The Consolidation Of Bolshevik Authority+ Inital Decrees Flashcards
(25 cards)
Was the Bolshevik position at the end of October secure? Did people accept them?
•No it was far from secure
•Initially, civil servants refused to serve and bankers refused to provide finance
•It took them 10 days to persuade the state bank to hand over its reserves but only under threat of armed intervention
Where did the Bolsheviks need to establish their authority?
•outside the capital
Whose forces did the Bolsheviks need to combat?
•Kerenskys, who had set up a new headquarters at Gatvhins and rallied an army comprised of -8 Cossack regiments and a small force of socialist revolutionary cadets and officers
Why was Lenin’s army smaller in numbers than those of Kerenskys?
•Many soldiers from the Petrograd garrisons returned to their countryside homes immediately after the revolution
•Lenin had no direct contact with troops at the front
•Making his army small in numbers and appear weak
What happened on the 29th of October?
•There was an army cadet rising against the Bolsheviks within Petrograd
•The army was quickly defeated by the red guard
What happened in the 31st?
•The Bolsheviks took control of the Baku and in 17 provincial capitals
What happened on the 2nd November?
•Kerenskys opposition forces were defeated
What happened on November 3rd?
•The kremlin in Moscow was taken, ending a ten day battle for Moscow
•Lenin issued an ultimatum to send division within in the Bolshevik party
•Those who were unhappy had the choice to accept it or leave
•Kamanev, zinoviev, Rykov and others left
•Sverdlov replaced Kamanev
What happened in the the 5th of November?
•Lenin proclaimed victory of the revolution, assuring people “Your Soviets are from now on the organs of state authority, legislative bodies with full powers”
What was the Bolshevik position by the end of 1917?
•By the end of 1917, the Bolshevik dominated the major towns and railways although large areas of countryside were still outside their control and it would take four more years of bitter Civil War before the communist could claim for victory and military control of the country

Who did Lenin reluctantly agree to let join the Sovnarkom in November?
•7 left wing social revolutionaries
What was Lenin happily towards?
•power sharing
What did Lenin need to do following the establishment of Bolshevik control?
•Fulfill his promises of change and win support
What was Lenin genuinely convinced the people would be able to do after his rule?
•He seems to have been genuinely convinced that people would be able to instigate a new social order of communism
What were the main decrees of October?
•The workers decree; which established a maximum 8 hour day
•Lenin’s social insurance decree; which provided old age, health and unemployment benefits
•Press decree; banned the opposition of press
•Decree on peace; promised an end to war “without annexation and indemnities”
•Decree on land; abolished private ownership of land and legitimized peasant seizures without compensation to landlords - this also reduced peasant support for the SR and provided a breathing space for the consolidation of Bolshevik rule
How did Lenin express his belief that the people could be able to instigate a new social social order?
•Expressed his beliefs in decrees
What were the main decrees of November?
•Rights of the people of Russia; abolished class ranks
•A nationality decree; promised self-determination to the peoples of the former Russian empire eg in December Finland became an independent state and an elected parliament was set up in Ukraine
•Decree of workers’ control of factories; gave workers the right to supervise management
•Decree to outlaw sex discrimination; gave women equality with men
What were the main decrees of December?
•Decree to establish the ‘all-Russian commission for the suppression of counter revolution, sabotage and speculation; created a secret police force known as the Cheka
•bank decree; nationalised banks and ended the private flow of capital
•The military decree; removed class ranks, saluting and military decorations from the army as well as placed the army under the control of soldiers’ Soviets which would elect officers
•Decree on the church; nationalized church land, removed marriage and divorce from the church’s control and have women the right to initiate divorce
Despite his urgency to sieze power what was Lenin cautious of?
•Rushing towards socialism
How did Lenin envision the first stage of the long transition into socialism?
•As a period of state capitalism where a private market existed with a degree of state control over economic affairs
What did members within the Bolshevik party urge about the industry in Russia?
•They felt that the nationalisation of industry should be completed with urgency
What was established to supervise and control economic developments? And when ?
•The Veshenka in December 1917
What measures did the Bolshevik party take to combat opposition to their new government?
•A propaganda campaign against political and ‘class enemies’, particularly focusing on the bourgeois
•From November it was decreed that everyone was to be addressed as Grazbdanin- citizen - and party members as Tovarishch meaning Comrade
•Enemies of the Bolshevik were denounced as “counter revolutionaries”
•Anti-Bolshevik newspapers were closed
•Anti Bolshevik civil service members were removed
•The Cheka was established as a secret police force in December
•leading Kadets, right wing SR’s and Mensheviks were imprisoned in December
What did Lenin try to emphasize about the Bolshevik policies?
•They were not simply made to intimidate enemies but to transform society
