History U4 AOS2

Initial Protest to Bolshevik Rule:

• Russia’s civil servants went on strike in protest over the October ‘coup’.

• Keys to offices + safes hidden, records destroyed, desks and cupboards emptied.

• Employees of the State Bank refused to hand over any money to Sovnarkom officials. → 20 November 1917 (armed Red Guards help) Bolsheviks gained access to money in State Bank. 

• The Union of Russian Railroad Workers (Vikzhel) led by Mensheviks + SRs threatened to cut off supplies to Petrograd unless negotiations to form a coalition socialist gov. occurred

Sovnarkom: (initially)

• On the Morning of 27 October 1917 Lenin announced a new Soviet Government was to be formed: the Council of People’s Commissars - Sovnarkom.

• All of the Ministers were Bolsheviks:

  • Alexandra Kollontai - Commissar of Social Welfare 

  • Josef Stalin - Commissar of Nationalities

  • Aleksandr Shlyapnikov - Commissar of Labour

  • Anatoli Lunacharsky - Commissar of Enlightenment

  • Trotsky - Commissar of Foreign Affairs

• Lenin was Chairman.

Soviet Central Executive Committee:

• Other inital leadership after the fall of the Provisional Government

• On the same day a new Soviet Central Executive Committee was voted in by the Congress of Soviets. This consisted of: 

  • 29 Left SRs

  • 6 Menshevik-Internationalists

  • 62 Bolsheviks

*To appease concerns over the Bolshevik domination of these new bodies, Lenin claimed that Sovnarkom would only rule until the Constituent Assembly was convened after November elections.

Bolshevik Perspective: (early days of regimine)

• Early days of new regime = a ‘dualism’ in Bolshevik thought - authoritarian and libertarian.

• Authoritarian: strong, centralised control would have to be instituted to bring order to the shattered economy + formalise the ‘dictatorship of the Proletariat’ ending rule of ‘exploiters’. 

• Libertarian: the masses should be encouraged to participate in the revolutionary process.

• The idea that the proletariat should ‘loot the looters’ appealed to the hungry lower classes.

• Bolshevik propaganda posters promoted this = It was easy for people to blame their hardships on ‘burzhooi spiders’ (bourgeois exploiters) and ‘enemies of the people’.

Challenges: (early Bolshevki Regime)

The new regime faced considerable hardships:

• Social unrest - increased strike action and reduced law and order

• Class polarisation

• Economic breakdown

• Military crisis and continued involvement in WW1 

• Internal party disagreements

• Political opponents - SRs + Mensheviks threatened to cut off supplies to Petrograd (controlled railways)

Post-revolution anarchy - Drinking:

• The fall of the Provisional Government led to a general breakdown of law and order.

• The Winter Palace wine cellars were ransacked and widespread looting, despite Sovnarkom efforts to maintain order around seized gov. buildings.

• Wine riots / ‘drink pogroms’ were ferocious. Mobs raided cellars of well-off people, fighting broke out. Some drank themselves to death.

• Officials had collections of liquor destroyed -  crowds gathered to drink  alcohol from gutter.

Violence - early class warfare

• Brutal and excessive street violence occurred after the October Revolution. 

• Mobs lynched suspected criminals. Crimes such as looting, robbery and physical assault was common. Bourgeois were murdered in the street. 

• The Bolsheviks did not have the power to stop this violence - but they didn’t discourage it.  Popular violence served a purpose in terrorising those seen as class enemies.

Reaction: The Cheka (early Bolshevik actions)

• The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Speculation and Sabotage was proposed on December 7 1917. 

• This ‘extraordinary commission’ was seen to be a temporary and emergency measure - NO!

• Felix Dzerzhinsky- head of the CHEKA (previous member of Milrevcom and head of security for the Bolsheviks at their Smolny headquarters). He had a reputation for toughness and inscrutability that earned him the nickname ‘Iron Felix’. 

Cheka elaborated: (early Bolshevik actions)

• Initially an organisation for investigating than punishment

• Head of Cheka = Felix Dzerzhinsky, founded with a staff of 23 Chekists (cheka members)

• As Bolsheviks were increasingly challenged, the CHEKA’s powers increased - arrest, imprisonment, execution

• January 1918 the first assassination attempt on Lenin caused a shift.

• Execution of enemies was unjust - were not tried = Safeguard survival of Regime.

• Cheka’s powers encouraged - threat of German invasion from breakdown of negotiations in Brest-Litovsk, Feb 1918. Promoted the release of an emergency decree, 21 February: ‘The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger!’

Reaction: Decrees (early Bolshevik actions)

• The Soviet government had two aims issuing their early initiatives: 

  • Ensuring a continuation of power 

  • Instituting radical social and economic change. 

• The Bolsheviks wanted to be known as a government of revolutionary action, unlike the P.G. 

• Aimed at encouraging popular participation in the revolution + securing position of Bolshevik

• Sovnarkom issued 116 decrees on various topics over the coming months. 

• Aimed at ensuring mass participation in the revolution.

Decrees Included (Main):

• Land Decree 27th October 1917 - peasants the right to seize estates - legalized something already happening, Bolsheviks projecting an image of support for peasantry. 

• Press Decree 27th October 1917 - banned bourgeoisie publications (Kadets)

• Decree on the Hours of Labour 29th October 1917 - workers guaranteed 8 hour working day 

• Workers’ Control Decree 14 Nov. - labourors could organise self management in factories

• Decree on Peace 26th October - a call to end WWI, ISSUED SAME DAY AS POWER TAKEOVER!

• Rights of the People of Russia Decree 2nd Nov. - national self-determination/independence to ethnic minorities. Finland took up the offer, declared independence Nov. 17th.

• Decree on Abolition of Existing Legal Institutions 24th Nov - Criminal justice system replaced by People’s Courts = ‘revolutionary justice’ handed out by judges, untrained.

• Also issued decrees introducing some women's rights, changed calendar, nationalised banks

State Capitalism - Overview

*A semi-capitalist economy, regulated by a socialist gov. for the benefit of all Soviet citizens.

