Bolshevik consolidation of power

Question 1

How does E.H.Carr view the revolution?

Answer 1

Lenin was the driving force whose preparations and actions drove the October Revolution

Question 2

How does Robert Service view the revolution?

Answer 2

That Russia was heading towards a Socialist takeover so Lenin merely ensured it was Bolshevik

Question 3

Who disapproved of the congress?

Answer 3

• Zinoviev and Kamenev saw it as a coup
• Tsereteli (the Menshevik leader) predicted Bolshevik power would last no longer than three weeks
• Right - wing SRs accused him of illegally seizing power through violence
• Mensheviks and right - wing SRs disapproved the dominance of Bolsheviks in the Sovnarkom leaving them to walk out and place the coalition in control

Question 4

How many out of 670 delegates voted in favour of government?

Answer 4

500

Question 5

What did Trotsky shout to the moderates as they left?

Answer 5

“You’re finished, you pitiful bunch of bankrupts. Get out of here where you belong - in the dustbin of history,”

Question 6

What were the positions in the Sovnarkom?

Answer 6

• Lenin as chairman
• Trotsky as commissar of foreign affairs
• Stalin as Commissar for nationalities
• Kollontai as Commissar for social welfare

Question 7

What was ironic about the all power to the soviet slogan?

Answer 7

Lenin had no intentions of sharing power with soviets despite acting in their name as they ruled by decree so they were not consulted on things such as the ending of the war. Their power was further undermined as they were consulted less frequently whilst the sovnarkom met once or twice a day

Question 8

Why did government lack security?

Answer 8

• Civil servants refused to serve
• Bankers refused to finance it as the Bolsheviks had to use arms to convince the state bank to hand over its reserves 10 days later
  Kerensky had formed an opposition regiment in Gatchina forcing Bolshevik government away from the capital as he controlled 18 cossack regiments and a small force of social revolutionaries and officers
• Many troops from the Petrograd garrison returned to the countryside, so there was limited contact with his smaller force of troops tna Kerensky

Question 9

What happened on the 29th of October?

Answer 9

• There was an army cadet rising in in Petrograd but the red guards soon defeated it
  -The executive committee of railway workers wanted a united socialist governemnt and refused to transport food but Lenin ignored it and it soon fizzled out

Question 10

What happened on the 31st of October?

Answer 10

The Bolsheviks took control in Baku and 17 other provincial capitals

Question 11

What happened on the 2nd of November?

Answer 11

Kerensky’s opposition was defeated and the declaration of the rights of the people permitted the nationalities of Russia to become independent such as Finland and Ukraine

Question 12

What happened on the 3rd of November?

Answer 12

The kremlin in Moscow was taken over after a 10 day battle ad Lenin wanted to end divisions in the Bolshevik party by providing an ultimatium that forced Kamenev , Rykov and Zionoviev to leave. Sverdlov therefore replaced Kamenev as chairman of the all Russian central executive committee

Question 13

What happened on the 5th of November?

Answer 13

Lenin established control in most towns and cities ut not really countrysides as he still spoke to the people, “Your soviets are from now n the organs of state authority, legislative bodies with full power,”

Question 14

Who didn’t support the Bolshevik state?

Answer 14

• Factory workers
• Soldiers
• Railway workers
• Members of his own party
  They all didn’t want a purely Bolshevik state so the elected seven left - wing SRs but he resisted any more further attempts as power sharing as it could dilute his political visions and encourage others to challenge Lenin

Question 15

What was the utopian phase of Bolshevik rule?

Answer 15

Where optimism wa high because Lenin was fulfillig the promises he made to the people allowing the public to support governement

Question 16

What were the October decrees?

Answer 16

• Workers’ decree: maximum 8 hour days
• Social insurance decree: provided old age, health and unemployment benefits
• press decree: saw the losing down if anti - Bolshevik newspapers
• Decree on peace: promised the end to war, “without annexation and indemities,” (an armistice followed in Novemer and the official demobilisation process in December)
• Decree on land: abolished private ownership on land legitimising peasant seizures without compensation to Landlords

Question 17

What were the November decrees?

