Russia revolution and dictatorship

Nicholas's abdication took place on?

The 2nd of March 1917

This meant what for Russian government?

A new government, the provisional government would take over, created by members of the Duma

Who was the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government?

Foreign Minister?

Minister of Justice?

Prince Lvov

Milykov

Kerensky

They had little power in Petrograd and therefore the power lay with who? What did they control?

How many members did it have by the day after Nicholas's abdication

The Petrograd Soveits, formed at the same time as the Provisional Government, lead by workers and socialists, mainly Mensheviks

They had power over the arms, railway, power supply and industries in the capital and likely could've taken over however didn't want to cause a civil war

March 3rd: 1300 members

Chariman of the Petrograd Soviets

Chkheidze - a Menshevik

What 2 things did the Soviet Order No1 do? nd when was it?

1st of March: the soviet order No1 gave soldiers committees control of all weapons and would carry out Provisional Governments instructions, given the Soviets agreed.

It also abolished addressing officers with "your excellency" "your honour" with "Mr General"

Who was Kerensky and why was he influential

He was a member of both the Provisional Government as the Minister of Justice and the Petrograd Soviets, creating a line of communication between the two

What did the government achieve in its first 2 months (5)

Tsar ministers and officials were imprisoned

Secret police were disbanded

Death penalty was abolished

Freedom of press, speech and religion

Workers got 8hour working day an rights to form Trade Unions and go on strikes

Challenges to the Provisional Government? (5)

War

Land and peasants

National minorities

Social reform

Deteriorating economy

How did the Cadets, Socialists and PG wanted to handle the war?

Result of this?

Kadets wanted to stay in the war as they felt it would secure future Western relations and foreign loans as the state was on the brink of bankruptcy

Socialists wanted to only fight in order to defend Russian territory

PG: Milykov (the Minister of War) wanted aggressive war to gain territory like Constantinople and make allies

It resulted in anti war demonstrations by Soviets and Milykov was forced to resign

The July offensive

Kerensky, the new minister of war, tried to launch a major offensive with propaganda campaigns which lasted only 3 days with 100,000's soldiers killed and territory lost.

This resulted in the July days

July 4th:

20,000 armed soldiers from Kronstradt naval base arrive in Petrograd demanding the soviets take power

Chernov attempted to calm them and was attacked - it was a violent atmosphere

What did some historians say about the July days?

Some saw it as an early attempt by the Bolsheviks to assume power as Sukhanov reported armed groups led by Bolsheiks, but Lenin didn't associate himself with the urisings

Why did the July days fail?

No direction: Trotsky was arrested and Lenin was hiding in Finland. It just left the Bolshevik newspaper, the Spark, to be shut down.

Hardly a development for the Bolsheviks, rather instead it was a set back.

What else happened in July in terms of Provisional government leaders

Prince Lvov resigned and Kerensky became the Party Chairman

Problems to Kerensky:

Industrialists and business men were loosing faith in the government: couldn't control workers or get stability needed to run a business (strikes and wage demands): 568 factory closures in Petrograd between February to July 1917 Landowners losing faith as the government: 237 reported land sieges in July 1917

Economic situation: food i.e. Black Bread had increased by 500% since 1914 and everyday items such as soap had increased by 1800% since 1914 - huge inflation

Kornilov affair

Kornilov began moving forces to the city to assume military control. Kerensky panicked on Kornilovs move to the capital and asked the soviets for help to defend the capital. People were terrified of military dictatorship.

Bolshevik effort:

The Bolsheviks came to aid the city with foot soldiers, workers and sailors and the Provisional government gave them arms

What happened next?

Kornilovs troops never arrived as the railway workers halted trains carrying them to Petrograd and Bolshevik agents persuaded them to desert Kornilov.

After this he was arrested.

