Lenin’s consolidation of power

Question 1

Why were the Bolsheviks struggling after their consolidation of power

Answer 1

They had few plans in terms of organisation due to all the time spent preparing for revolution

Question 2

What did Trotsky believe was a simple way of helping the government

Answer 2

Issuing a few decrees

Question 3

What did Lenin claim the revolution to be

Answer 3

A taking of power by the Soviets

Question 4

Who did Lenin persist the sovnarkom was set up by

Answer 4

The congress of Soviets

Question 5

Why were the Bolsheviks in a position to make their own rules

Answer 5

Traditional forms of government had fallen with the tsar

Question 6

Who provided the members of Lenin’s government

Answer 6

The central committee of the Bolshevik party

Question 7

How did Lenin demand the Bolshevik party operate

Answer 7

According the the principle of democratic centralism

Question 8

What is democratic centralism

Answer 8

A formula that guarantees that power is exercised from the top down

Question 9

Who had Lenin written powerfully against before the revolution

Answer 9

Landlords and grasping capitalists

Question 10

When would Lenin use existing structures until

Answer 10

A fully fledged socialist system could be adapted

Question 11

Why couldn’t Lenin introduce a new revolutionary policy

Answer 11

Because their authority didn’t run much further than Petrograd and Moscow

Question 12

Which 3 issues had war against Germany and Austria caused for Russia

Answer 12

Shortage of raw materials, fractured transport system and grain supplies were short

Question 13

What was the decree on peace an appeal for

Answer 13

The warring nations to enter into talks

Question 15

What was issued in the decree on land

Answer 15

Private land ownership demolished

Question 16

What did decree on workers control do

Answer 16

Accepted workers takeover as long as they maintained order and discipline

Question 17

What was the vesenkha

Answer 17

Set up in December 1917 to take charge of the regulation of economic life

Question 18

What did the vesenkha preside over

Answer 18

Banks and railways were nationalised, foreign debts were cancelled and transport system was improved

Question 19

What was the decree on nationalisation

Answer 19

Laid down a programme for the takeover by the state of larger industrial concerns

Question 20

What did Lenin have no faith in

Answer 20

Democratic elections

Question 21

Who gained majority in the constituent assembly

Answer 21

SRs

Question 22

When was the constituency dissolved

Answer 22

After one days session

Question 23

How was the constituent assembly dissolved

Answer 23

At gunpoint by red guards

Question 24

Why were allies still able to intervene

Answer 24

Because Russia was still at war

Question 25

How did Lenin excuse his brutal dissolution of the constituent assembly

Answer 25

By claiming that the soviet had already achieved assembly and that the results were rigged and didn’t represent the people of Russia

Question 26

What did Maxim gorky compare the dissolution of the assembly to

Answer 26

Bloody Sunday

Question 27

What did Rosa Luxembourg feel about Lenin’s behaviour

Answer 27

She disproved of him and condemned the elimination of democracy in Russia

Question 28

Why was it impossible for Russia to fight a successful war

Answer 28

Because of its military exhaustion

Question 29

What would Germany retain if it won the war

Answer 29

Russian territory on both sides

Question 30

What had the German foreign office given to Lenin

Answer 30

Substantial amounts of money

Question 31

Why was peace with Germany in Lenin’s interest

Answer 31

Because it was the best guarantee against drying up lucrative source of Bolshevik revenue

Question 32

What was Trotsky determined to turn peace talks into

Answer 32

A protracted affair in hopes of the collapse of Germany on both fronts

Question 33

What did Trotsky want to buy time for

Answer 33

The Bolshevik agitators to exploit mutinies in the Austro-Hungarian armies

Question 34

What was Trotsky slogan

Answer 34

Neither peace nor war

Question 35

What was Trotskys slogan intended to do

Answer 35

Confuse and infuriate German delegation

Question 36

How did trostky behave in peace talks

Answer 36

He would yawn loudly and start private conversations

Question 37

What did Trotsky say in his speeches during peace talks

Answer 37

He appealed to Germany to overthrow its corrupt bourgeois government

Question 38

What was Lenin and Trotskys belief

Answer 38

That history and time was on their side

Question 39

What was trostky and Lenin’s main concern

Answer 39

Spreading proletarian revolution, they had little loyalty to Russia

Question 40

When were the soviet delegation willing to sign the peace treaty

Answer 40

When they realised they wanted to overthrow Lenin

Question 41

What did nikov call peace treaty to be

Answer 41

A German diktat

Question 42

How much land was lost in the treaty of brest-litovsk

Answer 42

1/3 if European Russia

Question 43

How much of russias population was lost in the treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Answer 43

45 million

Question 44

How much was Russia required to pay in war reparations

Answer 44

3 billion roubles

Question 45

How did Lenin justify his signing of the treaty to the Bolsheviks

Answer 45

By stressing that his policy of military exhaustion was the only realistic one

Question 46

Why did Lenin believe that he would have the ability to retake the land Germany took

Answer 46

Because he believed the aftermath of the war would soon develop into a capitalist conflict

Question 47

In Lenin’s view, what had WWI been caused by

Answer 47

The rivalry between imperialist powers competing for markets to invest their surplus capital

Question 48

How much did Lenin gain his way by

Answer 48

Just one vote

Question 49

What persuaded left communists to accept the treaty

Answer 49

Lenin’s insistence on the need for loyalty at a time of crisis

Question 50

Why could Lenin strengthen his hold over the party

Answer 50

Because of the German collapse on the western front and the almost complete withdrawal from Russia