• The Bolsheviks inherited a collapsing economy - sought to impose policies that would bring Russia’s economic chaos under control. Lenin proposed State Capitalism. 

• A mix of capitalism and socialism together - a transition to eventual complete socialism.

  • Soviet Gov. exercised tight control over key industries

  • Forming a monopoly on trade.

  • Single centralised banking sector =direct fiscal policy.

• Existing economic enterprises remained under manager control-overseed by Workers Council

Polities of State Capitalism - changed or continued

State:	Capitalism:
Government control and ownership of some industries [CHANGE] Centralised banking [CHANGE] Economy overseen by Vesenkha [CHANGE] Workers’ Control supervises management [CHANGE]	Most businesses and industries retain old managers as ‘bourgeois experts’ [CONTINUITY] Free market remains: no significant change in economic foundations [CONTINUITY]

State Capitalism Explored:

• Adopted in April 1918 -  “steps towards socialism!”

• Lenin saw this as a transitional phase of development from capitalism to socialism

• A mixed economy:

  • Employment of bourgeois specialists

  • Industries managed by workers

Supreme Council of the National Economy - Vesenkah:

• Established on 2 December 1917 to coordinate economic activity.

• A Sovnarkom department, playing a supervisory role - managing and coordinating workers’ committees and company management boards

Challenges for State Capitalism:

• State Capitalism was undermined by deepening social and economic turmoil

• Not all bolsheviks agreed on the policy of state capitalism - Bukharin voiced opposition, and wanted a completely socialist economy.

• State Capitalism was a temporary compromised measure

• Factories were formally nationalised under workers control decree

• Many workers took the nationalisation process into their own hands - Nationalisations from below, workers seized and nationalised factories without gov. permission.

  • For every factory formally nationalities (Workers Control Decree) - 4 more were seized. Proletariat pushing bolshevik gov. away from the ideal of a mixed economy.

Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly:

• Elections for the Constituent Assembly officially held 12 November 1917

• It was planned to be held by P.G - but delay positioned Bolsheviks to be perceived as a reliable body that would guarantee elections and the meeting of the assembly.

• Bolshevik were concerned - what if they lost? Should they surrender government?

• Bolsheviks lacked support among the peasantry - who preferred SRs

• Lenin argued in favour of delaying the elections. Others in the party disagreed, and Lenin’s proposal was overruled by Sverdlov, chairman of the Soviet Executive Committee.

• Voting: Nov 12th - Nov 15th. Tallied throughout December, 5th January for opening of C.A.

Election Results:

• Bolsheviks won only 24% of the vote (175 seats), whereas the SRs had 52% of the vote (370 out of 707 seats), mainly from the peasant vote

• Bolshevik gained a majority of votes in towns + cities + among troops = won proletarian vote.

• Lenin made his thoughts on the Constituent Assembly known = projecting etc.

• SR leader Viktor Chernov was elected chairman, Right SRs and Mensheviks together held majority in CA.

Lenin’s projection - wawa: (constituent assembly)

• Called the C.A “a bourgeois parliament” and declared the C.A to be redundant

• Claimed that the C.A was “completely incompatible with the construction of socialism”

• C.A villainised - made to be the enemy 

The Assembly Convenes - 5th January 1918: (constituent assembly)

• 4pm (5th): Delegates to the Constituent Assembly gathered at the Tauride Palace for the first opening session - Bolsheviks, Left SRs, Mensheviks, Right SRs and other groups

• Debate starts in the CA - The are Red Guards and soldiers in the assembly hall

• Bolsheviks demand the CA approve the decrees made by Sovnarkom since October 1917 (outlined in the Declaration of the Rights of the Toilers and Exploited People - read to CA)

• Right SRs and Mensheviks condemn Bolshevik seizure of power in Oct. → Stated they would not recognise the Sovnarkom. Continued debate through the night.

The Dissolution of the Assembly - 6th January 1918: (constituent assembly)

• 2am (6th): Bolsheviks and left-SRs staged a walkout (pre-planned)

• Red Guards and Kronstadt sailors stayed behind and intimidated the Menshevik speakers

• 4am - Red Guards brought proceedings to a close due to being tired, deputies shoved out

• Meanwhile, the assembly passed decrees calling for: the distribution of land among the peasantry, democratic peace with Germany, declaration of a republic.

• 5pm - Deputies return to the Tauride Palace, doors closed - they are locked out

• Bolshevik troops present deputies with a Decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly

*Bolshevik shut CA through force - Dissolved (continuation, reminiscent of Dumas)

Significance: Dissolution of the Constituent Assembly

• The ease of which the ‘problem’ of the Constituent Assembly was solved proved to Bolsheviks that violent intimidation worked well when dealing with political opponents.

• Little public protest over the closure of the C.A - dissolution and indifference , unchallenged

• Workers were preoccupied with securing food and fuel for their families, peasantry saw the assembly as a ‘distant thing in the city’ (Figes)

• 8 January 1918 - Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets, calls for drafting of a new constitution. Final version accepted -  19 July 1918.

Lenin for Peace: (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)

• Lenin had advocated pulling Russia out of World War I = “bourgeois imperialist” war. 

• The Bolshevik Decree on Peace (26 October 1917) was widely supported, but increased anti-war sentiment = thousands of desertions on the battlefield.

  • It was also only a call for peace - not a formal treaty or ceasefire.

• Lenin felt that a formal peace treaty with Germany needed to be made immediately - which would allow Russia’s socialist revolution to strengthen, inspire + set off revs elsewhere

Bolshevik Leadership Divided - Treaty of Brest Litvosk

Lenin:	Trosky:	Left Communists (Bukharin):
Lenin took a realistic stance: Russia could not win. Peace for the survival of the revy. government.	Trotsky took a compromise position: ‘Neither peace, nor war' - Russia could not win, but delay peace settlement to encourage mutiny in Germany.	Opposed the Treaty: Believed a treaty would endorse German imperialism. If germans invade it will spark a revolutionary war sparking socialist uprising.

