history - russia aos 2 quotes

Historian Nove on class warfare and grain requisitioning?

"Thus the process of grain confiscation went hand in hand with the effort to fan class warfare in the villages."

Lenin on grain requisitioning?

'The requisitions in the village…have become the main cause of the tremendous economic and political crisis'

Megan Behrent on mass literacy?

'Developing mass literacy was seen as crucial to the success of the revolution'

Robert Service on the aims of state capitalism and how the bolsheviks implemented it?

'Sovnarkom was offering only broad guidelines…the aim was to inform, energise, excite and activate the masses'

Lenin about war communism?

'War communism was thrust upon us by war and ruin…it was a temporary measure'

Pipes on what red terror was the result of?

'The red terror was not the result of circumstances, ideology or the nature of the counter-revolutionary threat'

A.J.P. Taylor on the Treaty of Riga?

'After the Treaty of Riga…the Soviet leaders abandoned the cause of international revolution'

Alpha history on the white army?

'They had little in common with each other than their opposition to the Bolsheviks'

Decree on Land?

'Private ownership of land shall be abolished forever'

Decree on Peace?

'The government proposes an immediate armistice to the governments and people'

Dzerzhinsky quote about the cheka?

'We stand for organised terror…Cheka is obliged to defend the revolution…even if the sword does by chance fall on the heads of the innocent'

Figes on how the bolsheviks used red terror (silence, subjugate)?

'The bolsheviks were forced to turn increasingly to terror to silence their political critics and subjugate a society they could not control by other means.'

Figes on Kronstadt suppression?

'The suppresion of the Kronstadt rebellion…there could not be a more conclusive proof that the bolsheviks had turned into tyrants'

Figes on the purpose of the Cheka (defend, destroy)?

'The purpose of the cheka was quite simple - to defend the revolution and destroy its enemies no matter what the cost'

Figes on war communism?

'The policies of war communism were seen by the Bolsheviks as an instrument of struggle against their social and internal enemies'

General Denikin (Armed Forces of Southern Russia)?

'If I raise the republican flag I lose half my volunteers, and if I raise the monarchist flag I lose the other half'

Grigori Zinoviev (Bolshevik) on NEP?

'[NEP] is only a temporary deviation, a tactical retreat, a clearing of land for a new and decisive attack of labour against the front of international capitalism'

Katie McElvanney on bolsheviks never really nailing womens rights?

'The early communist vision of womens equality and liberation…was never fully realised'

Kollontai quotes about the collective (support)?

'Support in the collective and in society'

Kollontai quotes about the collective (responsibility)?

'Responsibility for the child is passing from the family into the collective'

Kollontai quotes about the collective (aid)?

'Communist society will come to the aid of parents'

Lenin on the need for education?

'As long as there is such thing in the country as illiteracy it is hard to talk about political education'

Lenin quote about the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

'He is no socialist who will not sacrifice his fatherland for the triumph of social revolution'

Lenin quotes about NEP? (capitalism)

'Let the peasants have their slice of capitalism'

Leonard Schapiro on tenth party congress + kronstadt?

'The tenth party congress…was dominated by the plain evidence of the growing unpopularity of communist rule…of which the kronstadt revolt was only the culminating proof'

Martin McAuley quote about NEP?

'If war communism was a leap into socialism then the Nep was a leap out of socialism'

Pipes on whether red terror was inherent to the regime?

'The Red Terror…was a prophylactic measure designed to nip in the bud any thoughts of resistance'

Robert Service quote about how the Bolsheviks governed (asserted)?

'Central power was being asserted in an authoritarian fashion'

Trotsky quote about principles and dissolving the constituent assembly?

'In dissolving the constituent assembly we violated the formal principles of democracy, but we did it in the name of principles which are higher - the principles of social revolution' (Jan 1918)

Trotsky quote about the red army?

'An army cannot be built without repression'

Lenin quotes about NEP (steps)?

'Two steps forward, one step back'

Lenin quotes about NEP (breathe)

'What is needed now is an economic breathing spell'

Decree on food transfer to municipalities?

'All food supplies arriving at the city...are now placed in the charge of the city government for distribution’