Answer 17

• Rights of the pople of Russia decree: The abolitio of class and title ranks, citizens were all Grazhdanih and party memebers were comrade, tovarishch
• Nationality decree: promised self - determination to the people’s of the former Russian empire. In december, Finland became independent and Ukraine set up a Rada (parliament)
• Decree on workers’ control of factories: gave workers the right to supervise management
• Judicial decree: establushed a new legal system of elected people’s courts
• Decree to outlaw sex discrimination: gave women equality with men and the right to own property

Question 18

What were the December decrees?

Answer 18

• Decree to establsh the All - Russian Commission for the suppressionof counter - revolution, sabotage and speculation: created the secret police (cheka)
• Bank decree: nationalised banks and ended the private flow of capital despite private markets remaining. The Veshenka ( the council of the National economy) was established to control and supervise economic development, this called for many Bolsheviks calling for the nationalisation of industry but Lenin remained cautious
  -Military decree: removed cllass ranks, saluting ad military decorations from the armyand placed the army under the control of soldiers’ soviets, which would elect officers
• Decree on the church: nationalised church land, removed marriage and divorce ceremonies from chruch controland wmen could initiate divorce

Question 19

Why was Lenin worried about the progression of socialism?

Answer 19

He envisioned a long process firstly with state capitalism and saw it as a way to establish control after the revolution to prevent the collapse of governement

Question 20

What other methods were used to oppress the people?

Answer 20

• There was a propaganda campaign agaisnt political and class enemies especially the Burzhoi ( Bourgoise)
• The purge of civil service
• Leading Kadets, right - wing SRs and Mensheviks were imprisoned in December

Question 21

What did John Reed state?

Answer 21

The only reason for Bolshevik success lay in their accomplishing the vast and simple desires of the most profound strata of the people

Question 22

How did Lenin view voting?

Answer 22

The mutual agreement between people belonged to an old, class - ridden world as a dictatorship of the proletariat would be achieved through active repression of counter - revolution elements

Question 23

What did Lenin argue in state and revolution?

Answer 23

Driven by his Marxist ideology, he produced the pamphlet in August - September 1917, stating that revolutionary mortality justify strong actions reflecting Lenin’s history of being ruthless to political opponents such as the Mensheviks

Question 24

What happened when Lenin permitted the votes in November 1917 for the constituent assembly after feeling obliged to because of the failings of the provisional government pushing the elections?

Answer 24

• 41 million people voted
• 21.8 million votes and 410 seats for the socialist revolutionaries
• 10 million votes and 175 seats for the Bolsheviks
• 2.1 million votes and 17 seats for the Kadets
• 1.4 million votes and 18 seats for the Mensheviks
• 6.3 million votes and 62 seats for others
  Those away from Moscow and Petrograd may have been unaware of the Bolsheviks possible pushing Lenin to later dissolve the assembly due to fear of challenges

Question 25

What happened during and after the first constituent assembly on the 5th of January?

Answer 25

• Lenin declared, “we must not be deceived by the election figures. Elections prove nothing,”
• Kadets were already outlawed for supporting a Cossack general Khaled who began a counter - revolution in the Don region
• Bolsheviks proposed that the meeting would be chaired by left - wing SR, Maria Spiridora but were overruled by right - wing majority who chose Chernov
• This pushed Lenin to permanently close the constituent assembly after one meeting
• When civilians criticised this for betraying state and revoultion ideology of crushing Bourgeoise attitudes, they were fired upon with 12 being killed
• In 1919, Lenin stated that, “ the dissolution of the constituent assembly means the complete and open repudiation of democracy in favor of dictatorship. This will be a valuable lesson.”
• Many political parties were contempt with the decisions despite their ability to exist being made difficult

Question 26

Who could not vote from July 1918?

Answer 26

All Bourgeoise which included employers, priests and untrustworthy middle class

Question 27

How did Bolsheviks differ on the ending of the war?

Answer 27

• Bolsheviks had always promised peace but it had been made difficult by Germans pushing the Russian army back and Germans occupying lots of German territory
• Trotsky didn’t want a peace treaty because of the harsh terms for Russia
• Ideologically, Lenin was convinced the revolution would spread influence into Germany creating a new world therefore a peace agreement would be temporary
• Practically, The Russian army couldn’t stop the Germans and peace was necessary for what the Bolsheviks had already accomplished

Question 28

What actions were taken before peace could be decided on?