Consequences:

Kerensky's reputation was damaged

Menshevik and SR who were associated with the Provisional Government were discredited

Soldiers murdered hundreds of officials

Bolsheviks were seen as saviours

What happened to bolshevik party membership

Increased from 10,000 to 250,000

Municipal government election results, July vs October

SR = July: 58%. October: 14%

Mensheviks: July: 12%. October: 4%

Bolsheviks: July: 11%. October: 51%

Lenin's return. when? Exile since when? what did he do?

April 1917

Had previously been in exile since 1903

created the April Thesis

April thesis:

Urged Russia to withdraw their support of the provisional government as 2 constitutions couldn't exist forever

Urged Russia to immediately withdraw from WW1 as it was ruining the economy

Urged banks to be nationalised and soviet control of manufactured goods

What happened to the April Thesus

Bolsheviks and the social revolutionaries rejected this, but the Bolsheviks did publish it highlighting they were Lenin's personal ideas

Within a few weeks at the Bolshevik 7th all-russian conference it was adapted and the slogan "all power to the soviets" was created. It gained peasant support through their statement "peace. bread. land", calling for immediate redistribution of land.

October Revolution 1917

Lenin had previously been in hiding in Finland following the July days

Bolsheviks had control of soviets, with 300,000 members

Popularity at an all time high 51% of the vote in the October municipal election

Liberals another conservative forces demoralised after the Kornilov affair

During the July days Lenin felt it wasn't correct timing resulting in failure as there was no direct leadership, however he felt this was now the correct time

Evidence showing Lenin new October was time for the revolution

September: sent a letter urging theBolshevik General Committee, but some Bolshevik members felt it was premature

Lenin came to Petrograd and in October he spent all night in a meeting until they agreed. Zinoviev and Kamenev were still sceptical and even Trotsky suggested waiting till the next Bolshevik conference

Was it due to PG failings?

Kerensky played into Bolshevik hands

He tried to send the radical army units out of Petrograd, promoting the idea that he was planning to abandon the city

Bolsheviks then were able to persuade the soviets to set up the Military Revolution Committee, dominated by Bolsheviks and controlled by Trotsky, giving the Bolsheviks direction and control of soldiers in the capital, arms and ammunition

They also closed two Bolshevik newspapers (censorship), restricted the power of the MCR and raised bridges that linked the working class disrtits to Petrograd, giving Bolsheviks an excuse for action

Ultimately....

Kerensky couldn't find loyal troops and left Petrograd in a car borrowed from the American Embassy

What did a Russian novelist say about the revolution

Gorky: condemned the revolution as "pogram of greed, hatred and violence" likely as individuals began robbing from the Tsar's wine cellars etc

What was the myth of the October revolution:

Violent depiction of takeover

heroic

glorious revolutionary image

Reality:

Red guard units cut off the railway line and stations, the power station, bridges and telephone exchange easily

Not much action the red guards rather just found individuals from theProvisional Government and arrested them

The only trouble they really ran into was at the telephone office

Who were the red guards?

Workers armed and trained by Bolsheviks

What happened at the end of October

The first All-Russian Congress of Soviets began its session, with Kamenev as the chairman delegating 14 people as the new government called the Sovnarkom

Government:

Foreign affairs minister

Minister of war

Minister of nationalities

Minister of International affairs

Trotsky

Trotsky

Stalin

Rykov

Opposition early on?

the railway men's, post and telegraph union threaten to cut off all communication if Bolsheviks didn't meet with other parties

Who favoured socialist coalition

Kamenev and Zinoviev

What did Lenin do?

