Bolshevik Consolidation

Question 1

What was the Soviet of People’s Commissars better known as?

Answer 1

Sovnarkom

Question 2

Which two positions did Trotsky hold?

Answer 2

• Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Oct 1917 – March 1918)
• Commissar for War (March 1918 – January 1925)

Question 3

What does it mean that Sovnarkom ruled by decree?

Answer 3

It was able to create laws without consulting the Congress of Soviets

Question 4

Why did Lenin agree to allow seven left-wing Social Revolutionaries to join Sovnarkom?

Answer 4

Workers were upset that a Socialist coalition through the Soviet hadn’t materialised after October

Question 5

What did the Press decree (Oct 1917) do?

Answer 5

Opposition press was banned

Question 6

What was the purpose of the Decree on land (Oct 1917)?

Answer 6

Lenin gave consent to the peasant seizure of land in the countryside

Question 7

What did the Nationality decree (Nov 1917) allow?

Answer 7

Nationalities to break away from the Russian Empire

Question 8

What rights were granted by the Decree to outlaw sexual discrimination (Nov 1917)?

Answer 8

• Women were given legal rights
• Right to own property
• Right to initiate divorce

Question 9

When was the Cheka created?

Answer 9

December 1917

Question 10

What happened to leading Kadets, right wing Social Revolutionaries, and Mensheviks in December 1917?

Answer 10

Arrested

Question 11

Who was the leader of the Cheka?

Answer 11

‘Iron’ Felix Dzerzhinsky

Question 12

How many days of fighting did it take for the Bolsheviks to take power of Moscow?

Answer 12

Ten days

Question 13

What did Lenin argue in State and Revolution regarding the use of violence?

Answer 13

Violence was needed to suppress counter revolutionaries

Question 14

When were elections for the Constituent Assembly held?

Answer 14

November 1917

Question 15

Who won the elections for the Constituent Assembly and with what percentage of the vote?

Answer 15

Social Revolutionaries, 53%

Question 16

What percentage of the vote did the Bolsheviks achieve in the Constituent Assembly elections?

Answer 16

24%

Question 17

From which areas was Bolshevik support at its highest?

Answer 17

• Major cities such as Petrograd and Moscow
• 60% of the vote from soldiers

Question 18

On what day did the Constituent Assembly meet?

Answer 18

5th January 1918

Question 19

What was Lenin’s response to the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 19

He forcibly closed it down

Question 20

On what date was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed?

Answer 20

3rd March 1918

Question 21

What did Trotsky mean by ‘neither war nor peace’?

Answer 21

He refused to sign a peace treaty while simultaneously refusing to fight

Question 22

Why did Lenin sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 22

He believed Germany would experience its own socialist revolution and recognized Russia could no longer fight the Germans

Question 23

In millions, how many people did Russia lose to Germany in the terms of the Treaty?

Answer 23

62 million

Question 24

How much of Russian iron and coal supplies were lost due to the Treaty?

Answer 24

74%

Question 25

What was the reaction of the SRs in Sovnarkom to the signing of the Treaty?

Answer 25

They stormed out, leaving the Bolsheviks to run Russia as a one party state

Question 26

By how many votes did Lenin win the debate on signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 26

One vote

Question 27

When were the Red Guards demobilised and the Red Army created?

Answer 27

January 1918

Question 28

What did Lenin’s Decree on Separation of the Church and State (Feb 1918) do?

Answer 28

Removed Churches' right to own property and seized many of its assets

Question 29

When did Lenin introduce a new Constitution, and how was it undemocratic?

Answer 29

July 1918; executive power was with Sovnarkom, clergy and bourgeoisie could not vote, and workers' votes were worth five peasant votes