Delegation - The Path the Peace: (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Trotsky, as the commissar of foreign affairs, led the delegation.

• This delegation negotiated with the German High Command at the town of Brest-Litovsk in Poland throughout late December, January and February 1918. 

• Trotsky pursued a policy that he described as “neither peace, nor war.”

• Russian delegation however had no stance to assert any power in a losing position.

Lenin’s View (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Russia’s military was too tired to continue fighting, Russia needed ‘immediate peace’ (Lenin)

• Russia had already lost territory to Germany -  if Germany won, Russia would not lose more.

• If Germany lost on both fronts, Russia would regain occupied lands

Trotsky’s Tactics: (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Delayed negotiations, pretended to accept terms then rejected, contradictory speeches etc  

• Wanted a revolution in Germany so Russia does not have to give up anything. Agreed with Lenin that Russia needed to exit the war – no realistic chance of winning against Germany.

• Difference - Trotsky had hope that:

  • Germany would lose the war on the Western Front and a revolution would occur

  • Aim: extend peace talks - buy time for Bolsheviks to exploit mutinies in German armed forces, spread propaganda, urge soldiers to resist orders.

The Germans Respond: - Treaty of Brest - Litvosk

• Grew increasingly frustrated with Trotsky's actions - offered an ultimatum in February 1918

  • Ultimatum - Accept Pact Treaty or hostilities would resume.

• 18 February 1918, Germany sent 700,000 troops into Russian territory - met with no resistance and conquered Soviet territory with ease. ‘Comical war’- General Hoffman

*Negotiations go so bad, and are so delayed, Germany break armistice and advance on Petrograd.

Capital moved and Debate Continued: (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Soviet Government was thrown into disarray = feared Germans would capture government

• 12th March - The capital was moved from Petrograd to Moscow - Soviet officials set up residence in the Kremlin.

• The debate over treaty or continued war continued - the most profound crisis within the party at the time ‘revolutionary phrasemongering’. 

• Debate ceased when Lenin threatened to resign unless his proposals were met.

The terms of the Treaty were severe - Russia: (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Lost control of Poland + the Baltic regions of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

• Lost 32% of its agricultural land - affects food supply

• Lost 34% of population (62 million people)

• Lost 26% of its railway

• Lost 54% of its industry

• Lost 89% of its coal and iron ore reserves

• Had to pay 3 billion roubles in war reparations

The Treaty is Signed: (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• 19 February 1918 -  Berlin was sent a message expressing the Soviet gov.’s willingness to sign a peace treaty. German troops continued to advance.

• 22 February - A new treaty presented, with harsher terms than the original treaty (5 January)

• 3 March 1918 - The Sovnarkom accepted demands, signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

• 15 March 1918 - The Party Congress agreed and gave its approval to the treaty = final ratification by the Fourth Congress of Soviets.

Why agree to it? (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Had to uphold decree on peace + “Peace, Land and Bread”

• The detrimental effect of the War on Russia, and its previous destruction of P.G + Autocracy

Consequences: (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Disaster for Russia, national humiliation fostered resentment and opposition to Bolsheviks - especially building resentment of Kadets (banned) and Tsarist Generals

• Crippled their already plagued economy.

• Trotsky refused to put his signature to the peace treaty - resigned as Commissar of Foreign Affairs, took up the position of Commissar of War

• Britain and France (Allied with Russia) critical of the Treaty - international threats.

• Begins a civil war!

Consequences - The End of the Coalition Government (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• The Left Communists continued to agitate for the rejection of the peace terms

• 19 March 1918 - Political opposition, Left SRs resigned from the Sovnarkom in protest

• Bolsheviks changed the party name: All-Russian Communist Party 

• The Bolsheviks were no longer partners in a coalition socialist government → dictatorship

• Harsher terms are a direct result of Bolshevik posturing, and failure to agree to initial terms.

The Treaty is Reversed: (Treaty of Brest Litvosk)

• Germany defeated after USA entered to war (over 11 November 1918),

• 13 November 1918 - the Communists renounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, regained much territory lost. Lenin’s gamble paid off, and his reputation as a wise leader grew.

A shameful peace.

Overview of cause, course and Red Victory Basics: Civil War

• April 1918 to 1920 (ambiguous end date)

• Red Army (communists) against the White Army 

• Petrograd taken with ease by Bolsheviks, the rest of the country was another matter - Social Revolutionary support from peasants in rural areas.

• Lenin’s approach to conflict:' ‘War is the only way to secure victory, shut down.’

• Internal and External threat to Bolshevik rule. 

Overview: Russia Civil War

• The Russian Civil War was very complex. A war of movement with rapidly changing fronts.

• The forces in armed opposition changed over time.

• The civil war was complicated by:

  • White armies - internal opposition

  • Foreign interventionists - forces + armies from neighbouring countries - white

  • Green Army - peasant armies, neither reds or white

  • Czech Legion - Soldiers, turned against Bolshevik 

• Late 1918: 4 distinct threats: The Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR); Kolchak’s Siberian forces; the North-Western Army; foreign interventionalists.

Czech Legion: Civil War

 *soldiers who previously originally fought for the Russians against the Central Powers

• Czech soldiers - 40,000 men. With signing Brest-Livost, Bolsheviks wanted legion disarmed + sent to leave Russia for Vladivostok. Legion feared being trapped/ given to enemies.

• 22 May 1918 onwards, Legion revolted, overthrew regional soviet authorities. 

• Helped to establish a new SR-led government (8 June 1918) at Samara - Komuch

• Legion traveled back/forth along Trans-Siberian Railway, overthrowing Soviet forces. Actions provided incentive for other groups to organise mass armed opposition to Soviet regime.

White Armies: Civil War

• Forces that opposed Soviet regime. An assortment of groups, united in hatred of Bolsheviks

  • Monarchists  - wanted reinstate Romanov dynasty

  • Patriots - resented losses of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

  • Republicans - people who wanted a republic based on a Constituent Assembly

  • Refugees - forced to flee because of their social class

  • Minority groups - who wanted greater autonomy

  • Political leaders - ousted by Bolsheviks.

