AS FP2 : Economic and Social Developments ; Tambov and Kronstadt

Question 1

Conceptual Awareness

What did Trotsky say in reference to the Civil War’s effect on the economy?

Answer 1

“We won the war but we ruined the country.”

Result of the Russian Civil War, War communism and WW1

Question 2

The Tambov Revolt

When was the Tambov Revolt?

Answer 2

Autumn 1920 - June 1921

Question 3

The Tambov Revolt

How many uprisings were reported by the Cheka in 1921?

Answer 3

155

Question 4

The Tambov Revolt

What were the causes of the Tambov revolt?

Answer 4

• Grain Requisitioning
• The famine of 1921

Question 5

The Tambov Revolt

How big did the Tambov revolt get?

Answer 5

70,000 peasants led by Alexander Antonov, by March 1921 big enough to attack grain stores along the Volga river.

Question 6

The Tambov Revolt

How did the Bolsheviks deal with the Tambov revolt?

Answer 6

• 10,000 red army troops deployed,
• Brutal repressions - particularly against those accused of being Kulaks
• In 1922 Red Army troops pour into the Tambov provincee, destroying whole villages - even poison gas was used on those who hid in the forests.

Large enough to threaten the Bolshevik state, but also a signifier that a new economic policy was needed.

Question 7

The Kronstadt Sailor Uprising

When was the Kronstadt sailor uprising?

Answer 7

March 1921 - at the same time as the peak of the Tambov Revolt

Question 8

The Kronstadt Sailor Uprising

What were the causes of the Kronstadt rising?

Answer 8

• Kronstadt sailors had relatives who were peasants and therefore felt strongly about the situatuon in the countryside.
• Food crisi of 1921 and the reduction of a third in the Bread Ration of several cities - including Moscow and Petrograd.
• Protests about the lack of union representation - Cheka sent to crush demonstrations as even some of the regular sailors refused.
• Martial Law was imposed in January of 1921

Question 9

The Kronstadt Sailor Uprising

How many sailors rebelled?

Answer 9

30,000

Question 10

The Kronstadt Sailor Uprising

Who were the Kronstadt sailors?

Answer 10

• Responsible for the famous Potemkin Mutiny
• Had fought for the Reds in the Civil War
• Some had taken part in the October Revolution e.g the Battleship Aurora supported the Bolsheviks
• In the July Day disturbances 20,000 armed sailors had taken part.

Question 11

The Kronstadt Sailor Uprising

What were the demans of the sailors’ manifesto?

Answer 11

• An end to one-party communist rule
• Genuine democracy
• Civil Rights
• “Soviets without Bolsheviks”.

Question 12

The Kronstadt Sailor Uprising

What happened to the sailors?

Answer 12

An army under Mardhal Tukhachevsky was sent by Trotsky five miles across the ice to crush the rebels :
- Ring leaders were shot, while 1,500 rebels were taken prisoner and mosr sent to a labour camp on the white sea.

Question 13

The Kronstadt Sailor Uprising

What was Lenin’s response to the uprising?

Answer 13

Lenin denounced the sailors as ‘white traitors’ but the incident had clearly shaken him, for Lenin it was the “lightning flash which lit up reality better than anything else” in relation to Russia’s economy.

Question 14

What were the political reprecussions of the revolts?

Answer 14

• Caused divisions within the Bolshevik Party
• The Workers’ opposition group was created by Shylapkinov ad Kollontai and argued for greater worker control and removal of managers and military discipline in factories.

–> Objected to the fact that the State appointed trade union leaders, which effectively made unions a tool of the regime.
Also strongly opposed those in the party who wanted to continue War Communism.