2.12 The establishment of Bolshevik government Flashcards
When did Lenin return to Russia?
3 April 1917, from Switzerland
How did Lenin get back into Russia?
Helped by the Germans, (on a one carriage German train) who expected him to seize power and make peace.
What document were Lenin’s demands written down in after he arrived in Russia?
the ‘April Theses’
What did the April Theses demand:
- power should be transferred to the soviets
- the war should be brought to an immediate end
- all land should be taken over by the State and re-allocated to peasants by local soviets
How can the April Theses be summed up?
Demand for ‘Peace, Bread and Land’
What further motto shows Lenin’s policy of non-cooperation with the Provisional Government?
‘All power to the soviets’
How did Lenin adapt Marxist theory to fit Russia?
He argued that Russian middle class was too weak to carry through full ‘bourgeois revolution’ - to allow the middle classes to continue in power held the inevitable proletarian revolution back.
How many members did the Bolsheviks have by the time of Lenin’s return to Russia?
26,000
By the end of April, what had Lenin achieved?
The majority of the Central Committee (by sheer force of personality)
When the first … met, it passed a vote of confidence in the Provisional Government by … votes to …
‘All-Russian Congress of Soviets’ - passed vote of confidence by 543 votes to 126
When did Trotsky decide to throw his full weight behind the Bolshevik cause, winning Lenin a key adherent?
at the beginning of July
What of Kerensky’s decisions played into Bolshevik hands?
his determination to continue the war
What caused the ‘July Days’?
- Grain prices had doubled in Petrograd between February and June
- poor harvest
- shortages of fuel + raw materials –> 586 factories close (loss of 100,000 jobs)
What happened in the July Days?
3-5 July
20,000 armed Kronstadt sailors joined workers+ soldiers on the streets - chanted Bolshevik slogans + caused havoc
When were the July Days?
3-5 July
How did the uncontrolled rioting of the July Days threaten to undermine the Bolsheviks’ ‘good work’?
warrants for the arrest of Bolsheviks issued + several, including Trotsky, were jailed
Where did Lenin go after the July Days?
fled in disguise into exile in Finland
What happened to the support for the Bolsheviks after Lenin’s escape?
- Soviet newspaper denounced the role of Bolsheviks - suggested that Lenin was working in the pay of the Germans + against Russia’s best interests
- Bolshevik propaganda burned + Pravda offices closed
- Lenin’s reputation fell, for fleeing
When did Kerensky replace Prince Lvov as Prime Minister?
8 July
What event saved the cause of the Bolsheviks?
the ‘Kornilov coup’ - Bolsheviks released from jail + armed by Kerensky
How did the Bolsheviks further use the Kornilov coup to their advantage, militarily?
to organise bands of workers commanded by their ‘Red Guards’ a militia they had trained in secret
How did the Bolsheviks further use the Kornilov coup to their advantage, in terms of propaganda?
The Bolsheviks were able to have the reputation as the only group to have opposed Kornilov consistently
In the Duma elections in Moscow, by what percentage did Bolshevik support increase between June and December?
164%
Bolshevik membership February to the beginning of October
February: 23,000
beginning of October: 200,000
By the beginning of October, how many newspapers was the party producing?
41
By the beginning of October, how large was the force of Red Guards maintained in the capital’s factories?
10,000 Red Guards
When did the Bolsheviks win a majority in the Petrograd Soviet?
In elections held in September
As well as having a majority in the Petrograd Soviet, what else did the Bolsheviks have control over?
The Moscow Soviet
Who became Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in September?
Trotsky
From mid-September, what did Lenin (from Finland) bombard the 12-man Central Committee of the Bolsheviks with demands to do?
to stage a revolution and seize power
Who were the two most prominent members of the Central Committee at this time?
Zinoviev and Kamenev
Why did the Central Committee urge restraint against Lenin’s demands of revolution in September?
in particular Zinoviev + Kamenev
fearing that Russia was not economically ready for revolution
When did Lenin write ‘history will…’?
How did the Central Committee respond?
‘history will not forgive us if we do not assume power now’ - 12 September
3 days later, the committee voted against a coup
When did Lenin secretly return to Petrograd? What did he do?
on 7 October, to attend a meeting of the Central Committee - to win them over in person
Well aware that the Bolsheviks wanted to seize power, how did Kerensky respond?
by sending some of the more radical army units out of the capital - Bolshevik-controlled Soviet claimed that Kerensky was abandoning the capital to allow it to fall to the Germans
Claiming that Kerensky was abandoning the capital, what did the Bolshevik-controlled soviet do?
set up a ‘Military Revolutionary Committee’ under Trotsky + Dzherzhinsky on 9 October
What did the ‘Military Revolutionary Committee’, set up on 9 October, do?
comprised 66 members (48 Bolsheviks) + appointed commissars to military units, to issue orders + organise weapons supplies
How many soldiers did the ‘Military Revolutionary Committee’ control?
- 200,000 Red Guards
- 60,000 Baltic Sailors
- 150,000 soldiers of the Petrograd garrison
When did Lenin harangued the Central Committee all night? What did he achieve?
with a vote of 10 to 2 (Z+K published their own views in a newspaper) that ‘an armed rising is the order of the day’
What did Kerensky try in desperation?
He tried to:
- close down two Bolshevik newspapers
- restrict the Military Revolutionary Committee’s power
He ordered:
- the closing of the bridges linking the working-class areas to the centre of Petrograd
How did Bolshevik propagandists use Kerensky’s acts of desperation?
suggested that his actions were a betrayal of the Soviet and an abandonment of the principles of the February Revolution - used as an excuse to act
Who organised the final stages of the Bolshevik Revolution
Trotsky + fellow Bolshevik Sverdlov
Through what night did the Kronstadt soldiers + sailors move into the city and the Red Guards seize key positions
night of 24-25 October - 5000 sailors and soldiers from Kronstadt
In the morning of the 25 October, how many further troops arrived?
