Government Flashcards
(126 cards)
1
Q
Why did Lenin close the Constituent Assembly?
A
The SRs won double the votes of the Bolsheviks
2
Q
How and when was the Constituent Assembly close?
A
- using the Red Army
- January 1918, after one day
3
Q
Who was Felix Dzerzhinsky?
A
‘Iron Felix’ - head of the Cheka
4
Q
How big was the Cheka in 1921?
A
250,000
5
Q
When was the Red Terror and how many were executed?
A
- 1917-23
- 200,000
6
Q
Name 3 specific victims of the Red Terror.
A
- Tsar + family
- Fanny Kaplan
- Bim Bom
7
Q
How many bishops were executed in the Red Terror?
A
28
8
Q
What did Lenin do in 1918 which attributed to his personality cult?
A
Convinced Bolsheviks to sign a contract with Germany - gave up Russian land but freed up troops for the Civil War
9
Q
What 3 factors caused Lenin’s personality cult?
A
- Threatened to resign - proving his irreplaceability
- Survival of assassination attempt
- Won Revolution and Civil War
10
Q
What 2 factors are evidence of Lenin’s personality cult?
A
- Preservation in mausoleum
- St Petersburg renamed Leningrad
11
Q
What counters Lenin’s personality cult?
A
His testament was largely ignored after his death
12
Q
What 3 events constitute the crisis of 1921?
A
- Kronstadt Uprising
- Workers’ Opposition
- Tambov Uprising
13
Q
What was the Kronstadt Uprising?
A
Rebellion of loyal and elite Kronstadt sailors due to Bolshevik violence and lack of democracy - destroyed by Red Army
14
Q
What was the Workers’ Opposition?
A
A Bolshevik faction lead by Alexandra Kollontai opposing lack of democracy
15
Q
Who was Alexandra Kollontai?
A
Revolutionary and Central Committee member
16
Q
How did Lenin respond to the Workers’ Opposition?
A
Ban on Factions - prohibited debate and exiled Kollontai
17
Q
Why did Lenin hate peasants?
A
Their orthodox religion and support of the Constituent Assembly
18
Q
What was the Tambov Uprising?
A
Rebellion of peasants, resisting grain acquisition during the Civil War - bombed by Red Army
19
Q
What was the One Party State?
A
Other parties outlawed, e.g. Mensheviks
20
Q
What was the Nomenklatura?
A
List of loyal members for promotion
21
Q
What is Democratic Centralism?
A
Illusion of democracy while power is held at the centre of the party
22
Q
How was Democratic Centralism enacted in the Soviet Union?
A
Soviets were elected by local councils, but the most powerful were pre-selected forming the Politburo
23
Q
What was the Sovnarkom?
A
The Council of People’s Commissars, took the role of cabinet government, elected by the Central Executive Committee
24
Q
What was the Politburo?
A
Leading body containing 7-9 members, passed decisions to Sovnarkom
25
What was the Central Committee?
Decision making body of 30-40 members
26
What did Lenin do to Trade Unions?
Took them over, no longer allowed to strike or demand better wages
27
Who fought in the Civil War and when?
- Red vs White armies
- 1918-21
28
Who were the White Army?
Anti-Lenin parties
29
How did Lenin mythologise the Civil War?
As a battle between good and evil
30
How did the Civil War transform the Bolshevik party?
Into a militarised and brutal force
31
What were the impacts of the Civil War? (4)
1. War Communism
2. Red Terror
3. Justified violence and mass censorship
4. Cult of Personality
32
How were Lenin and Stalin's governments similar?
1. Terror instigated by a secret police responsible to the party
2. Undemocratic, corrupt, single party state
3. Personality cult and dictatorship
33
How were Lenin and Stalin's governments different?
1. Stalin also instigated terror within his own party
2. Stalin's ideological orthodoxy banned any discussion and made the Nomenklatura a hit list
3. Stalin's cult of personality was inorganic
34
Why was Lenin's Testament ignored? (3)
1. Destroyed reputations of powerful members
2. Party manipulated by Stalin
3. They didn't see Stalin as a threat
35
Who were Lenin's potential successors? (4)
1. Zinoviev
2. Kamenev
3. Trotsky
4. Stalin
36
Who was Zinoviev?
- Head of Leningrad party
- Lenin's closest friend
- Voted against Lenin in 1917
- Perceived as cowardly
37
Who was Kamenev?
- Head of Moscow branch
- Working class revolutionary
- Lacked charisma and cunning
38
Who was Trotsky?
- Head of Red Army
- Revolutionary icon
- Perceived as arrogant and middle class
39
What was Stalin's role under Lenin?
