Bolshevik Consolidation of Power 1917-24

Question 1

What was Trotsky position in government in October 1917?

Answer 1

Commissar of Foreign Affairs

Question 2

What did Lenin claim the October Revolution was?

Answer 2

A taking of power by the soviets

Question 3

What was state capitalism?

Answer 3

The transitional stage of using the existing economic structures until the transition to a command economy had been completed

Question 4

What was the level of industrial production in 1917?

Answer 4

2/3rds of its 1914 level

Question 5

How short were grain supplies compared to the demand in 1917?

Answer 5

13m tons short

Question 6

What was Vesenkha?

Answer 6

Set up ‘to take charge of all existing institutions for the regulation of economic life’

Question 7

What initial developments did Vesenkha make?

Answer 7

• Banks and railway were nationalised
• Foreign debts were cancelled
• Transport system made less chaotic

Question 8

How did the Bolsheviks fair in the Constitute Assembly election results?

Answer 8

Outvoted nearly 2 to 1 by the SRs

= 24% of vote

Question 9

What was Lenin’s justification for shutting down the CA?

Answer 9

Claimed its original reason for creation had already been achieved by the creation of a Soviet government in October 1917

Question 10

What were Lenin’s reasons for withdrawing from the war?

Answer 10

• ideological
• no real benefit for Russia to remain in
• Russia could not match Germany - little resources

Question 11

What did the Left Communists believe?

Answer 11

Were convinced that their first task was to consolidate the revolution by driving the German imperialists from Russia

Question 12

What did Russia loose after the ToBL?

Answer 12

• 1/3 of its European lands
• the 45m people in these lands
• Had to pay 3b roubles in reparation payments

Question 13

Why did Lenin not want to form a coalition?

Answer 13

• Made a successful counter revolution easier to mount

- Bolsheviks would have been unable to dominate in government

Question 14

How much had Petrograd workforce shrunk by June 1918 due to hunger?

Answer 14

60% - overall population had decline from 3 to 2m

Question 15

Why had the Left-SRs been driven from government?

Answer 15

Due to their refusal to accept ToBL

Question 16

How divided were the Whites?

Answer 16

Many different groups formed all over Russia e.g. White army in Siberia and other groups in Estonia etc

Question 17

How did the Bolsheviks keep themselves supplied during the civil war?

Answer 17

Due to their desperate fight to maintain control of the railways

Question 18

What are 3 reasons why the Whites lost?

Answer 18

• divided
• lacked leaders with quality such as Trotsky
• had no united aim

Question 19

What were the Reds strengths?

Answer 19

• controlled central areas as well as Petrograd and Moscow
• held industrial centres
• Whites were depended on supplies from abroad
• Red army was extremely well organised

Question 20

What was Trotsky’s strategy during the civil war?

Answer 20

• defend red army’s internal lines of communication
• deny the whites the opportunity to concentrate in large forces
• prevent the whites maintain regular supplies

Question 21

How did the Reds gain troops?

Answer 21

Offered defeated enemy troops either enlistment or execution

Question 22

Why did the Reds loose the sympathy of the peasants?

Answer 22

Due to war communism

Question 23

How did the civil war effect members of the party?

Answer 23

It created a tradition of military obedience and loyalty

Question 24

How did the civil war lead to later authoritarianism?

Answer 24

It left the government with a readiness to resort to coercion, rule by administration and centralised administration

Question 25

How did the civil war lead to centralisation?

Answer 25

The war required day-to-day decisions to be made = power put in the hands of the politburo

Question 26

Who were the PG and the Bolsheviks funded by?

Answer 26

``` PG = allies in the war Bolsheviks = Germany ```

Question 27

What was one of the key reasons for anti-Bolshevism in the West?

Answer 27

Financial reasons = no intention of honouring foreign debts and nationalised a large number of foreign companies

Question 28

Why did countries within the Russian empire get involved with the civil war?

Answer 28

To gain independence

Question 29

What incidents contributed to the precedent of terror?

Answer 29

- Assassination of the German ambassador by the SRs - Attempt on Lenin's life - Murder of the Petrograd chairman of the Cheka

Question 30

How were the workers brought under military discipline in 1920?

Answer 30

- forbidden to question orders - could not negotiate their rates or pay or conditions - could be severely punished for poor workmanship

Question 31

Who were political commissars?

Answer 31

Dedicated party workers whose function was to accompany the officers permanently and report on their political correctness

Question 32

During the civil war how many provinces of European Russia did the Bolsheviks hold

Answer 32

30/50

Question 33

Why did nationalisation under WC do nothing to increase production?

Answer 33

- Imposed at a time of severe industrial disruption - military needs were given priority - factories deprived of man power

Question 34

How much coal was produced in 1913 compared to 1921?

Answer 34

``` 1913 = 29m tons 1921 = 8.9m tons ```

Question 35

Why did WC not produce any extra food?

Answer 35

Peasants knew any surplus would be taken so only produced the bare minimum = Bolsheviks blamed in on hoarding

Question 36

How did the grain harvests in 1920-21 fair compared to 1913?

Answer 36

Less than half of what was gathered in 1913

Question 37

How many people did pravda report were starving by 1921?

Answer 37

1 in 5

Question 38

What was ARA?

Answer 38

America gave food supplies to Russia during the 1921 famine

Question 39

Why was the Kronstadt uprising surprising?

Answer 39

They were workers and soldiers who had initially been great supporters of the Bolsheviks - want the Bolsheviks to return to the same promises that inspired the revolution

Question 40

What were the ring leaders of the Kronstadt rising classed as?

Answer 40

White reactionaries

Question 41

What did the Kronstadt rising lead to?

Answer 41

NEP = to lessen the opposition to Bolshevism

Question 42

What was a tax in kind under NEP?

Answer 42

The peasant surrendered a certain amount of produce, equivalent to a fixed sum of money

Question 43

What caused Lenin to introduce the ban on factions?

Answer 43

Opposition to the NEP

Question 44

What did the ban on factions ban?

Answer 44

- opposition within the party | - all other parties apart from the Bolsheviks

Question 45

What did Bukharin believe about the NEP?

Answer 45

The greater amount of money the peasants would have would stimulate industry some their extra income would he spent on buying manufactured goods

Question 46

What was the grain harvest like in 1921 and 1924?

Answer 46

``` 1921 = 37m tons 1924 = 51m tons ```

Question 47

What was the value of factory output in 1921 and 1924?

Answer 47

``` 1921 = 2004m roubles 1924 = 4660m roubles ```

Question 48

What was the average wage in 1921 and 1924?

Answer 48

``` 1921 = 10 roubles a month 1924 = 20 roubles a month ```

Question 49

How had the NEP produced an economic balance?

Answer 49

Agriculture and trade were largely in private hands while the state dominated Russian industry

Question 50

How was the NEP not an entire success?

Answer 50

There was high unemployment in urban areas