Theme 1 Flashcards
(42 cards)
Start of Bolshevik party
Started 24000
By revolution 200,000
Problems faced in 1917
Opposition groups Ruined economy Peasant uprisings Ww1 Little industry Political division Large country to consolidate power over Angry population
Opponents in 1917
Socialist revolutionaries
Mensheviks
Tsarists
Nationalists
Early decrees
Land- gave peasants right to seize land from nobility
Peace- promise to remove Russia from ww1
Workers- 8 hour max working day and minimum wage
Workers control- workers elect committees to run factories
Provisional government
In place of Tsar- abdicated Feb’17
No real power
Soviet’s has power
Failure provides conditions for revolution
October revolution
Red guards take control of bridges, main telegraph offices, railway stations
Provisional govt. leave
Take winter palace with little resistance
Lenin 1917
‘All power to the Soviets’
Very radical
Leader in October revolution
All Russian congress of Soviets
Met June 1917
Made up of representatives from each soviet
Discussed Russia’s future
Sovnarkom
New Russian Cabinet made up of 13 People’s Commissars
Lenin was elected Chairman
Elections
Election held in November 1917
Lenin refused to recognise results
Constituent Assembly- Lenin closed after one day jan 1918
Lenin willing to disregard Soviets
Election April 1918 Lenin refuses to recognise result
Treaty of Brest Litovsk (March 1918)
Very unpopular
Allowed Russia to leave WW1
Caused Bolsheviks to lose elections
Civil war 1918-21
War communism- economy centralised Loyal party members relied on more Red army authoritarian Politburo over Sovnarkom One party in govt Cheka- protect revolution Tsarist generals in charge of red army
Bolsheviks in 1921
Highly centralised
One party state
Violence against opposition
Tambov uprising 1921
Peasants in Tambov began a rebellion against grain requisitions and Cheka brutality
Jan ‘21 50,000 anti communist fighters
Kronstadt rebellion March 1921
Response to suppression of Petrograd strikers
Demanded:
Immediate free and fair elections
Release of political prisoners
Restoration of freedom of speech and press
Red army crushed rebellion
May-100,000 people deported to labour camps
Tenth party congress March 1921
End to grain requisition- dealt with peasants
Replace War Communism with NEP- dealt with workers
Trotsky takes Red Army to crush Kronstadt rebellion
Bans factions ‘on party unity’
Lenin’s death
Trotsky didn’t attend the funeral
Jan 1924
Stalin gave him the wrong date
Stalin set himself up as Lenin’s disciple
Party at time of Lenin’s death
Politburo was in control
Abandoned Soviets- one party state
Stalin and party
Stalin= general secretary
Powers of appointment and demoting
Appointees loyal members and demoted trotsky supporters
Politburo members pre Lenin death
Trotsky Kamenev Zinoviev Lenin Stalin Rykov Tomsky Bukharin
Trotsky and the left
13th Party Congress- Trotsky calls for more democracy
Triumvirate(Z K S) denounce Trotsky
Trotsky accepts ban on factions and unwilling to split party
Z and K continue against T
Summer 1924- Trotsky exposes Z and K disagreeing with Lenin
Z calls for Trotsky to be thrown out
Stalin silent
Bukharin and right
1925- Stalin joins right supporting ‘socialism in one country’
Z and K- attack Stalin but lose every vote
1926- z and k join Trotsky to form ‘new opposition’
They were a faction so expelled from party
Stalin turns on right
Stalin attacks NEP and supporters wants rapid industrialisation
Bukharin thought it would destroy Russia
Bukharin, Rykov and Trotsky removed from politburo
1929- Stalin undisputed leader
Reasons for Stalin terror
Power wasn’t secure:
Supporters willing to challenge
Old rivals conspire against him
Moderates in party associated with Sergei Kirov- forced policy changes in 30s
1932- Kirov defends Ryutin who produced a pamphlet criticising Stalin
Stalin demanded his execution but moderates argued for prison sentence
Kirov authority threatened Stalin
