Bolshevik Consolidation Flashcards
Ending Involvements in WW1
Bolsheviks promised peace, difficult as Germany was already occupying large parts of Russia
Lenin was convinced that Revolution would soon engulf Germany & German workers would soon join their comrades in Russia in creating in a new world, rather than continuing to fight them
Trotsky dragged proceedings out
Treaty of Brest - Litovsk 1918
Russia lost; Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belaruse and Ukraine
62 million pop
26% of Russia’s railway lines
26% of Russia’s railway lines
Pay 3 billion roubles to Germany in reparartions
Consolidation of One Party State
Sovnarkom continued
Red Guards demilitarised and Red army forms, Trotsky placed as head of Army
Russia became a secular state, state gave no support to the Orthodox Church
Press?
Any media critical of the Bolsheviks was immediately shut down
Reasons for the start of the Civil War in Spring 1918?
Anger over ignoring the votes from the constituent assembly
Former generals were humiliated by the treaty of Brest - Litovsk
Nobility furious over land seizures
Which groups made up the red army?
Kronstadt sailors
Red Army
Some Ex-Tsarist officers (coerced by Trotsky)
Which groups made up the white army?
Kadets
Any groups who had opposed the Bolsheviks
Former Tsarists
Foreign Support from France, Britain, Japan and USA
How did Geographical factors allow the Bolsheviks to win the Civil War?
Bolsheviks held the industrial centers of Petrograd and Moscow, meant they had access to all of the industrial centres
Hub of railway Network
Held more populated areas, more people to throw at war effort
Whites were scattered around making communication difficult
How did unity and organisation allow the Bolsheviks to win the civil war?
Trotsky reissued the death penalty in order to control the army
Bolsheviks had a single, unified command structure whereas the Whites were made up of a number of different groups who fought over whether their aim was monarchism, republicanism or the establishment of the Constituent Assembly
Whites only agreed on hatred for the reds
Trotsky’s role in the Civil War
He restored discipline through the return of hierarchical ranking and hash punishment e.g. immediate execution of deserters
Brought back ex tsarist officers with experienced and held their families hostage to convince them to help
Rode around in an armoured train in order to improve morale
How did leadership ensure that the Bolsheviks won the civil war?
Role of Trotsky
Discipline was extremely harsh - soldiers knew that if they deserted they would be killed and this meant that the number of soldiers stayed high
Many soldiers deserted the White army due to harsh discipline
with the Whites, uniforms and munitions supplied by foreign interventionist governments were sold on the black market and officers were constantly using drugs, prostitutes and alcohol
Support for the Reds
Red army supported by the peasants
The Whites had made it clear that if they regained power, all land would be returned to its ‘rightful’ owners: the nobility. Peasants were much more inclined to support the Reds
The Whites alienated nationalist groups by aiming for the re-establishment of pre-1917 borders
Whites represented old government
Propaganda during the Civil war
Reds able to position themselves as the supporters of Russia against the whites who recieved foreign support
The Reds used very powerful propaganda, stating that: the Whites would take the land away from the peasants
Cheka
The remaining Romanovs were brutally murdered in 1918 to avoid anyone trying to assert them as rulers again
Prisoners were executed with greater frequency: 300,000 prisoners were killed between 1918 and 1920
Anyone supposedly affiliated with ‘bourgeois provocation’ or counter-revolution was arrested and sent to a gulag without trial. 6000 were killed in 1918 alone.
