentage of the vote did the SRs get?

53%

How many votes did the Bolsheviks get?

10 million

How many votes did the SRs get?

21.8 million

How many seats did the Bolsheviks get in the CA?

175

How many seats did the SRs get in the CA?

410 (inc 40 left-wing)

Why did Lenin dissolve the Constituent Assembly? (2)

it is likely that those outside Moscow and Petrograd didn't really know what was happening in the capital; Lenin didn't want to have arguments in the CA but just wanted his own way

What did Lenin say about the elections after they had taken place?

"we must not be deceived by the election figures. Elections prove nothing"

When did the Constituent Assembly meet?

5 January 1918

Which group had been outlawed by the time of the meeting of the CA?

kadets

Why where the Kadets outlawed?

they expressed approval for Alexei Kaledin

Who was Alexei Kaledin?

a Cossack general who had begun a counter-revolutionary rebellion in the Don region

Who did the Bolsheviks want to chair the CA meeting?

Maria Spiridovna (left-wing SR)

Who did the right-wing social majority choose to chair the CA meeting?

Viktor Chernov

Who was Viktor Chernov?

leader of the social revolutionaries

What happened after the first CA meeting?

the CA was forcibly closed down and it never met again

How many civilians who protested the end of the CA were killed?

12

Which German communist opposed Lenin when he shut down the CA?

Rosa Luxemburg

Which party did Rosa Luxemburg lead?

sparticists

What did the decree on press do?

prevented all opposition parties to publish their own newspapers, so it was increasingly difficult for them to exist at all

When was the decree on press?

October 1917

Who lost the right to vote with the new government structure? (4)

the bourgeoise - including priests, employers, anyone "middle class" and anyone who the Bolsheviks thought of as "untrustworthy"

When did the bourgeoisie lose the right to vote?

July 1918

When were all other political parties banned?

1921

Why would negotiating a peace treaty be difficult?

the Russians had been driven back by the Germans, who were already occupying lots of Russian territory and would demand major concessions

How did Lenin and Trotsky differ in their views about a peace treaty?

Trotsky didn't like the idea of signing a peace treaty which would have harsh terms for Russia, whilst Lenin was less concerned

Why was Lenin not so concerned about a harsh peace treaty?

Lenin was convinced that the revolution would soon spread to Germany, and the German workers would join them rather than keep fighting them; he knew the Russian army could not stop the Germans

When did Trotsky negotiate an armistice with the Germans?

beginning of December

Who was Bukharin?

the leader of the "revolutionary war group" of people who believed the Russians should keep fighting

Why did the revolutionary war group believe the Russians should keep fighting?

to defend socialism and Russia itself

Why did some Bolsheviks believe they should stop fighting?

they believed that if they fought on it would be a betrayal of the promises the Bolsheviks had made upon seizing power

Why did Trotsky drag proceedings out?

he hoped the Germans would have their own revolution before the peace treaty was signed

What did Trotsky call his approach to the peace treaty?

"neither peace nor war"

How did the Germans react to Trotsky dragging out proceedings?

they were angry

Apart from dragging out proceedings, why else were German negotiators angry at the Bolsheviks?

they knew the Bolsheviks were using propaganda to try to stir up mutiny in the German army

How did Field Marshal Hindenburg describe the actions of the Bolsheviks?

he said they were behaving as though they had won

Why did the Bolsheviks eventually have to sign the agreement?

German troops began to renew their advance into Russia

What was the peace treaty called?

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

When was the peace treaty signed?

3 March 1918

Who was the peace treaty ratified by?

an emergency Party Congress

Which countries did Russia lose to Germany? (9)

Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Bessarabia, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine

How many countries did Russia lose to Germany?

9

What happened to the countries Russia lost?

Germany and Austria-Hungary were to determine the future of these territories, Germany intended to make them economic and political dependencies

How much did Russia lose in terms of population?

1/6 of the population (62 million)

How much did Russia lose in terms of land?

2 million square kilometres and the area that produced almost a third of Russia's agricultural produce

How much of its railway lines did Russia lose? (%)

26%

How much of its iron ore and coal supplies did Russia lose?

74%

How much did Russia have to pay in war reparations to Germany?

3 billion roubles

How did Lenin describe the treaty?

a "robber peace"

Who still argued against the acceptance of the treaty?

left-wing SRs

What did Lenin have to do before he got his way?

threatened to resign twice

Who supported Lenin on the acceptance of the peace treaty? (3)

Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev

Who voted against the peace treaty? (3)

Bukharin, Kamenev, Dzerzhinsky

By how much majority was the peace treaty agreed?

only by a majority of one

Why was the peace treaty important for the future direction of the soviet state?

established that "socialism at home" was more important than the spread of international revolution and confirmed that Russia would be a one-party state

How did the acceptance of the peace treaty lead to Russia becoming a one-party state?

the left-wing SRs walked out of Sovnarkom in protest of the treaty

When did the Bolsheviks adopt the title of the "Communist party"?

March 1918

When were the workers put in charge of the railways?

January 1918

What happened to the Red Guards?

they were demobilised and a new Red Army of workers and peasants was formed to protect the regime

When was Trotsky placed at the head of the Red Army?

March 1918

Who was put in charge of the Red Army?

Trotsky

When was the capital transferred to Moscow?

March 1918

Why was the capital transferred to Moscow?

to be more central and to be further away from Germany

When was the Red Army created?

January 1918

What type of state did Russia become and why?

became a secular state because the church and the state were separated

How did the separation decree affect the church? (3)

removed the judicial powers of the church, removed its right to own property, many of its assets were seized

What happened to religious printing presses?

they were closed down

What happened to the clergy? (3)

disenfranchised, left without civil rights and subject to persecution

What happened to priests and bishops?

some drafted into the Red Army, some imprisoned

When did Russia move to the Gregorian calendar?

February 1918

Why did Russia move to the Gregorian calendar? (2)

to bring Russia in line with the rest of Europe and was a statement against traditional religious practice

When was the first Constitution for the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic proclaimed?

July 1918

Why was the Constitution for the RSFSR created?

to oversee the transition into a socialist society

What does RSFSR stand for?

Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic

Who had supreme power according to the Constitution for the RSFSR?

the All-Russian Congress of Soviets

Who made up the All-Russian Congress of Soviets?

deputies from elected local soviets across Russia

What was the Congress theoretically responsible for?

electing Sovnarkom

How was the workers vote weighted against that of the peasants in the election to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets?

workers vote was weighted in the proportion of five to one against that of the peasants

Who was Sovnarkom chosen by in practice?

the Bolshevik Central Committee

How often did the Congress meet?

only at intervals

Who had the real focus of power?

the Party

Which principle was established in July 1918?

"he who does not work shall not eat"

What did the population largely depend on for food?

ration cards

Which group did Dzerzhinsky lead?

the Cheka

What was Bukharin's role?

to keep fighting to defend Russia and socialism