AOS4: Consequences of Russian Revolution Flashcards
1) When was the Decree on Worker’s Control/Nationalisation of Private Property + Peace?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) November 1917
2)
- Fulfilment of Bolshevik’s ‘Land’ promise
- Legalised peasant ‘Land grab’
- Provided necessary reforms
3)
1) When was the CHEKA created?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) December 1917
2)
- Created to suppress counter-revolutionaries/protect Bolsheviks
- Used torture and execution methods
- Oppressive, reminiscent of Okhrana
3)
1) When was the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) January 1918
2)
- Soviets take ultimate power in Russia
- Centralised, one-party government
- Supported by CHEKA + Red Army
3)
1) When was the Red Army established?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) January 1918
2)
- Forced conscription (workers/peasants) = discontent
- Led by Trotsky through harsh disciplinary measures
- Defenders of the revolution
3)
- 5 million soldiers (1920)
1) When was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) March 1918
2)
- Fulfilment of Lenin’s ‘Peace’ promise
- Major economic loss (precipitates famine)
- Forced to adopt State Capitalism
3)
- 3 billion roubles lost
- 64 million citizens lost
- 30% territory lost
- Ukraine ‘Bread basket’ lost
- 84% coal + iron reserves lost
1) When was State Capitalism?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1917-18
2)
- Government controlled industry
- Appointment of ‘bourgeoisie specialists’ to run factories
- Betrayed Communist ideals in favour of Capitalism
3)
1) When was the Civil War?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1918-21
2)
- Widespread opposition (Whites = feudalists/Tsarists, Greens = peasants, Foreign Interventionists = UK, USA, France, Japan, Germany)
- Caused Terror, War Communism, Famine
- Bolshevik victory = seen as invincible/impregnable
3)
1) When was War Communism?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1918-21
2)
- Failure of State Capitalism = famine, lack of goods
- Solution = centralised economic policy
- Militarised industry, grain requisitioning, elimination of roubles
- Harsh conditions/treatment causes workers to flee to countryside, industry slumps
3)
- Harvest decrease 37%
- Industrial output 13% of pre-war rates
- Exodus of 50% workers (2.6 mil to 1.3)
- 1920 = rouble 1% 1917 value
- ‘War Communism was a means of making civil war.’ (Figes)
1) When was the Polish War?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1920
2)
- Attempt at international revolution
- Lost, proved revolution could not be forced and would be limited to Russia
- Ended with Treaty of Riga (March 1920)
3)
1) When was the Tambov Rebellion?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1920-21
2)
- Peasant uprising against Bolsheviks
- Displayed widespread discontent
- Assisted in formation of NEP
3)
- 40,000 peasants
1) When was the Kronstadt rebellion?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) March 1921
2)
- Sailors feel betrayed by Bolsheviks (heard about industry conditions/Kulak hunts)
- Revolt against the Bolsheviks, ultimately being crushed by Red Army
- Bolsheviks seen as turning on their own/betraying patriots
3)
- They were ‘the reddest of the red’ (Trotsky)
- 14,000 casualties for Kronstadt
1) When was the 10th Party Congress/establishment of NEP?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) March 1921
2)
- Necessary reform to economy, concession of War Communism failure
- Seen as retreat to Capitalist elements
- ‘On Party Unity’ = no factionalism/Bokshevik opposition
- Political repression begins as Bolsheviks use ‘On Party Unity’ to silence opposition/critiques
3)
- ‘Concession of the failure of War Communism’ (Pipes)
- Industrial increase 68%
- ‘Bolsheviks surrendered to the peasantry.’ (Figes)
1) When was the Samara Famine?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1921-22
2)
- Result of War Communism/Civil War
- Mass discontent and calls for reform
- Driving factor of rebellions (Tambov)
3)
- Famine bread (clay + grass)
- Harvests down 37%
- 5 million peasants starved
1) When was the formal constitution of the USSR?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) February 1922
2)
- Full adoption of Communism
3)
1) When was the Soviet criminal code?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) February 1922
2)
- Increases factors for which political crimes can be considered
- Increased political repression