• Late 1918, 4 distinct white army groups emerged threatening the communist regime: the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR), Kolchak’s Siberian forces, the North-Western Army and foreign interventionalists.

The armed forces of South Russia: Civil War

• Largest of the White armies - called the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR).

• Supreme Commander - General Denikin, led Whites during most major Civil War campaigns

• 1918–1920: Denikin’s forces threatened Soviet Russia from the south. November 1919, within 300 kilometres of Moscow. BUT forces outnumbered, forced to retreat early 1920.

Kolchak’s Siberian Forces: Civil War

• September 1918 - The Provisional All-Russian Government formed, based in Omsk, Siberia = the only attempt at a civilian-led anti-Bolshevik government (previously from Komuch). 

• Lasted 8 weeks, until overthrown by Kolchak (example of lack of unity of White forces)

• Kolchak was recognised as the head of the White movement (declared himself the Supreme Ruler of the Russian State and was executed on 7/2/1920) - BUT poor military commander.

• March 1919 onwards, the White Army menaced the communist regime from the east.

• Later campaigns - counter-offensives by the Red Army forced Kolchak to retreat.

North-Western Army: Civil War

• October 1918, a small White army of only 14,400 men at its peak, led by General Yudenich.

• Launched 2 campaigns against Petrograd (May + Nov 1919). Nov offensive reached the suburbs of Petrograd before being turned back following Trotsky’s intervention. 

Foreign Interventionalists: Civil War

• Britain, France, the US, Japan - offered troops and extensive financial support to the whites, along with supplies such as ammunition and uniforms.

• Involved directly and indirectly in the civil war effort.

• The involvement of foreign interventionist forces reinforced the Communists’ belief that they were fighting ‘bourgeois’ and/or ‘capitalist imperialist invaders’.

Overarching Goals of Foreign Interventionists: Civil War

*Not united in the end goal.

• Britain + France - Want Russia to re-enter the war

• Japan - Want Land

• USA - Want to stop Japan getting land.

Foreign Interventionists Main Actions:

• British and Commonwealth troops took control of northern port cities 

  • Murmansk and Archangel in March 1918.

• Britain also occupied the oilfields of Baku in Azerbaijan.

• Japanese forces landed at Vladivostok in the Far East in April 1918.

• US and British troops joined the Japanese forces in August 1918.

• British and French - supported Denikin’s forces around the Black Sea port cities.

Reasons of Foreign Interventionalist Involvement:

• Allies supported any group that promised to re-enter the war with Germany after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

• Japan had territorial ambitions, sending 70,000 soldiers into eastern Siberia (Nov 1918).

• US troops in the east wanted to keep Japan in check, protected the Trans-Siberian Railway.

• OVERALL: ideology opposition - Bolshevism preaching international socialist revolution and the downfall of capitalist governments - therefore fear from other countries.

• OVERALL: Sovnarkom had nationalised numerous foreign-owned industries and cancelled foreign loans worth millions of roubles - therefore countries wanted owed money.

What Happened? Civil War (foreign interventionalists)

• Bolsheviks declared that they had no intention of honouring foreign debts.

  • British and French warships entered Baltic Waters and the Black Sea

  • Britain gave Whites £100 million

  • French and British established land bases

  • Occupation of ports/parts of Siberia by US, Japan, Poland, Lithuania Finland Romania

• Not coordinated attacks - rather a protection of individual interests.

Failed Intervention: (foreign interventionists Civil War)

• This was short lived and unsuccessful as:

• There was no clear strategy to unseat the Bolsheviks

• War weariness led to threats of mutiny amongst British and French regiments

• There was no effective liaison between forces

Soviet-Polish War: Civil War

• Poland declared independence from Russia April 1920 + wanted to expand territory - Ukraine

• The Poles saw the Red Army as invaders - Polish captured Kiev, but Red Army attacked back. 

• Post- Warsaw battle (12–25 August), Red Army defeated and forced to retreat by Polish

• Success of Polish army = Communists negotiate armistice with Poland = Treaty of Riga (peace settlement), ratified 18 March 1921. Allowed Soviets to stop fighting Poland - deal w. others.

• Granted Polish concessions such as large sections of Ukraine, 30 million gold roubles

*Soviets abandoned the cause of international revolution after its failure.

Green Army:

• Peasant insurgents which rose up in armed resistance in several regions against Red + White.

• 1919–1920, a large group of guerrilla fighters held the south-east of the Ukraine

• Mid-1921, the province of Tambov hosted a hostile army of 40,000 partisans (normal people)

*Not straightforward Red vs White - also a battle between different claims to be the true revolution.

Red Army - victory summary (4)

Leon Trotsky, Commissar of War, founded the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army on 23 February 1918.

• End of 1920 the Red Army had won a decisive victory.  

• Increase of military discipline under Trosky, halter desertions with force.

• Thousands of men lost their lives and vast areas of territory were outside Soviet control for a number of years.

Victory came down to a number of key factors:

• Geography

• Ideology

• Trosky’s Leadership

• White Army Weaknesses

1. GEOGRAPHY (Red Army Victory - Civil War)

GEOGRAPHY The Bolsheviks controlled central European Russia. This meant that Red forces had a substantially larger population from which to draw recruits. Soviets held major cities, and therefore key factories, as well as access to the railway system - effective use of trains and cavalry. Red Army had easier access to supplies and ability to transfer troops efficiently. White armies were geographically scattered and had supply problems = few coordinated attacks and irregular communication between White commanders.

2. IDEOLOGY (Red Army Victory - Civil War)

IDEOLOGY The Bolsheviks and their Red Army shared a more united sense of purpose and political vision than their opponents. Effectively used propaganda depicting patriotic defence, propaganda trains explaining the ideals of the communist regime. However desertions of soldiers were a problem for both sides.

