AS FP2 : Problems facing the Bolsheviks

Question 1

Conceptual Awareness

What were the immediate events following the Bolshevik siezing of power?

Answer 1

Between the 25th and the 27th of October, the Second Congress of Soviets announces the revolution and adopts Lenin’s decree on peace and land, appointing Sovnorkom with Lenin as chairman.

• The Positions of Sovnarkom was insecure, so it needed to consolidate its position immediately.

Question 2

Conceptual Awareness - Historiography

What did the Menshevik Leader, Tseretli, say about the new government?

Answer 2

Tseretli predicted that Bolshevik power would only last three weeks.

Question 3

Historiography

What did Orlando Figes say about the refusal of the middle classes to support the new regime?

Answer 3

“Strikes and campaigns in all major ministries and government departments, the banks, the post and telegraph office, the railway administrations, municipal bodies, and other vital institutions… without money to pay its supporters, the Bolshevik regime could not survive for long.”

Question 4

Problems - Economic

How many days did it take for the Bolsheviks to recieve money from the bank?

Answer 4

It took ten days and armed forces to make the bank staff open the vaults so that the government could acquire the roubles it needed.