Establishing Communist Party Control, 1917-24

Question 1

When was the Constituent Assembly dismissed and how many seats did the Bolsheviks win?

Answer 1

The constituent assembly was dismissed in 1918 and they won 175/410 seats

Question 2

Decree of land

Answer 2

They have land to peasants in 1917 by potentially bribery

Question 3

Decree on peace

Answer 3

Treaty of Brest Litovsk which led to 6 billion marks reparations, land ceded - humiliating however Russia had to pull out of WW1 due to its destruction of Russia caused by Tsar and provisional government

Question 4

Russian Dominance

Answer 4

3/4 of the party was Russian

Question 5

When was the Soviet Constitution published and what is the called now?

Answer 5

1924, USSR established

Question 6

What is the Politburo?

Answer 6

Key decision making body consisting of 7 - 9 members who met daily, their power increased over time

Question 7

Which groups lost the right to vote?

Answer 7

Priests, middle classes, employers

Question 8

When were newspapers banned?

Answer 8

1918, for example the SRs

Question 9

Lenin’s Personal Power

Answer 9

Lenin’s Personal Power

Question 10

How much did the Sovnarkom grow from 1918 to 1921?

Answer 10

In 1918, there were 300,000 members to up to 730,000 by 1921

Question 11

How much did the party grow by 1924?

Answer 11

The party grew by 1m members by 1924

Question 12

When was Nomenklatura system and what did it lead to?

Answer 12

The Nomenklatura system was in 1921, it led to a growing bureaucracy

Question 13

What did the Chitska lead to?

Answer 13

The Chitska led to 1/3 of the party being purged from 1918 to 1920

Question 14

What did the 10th Party Congress lead to?

Answer 14

Ban on factions ‘on party unity’ in 1921

Question 15

What was used for popular support?

Answer 15

Propaganda

Question 16

What did Lenin threaten to do if he didn’t get his way?

Answer 16

He threatened to quit

Question 17

Who had to rule for Lenin when he had ……. in 1923

Answer 17

Negative argument for personal power: Kamenev had to rule for Lenin when he had 3 strokes in 1923

Question 18

What was Lenin chairman of? And what system did Lenin used to run elections?

Answer 18

He was chairman of Sovnarkom and Politburo, he used democratic centralism

Question 19

What are some of the characteristics of Lenin?

Answer 19

Charisma, intelligence, paranoia and cult following

Question 20

What did Lenin do to deny claims about him?

Answer 20

He distanced himself from violence, dismissed the idea that there was a cult growing around him and called the claim that he was a dictator of the proletariat ‘utter nonsense’

Question 21

Civil War

Answer 21

Civil War

Question 22

How many men were conscripted to the Red Army under Trotsky?

Answer 22

5 Million

Question 23

What was the new capital used as a control centre?

Answer 23

Moscow

Question 24

Who were the ‘whites’ that justified violence and deaths?

Answer 24

They were branded as ‘counter-revolutionaries’

Question 25

What was ‘War Communism’?

Answer 25

‘War Communism’ was when grain was requisitioned from peasants to feed the Red Army and Towns

Question 26

When was the Kronstadt Mutiny?

Answer 26

1921, it involved sailors

Question 27

What was the Tambov Rebellion?

Answer 27

50,000 peasants of the Green Army crushed in 50,000 of Red Army in 1921, 15,000 shot dead

Question 28

What did the Civil War do?

Answer 28

Brutalised and militarised the country

Question 29

How many deaths did the civil war lead to?

Answer 29

8 Million - tragic Russian Period

Question 30

What did the Civil War allowed Lenin to do?

Answer 30

It allowed Lenin to centralised power in an emergency situation

Question 31

Terror

Answer 31

Terror

Question 32

What was the name of the royal family in Russia that was executed on Lenin’s orders?

Answer 32

The Romanovs

Question 33

How did Lenin justify their terror?

Answer 33

They justified it as the ‘vanguard’ leading revolution and a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’

Question 34

What was the secret police that was renamed twice and what did they do?

Answer 34

The Cheka in 1917 renamed to the OGPU in 1921 which could arrest, torture and kill without trial

Question 35

What did the OGPU grow from?

Answer 35

It grew from 40,000 to 250,000

Question 36

Who was the ruthless director of the Cheka?

Answer 36

Felix Dzerzhinksy

Question 37

When was the Red Terror and how many deaths was a result of it?

Answer 37

1917 - 1922, 200,000 deaths

Question 38

How many Mensheviks were arrested?

Answer 38

5,000

Question 39

Innocent civilians such as?

Answer 39

Bim Bam the Clown

Question 40

What are some of the examples of groups of the bourgeois that were shot in Moscow?

Answer 40

Ballerinas, Boy Scouts and Law tennis club

Question 41

Why were prostitutes killed?

Answer 41

Cause they were accused of ‘distracting’ soldiers