3. Troksy’s Leadership (Red Army Victory - Civil War)

TROTSKY’S LEADERSHIP As Commissar of War, Leon Trotsky played a fundamental role in shaping the Red Army into a professional army using harsh discipline, threatening tsarist officer recruits through his special train. 1918 - army originally only 500,000 men, but in 2 years, Trotsky increased it to 5 million. 

• The death penalty was introduced for a range of offences - Chekists were sometimes stationed behind advancing troops, ready to shoot anyone who retreated. Red Army soldiers swore a ‘socialist oath’ - promised to observe revolutionary discipline and unquestionably to fulfil the orders of the commanders

• Recruited former Tsarist officers - those not willing to join the red army were forced when their families were held hostage, OR = concentration camps or imprisoned.

• Ensured officers carried out commands by attaching a political commissar to each.

• He was quick to praise and reward those who performed their duties admirably.

• Trotsky recognised the importance of decisive leadership - presence in battles (transported himself via agiprop train)

4. White Army Weaknesses (Red Army Victory - Civil War)

WHITE ARMY WEAKNESSES As the Civil War dragged on the White generals increasingly had trouble motivating their troops and maintaining discipline - corruption, reluctance to fight. Lacked a supportive population base - unable to gain backing of the whole Russian populace. 

Disagreements developed within and between White armies. The only ideal uniting the Whites was their opposition to the Bolsheviks. Split between views:

• Restoration of the monarchy

• Support for the Constituent Assembly

• Faith in the virtues of military dictatorship.

Could not install systems that would counter Bolshevik leadership - eg: effective government in controlled areas. Did not implement the use of propaganda.

• Although Whites had ready access to food and their soldiers were better fed, their effectiveness was undermined by the lack of a coordinated strategy

• 1919, Denikin + Kolchak launched campaigns threatening Moscow - 5 months apart

• Whites did not offer themselves as a good alternative to Bolsheviks.

Civil War Parties Table:

The Reds: The Bolsheviks	The Whites: *Loose coalition between groups with aim to overthrow Bolsheviks Armed forces of South Russia - led by Denikin  Siberian Forces lead by Kolach (also in South) North Western Army led by Yudenick Foreign Intervention (Germany, Britain, Japan, USA, France)
The Greens: Armed peasant groups fighting against govs. Revolts in the countryside	Others: The Czech Legion - soldiers returning home after WW1, fighting on the Transsiberian railway on the way back. The Polish - Soviet Polish War

The Red Terror - Overview

• The Communist Party became more militarised + evolved a centralised political structure.

• The Cheka grew exponentially, and instituted a fearsome Red Terror

• The Cheka played a vital role in crushing revolutionary resistance and ensuring that further opposition was discouraged. Mid 1918 took on an organised and fearsome character.

The Cheka And The Red Terror:

• An agency of state coercion: using fear to maintain power. 

• March 1918, the Cheka had moved to Lubyanka headquarters, Moscow.

• Under the leadership of ‘Iron Felix’ Dzerzhinsky, it had grown to a staff of over 1000 and had its own military Combat Detachment (military unit for missions)

Class Warfare - The Red Terror

• Terrorist/assasination actions were not blamed on SR terrorists but on the bourgeoisie.

• Thousands of ‘suspected counter-revolutionaries’ were arrested, locked away in concentration camps or executed.

• Russia’s privileged classes were the target of hatred and violence during the Civil War period.

• Denunciations by community members influenced who was targeted by Cheka 

• Bolshevik authorities endorsed these sentiments - ‘class war’ was an ideal of revolution.

The Terror in Action:Sovnarkom, under the direction of Yakov Sverdlov (Party Secretary 1918-1919) and Dzerzhinsky, passed the decree “On Red Terror” on 5 September 1918. (terrorism response)

• Allowed the creation of concentration camps to imprison ‘class enemies’ +authorised the Cheka to execute ‘anyone involved [with the] White Guard organisation’

• Thousands of suspected ‘counter-revolutionaries’ (mostly middle + upper classes) were arrested + put into concentration camps/Cheka jails, executed without trial.

• Deaths from Cheka 1918–20 = 13,000, but estimates put the real figure at nearer 300,000. 

• Promoted as class warfare, but all hostile social groups were targeted - 5% of Moscow prisons in 1920 were children.

Terror in action

Red Terror Methods - Tortures inflected by the Cheka abound:

• One executioner liked to shoot his victims bit by bit, sniffing cocaine between each shot. 

• Kharkov Cheka held hand of prisoners in boiling water until the skin came off ‘like a glove’

• In Voronezh prisoners were rolled around in spiked barrels.

• In Tsaritsyn and Kamyshin they used blunt saws to sever bones.

• In Kiev pipes filled with rats were sealed at one end and placed on the victims stomach. When heard, the desperate rats would gnaw their way through prisoners' bodies.

• White army officers had epaulets (shoulder caps in uniform) nailed to their shoulders, or were ‘roasted’ against the side of ships’ furnaces.

• Murder of the Romanov family 17 July 1918 in Yekaterinburg

Red Terror - Terror to Instill Fear:

• Execution lists were regularly published in newspapers.

• Also supported with grain requisitioning as part of War Communism

• Corruption was common in the Cheka -  Felix ordered execution to Chekists who took bribes

Execution of the Romavovs:

• 17 July 1918, Tsar Nicholas and his family were killed by Cheka authorities in the basement of the house in which they were imprisoned at Yekaterinburg in Siberia.

• Sverdlov - with the blessing of Lenin - telegraphed an order to go ahead with the executions.

White Terror:

• Socialist workers were buried up to their necks and ridden over by cavalry

• Used railway spikes to nail suspected Communists to trees by their hands and feet

• Captured Red soldiers had stars carved into their backs, their limbs hacked off, or were buried head-down with the bottom half of their legs exposed

• Pogroms:

  • Whites targeted Jews for all the perceived wrongs of the revolutionary regime

  • Pogroms against Jewish communities were a further insidious expression of White Terror.

  • White Generals would grant soldiers 2-3 days leave to loot Jewish homes + businesses at will.

