1.1.1 Bolshevik Ideology, Oct Coup, Early Sov Gov Flashcards
date nicky 2 abdicates, % pop peasants at time
March 2 1917, 80%
civil war: reds suffering how many times more deaths than others
almost 2x
what damaged the provgov? WIIP
War commitment (2x deaths), Inefficiency (people not represented), Irrelevant focus (starving), Poor decisions (Kornilov Affair)
What did Lenin’s April theses outline? (BAELF)
- Bread, Peace, Land
- all power to the soviets
- exit war
- land redistribution
- fair compensation for labour
Politburo outline (control, include, run what)
most powerful body, controlled by Lenin
Dictated policy, includes senior Party members, runs party + country
Secretariat
bureaucracy, charged w/ selecting + appointing party members
Sovnarkom
chaired by Lenin, Council of People’s Commissars
Ministers involved head government departments
All-Russian Congress of Workers’ Deputies
Elected from each soviet (this is where public representation comes in) but hold little power → report to Ipsolkom, which is also controlled by LaB, Must be from Communist Party from 1922
Constituent assembly elections (Nov 1917) results SRs v Bols but what happened anyway
SR: 40%
Bol: 24%
Lenin just dissolved the popularly-elected ‘constituent assembly’ so it didn’t matter <3
How insecure was Lenin’s ‘victory’
“insecure in the extreme” - Geoffrey Swain
reforms in terms of workers + social
8hr work day, all illiterate adults had to learn how to read + write, women right to vote, abortion laws relaxed
land reforms
Redistribution + transfer of land from aristocracy to peasants + workers by Soviets
censorship + control
Jan 1918: close down public press = echo chamber of bolshevik ideals
CHEKA: escalated rapidly - by 1919 operating outside law, torturing, killing