He ensured the meeting collapsed

Although he did bring some social revolutionaries into the Sovnarkom

What did they do to survive? plus historian quote

They gave the workers and peasants what they wanted

Acton: "no Russian government had ever been so responsive to the pressure from below"

Decrees in the first month (October)

Decree on peace: aimed to pull Russia out of the war

Decree on land: gave peasants the right to takeover estates and divide up the land

Decree on workers' control" factory committees had the right to control production, finance and supervision of management

Max 8 hour working day for workers

Social insurance was introduced offering benefits to the unemployed and elderly

Opposition press banned

November 1917:

Abolition of titles and class distinctions: essentially seizing land from nobles

Worker control of factories

Women declared as equal and able to own property

December 1917:

Chekha set up

Banks nationalised

Marriage and divorce was considered a civil matter, not church matters

January 1918:

creation of the Red Army

Bolshevik threats:

Kerensky assembled an army outnumbering Lenin's forces

Railway, post and telegraph unions on strike opposing a one party government = no food, materials or equipment

In Moscow and other cities there was fierce fighting between provisional government and bolshevik supporters

Many banks refused to provide finances to the government for them to pass decrees

Dealing with opposition: censorship.

Closed down opposition press, firstly centre fight newspapers and then socialist newspapers too

Terror:

Kadet party was denounced and outlawed leading to Kadets being arrested, 2 of which were beaten to death by Bolshevik sailors

SRs and Mensheviks arrested

Chekha to combat counter revolution

Red gourds and military controlled by Chekha / bolsheviks

Purges of civil service:

Junior officials willing to support bolsheviks were promoted and brought in, often 3rd rate people or corrupt opportunists

Bureaucracy created was poor quality but obedient

Class warfare:

Intimidating the middle classes

Bolshevik press named the Burhzui "enemies of the people", "parasites" and "blood suckers"

State licensed and encouraged people to "loot the looters"

Legal system was abolished and replaced with Revolutionary Justice

Well dressed people on the streets were beaten and robbed

November 1917 constitutional assembly:

SR: 53% of the vote, let by Chernov

Bolsheviks: 24% of the vote.

What happened to the constitutional assembly

He dissolved it in 1918, justifying this by stating it must be second to the Congress of Soviets and Sovnarkom

March 1918:

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: an agreement with Germans to bring peace, but lost lots of Russian territory such as Poland, Georgia, Finland etc, and 55million people.

What did the treaty cause

Lots of resentment creating a more unpopular Bolshevik government

SR's and Mensheviks were in open opposition to the Bolshevik party

Lenin narrowly survived 2 assassination attempts: 1 by SR member Kaplan on the 30th of August sash viewed Lenin a "traitor to the revolution"

chetah turned Bolsheviks towards terror as a means to maintain control

SR uprisings in the summer of 1918 was ruthlessly dealt with by Bolsheviks arresting hundreds with over 1000 executions

Lenin's ideology specified what?

That you don't need democracy with voting, as long as you do what the people want, 'dictatorship of the Prolateriat' - Marx. Lenin rather wanted a dictator doing what the Prolateriat want

But:

People were often unhappy wit the bolsheviks as whilst they helped people they also crushed opposition with autocratic methods such as the chekha, censorship, terror.

Lenin was also ruthless, like Stalin.

Phases of Bolshevik consolidation

1917-1918: ruthlessness and concessions

1918-1920: civil war between the whites and reds

1920-1922: civil war between the red and greens

Historian view of Lenin as pragmatic:

Nettl - gave the people what they wanted without democracy sd they didn't understand philosophy

Historian view of Lenin as idealistic

Ulan: initially ignored Marxism in order to deal with problems and civil war and eventually planned to introduce marxism

His sovnarkom system : how people got voted up

People

Vote for people to join congress

Members of congress vote who is on sovnarkom

sovnarkom created

but:

Bolshevik central committee look over and choose who's on Sovnarkom, ultimately making the final decision

Why create Sovnarkom?