3000
Not able to rely on the Petrograd troops, how did Kerensky escape from Petrograd?
borrowed a car from the American Embassy, disguising himself as a nurse
How many men did Trotsky claim ‘at the most’ were actively involved?
25,000-30,000 (would mean around 5% of all the workers and soldiers in the city
The few remaining photos suggest that forces were quite small however
How many may there have been in the square in front of the Winter Palace on the evening of 25 October?
10,000-15,000 (however many would have been by-standers and not involved in the actual ‘storming’)
When was the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets
26 October (day after October Revolution)
Who spoke at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets against the Bolshevik Revolution?
Zinoviev + Kamenev
Those on the right accused Lenin of seizing power illegally
Results of vote for government within the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets
500 (out of 670 delegates) voted in favour of socialist government
To Mensheviks + right-wing SR’s dismay, the majority of seats for new executive committee to carry out the government went to Bolsheviks + more extreme left-wing SRs
How did the ‘moderates’ (Mensheviks + right wing SRs) react to the executive committee?
In protest, they walked out of the congress, leaving a Bolshevik and left-wing SR coalition in control
into ‘the dustbin of history’ (as Trotsky shouted at them)
What did the executive committee establish as the new government?
the ‘Soviet of the People’s Commissars’ or Sovnarkom
(‘People’s Commissars’ fulfilled the same function as the previous ministers)
What was the composition of Sovnarkom?
exclusively of Bolsheviks, with Lenin as Chairman, Trotsky as Commissar for Foreign Affairs + one female commissar, Alexandra Kollontai
What decrees did Lenin make on 27 October?
- Decree on peace - promised an end to war (armistice followed in November)
- Decree on land - abolished private ownership for land + legitimised peasant seizures w/o compensation
What effect did the Decree on Land have?
reduced peasant support for the SRs + provided breathing space for consolidation of Bolshevik rule
What decrees did Lenin make in November?
- Workers’ control degree - gave workers right to ‘supervise management’
- Nationality decree - promised self-determination to peoples of former Empire
- New legal system of elected people’s courts
- outlawed sex discrimination + gave women right to own property
- decree against titles
When did Finland become an independent state? (due to nationality decree)
December 1917
When was an elected parliament set up in Ukraine? (due to nationality decree)
elected rada (parliament) set up in December 1917
What decrees did Lenin make in December?
- Military decree - removed class-ranks, saluting + military decoration (officers to be elected directly by soldiers’ soviets)
- Decrees on the Church - nationalised Church land + removed Church control of marriage and divorce
- Nationalisation of banks (ended private flow of capital)
What initial opposition was there to the Bolsheviks?
- civil servants refused to work under them
- bankers refused to provide them finance
It took … days to persuade the … to hand over its …, and even then only under …
It took 10 days to persuade the state bank to hand over its reserves, and even then only under threat of armed intervention
After his hasty departure, where had Kerensky set up headquarters?
Gatchina
How large was the army that Kerensky had rallied?
comprised 18 Cossack regiments + a small force of SR cadets and officers
How did the Bolsheviks look against the threat of Kerensky’s army?
they looked weak
Many of the Petrograd garrison had returned to their homes in the countryside + Lenin had no direct contact w/ the troops at the front
–> Lenin’s forces were much smaller in number
There were … days of fighting in Moscow between …. and …
There were 10 days of fighting in Moscow between those loyal to the Provisional Government and the Bolshevik revolutionaries
Who went on strike in protest against the emergence of a one-party government?
The railway and communications workers
What was Lenin forced to do by the strikes by the railway and communications workers?
to agree to inter-party talks
What saved the Bolshevik Revolution?
- Bolshevik agitators who persuaded some of Kerensky’s troops to defect
- a contingent of soldiers + workers who repulsed the rest on the outskirts of the city
How many years of civil war did it take for the communists to take full full victory + military control?
4 years of bitter civil war (especially over the countryside)
Did Lenin fulfil his promise to consider coalition with the other socialist parties?
Barely - only went as far as allowing left wing SRs to join Sovnarkom + it was made clear they had to follow the Bolshevik lead
Lenin’s methods of consolidating Bolshevik control
- propaganda campaign against political + class enemies
- closure of anti-Bolshevik newspapers
- purge of the civil service
- establishment of the Cheka in December 1917
- leading Kadets, right-wing Social Revolutionaries + Mensheviks were imprisoned, Dec 1917
What were Lenin’s opponents only hope?
the Constituent Assembly, as his consolidation of control was so effective
When were elections for the Constituent Assembly?
Began in November
What was the turnout for the elections for the Constituent Assembly?
41.7 million
How many votes did the SRs win in the Constituent Assembly? Percentage? Seats?
21.8 million votes
53% of vote
410 seats
How many votes did the Bolsheviks win in the Constituent Assembly? Percentage? Seats?
10.0 million votes
24% of vote
175 seats
What did Lenin say about the Constituent Assembly results?
‘We must not be deceived by the election figures. Elections prove nothing.’
Did the Constituent Assembly meet?
Once, on 5 January 1918, after which Lenin dissolved it
What was Lenin’s reasoning for dissolving the Constituent Assembly?
He believed that the Bolsheviks understood the needs of the proletariat better than the proletariat themselves understood them.
