1A: Establishing Communist Party Control, 1917-24.

Question 1

What was Russia like before WW1?

Answer 1

• Ruled by all-powerful emperors, ‘Tsars’
• Repressive, strong government.
• Poverty and lack of political rights were the norm.
• Empire extended beyond Russia to Ukraine, Georgia, Finland and Estonia.
• Weak economy based on little modern industry, and even in times of success the economy did not benefit ordinary people.
• Many opposition groups to the Tsar, such as the Social-Democratic Labour Party and the Socialist Revolutionaries arose, though his political police prevented them from organising effectively.

Question 2

How did WW1 affect Russia?

Answer 2

• Struggling economy incapable of funding war effort, made worse by Tsar Nicholas II’s lack of military know-how.
• Frustration with defeat, economic chaos and political mismanagement sparked an uprising in Petrograd - the February Revolution of 1917 - that eventually overthrew Nicholas and established the Provisional Government.

Question 3

Outline the features of the Provisional Government of 1917.

Answer 3

• Introduced a series of reforms after seizing power, replacing the despotism of the Tsar with a liberal system,
• Promised free elections to introduce a new government.
• Continued Russia’s efforts in WW1 despite public resentment towards the cause.
• Overthrown in October 1917 when Lenin and Trotsky organised a coup d’etat (Lenin’s cries for an end to WW1 and redistribution of land had proved popular among the peasantry and proletariat masses).

Question 4

With reference to his perceived stages of history, outline the views of Karl Marx.

Answer 4

• Primitive Communism, Classical Slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism.
• Class conflict was necessary to help society progress to each new stage.
• Marx believed a workers revolution was the key to progress from Capitalism to Socialism, and later Lenin would use the chaos of WW1 to begin to carry out this theory.
• Often conflicting or vague, advocating both a democratic revolutionary government and workers dictatorship.

Question 5

Describe the features of Lenin’s new government immediately following October 1917.

Answer 5

• Based on ‘Soviet’s’, or small democratic councils that had emerged following the February Revolution and had representatives in an All Russian Congress of Soviet’s.
• As the ARCS was too large to meet regularly, it elected the Sovnarkom (Council of People’s Commissars), initially a group of 13 revolutionaries Chaired by Lenin and tasked with daily government.The Sovnarkom was still responsible to the ARCS, which had representatives from a number of parties.
• A number of decrees that won Lenin popularity and breathing space were proposed and approved by the ARCS: Decree on Land (Oct 1917), Decree of Peace (Oct 1917), Worker’s Decrees (Nov 1917) and the Decree of Workers’ Control (Nov 1917).
• Arguably still insecure, made vulnerable by lack of access to funds and major cities.
• Ultimately allowed working people much greater participation in day-to-day government = popular.
• Potentially undemocratic, ignoring the election of a Constituent Assembly that met in January 1918.

Question 6

Outline the causes of the Russian Civil War in 1918.

Answer 6

• Culmination of different areas of opposition to the new government; Tsar-ist forces, those advocating a military dictatorship or democratic system, SR’s, Menshevik’s, anarchists and Western forces.
• Establishment of rival SR/Liberal gov in Omsk.
• General Kornilov organising an anti-Bolshevik army in Don.

Question 7

How did the Russian government change during the Civil War?

Answer 7

• Increasing centralisation and power.
• Streamlined economy and government via War Communism and Nomenklatura
• Trotsky helped enforce a more authoritarian military, even employing Tsarist generals.
• Lenin began to prefer working with the smaller, more loyal and efficient Politburo of 5-7 members, indicating that the Communist Party was to become the foundation of the regime.
• Cheka established in December 1917 in order to ‘defend the revolution’ and destroy anarchist organisations.

Question 8

What were the main consequences of the Russian Civil War?

Answer 8

• Popular unrest, worsened by untimely drought; Primary examples include the Kronstadt Sailors, who were fired on when they rebelled against suppression of Petrograd strikes, and the Tambov Peasants, who under the leadership of Antonov protested grain strikes and Cheka brutality.
• From February 1921, the Cheka were authorised to destroy all opposing political parties = one party state.
• Following the 1921 Party Congress, the NEP liberalised the economy, whilst the ban on factions tightened Lenin’s control