  • In Ukraine over 100,000 Jewish people were murdered, and thoudands of others were beaten and were victims of sexual violence.

  • Bolsheviks of Jewish background captured by Whites and boiled alive as ‘communist soup’.

Dzerzhinsky:  - Red Terror

• Dzerzhinsky saw his role as the “unshakable guardian of the revolution”.

• December 1917 - was appointed head of the Cheka - grew it into a mylti-dimensional organisation, considered of equal importance to the red army in willing the civil war.

• Merciless dealing with counterrevolutionaries, victims of terror = hundreds of thousands 1921 - Commissar of Transport, given the task of restoring Russia’s crippled rail system.

• Appointed chair of Vesenkha and Commissar of Communication (after the civil war)

• Lenin gave his full support to Dzerzhinsky’s work and overruled any attempts within the party to limit the Cheka.

War Communism - Initial Economic crisis:

• Stabilising the economy was an increasingly difficult task for the Bolsheviks.

• State Capitalism strained under shortages of raw materials, lack of consumer goods, declining grain stocks and pressure ‘from below’ for nationalisation of industry.

• This was exacerbated by the Civil War - blockades (1918-1921) and lack of foreign trade.

• With food and fuel scare, and the loss of Ukraine again to White Army occupation and peasant uprising, denied Russia its ‘breadbasket’.

• Supplying the cities became unpredictable, as the Red Army took priority in rail deliveries.  

War Communism:

June 1918 - March 1921

The military emergency + failing economy convinced Communists they needed decisive intervention. In 1918 the Communist gov. introduced harsh centralised economic measures.  The aim was to:

• Source food for the cities

• Halt economic breakdown

• Focus industrial production on supplying the Red Army.

“Everything for the Front” - Trotsky

Features of War Communism: (List)

• Grain requisitioning

• Banning of private trade

• Nationalisation of industry (state control)

• Militarisation of the workforce - repression of workers and labour armies

• Rationing

*Will help win the civil war, will result in centralisation of Communist power, and will result in famine. Political victory, economic ramifications.

Decree on Nationalisation - 28 June 1918 (War Communsism)

• Marked the beginning of War Communism.

•  It declares the government - specifically Vesenkha - would take control of several industries

• By November 1920, Sovnarkom had declared the nationalisation of:

  • All factories that employed more than 10 workers

  • All factories with more than 5 workers, if they used powered machinery.

• The Vesenkha was now the coordinator of a highly centralised economic system.

• By taking over means of production, the regime hoped to bring stability to the economy - but had little impact - due to severe economic and social disruption of the time.

• IMPACT - Faced continued difficulties in supply and distribution

Militarisation and Repression of Workplaces: (War Communism)

War Communism saw the militarisation of the workplace, as the state attempted to control the labour of all its citizens. As a result workers rights were rolled back. Control over:

• working hours (longer hours were introduced)

• day-to-day conditions 

• types of work undertaken. 

Workers were sent to factories where they were most needed; those who disobeyed were threatened with the loss of food rations, harder duties and imprisonment. 

Labour Armies - red army used. (War Communism)

• Trotsky called for battalions of the Red Army to be mobilised into ‘labour armies’ and used to build roads, unload cargo and cut trees (civil war period).  

• Leaders of labour armies submitted military-style reports + workers marched to workplaces.

  • Longer working hours were introduced in all industries.

  • Absenteeism (cutting work) was punished 

  • Strikers were threatened with execution.

Voluntary work: (War Communism)

• Voluntary work on weekends, called ‘Communist Saturdays’ (subbotniki), was encouraged.

• Workers were obliged to clean up roads or unload trains on their days off. Party activists placed great pressure on all workers to participate in this ‘voluntary’ work

Bourgeoise Labour: (War Communism)

• October 1918, ‘privileged’ classes were mobilised for compulsory labour service

• Bourgeoisie (bankers, priests, lawyers etc) mobilised for manual labour. Forced into work gang (under armed guard, mocked during work), completing tasks such as:

  • Shoveling snow, clear city streets of rubbish, dig graves, cleaning communal toilets

• Required to register their details with the Cheka = activities and location recorded.

• Compulsory labour of Bourgeois was welcomed by workers from their hatred to the class

Abolition of Money: (War Communism)

Abolition of money - hyperinflation and the Black Market.

• State-induced Hyperinflation seen as the best way to abolish money - the government continued to printed money, but it became worthless. 

• Exchanges in the state run industry were a matter of bartering - no cash changed hands.

• After regime eliminating the reliance on money - aimed to become sole goods/food provider  

• 21 November 1918 - Private Trade made illegal by decree. (Sovnarkem Decree)

  • Illegalised small businesses, peasant markets, selling for profit

• Government body - Food Commissariat was the only organisation legally allowed to supply consumer items, and could indicate stock held by private traders.

Black Market Trading - Abolition of Money: (War Communsim)

• Collapse of value of roubles and the ban of private trading created a popular black market

• Bagmen - speculators who traded goods on the black market for substantial profit.

• People flocked to illegal markets to trade for bread and other staple foods - way to survive

• Authorities arrested anyone caught trading, checkpoints were set up on railways to confiscate illegally transported goods or food.

• Authorities arrested traders, propaganda denounced the bagmen as ‘evil exploiters’

• Up to 60% of all bread consumed in cities in 1918-1919 was from the black market. 

State Supplied Services (problem): (War Communsim)

Free Services: Offered in areas that people could no longer pay/barter such as:

• The postal service

• Public transport

• Medical treatment

• (Uncertain) food rations

• Payments for rent, lighting and heating abolished. Cinema and theatre sessions were free

Food Rationing: (War Communism)

• In July 1918 a class-based food rationing system was introduced with workers, soldiers and party members getting more than the former bourgeoisie.

• Reality - less than ⅓ of the urban diet came from state-provided rations. 

• Feb 1918 - Petrograd ration - 50g per day

Food Shortages: War Communism

• A concern of the regime was obtaining enough food so that cities/towns did not starve. 