General Secretary in charge of promotion and Nomenklatura
40
How did Lenin's Police State cause the Great Terror?
Provided foundational institution
41
How did Nadezhda's suicide cause the Great Terror?
1932 - she was found with a manifesto criticising Stalin's policies
42
What occurred at the 1934 Congress of Victors?
Kirov elected higher, causing Stalin's paranoia
43
Why was Kirov murdered in 1934?
Accusations of working for a Trotskyite-Zinovievite terror group
44
What did the murder of Kirov allow? (2)
- Stalin to try Zinoviev and Kamenev
- Issuing of order 447
45
What were Chistkas and when did they occur?
- 'Cleansing' of 22% of party members and trials of old Bolsheviks
- 1932-5
46
What were Show Trials and when did they occur?
- broadcasted trials and forced confessions of those accused of treason
- 1936-8
47
What was the Purge of the Red Army and when did it occur?
- Removal of those loyal to Trotsky
- 1937
48
How many officers were removed and what fraction of marshals were purged in the Great Terror?
- 35,000
- 3/5
49
How many personnel did Yezhov purge in the secret police?
3,000
50
When was the Purge of the Party?
1936-9
51
How did Stalin reform the NKVD? (4)
- expanded to millions or members
- made them independent, answerable to him
- encouraged denunciation
- police chiefs worked directly alongside Stalin
52
What was Order 447?
Gave secret police power to arrest all 'anti-Soviet elements'
53
What was the Troika court system?
3 judges, including secret police chief, instead of jury
54
What was the Quota System?
Estimates to determine the exact amount of enemies to arrest
55
How was Stalin's personal power strong? (4)
1. Total control of the party
2. Close relationships with police chiefs
3. Manipulated history
4. Operation Barbarossa
56
How was Stalin's personal power weak? (2)
1. Believed to be forced into terror
2. Out voted in favour of Kirov
57
What was Party Privilege under Stalin?
Nomenklatura given more power, status, housing etc.
58
How did Stalin use the Politburo?
Rarely - no trust
59
What was the Lenin Enrolment?
Increase in working class party membership
60
What was ideological orthodoxy?
One given ideology to be unquestionably followed
61
What about Stalin’s character made him a popular potential successor?
Politically skilled and had proletariat roots
62
How did Stalin undermine Trotsky?
Told him the wrong date for Lenin's funeral and read the eulogy in his place
63
What was Stalin's ideology? (2)
1. Socialism in one country
2. Rapid industrialisation
64
What was Socialism in one country?
The idea that Socialism could be achieved in the USSR alone, providing Russians with a sense of an important historical role
65
What was Trotsky's position on Socialism in one country?
Believed the USSR could not survive without other countries
66
What was Bukharin's view on industrialisation?
Believed they should industrialise 'at a snail's pace'
67
How was Khrushchev removed from power?
In a coup from the Politburo and Central Committee in 1964
68
What were Khrushchev's unpopular reforms? (3)
1. Fixed Terms
2. Decentralisation
3. Socialist Legality
69
What was Socialist Legality?
Criminalised mass executions, outlawed police terror
70
What was Khrushchev's retreat?
The slowing of de-Stalinisation in 1957, undoing his reforms
71
Who were the main figures to challenge Khrushchev?
Molotov and Malenkov
72
How did censorship show Khrushchev's retreat?
Began to imprison writers in mental asylums and appointed his son as a newspaper editor
73
What did Khrushchev say in 1957 implying a favourable attitude of Stalin?
'All communists are Stalinists'
74
How was Khrushchev hypocritical? (2)
- used Subjectivism to make his own decisions
- tried to forge his own personality cult
75
How did Khrushchev attempt to curate a cult of personality? (2)
- 'Man of the People'
- photographed frequently with farmers
76
How did Khrushchev dismantle Stalin's cult? (8)
1. Criticised violence in new official history of the party
2. Renamed Stalingrad to Volgograd
3. Removed statues
4. Allowed writers to criticise Stalin (1957)
5. Secret Speech
6. Releases gulag prisoners
7. Published Lenin's testament
8. Removed Stalin's body from Lenin's mausoleum (1961)
77
How did Khrushchev decentralise?
Collective leadership returned and power divided regionally and departmentally (industry and agriculture)
78
What did Khrushchev establish to decentralise?
Regional Economic Councils
79
What was Subjectivism?
Allowed decisions to be made at local and national levels without the approval of the Politburo
80
How did centralisation continue under Khrushchev? (2)
- remaining ban on factions and dominance of the Politburo
- fixed terms didn't apply to Khrushchev
81
How did Khrushchev remove terror?
1. Renamed to KGB and no longer independent
2. Socialist legality
3. No more political mass terror or gulags
82
What was the Hungarian Uprising?
