Chapter 14- The Communist Dictatorship

Question 1

What decrees were made in October 1917

Answer 1

Maximum eight hour days for workers

Social insurance for old age health and unemployment benefits

Ban on opposition press

Decree on peace

Decree on land

Question 2

What did the decree on land do

Answer 2

Peasants seized the land of the nobility and churchmen

Question 3

What decrees were issued in November 1917

Answer 3

Rights of the people of Russia decree

Abolition of title and class ranks

Abolition of old legal system

Women given equality with men and right to own property

Question 4

What did the Rights of the people of Russia decree do

Answer 4

Gave self determination to minorities within the empire

Question 5

What decrees were passed in December 1917

Answer 5

Cheka established

Banks nationalised

Army placed under control of army Soviet and soldiers committed

Ranks abolished in the army

Marriage and divorce taken out hands off the church

Question 6

What decrees were passed in January 1918

Answer 6

Workers control of railways

Red army formed

Church and state separated

Question 7

What decrees were passed in February 1918

Answer 7

Industry nationalised

Question 8

What did the 1918 constitution involve

Answer 8

Power rested with the All-Russian Congress of Soviets

Vote was reserved for the ‘toiling masses’

In elections for the ARCS proletariat votes were worth 5 times more than that of the peasants

Sovnarkom appointed in practice by Bolshevik party central committee

Executed authority remained in the hands of the Sovnarkom

Real focus of power was the party

Question 9

Who formed the ‘Whites’ in the civil war

Answer 9

Previous political opposition and people who disagreed with Brest-Litovsk treaty

Question 10

When was the Russian civil war

Answer 10

1918-1920

Question 11

Why did Britain, France and the USA support the whites

Answer 11

Against communism

Force Russia back into fighting Germany

Bolsheviks refused to pay back money they borrowed in tsarist times

Question 12

What was formed in May 1918

Answer 12

Anti-Bolshevik volunteer army

Question 13

What proved the Bolsheviks felt they were under threat

Answer 13

Moved HQ from Petrograd to Moscow

Question 14

What mainly caused the civil war

Answer 14

Outburst by Czech legion in west Siberia in May

Question 15

What did the poles defeating the red army lead to in March 1921

Answer 15

The treaty of Riga

Question 16

What did the treaty of Riga do

Answer 16

Granted Poland, Galicia and Belorussia self rule

Question 17

What other countries gained independence in 1921

Answer 17

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Question 18

What was the main impact of the civil war on the government

Answer 18

Greater centralisation and party control

Question 19

What was formed in 1919 as a result of the civil war

Answer 19

Politburo

Question 20

What did the Politburo do

Answer 20

Became the real centre for party policy

Question 21

What was involved in the 1922 constitution

Answer 21

USSR formally established

Federation republics formed

Republics each given sovnarkom to oversee them

Question 22

What changed about party Congress under Stalin

Answer 22

Met much less frequency

Question 23

Between what years did the party congress not meet at all

Answer 23

1939-1952

Question 24

What did stalin prefer over the politburo

Answer 24

Working with personally selected committees

Question 25

What was the ’Lenin enrolment’

Answer 25

And attempt by Stalin to increase party membership using the death of Lenin as propaganda

Question 26

What were the effects of the Lenin enrolment

Answer 26

Party membership doubled to nearly a million

Question 27

How did party membership change during the 30’s

Answer 27

1.7 million by 1930

3.6 million by 1933

3.4 million by 1940 (purges)

Question 28

What did Stalin say about the 1936 constitution

Answer 28

It was ‘the most democratic in the world’

Question 29

What changes did the 1936 constitution make

Answer 29

USSR split into 11 soviet states not 7

All-Russian Congress of Soviets replaced by ‘Supreme Soviet’ which each state had

Promised local autonomy to ethnic groups

Promised 4 yearly elections that anyone over 18 could vote in

Freedom from arbitrary arrest and freedom of speech

Question 30

What were the problems with the 1936 constitution

Answer 30

Ignored many of the democratic policies jt promised

Question 31

What is an example of the policies in the 1936 constitution not being followed

Answer 31

Georgian party leaders purged in 1951 after allegedly planning a secession

Elections were not contested

Supreme soviet only met for a few days twice a year

Question 32

What names were given to Stalin that show his popularity after the establishment of his cult

Answer 32

‘Stalin in the Lenin of today’

‘Mighty leader’

‘Father of the nation’

‘Universal genius’

‘Shining sun of humanity’

Question 33

When did Stalin establish his cult

Answer 33

After his 50th birthday in December 1929

Question 34

What was used as a result of Stalins cult as a historical textbook in schools

Answer 34

The history of the all union communist party

Question 35

What did the history of the all union of the communist party teach

Answer 35

Stalin played a major part in the October revolution

Trotsky and others seen as ‘enemies of the people’

Question 36

How many copies did the history of the all union communist party sell by 1948

Answer 36

34 million