Answer 28

• Trotsky began to negotiate an armistice from December 1917
• Bukharin led the revolutionary war group of those who believed Russia should continue to fight to defend both socialism and Russia who saw peace as betraying Bolshevik promises
• Trotsky dragged proceeding out hoping Germany would have their own revolution because of the military failure in France and Belgium
• This approach was called neither peace nor war
• The Bolsheviks were also using propaganda to stir up mutiny in the German army
• Field Marshall Hindenburg believed Trotsky behaved as if the Russians were victors rather than the defeated party seeking peace

Question 29

What was the treaty of Brest - Litovsk?

Answer 29

• As the Germans began to advance further into Russia, the treaty of Brest - Litovsk was signed on the 3rd of March 1918 and ratified an emergency party of congress
• Russia lost Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bessarabia, Georgia, Belarus and Ukraine
• Germany and Austria - Hungary were to, “determine the future fate of these territories in an agreement with their populations,”
• Lenin argued they had to accept the naked truth as they lost 62 million people (1/6 of the population), 2 million square kilometers including almost 1/3 of agricultural land, 26% of railways, 74% of iron ore and coal supplies and paying 3 billion roubles
• Lenin had to threat to resign twice to get his way but he had the unwavering support of Trotsky, Stalin and Zinoviev
• Bukharin, Kamenev and Dzerzhinsky voted against peace, and the terms were only agreed by a majority of one and they were labelled as enemies
• This treaty confirmed Russia as a one party state and their aim of socialism at home

Question 30

What are the social consequences of the treaty?

Answer 30

• Allows the liberated countries to express individual and national identity
• Many may still feel Russian
• Establishment of new countries and governments as a short - term issue

Question 31

What are the political consequences of the treaty?

Answer 31

It limits the geographical spread of communism as they would have to regain control of lost territory limiting political progress

Question 32

What are the economic consequences of the treaty?

Answer 32

High costs of reparations create financial hardship on the country especially as lots of the land they lost had economic value

Question 33

What are the foreign policy consequences of the treaty?

Answer 33

• Dramatic geographical border changes
• More nations to make peace/an alliance with
• Increased how politically isolated they were because Bolshevism was a threat

Question 34

What were workers put in charge of in January 1918?

Answer 34

Railways

Question 35

What happened to the red guards?

Answer 35

They were demobilised in January 1918 and replaced by a red army of workers and peasants to protect the regime and Trotsky was made the head of it in March 1918

Question 36

Why did Moscow become the capital?

Answer 36

To become more centralised

Question 37

How did the relationship with the church change?

Answer 37

• Russia became a secular state allowing the government to give no support for the church and the separation decree removed the church’s judicial powers and its right to own property causing many assets to be seized
• Religious printing presses were closed down and the clergy disenfranchised as some joined the army and many prominent bishops were imprisoned
• In February 1918, Russia moved to the Gregorian calendar to align itself with the rest of Europe but also as a statement against traditional religious practice

Question 38

What other decrees were passed?

Answer 38

Decrees nationalised industry and abolished land ownership. Land was given, “to those who wish to cultivate it not for personal profit but for the benefit of the community,” known as the socialisation of land

Question 39

What happened at the 1918 constitution?

Answer 39

• The first soviet constitution for the Russian soviet federal socialist republic (RSFSR) was proclaimed in July 1918 states that supreme power was in the hands of the congress as the, “supreme organ of power,”
• Congress was also made responsible for electing the sovnarkom
  It also welcomed non - Russian nationalities that were previously part of the empire to join the state

Question 40

What are the limitations of the constitution?

Answer 40

• Votes were reserved for the toiling masses as businessmen, clergy and tsarist officials were excluded from voting or holding public office
• The worker’s vote was weighted in the proportion of five to one against that of the peasants in the election to the congress
• In practice, the sovnarkom members were Bolshevik
• The congress was only to meet at intervals - so executive authority remained in the hands of the Sovnarkom
• The structure was centralised and by may 1918, power was given to the communist party
• The principle was established that, “he does not work shall not eat,” which was a serious threat to the population who relied on ration cards