17) Lenin: Communist Control and Terror Flashcards
(17 cards)
Why did the Reds win the Civil War 1918-1921:
Strengths of the Reds🔴💪🏼
- B clear ideology - presented war as class war, propaganda as defending the rev against Whites.
- B single, unified command structure. T organised 🔴Army into effective fighting force.
- L legitimised peasants’ right to land + clear that White success meant restoration of former ruling class + landowners➡️lots of👨🏼🌾support. Peasants supplied main body of Red Army soldiers.
- March 1918 T Commissar for War - organised armoured train that covered fronts. Personally inspired troops. Organised defence around Petrograd + Moscow + exploited🔴control of railways to push back Whites Oct 1919.
- L used his authority to keep Reds united + backed T’s controversial decision to use ex-tsarist officers.
Why did the Reds win the Civil War 1918-1921:
Weaknesses of Whites⚪️👎🏼
- Lacked political programme which appealed to peasantry (if they won land restored to former owners)👨🏼🌾❌.
- High level of indiscipline + weak leaders.
- Made up of different groups➡️couldn’t agree on aim (monarchy, republic or constituent assembly).
- Whites scattered + separated, outnumbered by Reds🔴.
Why did the Reds win the Civil War 1918-1921:
Geography and resources🗺🚂
- Bs held central area (Moscow + St. Petersburg)➡️🔴control of railways🚂➡️communication between battle fronts easier.
- Bs had industrial resources + armaments factories🏭🔫.
- 🔴propaganda superior - red flag🚩+ star powerful symbols. Bs = defenders of R from foreign forces (claimed Whites trying to hand R to foreign imperialists).
Why did the Reds win the Civil War 1918-1921:
Limited impact of foreign intervention🚫🇺🇸🇬🇧🇫🇷
- WW1 ended (1918)➡️Allies felt no need to supply R.
- Foreign powers gave⚪️weapons❌half-hearted + ineffective.
- Fear of communism + desire to protect autocracy not strong enough to keep Western powers committed to R.
Why was there a need for the Red Terror?🔴⚔️
- R in chaos.
- 1918 assassination attempt on L🔫🚫.
- Peasants hostile to grain requisitioning➡️revolts in countryside, peasants attacked collectors + murdered B officials👨🏼🌾⚔️ (inflation➡️money useless➡️hoarding grain).
- Bs wanted to wipe out middle class completely.
- Needed to remove potential opposition + get political security.
What happened in the Red Terror?🔴⚔️
- Cheka used terror to intimidate rural pop: public hanging of kulaks accused of hoarding👨🏼🌾.
- SRs, anarchists + members of other Left groups arrested in large numbers⛓.
- Mensheviks + SRs excluded from soviets.
- Kadets fled or in prison.
- Many prisoners shot.
- 1918-20 around 500,000 deaths by Cheka w/o trials.
- Worsened class warfare: burzhui = ‘enemies of the people’. Terror terrified all social class groups guilty of ‘bourgeois provocation’ or being counter-rev.
- 1918 Tsar + his family shot🔫.
- Bs set up concentration + labour camps to house dissident workers, peasants + those accused of ‘bourgeois provocation’.
- Acted as petty tyrants: random arrests w/o court appeal + little central control.
- Even after Terror, kulaks + Nepmen profiting from NEP were subject to random persecution.
Was the Red Terror driven by ideology or pragmatism?🔴⚔️
I - Bs always planned on wiping out bourgeois➡️make all equal.
I - got rid of monarchy➡️secured B power.
P - supplied army w/ grain to win civil war➡️secure socialist rev (❌sacrificed👨🏼🌾support).
P - chaotic, unplanned, random killings (not always B opposition).
Why did Lenin need to deal with political opponents (1918-24)?
🔸Kadets + SRs were popular in Constituent Assembly elections.
🔸Other socialist parties threat to exclusively B state (L didn’t want to share power).
🔸Mensheviks encouraging demonstrations.
🔸Initially SRs + Ms dominated soviets outside capital.
🔸Tsar posed threat to survival of socialist rev.
How did Lenin deal with political opponents (1918-24)?
🔸Kadets denounced + outlawed. Leading Ks arrested (some beaten to death) + sent to prison.