Creating a constitution to express both Bolshevik legitimacy and give the appearance of democracy

Vote value:

Only the working class could vote, peasants, workers and soldiers (the 'toiling masses') and the 'exploiting classes' were excluded

Worker votes 5 to 1 more valuable than peasants as their were more peasants, and they were illiterate and suspicious

How often did they meet

Congress rarely met whilst Sovnarkom often met

Civil war: 1918 - 1920

Why did the reds win? reds success:

-Trotsky established an effective defence of the main region around Petrograd and Moscow, and exploited red control of the railways. By 1919 Denkin and Kolchak troops retreated rapidly

-Red conscript army outnumbered whites and had resources, ammunition and Moscow railed hub

-Single Unified Command Structure as Trotsky organised them

-Lenin backed Trotsky in the use of ex tsarist officers

-Trotsky's special train covered 65,000 miles from front to front

-Peasant support from land distribution

Whites weaknesses

-Greens didn't want landlords as they were even worse the the Bolsheviks

-Russian nationalism alienated national minorities

-Political pogrom had no peasant appeal

-Whites scattered round the edges of the central area causing separation and therefore poor communication and coordination

-Different groups fought amongst themselves such as Admiral Kolchak over threw Komuch in a military coup

-Foreign intervention gave whites weapons but half-hearted and ineffective

-Overlooked the value of propoganda

International intervention, who (4), why, what did this lead to and why couldn't they make much difference?

UK, France, Japan and USA

They feared communism and the removal of the monarchy

Lead to racism in Italy and Nazism in Germany

Just had a Cold War between 1914 and 1918, so they couldn't effectively sent much

Traditionalist view of the civil war:

Reds vs whites, presented by soviet historians in 1922-1990, glossing over the other left wing groups to make reds appear more popular and promote their legitimacy

Revisionist view:

Reds vs whites 1918-1920

Reds vs greens 1920-1922

This view fits with the idea that Lenin believed popularity didn't matter as long as you gave the people what they wanted

Civil war 1920-1922:

How many provinces was this across

How many armies were peasants and how many were related to the Social Revolutionaries

What did Bolsheviks say about this?

Reds vs greens

Extensive upheaval in 36 provinces

By April 1921 there were 165 peasant armies, 140 related t the Social Revosultionaries

Bolsheviks dismissed these as "hooliganism" and "banditry"

Why did they revolt? (2)

-to end the one party states, with slogans such as "soviets without communists"

-Peasant fears of food levy, grain requisitioning and early attempts of collective farming, another slogan "down with state monopoly on grain trade"

Lenin's contribution over all (not relating to civil war)

Ideology and books such as "what is to be done?" where he sated revolution would be led by a revolutionary vanguard

1900-1917 he moved around Europe conducting research and meeting Marxists. Continual development of ideology, funded by others

Adapted Marxism to fit Russia as Russia wasn't ready in terms of industrialisation but Lenin didn't want to wait until capitalism was completely surprising individuals = Leninism

He refused to work with other parties, showing as beneficial during the Kornilov affair

Populisation and ideology by Lenin

"Peace, bread, land" simplicity for those illiterate "all power to the soviets"

Founded Marxist newspaper 'the spark' with Martov

Leadership:

1903 at the second RSDLP congress in London Martov argued party members should be able to express themselves individually vs Lenin arguing they shouldn't resulting in a split

April Thesis 1917 - new bolshevism

July days 1917: strategically waited till provisional government support decreased

October: municipal government election they had 51% of the vote

October revolution: went against Kamenev and Zinoviev ad even Trotsky - although Trotsky did train and prepare the army for the revolution

Economy under Lenin: state capitalism

When was this put in place and for howlong

1917-1918

October: Granted land redistribution stating that all land belonged to the "entire people"

November: granted workers 'control' of factories

December: Veshenka was established (the council for National Economy)

Failures of this

-Workers failed to organise factories efficiently

-Some workers awarded themselves with unsustainable pay rises

-They lacked skills needed for successful management

-High inflation as their was more money than goods avaliable

-This meant peasants hoarded grain

-Leaving people in the city of Petrograd on rations of just 50grams of bread per day

-This was also effected by the loss of Ukraine to the Germans

-Food riots during February in other cities

War communism: what was introduced to peasants ?

who did they do this and what was set up?

what was introduced to factories? (3)

1918-1921

Introduction of grain requisitioning, with the Supplies Dictatorship set up in 1918

Units of red gaurds and soldiers forcibly requisitioned grain from peasants

Labour discipline was Brought back into the workplace and fines were given for lateness or absenteeism

Internal passports introduced stop workers fleeing to the countryside

Piece rate work also reintroduced

What industries were nationalised

1918: Decree on nationalisation brought all industries under state control, but did nothing to increase production

How was rationing organised?