• Thousands of people perished from starvation, riots in towns over the lack of available food

• The response of Soviet authorities was to force the peasantry to provide more food - however the the peasantry were reluctant to hand over their grain (lack of rural support)

• Many peasants preferred to feed up their livestock or sell their produce on the black market

• Lenin  = convinced that food shortages were due to kulaks hoarding surplus grain - not true

  • Lenin Solution - turn poor peasantry against wealthy kulaks

Committees of the Poor: (War Communism)

• Accusing Kulaks of hoarding hidden produce - Lenin announced the Committees for the Poor  (to be formed in countryside) on 11 June 1918. Aimed to assist poorest peasants uncover hidden surplus grain and livestock of Kulaks, confiscate it and hand it over to Soviet officials

• Poor peasants were promised to be rewarded a percentage of the grain they confiscated

• These were largely unsuccessful because the Kulaks were not hoarding - and peasants who did find grain often shared it among themselves, or reluctant to turn on each other.

• Committees of the Poor abandoned - December 1918

Requisition Squads and grain requisitioning: (War Communism)

• Lenin was still convinced that food shortages were because of ‘hoarding’ by rich peasants.

• Starting January 1919, detachments of armed workers and Cheka agents were formed into grain-requisitioning squads and sent to the countryside to seize hoarded surplus from villages, a practice known as prodrazverstka (food quote seizures).

• Squads mostly took all the grain they could find, left no seeds for peasants to re-plant

• (all agricultural produce subject to prodrazverstka)

Consequences: War Communism

• Peasant resentment for Gov. built, requisitioning squads soon faced armed resistance.

• Led to even less food availability - no incentive for farmers to produce more grain tha needed

• Between 1917 and 1921, the amount of land under cultivation dropped by 40%. Harvests were around 37% of the usual yield.

Overall: The desperate need for grain for the cities and the army, as well as a stand against ‘class enemies’ in the middle of the Civil War, meant that harsh measures of grain requisitioning were continued in the countryside.

What has continued:

• Workplace conditions

• Shortage of food

• Lack of rights

What has changed:

• Bourgeois are targeted

Assessment of War Communism: (and summary of features again)

• Severe policies, however necessary because of war and economic collapse (and food crisis)

• Reactive to war, improvised in the face of Crisis. A unthought-out response, where the Socnarkom’s aims were often unclear or contradictory. A product of the divide between the countryside and towns.

—

• Nationalisation of Industry

• Militarisation Workplace → Labour armies, harsh work conditions, voluntary weekend work

• Elimination of a Monetary Economy → Black market trading, hyperinflation

• State-supplied Services → Rationing system, public housing, public transport

• Grain Requisitioning. → Committees of the poor, forced grain requisitioning

PEASANTS - Impact of Civil War

• Shortages of food and fuel- 3000 wooden houses in Petrograd stripped for the fuel

• Fled to the country or rural areas

• Resorted to cannibalism or sex work to survive

• Diseases (eg: typhus, cholera and lice) killed millions

• Grain requisitioning + drought caused severe famine, affecting 20 million people mainly in Volga and Ukraine

—

• The situation in the countryside was volatile. Mid-1920, grain requisitioning was applied with even greater severity, resulting in an upsurge in peasant unrest - especially Tambov, Ukraine

• Many rural areas were ungovernable due to ongoing peasant resistance.

• Peasants simply wished for the central authorities to leave them alone.

Bourgeois - Impact of Civil War

• The wealthy lost their riches

• Forced into work gangs, made to perform jobs such as: shovel snow, clear city streets of rubbish, dig graves for victims, clean communal toilets of government buildings

• Factories deserted = bourgeoisie no control over output

• 43% sex workers Moscow 1920 = bourgeoisie born

Workers - Impact of Civil War

• Fled jobs and city - moved to country in search of work

• 1917 - 2.6 million workers. 1920 - 1.2 million workers

• Large scale industrial output fell to 13% of its pre-war level. Steel output was 4% of 1913 levels and iron ore was at 1.5%. Copper production ceased entirely.

• Militarised workplaces → state controlling the labour of workers, people who disobeyed were threatened with the loss of food rations or imprisonment

Nobles - Impact of Civil War

• Loss of value in their assets

• Lost their country homes under the nationalisation of industry and were redistributed to peasants.

• Romanov family murdered 

• 2 million ‘white emigres’ - fled Russia 1917-1921

The Russian Civil War: Impacts: Living Situation

• There were chronic shortages of food and fuel, and other materials. 

• By 1920, most wages bought less than 2% of 1914 levels.

• Prices of everyday goods had risen to 6920 x their 1914 levels.

• By 1920, Petrograd’s population had fallen by 70% and Moscow’s population by 50% - fleeing to countryside for food. Workers deserted factories + fled to rural areas in search for food.

• Large-scale industrial output fell to 13% of pre-war level. 

Impacts: Social Groups (civil war)

• In 1917, there were 2.6 million workers in Russia. By 1920= dropped to 1.2 million

• Civil War had a devastating effect on proletariat = more than halved from 1917 -1921. 

• Peasants were heavily impacted in the later years by famine and disease.

• By 1919 - Average workers spent ¾ income on food. As food became scarce, over half pop. of major cities escaped to the countryside. Horses disappeared and became Civil War sausages. 

Famine and disease

• 1921, grain requisitioning and severe drought produced a terrible famine.

• 20 million people were impacted - particularly Volga in Ukraine. Cannibalism was common.

• In some regions, peasants ate ‘famine bread’, made up of clay and grass. 

• Family life was severely disrupted, with millions of children orphaned or abandoned.

• Disease - Typhus, cholera and lice were rampant.

• Bolsheviks forced to accept foreign aid. By 1922, 10 million Russians were fed by soup Kitchens of the American Relief Administration (ARA) - also supplied medicine, grain, clothes.