4,000 people killed in an attempt to gain independence from the USSR
83
What was Destalinisation also called?
Khrushchev Thaw
84
What was the Secret Speech and when?
- 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev spoke for 4 hours criticising Stalin
- 1956
85
Where was Stalin's body moved to in 1961?
By the Kremlin, alongside other party members
86
How were Khrushchev and Brezhnev similar? (3)
1. Use of Politburo and central leadership
2. No mass terror, purges or gulags
3. More human personality cults
87
How were Khrushchev and Brezhnev different?
1. Brezhnev was more central and corrupt and less democratic
2. Expanded KGB
3. Brezhnev increased censorship and presented a sense of superiority
88
What was Mature Socialism?
Term adopted by Brezhnev for the economic planning - involved expansion of the party and recentralisation
89
What was 'Trust in Cadres'?
Allowed loyal officials unlimited time in power
90
What is oligarchy?
Self-motivated governance
91
How can Brezhnev's era be described?
1. Corrupt
2. Oligarchical
3. Nepotistic
92
What is Gerontocracy?
Leaders were significantly older than the average population, no progression or new ideas
93
What did the 1977 Soviet Constitution do?
Limited freedom of speech, criticism and protest
94
When was Lenin in power?
1917-24
95
When was Stalin in power?
1928-53
96
When was Khrushchev in power?
1953-64
97
When was Brezhnev in power?
1964-82
98
Trotsky - Lenin's Testament
'he has displayed excessive self-assurance and arrogance’
99
Stalin - Lenin's Testament
'I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution'
100
Marxism - Figes (It was S as a ‘P of R’, O ‘OS’ to the M of P and B)
'It was seen as a 'path of reason', offering 'objective solutions' to the misery of poverty and backwardness'
101
Lenin's character - Figes
'there was a strong puritanical streak in Lenin's character which later manifested itself in the political culture of his dictatorship'
102
Lenin's persuasive personality - Figes
'the dominance of his personality'
103
Reasons for Red Terror - Figes
'retribution and revenge were powerful revolutionary impulses'
104
Lenin's cult - Figes
'a cult designed by the Bolsheviks, against Lenin's will'
105
Origins of terror - Figes
'from the Civil War that Bolsheviks inherited their cult of sacrifice'
106
Description of Stalin - Figes
'he had gained a reputation for modest and industrious mediocrity'
107
Yezhov - Figes (he was P to I Stalin’s PF by FE of ‘CRC’)
'he was prepared to indulge Stalin's paranoid fantasies by fabricating evidence of 'counter-revolutionary conspiracies''
108
Khrushchev - Figes (a F and TC, D by his O as B, O and I to make B)
'a flamboyant and tempestuous character, described by his opponents as boorish, overbearing and inclined to make blunders'
109
Secret Speech - Figes (it was the M when the PLA, U and SB. It was the B of the E)
'It was the moment when the party lost authority, unity and self-belief. It was the beginning of the end'
110
Brezhnev - Figes
'he was a creature of the system, a grey and mediocre functionary rather than a revolutionary'
111
Mature Socialism - Figes
'the absurd doctrine that a socialist society had been successfully created and that all that was needed was to consolidate its gains'
112
Secret Speech - Khrushchev
'Stalin was a very distrustful man; sickly suspicious'
113
Downfall of Khrushchev - Stableford
'he was often a victim of his own ambition [...] preferring the ease and comfort of dictatorship'
114
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Solzhenitsyn
'no one would care if a prisoner froze to death, but what if he tried to escape?'
115
Terror - Dherzhinsky
'we stand for organised terror [...] our aim is to fight against the enemies of the new order of life'
116
Freedom - Lenin
'it is true that liberty is precious; so precious it must be carefully rationed'
117
Ideology - Stalin
'Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why would we let them have ideas?'
118
What was the Politburo renamed in 1952?
The presidium
119
How many political prisoners were released from camps between 1953-1960?
2 million
120
What was the name of the opposition group which tried to overthrow Khrushchev in 1957 and who was in it?
Anti-Party Group, Molotov and Malenkov
121
What were Fixed Terms?
Limited the time government officials could remain in post to 3 years, making the party more responsive to new ideas
122
What did Lenin use in place of the Constituent Assembly?
The All-Russian Congress of Soviets
123
When did the Bolshevik party become the Communist party?
March 1918
124
What was Lenin's official position in government?
Chair of the Sovnarkom and member of the Politburo
125
Over which 2 issues did Lenin threaten to resign?
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- NEP
126
When and how was the USSR created?
- 1922
- the position of the Bolsheviks was strong enough to extend the party's control over the regions of the old Russian Empire