Red army and labour force were the first priority, civil servants and professionals got less and then the burzhooi were given barley enough to live

What was banned?

All private trade, but as their wasn't enough consumer goods being produced, their became a huge black market

Was war communism economic necessity

- May 1918 the country was in a state of economic collapse and worker control only made things worse

- Shortage of raw materials meant production decreased, inflation increased and the value the rouble collapsed

- Peasants wouldn't supply food if their was no goods for it to be exchanged for

- This created foot riots in the early 1918s and workers fleeing the cities in search of food

- Centralised system was necessary during civil war in both wiping out opposition through limiting rations and providing the front lines with more food

How much of a workers income was spent on food

3/4

How many prosititutes in Moscow came from Burzhooi families

42%

Requisitioning brigades:

They were brutal and quotas were filled even if it left peasants starving

Peasants mudered and attacked Cheka members, with one Cheka mans stomach slit open and stuffed with grain

Cheka grew by how much?

June 1918 vs 1921

June 1918: thousands of members

1921: 31,000 frontline agents

What's one reason this began to increase after 1918 so rapidly

1918 assassination attempt against Lenin

How many deaths at the hands of the cheka, official records vs estimated statistics (between 1918 - 1920)

1918-1920

Official records: 13,000

Estimated: 500,000

Lenin's death

January 1924

Who were the people mentioned in Lenin's letter on who his successor should be?

Trotsky- best fit

Stalin

Zinoviev

Kamenev

Bukharin

What did he say about Stalin

He was capable of handling responsibility and would use power for his own good

Problem with the letter

It was never released.

Written in 1922, after Lenin had had multiple strokes, and hid by Lenin's wife and never released.

Economy: War communism

NEP: New Economic Policy: when?

1921

What did it do? (3 things)

Got rid of grain requisitioning and instead added 'tax in kind' (peasants had to give a fix amount of grain to state) and allowed peasant to sell extra grain to make a profit = private trading and money economy was back

State control of the 'commanding heights' of the economy - large scale industries - steel and oil, transport and banking system

Ban on private trade was removed

What did this in turn do for peasants?

Stopped uprisings

Problems with NEP and communist ideology? (how did Lenin persuade them and who backed him?)

Many party members considered this a betrayal and against ideology but Lenin fought hard to push it through during the 10th party congress in 1921, backed by Bukharin, arguing it was "economic concession to avoid political concessions"

Final thing that pushed Bolsheviks to argue to the NEP

The Kronstradt revolt which split the party - this meant the party had lost power and were prepared to fail behind Lenin as long as the NEP was a temporary measure

What was the Kronstradt revolting when

1921

Estimated mass meetings of 15,000 men from various ships and garrisons demanded immediate new elections to the Soviet by secret ballot, freedom of speech, end of grain requisitioning and freedom of other socialist parties

Estimated number of sailors and civilians leaving Kronstradt to live in Finland?

Official figures of wounded and dead

What have historians said about these figures

An estimated 8,000 people left Kronstadt and went to live in Finland. Official figures suggest that 527 people were killed and 4,000 were wounded. - historians have claimed however its much likely the numbers are higher than this and an estimated 500 sailors were exexcuted for their part in the rebellion

Lenin also passed the NEP to stop peasant rebellions: 2 important examples?

Tambov rebellion in 1921

Revolt in Siberia too

How much of small-scale industry was privately owned by 1923?

80%

Lenin did keep most of the heavy industry though - what he called the 'commanding heights of the economy'

Quote from Lenin about the extent of peasant uprisings on troubling the government?

"Only agreement with the peasantry can save socialist revolution'

Was it successful? yes:

Industrial production

1921: 2000 million roubles

1926: 11,080 million roubles