🔸Constituent Assembly shut down for being ‘bourgeois’ + soldiers fired on demonstrators🔫.
🔸SRs + Ms excluded from soviets.
🔸SRs + Ms uncoordinated, didn’t want to get involved in organised violence + didn’t think Bs would survive first months in power.
🔸Red Terror - SRs arrested in large numbers. 1921 5,000 Ms arrested. SRs + Ms in prison.
🔸Opposition newspaper banned🗞.
🔸July 1918 Tsar + his family shot.
🔸Attack on religion after Civil War.
🔸Systematic censorship - 1922 R writers + scholars deported to prevent intelligentsia criticising govt. Pre-publication censorship introduced (NEP).
Why did Lenin need to deal with the Whites (1918-24)?
🔹Civil War opposition, anti-B.
🔹Could start counter-revolution, threat to socialist rev.
🔹Supported by🇬🇧,🇺🇸+🇫🇷.
🔹Mixture of political opposition groups - senior Tsarist officers, SRs, liberals + moderate socialists.
How did Lenin deal with the Whites (1918-24)?
🔹Whites scattered, unpopular(👨🏼🌾❌), divided (in ideology + aim), undisciplined + outnumbered by Reds🔴➡️defeated in Civil War.
🔹Civil War brought even greater centralisation + Party control.
🔹Red Terror - Cheka fanned class warfare, middle classes wiped out.
Why did Lenin need to deal with the Burzhui (1918-24)?
🔹’Enemies of the people’ - bourgeois or counter-revs.
🔹Threat to socialist rev - against ideology.
How did Lenin deal with the Burzhui (1918-24)?
🔹Labelled ‘former people’. Their privileges ended, suffered heavy discrimination.
🔹Legal system abolished➡️arbitrary + violent.
🔹Anyone accused of being burzhui (anyone well-dressed) could be arrested, beaten or robbed.
🔹State encouraged people to plunder their houses.
🔹People near scenes of ‘bourgeois provocation’ arrested.
🔹After NEP GPU⬆️importance + arrested Nepmen as class enemies.
Why did Lenin need to deal with the peasants/Kulaks (1918-24)?
🔸Peasants formed part of Green Army🟢 during Civil War - some fought against Bs.
🔸Rural disturbances - peasants refusing to give grain to state (inflation - money useless) = hindering industrialisation + socialist state.
🔸Peasants = historical source of unrest against ruler, could threaten B leadership.
🔸Kulaks = threat to B ideology - inequality.
🔸Tambov uprising 1920-21.
How did Lenin deal with the peasants/Kulaks (1918-24)?
🔸🟢Army divided + uncoordinated➡️easily defeated by 🔴Army in Civil War.
🔸Peasants controlled by fear in Red Terror - public Kulak hangings.
🔸War Communism - forced grain requisitioning.
🔸Peasants given economic concessions w/ NEP (no more forced grain requisitions, could sell⬇️amount to state + sell surplus on open market).
🔸Red Terror - regional quotas for Kulak deaths.
🔸Tambov uprising brutally crushed.
Why did Lenin need to deal with the Party members (1918-24)?
🔸Workers’ Opposition wanted👷🏼given more control of own affairs + supported their complaints about reintroduction of single managers + militancy🏭. Criticised T’s plan to make TU officials appointed by state➡️end of 1920 arguments in Party.
🔸Democratic Centralists wanted more democracy in Party.
🔸Bukharin had criticised L for failing to implement socialist policies under State Capitalism.
🔸Many Bs considered NEP betrayal to B ideology, too capitalist.
🔸Internal splits would weaken Party + lead to Bs’ downfall.
How did Lenin deal with the Party members (1918-24)?
🔸NEP concessions came w/ tightening of political control:
🔸Workers’ Opposition treated w/ scorn + ridicule by L in 10th Party Congress.
🔸’Ban on factions’ dealt w/ splits + restored discipline. Prevented members from criticising Party policy w/o risking expulsion.
🔸Chistkas (cleansing) periodically 1918-21 to⬆️political dependability. 220,000 members purged or left in 1921.
🔸Bs prepared to support L as long as NEP temporary measure.