- Suppression of opposition
3)
1) When were the show trials of the SRs?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1922
2)
- Bolsheviks purge opposition (SRs)
- Suppress counter-revolution through publicly exemplifying treatment of opposition
3)
- 2,000 arrested
1) When was the Scissor Crisis?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1923
2)
- Agriculture prices drop (surplus being produced)
- Industrial prices increase (not enough produced, increased demand)
- Peasants unable to afford equipment/food as products are not selling highly
- Party divided (Trotsky believed betrayed Socialism)
3)
1) When was the end of NEP/Stalin’s control of USSR?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1927
2)
- Stalin’s influence spreads to Secretariat, Orgburo, Politburo
- Stalin appoints friends (Zinoviev, Kamenev) and blocks Trotsky’s policies
- Trotsky criticises party structure, Zinoviev and Kamenev join Trotsky
- All 3 expelled from party in 1927
3)
1) When was the Red Terror?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1918-21
2)
- CHEKA execute and torture suspected counter-revolutionaries
- Hunt for ‘Kulaks’, requisitioning furthers famine
- CHEKA acts reminiscent of Okhrana/old regime abuse
- Led to abolition of CHEKA (replaced w/ GPU in 1922)
3)
- 100-500k people executed
- Lenin orders to kill 120 kulaks per village
- ‘Forced to subjugate a society they could not control by other means.’ (Figes)
1) When was Lenin’s death?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) January 1924
2)
- Suggests Trotsky as leader, denounces Stalin
- Leaves party ambiguous (question of leadership)
- Trotsky fails to act and Stalin begins his rise to power
3)
1) When was the formation of SOVNARKOM?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 27 October 1917
2)
- Highest branch of authority
- Dominated government structure
- Mainly Bolsheviks = consolidated power
3)
1) When was the decree on Nationalisation?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 28 June 1918
2)
- All industry became centralised under Bolshevik control
- Precipitated worker exodus/rebellion
- Attempt to address fiscal crisis
3)
- Industrial output = 30% pre-war levels
- ‘Subbotniki’ = forced voluntary work
1) When were Committees of the Poor established?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) June 1918
2)
- Peasants forced to watch over fellow peasants
- Unsuccessful attempt at monitoring kulaks
- Led to the use of requisitioning squads instead
3)
1) When was the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) July 1918
2)
- Exemplified the use of executions/torture in the Terror
- Caused resentment for White Armies = escalated war
3)
1) When was the mobilisation of requisitioning squads?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) January 1919
2)
- Spread of use of terror/executions
- Created kulak hunts
- Spawned peasant uprisings (Green Armies)
- Led to agricultural slump (peasants refused to grow excess)
3)
- Land cultivation fell by 40%
1) When were the February Worker Strikes?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) February 1921
2)
- Protested famine = demanded bread
- Precipitated NEP
3)
1) When was Lenin’s testament?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) December 1922
2)
- Condemned Stalin
- Recognised Trotsky as successor
- Created power struggle between the two
3)
1) When was the 14th Party Congress?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) December 1924
2)
- Stalin announces ‘Socialism in one country’ = no spread of revolution until Russia consolidates their own
- Kamenev and Zinoviev turn from Stalin and form group with Trotsky (United Opposition Group)
3)
1) When was the replacement of Trotsky as Commissar of War?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) January 1925
2)
- Loss of political influence for Trotsky
- Contributes to Stalin’s rise to power
3)
1) When was the expulsion of Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev?
2) Significance
3) Stats/Quotes
1) 1927
2)
- Stalin takes complete control (no opposition)
- Precipitates role as Supreme Leader
3)
- ‘A triumph not of reason, but of organisation.’ (Carr)
What were some early problems faced by the Bolsheviks?
- Looting
- Drink pogroms
- Famine
- Inexperience of ruling
- Blue/white collar strikes (Civil Servant’s strike)
What were some positive effects of the NEP?
- Electrification
- Literacy rates improved
- Women’s rights movements (legalisation of abortion)