Death toll: Civil War

9 million deaths which can be linked to the Civil War

• Famine: 5 Million 

• Combat: 2 Million

  • Reds: 1 Million

  • Whites: 127,000

• Epidemics: 2 Million (disease)

Population Losses:

• Emigration: 2M

• Birth deficit: 14M

Impact of Civil War - Structure of Party

• An authoritarian, one-party state emerged during the Civil War, and the culture of the Bolshevik Party became militarised - an influx of military personnel into the party.

• The Bolshevik gov. Sovnarkom was theoretically subordinate to the Soviet CEC, (elected at the annual All-Russian Congress of Soviets). BUT did not ever block Bolshevik authority.

• Decrees were meant to be submitted to the Soviet CEC for approval.

• Sverdlov was chairman of the Soviet CEC - kept debate to a minimum, manipulated votes

• Non-Bolshevik Soviet delegates were removed from the Soviet CEC:

  • Mensheviks + SRs accused of counter-revolutionary activity, expelled 14 June 1918

  • The Left SRs were barred on 9 July 1918.

• Legislation was increasingly passed without the approval of Soviet CEC - estimated 480 decrees introduced during 1st year of Soviet regime, only 68 passed on for consideration.

• After Sverdlov’s death (1919): The party was reorganised into three main bodies:

  • Secretariat, Orgburo, Politburo.

Recap on War Communism (Continued after Civil War):

• Cause: To bring industry and agriculture under central control, support Civil War efforts

• Effect: Peasant resistance, 1921 Famine Damaged industrial and food production, hyperinflation, widespread discontent

• Significance: Extension of the Terror

• War Communism continued after Red victory in Civil War (attempt to reconstruct economy) - only made people more resentful of government - led to widespread anti-Bolshevik uprising

Civil War Recap of Impact to Regime:

• Communist regime faced challenges after the civil war:

• The economy was in tatteres, with income ⅓ of 1913 levels, and Industrial production ⅕ pre WWI levels

• The urban population was ravaged by cold, hunger and disease

• The peasants in many regions were in open revolt.

• Biggest Problem: Uprising by Kronstadt sailors  forced Communist Party to rethink its policies

Continuation and Worsening of War Communism: (post-civil war)

• The requisitioning of grain was increased

• Military-style approach to workplaces reinforced by soldiers organised into ‘labour armies’.

Perspectives of the Continuation of War Communism:

• Peasants resented prodrazverstka. Hated it even more when grain no longer fed soldiers.

• The Ukraine and Tambov were in open revolt. Guerrilla fighters (Makhno + Antonov) raised feared peasant armies and drove Soviet authorities out of these regions.

• Workers wanted a return to economic and social stability, not more dictatorial controls.

• Shortages of coal and fuel led to the closure of many industries = eg: Petrograd’s Putilov Steelworks. Workers were cold, hungry and many unemployed.

Party uprisings: *Internally unstable, internal threats. (leading up to Krondstadt)

• In 1921, the development of opposition to War Communism within the party worried Lenin.

• Alexander Shlyapnikov (Labour Commissar) and Alexandra Kollontai led a ‘Workers Opposition’ movement against the excesses of war communism

Peasant and worker uprisings - (leading up to Krondstadt)

• Start of 1921 a series of strikes and urban demonstrations caused concern for the regime. 118 uprisings in February 1921. - eg: the Tambov Region in Ukraine - Peasant revolt, where 130 estates had buildings were burned down.

• Tensions flared Feb 1921 = cutback bread rations + military methods imposed on factories.

• Thousands of workers in Petrograd and Moscow striked, Martial Law declared

• Red Army soldiers patrolled streets

Who Were the Kronstadt Sailors?

• The soldiers and sailors of Kronstadt had been among the most loyal supporters of the Bolshevik revolution: One of the first military units to mutiny during 1905; in charge of the gunship Aurora during 1917’s October Revolution in storming the Winter Palace.

• Significance: considered loyal Bolshevik supporters

• The military base at Kronstadt was located just outside Petrograd: the soldiers and sailors garrisoned there were thought to be loyal supporters of the Bolshevik revolution.

Kronstadt

• Many of the kronstadt soldiers were peasants - enraged with grain requisitioning.

• 28 February 1921 the sailors held an emergency meeting discussing the political situation.

• Stepan Petrichenko, drafted a 15-point resolution outlining their demands of the gov.

• 1 March 1921, thousands of sailors rallied in Kronstadt’s Anchor Square, protesting for greater freedom and better conditions. - addressed by Soviet chairman Mikhail Kalinin attempting to calm growing dissent.

• Petrichenko’s resolution was approved and called for big changes to Russian society

• The PRC - Provisional Revolutionary Committee was formed, splitting from Sovnarkom rule (Kronstadt free from Sovnarkom rule)

Summary Kronstadt of Demands: (15-point document)

• Greater freedom of speech and press

• Release of socialist prisoners from CHEKA jails

• End to grain requisitioning

• Disbanding of labour armies

• End to militarisation of the workplace

  • Did not call for an end to revolution, wanted Soviet power, greater freedom for all. 

  • Insisted on returning to the revolutionary values of Oct 1917, accused Communists of betraying the original ideals of the Revolution.

Communist Response: Krondstadt

• They refused to negotiate with the sailors

• Demanded Unconditional surrender

• Lenin also claimed the 1921 Kronstadt sailors were not the same as in 1917 (in reality they were the same united group of committed revolutionaries)

• 7 March, 50,000 Red Army troops launched an offensive against the 16,000 Kronstadt sailors

The Battle: Krondstadt

• 7 March 1921, 50,000 Red Army troops launched offensive against 16,000 Kronstadt sailors

• Kronstadt overcame the first Bolshevik assault - Red Army heavy artillery was brought in - and Red Army officers, Cheka machine gunners

• For over a week the garrison resisted - eventually overwhelmed by Red Army numbers

• 16 March the final assault - overall 10,000 Red Army soldiers killed, 5000 Kronstadters

• Captured the naval base - 17 March, Communist authorities sent in more Chekists, who executed 2300 more and sent 6459 to prison camps. (CHEKA)