Cheka officers stole from the peasants and would arrest them if they fought
Why did Lenin adopt War Communism
Economy declining very quickly; land commtrol to peasants and workers in control of factories was not economically benefitial
Shortage of Raw Materials
Consumer goods availability decreased, leading to price inflation and the reduced value of the rouble
Peasants reluctant to supply cities with grain due to inflation
60% of the workers in Petrograd left the city, causing a shortage of workers due to food shortages
War Communism
Developed during the Civil War in order to supply the army with suppplies (e.g food, amunitions)
Treat the Economy like a factory, supply masses not the few
Key Features of War Communism
- Grain Requisition
- All Industry Nationalised
- Heavy Rationing
- Factory discipline reinstated (restoration of managers)
Effects of War Communism
By 1920, industrial production fallen to less than 1/3 of pre WW1 levels
Grain rot due to transportation fails
By 1920 the pop. of Petrograd fell by 57%
Widespread famine in 1921 as well as disease
Workers Strikes
Tambov Revolt, 1920-21, 70,000 Peasant army rally against Bolsheviks, red army deploys 100,000 soldiers villages were gassed
Kronstadt Rising
Red Terror
After two assassination attempts on
Lenin in 1918, the Red Terror started
to emerge
The Cheka grew from 120 employees
in March 1918 to 143,000 by 1921
State Capitalism
Meant as a halfway between Capitalism and Socialism, major companies would remain in private hands but under state control.
Managers and experts would retain their roles in industries, factories and manufacturing but would be managed by the Vesenka (a gov. department created by the Sovnarkom in late 1917
Key Features of State Capitalism
Nationalisation was introduced to create greater efficiency
Small factories were not nationalised. They were controlled by workers or handed back to capitalists
Problems of State Capitalism
Many Bolsheviks demanded full state control
Production drop as workers failed to organise themselves
Economic problems during the civil war
Falling Industrial Productivity led to inflation
Factory supplies disrupted by fighting
Important agricultural land lost during treaty of Brest -Litovsk
Peasant hoarding led to food shortages
Around 5 million died due to starvation and disease
NEP 1921
Viewed by many as an attack on Bolsheviks ideology
Nepmen (merchants, retailers and profiteers) were responsible for 75% of trade but were hated by the public
Key Features of the NEP
- End of Grain Requisitioning, peasants allowed to sell surplus grain
- Small Businesses reopened
- Ban on Private trade removed
- State still in control of large heavy industry
Tambov Revolt
Autumn 1920, peasants in Tambov, led by
Aleksandr Antonov, rebelled against requisitioning and Cheka brutality
Force of 50,000 peasants
Lasted until June 1921, 100,000 red army soldiers sent to brutally put down the revolution
Kronstadt Rebellion
In 1921, further reductions in food rationing led to strikes and riots in the cities
In March, Sailors at the Kronstadt naval bas
rebelled against the suppression of the Petrograd strikes
The sailors demanded democratic reforms.
(‘Soviets without Communists’)
Trotsky sent the Red Army to put down the
uprising
15,000 rebels were imprisoned and the ring
leaders were shot.
Some members of the party believed the
Bolsheviks were becoming to authoritarian.
Russia’s relations with Foreign powers
Former Allies felt betrayed by the peace negotiations with Germany
Russia was not invited to the Paris Peace Conference nor involved with the formation of the League of Nations
Foreign involvement in the Civil War
Whites helped by Britain, France, USA and Japan
End of WW1 foreign powers aimed to combat Bolsheviks
The Allies sent troops to help the Whites – although they were spread across Russia and the numbers were small
Russo-Polish War
The Bolsheviks attempted to export the revolution and in 1920 the Red Army invaded Poland
The Bolsheviks expected the Polish working class to support the Red Army and revolt against the Polish Government
The invasion failed as the Poles resisted what they saw as traditional Russian expansionist aggression
Treaty of Riga signed 1921, failure to spread communism
The Comintern
Aimed to spread communism globally
First Comintern 1919, initial positivity and delegates sent from around the world
As the congresses continued in 1920 and 1921 Lenin began to dominate the conversation with his ideas. This alienated some parties broke away
By 1921 hopes for a global revolution begain to fizzle out, emergence of Weimar gov in Russia etc
After 3rd congress, Lenin shifted focus to protecting Russia
Relations with Germany
Both countries had been isolated from the West following the world war
Treaty of Rapallo (1922), Russia would provide miliray area to train for Germany and Germany would provide Russia special trading rights
