14) The Communist Dictatorship

Question 1

How did communist dictatorship develop by 1922?

Answer 1

1917:
🔻Ms + SRs walked out of Sov Congress (anger over Treaty B-L)➡️left Bs in sole power.

🔻Bs set up Sovnarkom + Central Executive Committee, but Sovnarkom (just Bs, L chairman) can pass decrees independently➡️Bs all power, L power of Tsar.

1918:
🔻L shut down Constituent Assembly as ‘bourgeois parliamentary democracy’.

🔻Bs became ‘Communist Party’ as 1-party state➡️no need to distinguish between Ms + SRs.

🔻R Empire➡️RSFSR➡️new constitution set up voting system so only Bs can elect people for Sovnarkom. ‘Former people’ no vote +👷🏼vote weighted 5:1 against👨🏼‍🌾.

1919:
🔻Politburo created (7 top Party members) taking power from Sovnarkom as key decision-making body.

🔻Soviets taken over by local Party organisations + ran by Party officials➡️soviets subordinate to Party.

🔻Central Committee appointing ‘trusted’ nominees to key soviet positions➡️⬆️Party control over local party apparatus + local govt.

1921:
🔻’Ban on factions’ - difficult to criticise Party’s decisions (expulsion).

1922:
🔻RSFSR➡️USSR -seems democratic but states making up USSR kept under control by Moscow.

🔻Democratic centralism.

1923:
🔻Nomenklatura list of 5,500 key Party + govt posts only appointed by central Party bodies to Bs or pro-Bs➡️tightened 1-party state internally + created loyal Party elite w/ special privileges in return for obedience.