Provisional government and the October revolution (section 2)

Question 1

What happened in Konstradt?

Answer 1

Sailors and workers defied the central authorities by setting up their own government

Question 2

What did this tempt revolutionaries to do?

Answer 2

Made them believe that they had the opportunity to bring down the pg

Question 3

What events suggested that the pg were not in full control?

Answer 3

Spread of Soviets, land seizures by workers, internal government disputes and worker control of factories

Question 4

How did national minorities exploit the pg?

Answer 4

By setting up their own governments and claim independence of central control

Question 5

What did Ukraine contain?

Answer 5

The largest number of non-Russian people in the empire

Question 6

What did it produce the most of the the region?

Answer 6

Food

Question 7

Why did kadet ministers resign?

Answer 7

Because the pg offered independence in Ukraine

Question 8

What did the kadets protest?

Answer 8

That a constituent assembly would properly solve matters

Question 9

How often had strikes occurred since February?

Answer 9

Almost daily

Question 10

What had Lenin declared at the all Russian congress?

Answer 10

That the Bolsheviks were prepared to take over

Question 11

What did the delegates regard Lenin’s declaration as?

Answer 11

An intention, not a plan

Question 12

What happened to those reluctant to make a bid for power in the July days?

Answer 12

They were physically attacked

Question 13

Why was it easy to crush the rising?

Answer 13

Due to the disunity

Question 14

What did Trotsky argue about the July days?

Answer 14

That it was started by the Mensheviks and SRs

Question 15

What did Trotsky try to do?

Answer 15

Absolve the Bolsheviks from the blame of a failed revolution

Question 16

What explanation was offered by the Bolsheviks?

Answer 16

That they had come to the aid of workers and sailors

Question 17

What did the failed uprising reveal?

Answer 17

That the Bolsheviks were not a dominant revolutionary party

Question 18

How did Kerensky put pressure on the Bolsheviks

Answer 18

Closed down Pravda and many Bolshevik leaders were arrested

Question 19

How did Kerensky brand the Bolsheviks in his campaign ?

Answer 19

That they were traitors and German agents

Question 20

What did peasants believe they would benefit from?

Answer 20

A major land redistribution

Question 21

What happened when the government did nothing on the land question?

Answer 21

Peasants seized property of local landlords

Question 22

What was the aim of the land commission?

Answer 22

To redistribute land

Question 23

What did the Bolsheviks dismiss the peasants as

Answer 23

Lacking true revolutionary initiative

Question 24

What allowed Lenin to add the peasants to the proletarian cause?

Answer 24

The peasants were acting as a revolutionary force due to post-tsarist circumstances

Question 25

What produced a considerable amount of support for the Bolsheviks in the countryside?

Answer 25

Their recognition of land seizures as perfectly legitimate

Question 26

Who did Left SRs side with?

Answer 26

Bolsheviks

Question 27

What was the kornilov affair

Answer 27

A crisis that undermined the gains it had made from its handling of the july days

Question 28

What did the kornilov affair do for the Bolsheviks?

Answer 28

Allowed them to recover from their humiliation

Question 29

What did kornilov believe?

Answer 29

That Russia had to destroy its socialist enemies before Germany

Question 30

Why did refugees and deserters flock into the city?

Answer 30

Because German forces came deeper into Russia

Question 31

What did kornilov declare?

Answer 31

That Russia stood in danger of socialist inspired insurrection

Question 32

What did kornilov inform Kerensky?

Answer 32

That he intended on bringing his loyal troops to Petrograd to save the pg from overthrow

Question 33

How did Kerensky respond to this?

Answer 33

He called on all loyal citizens to take up arms and defend the city

Question 34

What was ironic about the Bolsheviks being given arms?

Answer 34

They were given arms to defend those who they intended to overthrow

Question 35

Why were the arms not needed?

Answer 35

The railway workers refused to operate the trains to bring in kornilov army

Question 36

What did Kerensky do after learning this?

Answer 36

Abandoned the advance and allowed his arrest

Question 37

Who benefited the most from this?

Answer 37

Bolsheviks

Question 38

How were the Bolsheviks able to present themselves?

Answer 38

As defenders of Petrograd

Question 39

What did this reveal about the pg?

Answer 39

Its vulnerability to military threat

Question 40

What had the Bolsheviks gained by September 1917?

Answer 40

A majority in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets

Question 41

How successful were soviet meetings?

Answer 41

In the first few months they were fully attended

Question 42

What did the Bolsheviks political dedication mean?

Answer 42

That they showed up in full swing and were able to extend their influence

Question 43

Why did Lenin want to seize power at this moment?

Answer 43

Because the pg were vulnerable

Question 44

Which two events were worrying Lenin about their ability to seize power?

Answer 44

Election for constituent assembly and meeting of all-Russian congress of Soviets

Question 45

Why did Lenin want to topple the pg before the congress met?

Answer 45

Because they could present their authority as a fait accompli which they would have no reason to reject

Question 46

Which parties had set their hopes on the constituent assembly?

Answer 46

Progressivists and reformers

Question 47

Why did the Bolsheviks need to be in power before the election?

Answer 47

So that they could undermine their decision

Question 48

What was the pre-parliament

Answer 48

A body to advise the government

Question 49

What was the intention of a pre-parliament

Answer 49

To fill the interim before the constituent assembly came into being

Question 50

What did Lenin condemn the pre-parliament as

Answer 50

An attempt by the pg to strengthen its grip on power

Question 51

How did the Bolsheviks react to a pre-parliament?

Answer 51

They mocked it loudly and walked out

Question 52

How did Lenin’s presence addict the Bolsheviks

Answer 52

Stiffened resolve but didn’t create total unity

Question 53

What did the central committee pledge itself to?

Answer 53

An armed insurrection

Question 54

Who initiated the rising

Answer 54

Kerensky

Question 55

What did the article written by kamenev state

Answer 55

That it would be a mistake to overthrow the pg

Question 56

How did Kerensky interpret this article?

Answer 56

That a date had already been set

Question 57

Who organised the October rising

Answer 57

Trotsky

Question 58

What did the Soviets set up?

Answer 58

A revolutionary committee to organise the defence of Petrograd

Question 59

What did Trotsky use his influence for?

Answer 59

Being accepted into being on the team to run the MRC

Question 60

What did this mean Trotsky had at his disposal?

Answer 60

The only effective military force

Question 60

What was Trotsky now in the position to do?

Answer 60

Draft plans for the overthrow of the PG

Question 61

Who directed the red guards?

Answer 61

Trotsky

Question 62

How many deaths occurred in the time it took for the Bolsheviks to seize power

Answer 62

Only 6

Question 63

What had the desertions reduced the garrison to?

Answer 63

A small group of kadets, Cossacks and amazons

Question 64

How much resistance was there by the pg?

Answer 64

None

Question 65

How did the red guards enter the winter palace?

Answer 65

Through the back doors and defenders gave up

Question 66

Who were the 14 names of the new government?

Answer 66

All SRs and Bolsheviks with Lenin as chief minister