1.4 Flashcards
(26 cards)
Initial challenges facing the Bolshevik government..
ECONOMIC
- Inflation
- Rising prices
- Food shortages
- State bank refuse to support Bolshevik gov.
POLITICAL
- Peasants continued to seize land
- Limited support in countryside
- Civil servant strikes - refused to work w/Bolsheviks
- Lenin knew they wouldn’t do as well as SR’s in election
- Brink of Civil War (Independence demands, peasants, Tsar loyalists)
INTERNATIONAL
- WWI
Initial decrees passed by Bolsheviks
Decree on Land. Redistributed all land
Peace Decree - showed intent to pull of Russia out of war soon
New government organisation
Sovnarkom
Council of peoples Commissars -Lenin chaired
Designed to allow Bolsheviks to extend their powers and control
Lenin and leading Bolsheviks decide who in Sovnarkom
Closing of Constituent Assembly
Elections = November 1917, SRs = 40%, Bolsehviks 24%
Bolshevik strengths:
- Opposition divided and unorganized
- Military support in Petrograd and Moscow
- approx. 10m people had voted for them
- Lenin formed coalition with left-wing SR’s
Only met once (5 Jan 1918) - Lenin demanded it be subservient to Sovnarkom and soviets. This was rejected and Red Guards used to close assembly down.
END OF DEMOCRACY
Ending of WWI
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918
Harsh German Terms;
- Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine to Germany
Lost: 26% of railway, 75% pf coal and iron mines, 60m people
Cheka
Established Dec 1917.
Secret Police
Initial focus = end strikes
Actually used to eliminate opposition and shoot deserters of Red Army.
Other policies introduced initially by Bolsheviks
Nationalism of banks
Banning of Kadets
Establishment of Red Army
Ending of Foreign Debts (Lenin said illegal)
Causes of Civil War - When?
-25 May 1918 - 1921
-Czech Rebellion
-By July Russia was a one party state
-Some wanted return to Tsarism - Tsar and family killed 1917
-Br and Fr supplied whites + sent troops (Wanted Russia to stay in the war)
- Countries wanted independence
- Russians opposed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- SRs abandoned coalition
Clashes w/peasantry - forcible collection of grain
Why did the Reds Win?
White weaknesses Red Military Strength War Communism Red Leadership Foreign Intervention
Why did the Reds win?
- White weaknesses
Lack of command and strategy Spread out over large area Failed to coordinate attacks Lacked support - associated w/Tsarism Failed to cooperate with Green
Greens:
Led to Makhona, Reds defeated Greens in 1919
Why did the Reds win?
- Red Military Strength
- Trotsky used officers who fought for Tsar (Experienced)
- Controlled railways
- Prevented whites working together
- By 1920, only 1 white army remaining - defeated 1920
Why did the Reds win?
- War Communism
- Controlled industrial centers
- Industry nationalized and factories converted to produce military supplies
- Requisitioned grain to supply Red Army
Why did the Reds win?
- Red Leadership
- Unified leadership
- Trotsky very efficient leader
- Eg. sent reinforcements to Petrograd to prevent Zucherich from seizing the cities
- Strict Discipline
- Lenin used Cheka to eliminate political opposition
Why did the Reds win?
- Foreign Intervention
By end of 1919, Br Fr USA forces left Russia
Stopped supplying Whites after armistice with Germany
Weakened whites, eg. Kolchak had 30,000 foreign troops as support, by July his forces defeated
Problems in 1921
- Famine and Unrest due to War Communism
- Opposition from outside the party
- Opposition from within the party
Problems in 1921 - Opposition from outside the party
- Famine caused unrest and rebellions such as the Tambov Uprising
-Kronsdadt Rebellion - March 1921
Kronsdadt sailors had support the communists in the oct rev. in 1921, many were from peasant backgrounds and knew the impact of war communism so they rebelled and demnaded;
- end to political dominence
- restoration of freedom and speech and press
- relaxation of war communism and centralised economic control
Problems in 1921 - Opposition within the party
Many communists viewed the NEP as a betrayal of communism; it allowed peasants to sell some produce for profit and owners of small factories to sell goods for profit
Lenins response to problems in 1921
Repression and Economic Reform
Lenin’s response to 1921 problems - Repression
- Ordered Trotsky to end Kronstadt rebellion by force - used 50,000 red Army troops to attack the sailoros - took 3 weeks to end, thousands killed/sent to gulags
- Banned factions
Lenin’s Response to 1921 Problems - Economic Reform
- March 1921, 10th Party Congress, Lenin announced end of war communism and introduced the NEP (Peasants could sell for profit, but taxed)
- New Currency - 1922
Impact of NEP - successes
Successes
- Food shortages/famine stopped bu end of 1921
- 1923 - 85% of companies privately owned
- 1926 - Economy almost at levels of production of 1913
Failures of NEP
Failures
- More crops produced, prices fell
- Industrial products increased in prices; peasants cant afford
- Communists saw NEP as leading Russia towards capitalism and away from communism
Securing the regime after 1921
- Ban on political parties
- Propaganda to glorify Lenin and Communists
- Only communist papers published
- 1922 - Cheka replaced by GPU
- Gulags expanded; 1920-84 camps. 1923-315 camps
- Trials of leading Social Revolutionaries
Establishment of USSR
29 Dec. 1922
- contained many republics (Eg. Ukrainian SOcial Republic, Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic)
